Ki Aikido - Balerna

Balerna

30.04.2022
Maurizio Volpe and Bernhard Boll

The ATKA (Associazione Ticinese Ki Aikido) Balerna had invited to a seminar with Maurizio Volpe and Bernhard Boll for the last Saturday in April 2022. The participants came from the host dojo Balerna, from northern Italy from the dojos Thiene, Bologna, Milan, Vercelli, Arona, Santhià and Novara, and from Austria (Vienna), from the Czech Republic (Prague) and from Germany (Nuremberg).

The first part

was taken over by Bernhard. He presented his reflections on the topic "Randori in the exam for the 2nd Kyu". What is the purpose of this Randori at this stage of development, in which only one person attacks (hitorigake) and which strategies and techniques can be applied? It makes sense to attack with shomenuchi, yokomenuchi and tsuki. The respective techniques from the program up to the 2nd Kyu he had individually practiced and refined. In the end, each participant performed this randori. The attackers lined up one after the other (like the Satsuma Samurai in the jidaigeki series Nemuri Kyoshiro, see below) and launched the attack of their choice.

Then

we went on with Maurizio. He started with Ki Musubi. The palestra in Balerna is very high and spacious, the windows were all open and the air was fresh and clean. This allowed the participants to practice the breathing exercises without doubts about possible contaminations.
After that, Maurizio explained in great detail the first techniques of Tsuzukiwaza 9 (tsuki) from the program of the third Dan and also had a number of variants practiced.
During the lunch break, most of the participants went again in good weather to the Grotto di Mulino in the Breggia Gorges Natural Park. The main menu this time was risotto. Some participants had brought their lunch with them and had a picnic at the small lake of Breggia, which still carried little water due to the long drought.

In the afternoon, Bernhard continued his topic Randori. This time he first had the appropriate techniques from Tsuzukiwaza 20 (Jonage) practiced individually: Kokyunage irimi, zenponage and ashi sukui. Michal and Christian then each showed a Randori with Jonage, but for convenience with only 3 Uke.
Afterwards Bernhard showed nikyo, koteoroshi I and koteoroshi II from Jonage and let them practice.
In the last part of the course Maurizio taught douchi, tsuki and shomenuchi from Tsuzukiwaza 29 (kumitachi). Studying them more closely one discovers the many possibilities, so that these techniques become very demanding. That's why Maurizio explained many details and had them practiced.

At the end of the seminar, Yvette thanked the two teachers for the lessons and the participants for coming. The next seminar in Balerna will take place from 14th to 16th October 2022. The summer seminar in Bosco Gurin has been cancelled again this year. Next up are the seminars in Thiene (25/26 June 2022) with Maurizio and the summer seminar in Velebit (12 - 18 August 2022).

Photos: Domenico, Bernhard

Tie the belt flat

The participants from the northern side of the Alps spent the night at Govert's and returned home on Sunday. Therefore, on Sunday morning there was still the opportunity for a workshop in the small dojo in Stabio. Together they studied Tsuzukiwaza 4 (ryotedori), especially under the aspect of how Uke can be guided without collisions.
In the end, Michal showed how to tie the belt in a very flat way. Soundtrack: Kuroda Bushi.

Satsuma Many Persons' Attack

In the episode "Manji giri" (fylfot swordplay, 1969) about Nemuri Kyoshiro, the "samurai with the sleepy eyes", the hero has to face a many persons' attack by the Satsuma samurai. For reasons of honor, these do not attack at the same time, but only individually and in strict order. The best fighter attacks at last. So the opponent should get tired and finally be finished off.
The fight scenes are quite brutal, as was common in the jidaigeki movies of the 1960s. The scenes in the middle of the clip are changed to double speed.