Yamada Sensei’s Special Class at the LI Aikikai
May 5th, 2010On April 16, 2010 Hagihara Sensei and the members of the Long Island Aikikai hosted Yamada Sensei (USAF Shihan) for a special class which was held at the Bay Shore dojo. This was Yamada’s Sensei’s first visit to the Bay Shore dojo, and in anticipation of his arrival Adam Pilipshen, Long Island Aikikai’s Dojo Cho went to great lengths to insure that everything was well coordinated. For my own part I had volunteered to provide Yamada Sensei with transportation for the round trip between New York City and Long Island. I arrived at the New York Aikikai well ahead of schedule and was lucky enough to meet Mike Abrams, a well respected officer of the United States Aikido Federation’s Board of Directors. Mike was very cordial and asked that his best wishes be passed on to Hagihara Sensei. Not unexpectedly, Yamada Sensei was ready to depart on schedule. It was at this point that I learned that Yamada Sensei was to be accompanied by two noteworthy members of the New York Aikikai, Noriko Oba (Yondan) and Mike Jones (Nidan) who manages the New York Aikikai’s dojo. The trip out of the city on that Friday afternoon wasn’t overly onerous, but the eastward crawl along the various eastbound highways of Long Island left something to be desired.
We arrived at the dojo just minutes after 5:00 PM, leaving plenty of time for Yamada Sensei and Hagihara Sensei to exchange greetings and to catch up on events since their last meeting. Ever attentive to Yamada Sensei’s needs, Noriko disappeared shortly after arriving at the dojo only to return minutes later with a large espresso which Yamada Sensei seemed to relish greatly. Students began to arrive at the dojo shortly after 6:00 PM, and by 6:45 the mat was full from one end to the other. Yamada Sensei bowed in at 7:00 PM and humbly expressed his thankfulness to the students for the invitation extended to him. He then began with Kokyu Undo, a set of breathing exercises that is used to settle the mind (spirit) and create a sense of awareness. Yamada Sensei then began with a ryotetori tenchinage technique, off-balancing nage into a backward stretch. Shortly after this, Yamada Sensei had the students complete the technique, with the ukes falling and rolling wherever there was space. After a short period Yamada Sensei stopped class to provide explanation on the three basic ways of entering into a technique. From there, he progressed into to a katatetori kokyunage technique. After observing the class for several minutes, Yamada Sensei further elaborated on nage’s preparedness to extend and put “power into the arm”. After demonstrating this technical explanation on Noriko and Mike, Yamada Sensei selected a few of the other students to grab his wrist in order to gain a clearer and more concrete understanding of what he was looking for. Being one of those fortunate students I certainly gained an immediate sense of Yamada Sensei’s technique, and as we continued to train I looked to impart that basic understanding to my other practice partners. The class progressed into several other techniques, including an interesting kaitennage. At this point I was paired up with both Noriko and Mike J., and was pleased when the intensity of training was raised by a notch or two. I enjoyed being thrown by Mike J., whose pace was quick and techniques were executed with a good deal of well controlled power. Noriko kept the pace going and I was not surprised when her techniques were just as powerful as Mikes. Needless to say their ukemi was also at a high level, making my techniques look equally smooth and competent.
Yamada Sensei continually walked the length of the mat space, stopping here and there to offer a comment or a quick demonstration to a pair of students. Looking around the mat I was pleased to see that all of the students, from senior dan ranks to new white belts were smiling and enjoying the class. As with anything that is greatly enjoyable, the class seemed to end before anyone wanted it to.
Festivities were planned and after a quick change a large group of us departed for Shiki, a Japanese restaurant just a short distance from the dojo. Adam had reserved the large tatami room, but it was still a tight squeeze, and we ended up with some students at a separate, nearby table. Yamada Sensei was cheerful throughout dinner, and he and Hagihara Sensei enjoyed a good laugh now and then with lively interaction with many of the students seated nearby. Mike J. and Adam exchanged some basic information on dojo management, student retention and training in between mouthfuls of sushi. Ever mindful of his heavy schedule, Yamada Sensei eventually had to say his good-byes.
The car ride back to the New York Aikikai was thankfully not as long as the trip out. Yamada Sensei, Noriko and Mike J. were returned safely just after midnight. Yamada Sensei was very thankful for the efforts extended by all the members of the Long Island Aikikai, and I would hope that in the near future he would be willing to come out and visit us again.
John O’Connor






