Jukendo Training!

On Sunday Mr. Furukawa invited me to come and train with him and his friends in Jukendo. Jukendo is the Japanese martial art of fighting with bayonets. The techniques in Jukendo are like spear fighting. Each person has wooden bayonet and attempts to strike their opponent in the upper left chest region.

It was such a great experience. I learned the 4 main strikes of Jukendo (though I couldn’t really do them very well). I also got to spar. This is where I and another opponent battled to attempt to strike one another in the upper left chest region with our bayonets. It was so much fun. I tried very hard but it was easy for them to block my strikes because they are so experienced.

On the left is me sparring with an opponent!
After I trained in Jukendo we all went out to eat. We had noodles, Yakitori and many other delicious foods. When it came time to pay the bill they told me that they did not want me to pay. They said it was a present. I loved eating lunch with them because these were all true martial artists. There were many conversations about Samurai. They all are striving to be modern day samurai. They believe that Jukendo helps train them to be modern day samurai. One of the men told me he believed that I was "an American Samurai". I can imagine no greater compliment.




Experiences like this make me realize the limits of my own writing abilities. As I look at what I wrote I feel it does no justice to how wonderful an experience this was for me. I loved training in Jukendo. I loved eating the food. I loved being around these men. It was a great experience. I owe this wonderful experience to many people. I want to thank Mr. Furukawa and Masanao Hayashi especially. Masanao thank you for putting me in contact with Mr. Furukawa and all your priceless pieces of information prior to the trip and during the trip. Mr. Furukawa thank you for giving me an unforgettable experience. Your spirit and strength as a human being are an inspiration.

Fireworks in Tokyo

Me and Mr. and Mrs. Iizuka. They hosted the party. They were wonderful hosts.

I got into Tokyo around 2:00 today. I found my hotel, relaxed and got some groceries. Around 5:00 My friend Mr. Fukuwara came by the hotel. He had invited me to come see the fireworks at a party with him tonight. Before we went to the fireworks he showed me all around Asakusa. It was really busy. There were tons of little shops.

We got to the party around 615. The hosts were Mr. and Mrs. Iizuka. They were both very kind. They told me to make myself at home and offered me beer and lots of food. The food was great. I don't know the name of a lot of the food but it was really good. As the night went on I found out that Mrs. Iizuka was a master at Braille art (art for the blind) for children. I loved seeing her pictures and touching them because all the pictures felt so nice and soft.
Some food at the party!

The mother of Ms. Iizuka is 90 years old. She is a master archer in Japan. She teaches classes. I saw her. I could not believe she was 90. She was extremely aware of her surroundings and had no issues climbing 3 flights of stairs. She had focus and poise. It was amazing to meet her. Unfortunately I was too shy to ask for a picture. I actually felt a little bit star struck to be around a woman of her stature. It was incredible. 90 years old and a master archer that teaches people of all ages. She has been training in the art of archer y for 70 years. 70 YEARS!

Mr. Furukawa was very fun (as I am beginning to believe he always is fun! Lots of fun!). He introduced me to Mr. and Mrs. Tsunashima. They were both very kind and spoke good English. Mr. Tsunashima is 53 years old and had just recently run a half marathon in about 2 hours. He is in excellent condition. Mr. and Mrs. Tsuanashima knew that I was coming so they got me a present. It is a beautiful towel that shows the emblems of different Japanese lineages. At first, I told them I wanted to frame it but they told me that I must use it to wipe off my sweat when I do Aikido. I told them it was beautiful and that I would really like to frame it but they insisted that I use it for Aikido. So from here on out this towel will be used for Aikido.

Me, Mr. Fukuwara and Ms. Tsunashima eating food and hanging out.
Mr. Fukuwara is a great host because of his excitement and positive energy. He is probably about 5 feet 5 inches tall (maybe smaller) 63 years old and filled with tons of energy. He is a master in the art of Jukendo and has invited me to train with him tomorrow. I am very excited (and of course a little nervous). He is also in incredible shape. 2 weeks ago Mr. Fukuwara ran a half marathon. I asked him "how long did you train for it?" He laughed and said "I didn't really train". I said "not at all". He said "Well, I tried to run but I only did once a month". He didn't realize how incredible this was. He said it with embarrassment that he didn't train. I listened with astonishment that this man ran a half marathon with no training.

While all this was going on there was awesome ("sugoi" in Japanese) fireworks going on in the background. I enjoyed my time so much.

At the end of the night they wanted to make sure I made it home safely so they went with me on the subway (even though I told them I was sure I would be fine) and gave me very clear directions on how to get to my location. They went out of their way so much to help me.

Me, Mr. Fukuwara, and Mr. Tsunashima (maybe having a little too much fun)

I am constantly filled with gratitude for all the kindness I have been given while in Japan. Repeatedly I have wished that I could speak Japanese for the sole purpose of thanking people for their kindness. Unfortunately I am always left with only being able to bow and state a brief "Domo Arigato".

My impressions of Tokyo

Tokyo was my first stop on my exploration of Japan. Ideally I would have loved to have seeing a lot more sights and explored more but the reality is that the first few days I was a little tentative because I needed to get used to their transportation system, the food, the culture and just feel at ease. Tokyo got my feet wet. I now feel more comfortable in the water. But I did explore enough to get a sense of the city. Tokyo has about 12.5 million people in 840 square miles. So there are a lot of people. In a lot of ways I can feel the western influence in Tokyo. There are Mcdonalds, 7-elevens, pizza huts, and tully’s coffee. Many of the people in Tokyo speak English. With 12.5 million people I am surprised how easy it was to get around once I felt comfortable navigating through the subway system. I also was surprised by how welcoming everyone is when I walk into the store. I don’t know what they said but there was always a greeting. Also, they always bow when you leave and exit. Actually, at 7 eleven is where they gave me the deepest bows. They would hand me the receipt with both hands and bow deeply.

