Aikido Demonstration

Aikido was fun. I walked to the police station in the morning and Ogata-san arrived to pick me up. She had her two children, Ken and Ryo, with her as well as her husband. They seem like a nice family and the kids were good. Children do always natter on at you in their own language, as if you were fluent, however. I was given a bottle of water by one of the children along with the words “Here you are,” and they offered to buy me an onigiri at the convenience store that we stopped at. We found our dojo members easily, and then went to change into our uniforms. We came back and pottered about for a while. I spoke with someone called Sawake, I think, who is a highway maintenance engineer who started aikido at about the same time as me), and another guy, whose name I have obviously forgotten, from Hiroshima. I really cannot hold more than a couple in my head at once. We formed our lines, had a small practice, and then went to queue up for our performance.

Our quick two minutes of fame were fun. I was paired with a child about two-thirds my height, which meant I had to be gentle. Thus, I could do my moves slower and hopefully it looked like I knew them, but could not perform them due to the stature of my partner. I really had to duck down, as I had to twist under his shoulder. It was fun though, but over very quickly. We did seven moves: three with a knife (that is, a lump of wood), and only two where I had to defend. Attacking is much easier! Afterwards, we were given goody-bags, though I was not too surprised about this, since I helped put them together in the factory line that we formed last Sunday. I had a grapefruit sports drink, some potato sticks, and a pen on the end of a mobile phone chain. We changed back into our normal clothes, and the Ogata’s went off shopping. I stayed to watch some of the rest of the demonstration, though it was rather boring and I nodded off a bit. I think I am much more interested in doing, rather than watching.

I wondered around Tenjin in the rain after the demonstration ended. I went to Best Denki to look at camera prices, and I realised that the post office was shut today, since it is Vernal Equinox Day, a Japanese national holiday. It all sounds rather pagan to me.