by Robert Wolfe
Members of Itten Dojo should please note that on Saturday,
April 30th, we will not hold the regular aikido and jo practices.
Instead, there will be a two-hour open mat period, followed by a thorough
Spring-cleaning of the dojo. Provided we have enough people to help, cleaning
will take no more than an hour and a half. Once we’re done, we’ll head to
The Mikado Japanese restaurant for lunch (the lunch menu is identical to the
dinner menu, but at half price, and you’ll be too full to eat again that day).
Josh Freeman’s Dojo
On Saturday, March 12th, Alan Starner and I
traveled to Gaithersburg, Maryland, to see the magnificent dojo Josh Freeman has
constructed. Josh lives on a beautiful farm, and talked for years of the
possibility of turning an old barn on one corner of the property into a dojo.
That’s exactly what he’s done. From the outside, there’s nothing to
indicate the structure is anything other than an old, if well maintained, barn,
but step through the door and you’re in a different world.
An entrance pathway of imposing steppingstones takes the
visitor over a bed of polished river gravel and across an interior pond (fed by
water splashing into and overflowing a huge, granite basin). A wooden landing
leads to the dressing rooms on the lower level, or to an oak staircase —
flanked by two antique, temple-guardian statues — providing access to the dojo
proper on the upper level. The lower level also houses a complete apartment for
visiting instructors.
Ascending the stairs, the first thing catching the eye is the
fact the railing around the top of the stairs has been fashioned into a rack for
jo. And then one sees the dojo, itself.
The interior structure of the old barn has been completely
cleared and replaced with steel I-beams so that the entire second floor of the
barn is open, allowing a 70+ tatami mat, a hardwood floor practice area to boot,
and a ceiling height of 22 feet. The shomen is tokonoma-style, and contains
artwork and weapons. The dojo is heated with forced air. There is no air
conditioning, but the high ceiling (with multiple ceiling fans) and the existing
floor-to-ceiling exterior doors that can be pinned open insure plentiful
ventilation and comfortable training even during the Maryland summer. Lighting
fixtures on the ceiling are framed and covered shoji-style, providing practical
and esthetic illumination.
This dojo must be seen to be believed. Although clearly not doing Josh’s dojo any justice, here are some photos I shot with my camera-phone:
Alan and I had planned to train with Josh and our former
instructor at the Maryland Budokai, Bill Knight (who we’ve not seen in more
than three years), affording them the chance to have a look at the aikido
we’re doing nowadays. What we weren’t expecting, but turned out to be a very
pleasant surprise, was that we were also joined by Mr. Arvind Rajguru of the
Great Falls Budokan and one of his senior assistants, Joe Simms. Anyone knowing
Mr. Rajguru and Mr. Simms can guess that a very rousing afternoon ensued —
without a doubt, we had a great time.
We’ve taken a different path than our former compatriots, but it was deeply satisfying in a way I hadn’t anticipated to be able to get together with these former instructors and colleagues and just train, and we wish Josh the best of luck with his new dojo.
Aikido News and Notes
The focus for aikido training in April will be the sankyu
test set requirements. Persons working on gokyu and yonkyu test set waza should
be sure to get to open mat periods for the help and/or instruction needed.
Although regular classes will always be structured such that fundamental
techniques are reviewed very frequently, as the focus of the overall plan shifts
to the higher level test sets more junior students must exercise responsibility
for their own progress and get with instructors outside of formal classes.
If you have a bokuto, be sure to bring it to practice on the 5th and 7th, along with your jo. For the “weapons week” this month, we’ll be introducing fundamentals of aikitoho (swordsmanship for aikido) and then applying these fundamentals in some kumijo (jo vs. sword kata).
SMR Jo News and Notes
Persons planning to join the caravan to New Jersey for Shinto
Muso-ryu Jo practice at Shutokukan Dojo on April 24th should be sure
to let me know so that adequate transportation can be arranged. Subsequent trips
are planned for May 22nd and June 26th.
Details of the SMR Jo National Gasshuku, scheduled for the 4th
through 6th of August at Kenyon College in Ohio, have been posted at www.shinto-muso-ryu.org
(along with an online registration form). To aid the persons coordinating this
event, please register immediately if you’re planning to attend. Rumor has it
there is a 90% chance Nishioka Sensei will be on hand. For all those lucky
enough to be present at the 2003 Gasshuku, having the chance to meet and train
one-on-one with Nishioka Sensei was the highlight of the event, and something
we’ll never forget. At that time, it wasn’t anticipated that Nishioka Sensei
would be returning to the United States, so this is a completely unexpected
opportunity, not to be missed. Please register today.