Junior Aikido National Meet at The Budokan

Just before we left for the UK we went to the annual national meet in Tokyo, the kids all seem to love it but it is quite hard to get pictures of them because there are about 2,400 kids in there!

They start off with a speech and warm up, they they are split into age groups. Ebi-kun is now in the 3rd group, which is 5th and 6th graders. From our dojo there was only 1 kid for the junior high group and he didn't want to do it by himself so Ebi-kun had to double up and train with the JH kids too. He actually loved it because he got to learn some moves that normally he wouldn't get to try yet. I imagine the sensei all thought he had a growth defect of something, he is little for his age as it is!

Then each dojo gets a few minutes to do a display of the their skills. There are 5 marked areas and it all moves pretty quickly. Ebi-kun is throwing H-chan in this pic, can you spot him?

 Then the university dojo's get to show off their skills, it still amazes me how little amount of effort seems to take place and then the opponent is on the floor...

Finally the head dojo have their sensei come and strut their stuff, more throwing around...

And finally, the great grandson of the chap who founded aikido comes on, does a speech and, yes, you guessed it, throws a load of people around. He starts with just the one but then moves onto three...

Thankfully it wasn't too hot this year, Ebi-kun left a happy bunny !

Saitama Prefecture Aikido Meet

Aikido is a non competitive sport so instead of tournaments, the organization arranges display meet ups. This year it was held at Koshigaya, about an hours drive away.

This was a kids meet up and about 170 kids were there. Normally, at his own dojo I can spot Ebi-kun easily because he is the only one with an orange belt but here there were belts of every colour and some tiny kids in the mix too.

After the warm up, the big sensei demonstrated a move then the kids paired up to practice, it was a bit dangerous having so many kids on the mats at once! They could have done with a few more mats down I think.

The sensei's wandered among the kids checking that they were doing it correctly and they also got to practice with kids from other dojo's. There are a couple of kids or 'the naughty boys' as Ebi-kun calls them that mess around a lot so he doesn't like working with them.

After an hour of practice, it was display time. Each Dojo had 4 minutes to strut their stuff. Ebi-kun was paired up with 'big naughty boy'! You can't see the belt but he's the one with his feet in the air!

The kids seemed to enjoy it and it was the right time of year, in the winter the dojo is freezing and in the summer it's like a hothouse! They finished off with a group shot but I couldn't quite get everyone in, 10p if you can spot the boy...

Next Sunday it's back to the regular dojo and the Sunday after that my mom will be here to watch!

Aikido Grading

Yesterday was grading day at Aikido. There were only 4 kids being tested this time round, you have to attend a certain amount of practices to be eligible for grading, Ebi-kun rarely misses training so I think he has done every grading since he started.

His opponent is a JH student and quite a bit bigger than him! This lads family all do Aikido. I can't tell you the names of the moves, so here are some pictures instead!

The final part is when one of the adults throws the kids 10 times...

Turned out to be a busy day, after the grading we went into Omiya. Had a lovely lunch at an Italian place then the boys went off to watch the opening match for the new football season, and I went for a mooch around the shops and a nice coffee with my book! I don't like to strain myself!

We have to wait about a month to find out if he passed his test, I will let you know...

Aikido and blow darts...

Recently, we have been the first to arrive at Aikido so Ebi-kun has been getting some 1:1 lesson, bonus! The other kids seem to arrive 30 minutes late.

I think we only have a week or two left at this dojo and then we go back to the usual place, it has been refurbished so we weren't able to train there for a few months.

This week there was a stamp rally going on in the rest of the building and one of the activities was traditional dart blowing. Somehow I got roped into having a go, it was  good fun and I'm pretty chuffed with my score - plus I beat all the lads hahahaha.

This is a sport I could take up!

The boys went off and did the rest of the rally and Ebi-kun ended up winning a pot plant. Fun for all concerned, I love these random festivals that we accidentally stumble upon!

Ebi-kuns Aikido Training

I don't always go to Aikido training with the boys, it depends if I think the Dojo will either be freezing cold or way to hot and if I have other stuff to be doing at home. It was good to go any after a break and see how Ebi-kun is doing…

He's a lot more confident these days and much happier at school, which is obviously good!