Aikido Federation Singapore － Ou Jun Ru (歐駿儒)
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Review of Aikido SG50 Seminar
After attending the Aikido SG50 seminar on 1st November 2015, I feel glad that I’ve attended it.
During this day, all the Aikido Sensei and the trainees gathered in a Dojo to share their Aikido skill and experiences with each other, making friends and hanging out for dinner after it ended. Subsequently, I am also happy to have met many overseas friends who have travelled all the way to Singapore to attend this seminar. I have a lot from this exchange and hope to participate more in similar events.
For this seminar, it is divided into 6 different sections, each taken by different Sensei, Freddy Sensei, Ah Hee Sensei, Harry Sensei, Phillip Sensei, George Sensei, and Fukakusa Sensei. Each section is roughly one hour long.
During the seminar, I’ve learnt more about these following techniques, Shiho Nage, KoteGaeshi, Kokyu Nage, IrimiNage, TenchiNage, KaitenNage, and Suwariwaza Kokyuho.
These are the throwing techniques. Also, there are the locking techniques which are, Ikkyo, Nikyo, Sankyo, Yonkyo, and Gokyo.
Also, we also learnt about the attacking skills such as Shomen Uchi, Yokomen Uchi, Tsuki,Tantotori, Katate-Dori, and Ryote-Dori.
I’ve watched and learnt how different Sensei perform these techniques differently. About how they move away from the attacker and get closer to them, using the momentum of a turn to do a throw or using strikes or wrist lock moves to pin down the enemy.
The way these Sensei performed is very eye-opening and educational to me as this is my first time attending this kind of seminar. The sensei was also very charismatic in the way they performed these techniques. I’ve also gained a lot from their sharing of experiences that they have accumulated over the years of Aikido Training and their road to becoming a Sensei.
The most memorable part of this seminar is that the experience and performance I have gained from the other Sensei from different Dojos, how their techniques differ from the one I’ve learnt.
First of all, will be Philip Sensei. I initially thought all the throwing techniques are all similar, just basically throwing your assailant and pin him down. But Philip Sensei taught me that if the assailant never lets go of his grab on me. I can continue doing subsequent throws after the initial one. For example, start off with YokomenUchi Shiho Nage Home, followed by the Shiho NageUrawaza, then KoteGaeshi and lastly IrimiNage. Although the moves are very flamboyant during the seminar, but it’s really practical and able to apply in an actual situation.
Next up will be Fukakusa Sensei. He has taught me that my movements don’t have to be exaggerated, but small movements with correct angle will suffice in an actual scenario. This is actually practical in a sense as if I exaggerate my movements in an actual fight. It might give the assailant more time to react to my techniques and he will be able to counterback. If using small movements with correct angle, it also helps in saving energy and takes lesser time to perform my technique on the assailant. Thus, it’s a practical skill that I find really applicable to an actual scenario.
So in conclusion, I have learnt a lot from the Sensei from different Dojo about the techniques that is shown and performed by them. I am confident that I will be able to achieve the same result as them in the future as I walk and learn the way of Aikido from them. Learning aikido isn’t just about learning how to defend against your enemy, but also learning how to handle your enemies in emergency situations where I have to take actions against certain people in certain situations. It has been a wonderful experience with everyone that participated and it’s a really big thank you to all the sensei and friends that came from overseas.
In my opinion, I find this seminar is too short, the time that we can spend with the Sensei are too short. I hope that the next seminar can be spread out to maybe like two to three days or maybe as a training camp so that we can spend more time to learn more about other techniques from them. Also so that we can take this opportunity to get to know each other from different Dojos better.