SHIN SHIN TOITSU AIKIDO - Ki Aikido

Nürnberg June/July 2023

Seminar with Bernhard Boll

Nürnberg

On the weekend from 30 June to 2 July a seminar was held in Nuremberg with Bernhard Boll, organised by Ki Aikido Dojo Nuremberg Metropolitan Region, Christian Veith. Participants came from Nuremberg, Fürth, Erlangen, Trebur, Prague, Komárom, Vienna and Balerna.
The training on Friday night started with Tehodoki, or more specifically Katatedori and one-handed variants for ikkyo, nikyo and yonkyo. The need to perform these techniques with one hand arose when an Aikidoka was injured in one arm in Balerna. It is interesting to find out what is possible. The execution must be precise and so the two-handed techniques continue to evolve.
This was followed by Tsuzukiwaza 4 (ryotedori) and Tsuzukiwaza 7 (shomenuchi). With shomenuchi shihonage, the question arose as to how the execution of yokomenuchi shihonage can or must be different, both from a technical and an artistic point of view.
The training ended at 9 p.m. Afterwards, it was not easy to find an open restaurant for dinner. However, the group from Balerna managed to eat something tasty in a nearby pizzeria.

Saturday morning

Saturday started with an hour of misogi led by Michal. Afterwards there was Matcha tea in a convivial atmosphere, where Ryan took on the role of host and perfectly prepared the tea and served it.
The second part of the morning started with some selected Ki tests from the DEN program. With years of Aikido practice, mental and physical stability obviously develop automatically. However, it is not bad to practice the Ki exercises from the Ki exams from time to time. As is well known, the Ki tests should help to learn this stability. Struggling to "pass" the Ki tests only may be somewhat blocking the own development. It is therefore more advisable to look at what you envisage in the tests - or not - or which ideas and exercises help you to develop the Ki.
Tsuzukiwaza 19 (tsuki) followed. Interesting topics explored by the dojo leaders present included whether and how to hit or cut in the first technique.
For lunch we went - almost traditionally - to a nearby TRAT-TORIA (own spelling).

Saturday afternoon

The main topic of the afternoon was Tsuzukiwaza 18 (yokomenuchi). Here, too, the dojo leaders complemented each other in the explanations of the techniques. Obviously it always depends on how you assess the attack and what you specifically want to practice or express with the respective technique. This is one of the reasons for the diversity in Aikido.
At the end of the lesson, Adi successfully passed the JODEN Ki exam. Congratulations!
The group from Balerna and the participant from Komárom wanted to visit the city center in the evening. Others went to a beer garden. The huge pedestrian zone in the center of Nuremberg was very, very busy. All street cafés and restaurants were practically fully booked. Nevertheless, there was still a nice place in a gelateria with really excellent offers. The architectural beauties could therefore not be admired in great detail.

Sunday morning

Sunday morning was all about Bokken. After kenkotaiso, aikitaiso and ki musubi no gyo, the focus was on the basic bokken exercises as they occur in the 2nd and 1st kyu. There they are intended as Hitoriwaza. In order to be able to better understand the movements, partner exercises are also helpful. For example, it becomes clearer how far to cut, how to perform a tsuki with bokken correctly or how to retreat calmly and safely.
Tsuzukiwaza 28 (Bokken 2) followed, first as Hitoriwaza like in the old days. Advanced and less advanced students worked in pairs to work out the sequence of movements. This was followed by the current Kumitachi form, which Bernhard showed together with Michal. The tsuzukiwaza was expanded by Yoshigasaki Sensei a little more than ten years ago to include an introductory shomenuchi plus tsuki. To keep the old count of the Hitoriwaza, this action can be counted as 0. The final action no. 13 (納め, osame *) is quite interesting. Is it a circular cut like in a merry-go-round, or is it a clear cut forward to the partner, and what is the best way for Nage to protect him/herself when turning and retreating?
* 納める osameru = bring to an end, osame = finale.
An on-yomi of 納 is NŌ, which is known from the award-winning film NŌKAN 納棺 (2008).

Finale

The morning's training ended with a relaxation exercise: shaking your partner's body in waves. Claudia and Christian had prepared something to eat and drink for lunch, which the participants took together on the tatami. This concluding conviviality offered the participants who had traveled from further away the opportunity to strengthen themselves before the return journey.
This was the end of a nice seminar, in which the participants complemented each other and could practice well together.

Group photo

Text: BB. Photos: BB and Christian

The next seminar is the Velebit Summer Camp 2023 from 28.07.2023 - 02.08. 2023. Please register online.