Valencia (Xàtiva) Tomiki Aikido

STUDY GROUP TOMIKI AIKIDO - Thursday 20th November 2014 Today there was a large group; we were joined by students from Bulgaria, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and England UK. Michael Thraves lead the group through our Spine warming and loosening exercises. For, "first timers", Ivanka 1st Dan & Valentin 3rd Dan from Bulgaria, these movements seemed so strange to them.
Yoshiomi Inuoe then requested foot and hand movements. We performed them in the way of Yamada sensei. It was requested that we practise something relevant to that required in Saturday's JAA Grading. Inuoe sensei chose elements of Koryu Dai Yon. He brought a perspective to some of the movements which was very interesting. After the class we all went to Bar El Parque for a light meal and refreshments. More Study Group Tomiki Aikido Sessions . . . Friday, Saturday & Sunday in Almussafes, SPAIN Report by Vicente Bosch (Thursday) Class with Yoshiomi Inoue, Adrian Tyndale, Pierre-Alain Zeiter and Michael Thraves 20/11/2014: A big turnout for our usual Thursday class since many of the seminar participants where already in Almussafes. A part from our usual attendants we had some newcomers from Bulgaria (Ivanka and Valentin) training with us for the very first time. Class started being led by Michael Sensei, we performed our usual Martial Kiko Exercises (TEFKABFA), some Unsoku Undo and Tandoku Undo ( 50 ties style ) After our exercises Inoue Sensei took over and performed an overview of Koryu No Kata Dai Yon as it would both benefit the people performing the grading on Saturday and also the rest of the attendants due to the richness and complexity of this kata. As we only had the tatami area for an hour and a half we got up to the 6th Technique of the 3rd section. During the whole section we covered a checklist of things that should be present in the techniques: - Using a slight lean on our body (to create a tension with our weight) to initiate certain movements - Keeping a safe distance between Uke and Tori - Initiating movement by first shifting the weight to create kuzushi and afterwards moving the legs - Driving the movement from the centre (with the hips) and afterwards moving the feet - Relaxing the arms - Keeping the same distance between both knees - Stretching Uke by performing Jodan kuzushi on one hand and Gedan on the other (a la Tenchi nage) to create a diagonal tension in our body Just a few of the finer points that were covered (and of course in a specific manner for each technique) during the class. After the class dinner at our usual Bar in Almussafes with some fun conversations regarding our ... strange exercises More tomorrow at 19:00
	STUDY GROUP TOMIKI AIKIDO - Friday 21st November 2014 Today we celebrated the largest number of participating countries in a Study Group Tomiki Aikido session. There were students and teachers from Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, England UK, Scotland UK and Ukraine.
Thank you to everyone for making this an occasion to remember. In the front of the class were teachers ranging from 7th to 4th Dan; they almost equalled the students in number. Michael Thraves lead the group through our Spine warming and loosening exercises. Adrian Tyndale then led the group through foot and hand movements in the way of Yamada sensei. Yoshiomi Inoue Sensei ran the first session and Eddy Wolput the second. With Inoue Sensei we practised Tegatana and Shotei Awase from his interesting and simple perspective, which in practise proved to be much more difficult. He made several comments, some main points were: • Push from the hips • Don’t lean to create the movement • Keep Tegatana • Don’t make it a fight The exercise developed on to an application of Sumiotoshi. This featured a relaxed arm approach. Inoue Sensei illustrated his point about the weight of the relaxed arm using a large bottle of water. Eddy Wolput continued the session with his ideas on O Mawashi (Major Circle). • Both gripped hands are active • The front wrist is gripped and an action similar to that of a pendulum starts, which promotes the grasping of the rear wrist. • Step away from Uke, 45°. • Bring the gripped arm down with the lowering of the hip. • Spirally rotate the body, starting with the hips then moving to the middle area, then finally move to the shoulder line as the arm naturally opens and extends. Some pointers were: • Don’t think about the Kuzushi or breaking balance. • Don’t think about throwing Uke • Work on good and natural movement. • Try to do the movement first slowly with Uke correcting errors rather than exploiting the errors in order to block Tori. As a comment and something suggested by Oba Sensei once, Uke should lift the trailing leg up to assist the natural flow of the movement. This actually worked very well and blocking was not possible. After this stimulating session we all went again to Bar El Parque for conversation, a light meal and refreshments. More Study Group Tomiki Aikido Sessions . . . Saturday & Sunday in Almussafes, SPAIN
STUDY GROUP TOMIKI AIKIDO - Saturday 22nd November 2014 Today was a large group again; we were joined by more students from Spain. Eddy Wolput ran the morning session and he started with a deeper explanation of our spine warming and loosening routine.
