2007.04.29.
Well, we can take out some pictures a bit earlier than usual. This was a busy week, and we are travelling to Kyoto this night...
We visited Masuda sensei's dojo, and took part of a kid's and an adult's class.
The mandatory optional program after the Wednesday morning practice: Hiroaki sensei throws every uchideshi (and anybody who wants to be...) several ten times. This is me (Feca) on the picture.
Hiroaki sensei's wife, Myoko san presented a tea-ceremony for us.
Björn had his 22th birthday on Friday ("Soooo young, ah so desu ne..."), and when that turned out, Kobayashi sensei bought some cake and beer for after the practice.
We visited Saitama University's dojo on Saturday. The feeling is quite different here, very disciplined, a bit military-like, at least during the practice. This was an interesting experience to us.
There was a party after the practice, and everybody tried to make a small talk with us and asked the same questions. We had to tell people one hundred times where Hungary is, what our native language is, what typical Hungarian food look like and similar things. Most of the food was meat, so we stayed hungry and a bit tired at the end...
The most important happening of the week was the trip to Iwama. That was the place where Ueshiba sensei, the Founder of aikido had lived and worked for long years. Kobayashi sensei spent his uchideshi-years here (he was a bit affected to be there again). The Aiki-jinja, the Omoto-kyo Shrine in Iwama, was also built by Ueshiba sensei. There is a ceremony here every year, and we were lucky enough to be in Japan in the right time.
There was a short demonstration after the ceremony (held by the Doshu, the grandchild of Ueshiba sensei). Or perhaps it is better to say that it was part of the ceremony, as Ueshiba sensei considered aikido as a kind of religious praxis.
After the ceremony, every group laid down the sheets (all of them were blue), and the usual party with food and drink started. Doshu walked around, and we were able to take a picture with him.
The altar in Iwama dojo. This was the place where aikido in its current form was born. Kobayashi sensei and many other uchideshi spent 5-10-15 years here, with continous work and practicing.
