(no subject)
This last weekend was Ireisai at our aikido style's home shrine (also, the only Shinto shrine in mainland USA and one of two shrines on the North American mainland). Sensei went from Tomiki Aikido, to Shin-Ryu Aikido here.
I was fortunate enough to participate in the aiki taisai component of the weekend, though only on Sunday. We were told just how good Sensei's Sensei is, but that didn't keep me from being blown away by just how fluid and powerful his movements were. His relaxed demeanor, smiling all the while and effortlessly talking and explaining while flowing better than I've ever seen was something else. I've always been consistently dumbstruck at how good Sensei is, but as he said before we went to Ireisai, "You may think I throw pretty good, but it's nothing like my Sensei. When performing technique with him, it's like hitting a brick wall." Words can't really do the movements and the experience proper justice. It was great to train there, to meet new and well-experienced people, and begin learning new techniques/variations. They also did things differently than us, which made me feel they were far more like Yoshinkan/Keijutsu Aikido (I'm now guessing Sensei borrowed a great deal more from Tomiki Aikido than I had previously imagined).
Sensei talked more about him last night after training ended. He's the shrine keeper/priest there; an unpaid,full-time life. He's quite a guy. He's quite fluent in Japanese (which is rather important, as every day he chants and prays in the language...it has a very interesting canter, which I had only gotten to experience in this, my first time to a shrine), and will often mix a great deal of Japanese into his explanations. More often than not, he ended sentences in his explanations with "desu ne."
Anyway, the only downside other than not being able to go both Friday and Saturday is that I didn't arrive in time to take part in Misogi Shuho...I felt it was an important part of the experience, and I figure I need to take a dip into the ol' Pilchuck River at least once. The upside is that another student had suggested that those interested schedule at least monthly trips to Kannagara Jinja to train under Sensei' Sensei (and with his students...if those who I worked with are any indication, they're all good). I feel like I learned a great deal from the one session there, and if I could make that a regular thing I'd be far better off. Plus I'll get to do misogi shuho on a hot summer morning....it'd be slightly more welcomed then.