Bandung Aikido Seminar

Thanks to our friends in Kiryokukai Indonesia, we got a chance to visit the beautiful city of Bandung, and also enjoy the wonderful hospitality put up by the various sensei.

Training.

Training was held at the Maranatha dojo which is actually a university of a high prestige, I learned it from the taxi driver when I told him ‘Maranatha something’ he uttered something in Indonesian Malay as good and reputable.

Training was on a Saturday afternoon, and the place was air conditioned… thankfully!

The warm up was lead by Ketut sensei and we went through a series of ukemi exercise, which gradually advanced in difficulty. While I had never done such exercise in the dojo before, I was thankful that my curiosity lead me explore my own ukemi online and I did learned a couple of feather falls in youtube, very similar to those practiced by our Indonesian friends.

The ukemi exercise was great as it was the first time I have the aid of a living person. most of the time I did the feather falls, holding onto my gym bench. It worked, but a person would have been much better.

Harry sensei’s class

Harry sensei took the later 2 classes and he went thought the basics, which was mostly concentrated on making sure that our Aikido exercise don’t kill or maim us prematurely. Harry sensei explained that the testament of him still an Aikidoka at almost eighty, was his ability to evolve and find the best technique to protect ourselves.

We might be young and we can say with gusto that we can take the pain, when we get hurt. Harry sensei’s logic is “You can get over the pain, but you cannot get over the injury!” For a sensei who has seen his fair hare of injuries over the last 50 odd years in Aikido, you cannot argue with that!

Simple but difficult moves

Trademark to Harry sensei, he does no fancy stuff. It was all basic techniques, done in very small circles at a very advanced level. There is perceptively very little movement, it looked like an innocent tsunami about to happen.

As his students, we have to present ourselves in the best light, and also train hard with out fellow Indonesian Aikidokas.

“You can get over the pain, but you cannot get over the injury!”

Pin

When Harry sensei pins a person, the person will not get up ever. He did it to me, and got one of the Indonesian Aikidoka interested and he had a long chat with Harry sensei, asking about how it was done and all those stuff.

Harry sensei did it again during kokyu-ho, and this time he pinned Vincent sensei with his right had, and later with his left, dominant hand. Vincent sensei couldn’t get up, at all.

Kiryokukai aikidokas

The students are very earnest and hungry to learn. Those on the mats don’t mull around, they will go forward with their catch and there is no hesitation. The lack of English wasn’t a barrier at all as we all speak ‘aikido’. Some of them with better English will ask pointers in positioning and hand movement. They were a bunch of learners and they will go far with that attitude.

The fundamental learning curve of a junior belt don’t go away, most of them came too close, and I have to kick one of the junior belts at the shin. He got the message and adjusted his distance. Some have stances that can be improved, which they did the moment I correct them, they are quick in their learning too.

The senior belts there are very experience and dynamic in their movements. Their catch is strong and the movements are those of seasoned, well trained Aikidokas. I learned quite a fair bit training with them and it was a good and happy environment, the perfect place for Aikido to grow, and foster goodwill.

Demonstration

We ended the session with a demonstration, and Harry sensei used James, Tri, Vincent sensei and myself as uke and he gave the Indonesians a glimpse of the level of Aikido Harry sensei practices at.

My First Photo with Harry Sensei

It was in this trip that I finnaly pluck up the courage to ask for a personal photograph with Harry sensei. I have been in Aikido for more than 20 years, and never once taken a photograph with Harry sensei. I told Edna, it was like a kid on Christmas day, getting his long awaited, hard fought present. I was beaming from ear to ear. It is always such a joy to train with Harry sensei, despite of his stern demeanor. He makes me a happy student and being happy is a good place to practice Aikido.