More benefit is gained by slower movements in an attempt to "Wake up" different areas of the body. These exercises are whole body movements and with this they are tiring on the muscles when executed correctly. Questions were answered and difficulties explored. From individual exercises we moved to pair exercises. In both cases we are making an awareness of the Hara. Next we used Tegatana Awase to explore the concept of moving your partner by stretching the skin. This can be pulled or pushed. This study led onto that of keeping or taking the centre. Eddy asked if anyone had any questions. After the first, this had a knock-on effect which lead to more questions. We studied Shomen Ate & Aigamae Ate and with some interesting outcomes in regards to the point of kuzushi. After lunch we looked at Refereeing and under the supervision of Yoshiomi Inuoe. After a brief explanation of the format and basic rules, students were given the opportunity to line judge. As the afternoon progressed there were several points raised and discussed both with the players and the Judges. This was a very useful and informative session. To close the day there was a JAA Dan Grade Examination to 3rd Dan level. There were four candidates. Names with their new grades are listed below: Nicolas Lopez Sanfelix 3rd Dan Jose Antonio Perez Bas 2nd Dan Alfonso Ruiz Luz 2nd Dan Vicente Bosch Campos 1st Dan Congratulations to all on a successful and good Grading. Additional thanks go to Gitte Wolput for her assistance as Uke. In the evening we celebrated with drinks and a "eat as much as you can" meal at the Free Wok, Alzira. JAA Registration Menjo Fees - 2014 Shodan 10,000 JPY Nidan 12,000 JPY Sandan 16,500 JPY Yondan 43,000 JPY Godan 53,000 JPY Rokudan 63,000 JPY More Study Group Tomiki Aikido Sessions . . . Sunday in Almussafes, Spain
	STUDY GROUP TOMIKI AIKIDO - Sunday 23rd November 2014 This morning we had a small select group of students. Eddy Wolput ran this session and he started with an in depth explanation of our spine warming and loosening routine which reinforced some of the points he made yesterday.
The action of simply rolling back from a sitting position was used to illustrate active and passive parts of the spine. Starting sitting the spine is stretched, the active part, at the same time the chin moves towards the tailbone, the passive action. The body then rolls backwards. Next, and as the body rolls forwards, the chest area is stretched, the active part. Simultaneously the chin moves away from the tailbone, the passive part. The whole sequence keeps repeating in a pulsating way. This simply demonstrates a concept which should be applied in our Aikido in order to optimize our movements. The balance of the session was devoted to feedback, comments and pointers regarding yesterday’s grading. This was not to take anything away from the excellent performances but to communicate constructive comment in order to provide a positive route to improve. After lunch Yoshiomi Inuoe took the "Stage" with his own and uniquely special concepts. There was a brief and much needed stretch to start followed by foot and hand movements in the style of Yamada Sensei. We started with some interesting ideas and wrist movements when applied to Tegatana Awase and Shotei exercises. This neatly led onto a "soft touch" control of the arm of Uke. With this the elbow is the main element then the wrist with a "hook and pick" action and at the same time "binding" the body. These are words frequently used by Inuoe sensei when describing some of his actions. Some applications were explored which included Shomen Ate, Aigamae Ate, Oshitaoshi & Sumiotoshi. What a fantastic weekends training. Thanks go to all, Teachers and Students alike, some having travelled many miles to make this a truly great and memorable occasion. For a full report of the weekend with pictures and comments please see the pdf, which will be published in due course. http://www.aikidouk.co.uk/study-group/study-group-tomiki-aikido-20141120-23.pdf
MORE STUDY GROUP TOMIKI AIKIDO SESSIONS . . . 10 - 14DEC2014 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM 02 - 04JAN2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM 30 - JAN - 01FEB2015 with Adrian Tyndale in Almussafes, SPAIN 13 - 15FEB2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM 20 - 22MAR2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM 17 - 19APR2015 with Eddy Wolput in Margate, Kent UK 15 - 17MAY2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM 19 - 21JUN2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM	PROPOSED SESSIONS FOR 2015 10-12JUL2015 with Eddy Wolput in Margate, Kent UK provisional 31JUL-02AUG2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM provisional 11-13SEP2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM provisional 16-18OCT2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM provisional 13-15NOV2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM provisional 11-13DEC2015 with Eddy Wolput in Antwerp, BELGIUM provisional
For archived Study Group Tomiki Aikido reports please see: http://www.aikidouk.co.uk/study-group-reports.htm