The big three in Tomiki Aikido

Recently this document was published on Face Book. It is a fascinating paper for you Tomiki lineage historians out there. It was the core curriculum of the tradition at that time.

 I am guessing this paper comes from the Yamada line out of Europe. My other guess is that this dates from the early 1960s. Although these are complete guesses - I do have a pretty good record of Tomiki document guess work so far. I will edit as I learn more information.

The first thing to note is there are three major exercises. The Tandoku - meaning solo exercise. Then there is the Sotai - which is the paired exercises. Then there is the base techniques. At the time of this printing Tomiki Sensei had 20 techniques. Preious to this Tomiki's 15 had been what was practiced. This appears to be an evolutionary bridge between Tomiki's early 15 to the 17. In my mind this demonstrates that the meat and potatoes of the system has long been what I consider the big three - what in America we often call the walk, the releases and the 17.

There is a lot to process on for the Tomiki lineage historian. Notice this is labeled as a Judo kata. Aikido is not mentioned. There has long been talk that Tomiki Sensei had been trying to introduce aiki waza into the Kodokan. While he succeeded in doing that with the Goshin Jitsu kata, perhaps this paper shows his goal for a comphrensive system of aiki for the judo world. Along this same thinking - the old film of Tomiki sensei doing aikido is called Judo Taiso.

 Lots to ponder. Of course these are all just leading up to randori.

Shodan Certificate

Last night Matl Sensei informed my that it was time to promote one of my students to shodan - black belt. I respect Sensei's opinion. I do not do any grading of my own group. I let my seniors decide on all gradings for the people that train with me.

I have long dreamed of having a artistic certificate for the aikido group that I teach. I have only had two guys so far reach this grade, and I have never made a certificate before. I have long been disappointed in most certificates - I don't want to hand my students and friends a photocopy, I want to hand them a piece of art as a reward for the art that they have developed in their own practice.

This is made from the canvas that covered the floor of the dojo I first learned aikido on in Lewisville, Texas. Years later, after my sensei gifted it to me, it became the floor covering of my first dojo in Austin. Sweat, blood and a lot of training stained the canvas. It is now the fabric that makes the certificates for the unfortunate few that call me teacher. It has 'ki'.

The symbol is ancient Chinese for 初. It means beginning or first rank. The pictograph is scissors cutting into cloth as a beginning of making clothing. Cool. I love getting into the old Chinese meanings of words. Poetry.

Eventually the bottom right will be covered in signatures of high muckity-mucks.

Kakushitoride

I have bumped into a few of this guys videos over the past few months. I like his thinking and relaxed nature of his work. He has about 50 videos up so you can spend a bit of time getting into his art.







Kakushitoride YouTube