Tokyo is huge and initially is very overwhelming. But after a while I felt comfortable here. There are reminiscences of other major cities with good transit systems. With a city this congested it is impossible to prevent unknown scents from being developed which in some cases would sneak up on me while walking. There is a mass of shopping options in Tokyo. Pretty much anything and everything can be found there.

After being in New York a few times I was expecting Tokyo to be dirtier then it was. Don’t mistake me. Tokyo is not what I would call a clean city. But it is surprisingly well kept considering the mass of people. I will return to Tokyo on July 31 and plan to travel around the city much more extensively now that I feel more comfortable with their transit system. I will update these impressions then.

A wonderful dinner

Tonight I met up with Mr. Kazuo Furukawa for drinks and dinner. He has grown up in Tokyo and has been here most of his life. Kazuosan is very well respected in the Jukendo world (Jukendo is similar to spear fighting). He is one of the top people in the world. I was put in contact with him by Mason Hiyashi (thank you Mason). I know Mason through Aikido. Mr. Furukawa travelled across town to meet me at my hostel so he could take me out for dinner and drinks. Mr. Furukawa was incredibly kind and fun.

We went out to a Japanese pub. We talked about many different things. His english was very good. He was a very kind and humorous man. I loved asking him how to say different things in Japanese. He seemed to enjoy hearing me say the words because obviously my accent was horrid. After we had a few drinks Mr. Furukawa would make me identify the food by it's japanese name before I was allowed to eat it. I loved this game because it gave me the opportunity to practice my japanese and he loved it because it was funny. He introduced me to a japanese cocktail called "sowa". I am sure that I am spelling it wrong as i struggled enough with the pronunciation. "sowa" is a drink that comes in many different flavors. There is an apple sowa, a grape sowa, a lemon sowa, and I am sure there are many others but I don't remember. He got me a lemon sowa. It was excellent. Mr. Furukawa then wanted me to choose food on the menu. I told him that I wanted him to reccomend the food because I love "almost all food". He chose sushi. It was excellent as well. The shrimp, which is called "ebi" in japanese was the most awesome shrimp that exists in the universe. The reason I remember the name is because I had to pronounce it before I could eat it.

At the end of the dinner he asked me "don't you need to go to the bathroom?" I then went to the bathroom because he was correct. I did need to go to the bathroom. Then when I had returned he had paid for the bill. This was incredibly kind of him. He also invited me to train with him at the end of my trip when I am back in Tokyo. He then said after the training they will throw a small party for me. I would say I don't know what I did to deserve this except I know that there wasn't anything I did to deserve this. It was a very fun night.

Training Day 2

So here I am sitting in my room in one of the most famous cities in the world (Tokyo) and I cannot get myself to move because I am in pain. I woke up early this morning so i could get to the dojo at 8:00 to train for a little bit. It was awesome. I was a little bit sore but wanted to take advantage of another training session that was at 4. Let's just say this second training session pretty much dissolved me of all my previous sins (as I have now served my punishment). This training session kicked my ass. The class was super efficient and my partner moved at lightning speed. He tired me out so much. He was throwing me up and down and around on the ground, in the air, everywhere. But he did all of this with a huge smile and much laughter. He was constantly playing with the technique. I have never had my ass kicked so hard and had so much fun having it happen. This guy had me slamming into the mat and laughing while it was happening. He was making all sorts of sounds with his movements. Then he encouraged me to make the sounds and this made me laugh but I also enjoyed it. While i was there I didn't realize how sore I would be because my adrenaline was rushing. But then I got back to my hostel and now I sit here with a mental desire to move and physical desire to do nothing.

Every sensei is unique and very different. Normally for the first 10 or 15 minutes of a class the Sensei will do a warm up. During the second class today all we did for a warm up was 5 minutes of different breathing exercises. As soon as i saw that I knew this class was going to be different. The sensei was probably in his late 70s or early 80s. When he did the techniques he had incredible strength yet he seemed to put no effort forth. Before he got on the mat he walked very slowly like he was old. But then when he stepped on the mat all that was erased. It was crazy. It felt like it was out of a movie.

Everyone I have trained with is very nice. I still have opted to not yell at one of the Yudansha (I think Dennis was wrong).

I love training because it goes beyone language. There are people in this dojo from all around the world and we are all there with the same purpose... To further develop our Aikido. I don't speak any japanese but while I'm training this does not matter. The movements are shown through physical movements not the mouth therefore the lack of language does not hinder our ability to communicate (well maybe it does a little... but not a lot)

Day 1 of training

So today was my first day at Hombo Dojo(this is where i can train for Aikido). They have classes 5 times a day. There classes are exactly an hour long. I went to 2 classes today and I am exhausted. They use the hour very efficiently. Once we begin training we only stop very briefly to see the next technique. The way it was run reminded me of New York Aikai. The training was great. The majority of the individuals there are black belts which initially felt intimidating but did not end up being a big deal. I also remember hearing from many people that in Japan a black belt is not near as difficult to get as it is in the states.

The first thing I want to comment on is the mats on which we train on. If I were an optimist I would say that the mats feel like "soft wood". If I were a pessimist or a realist I would state that the mats feel like wood with a light layer of cloth surrounding them. Taking break falls on this, rolling on this and sitting in seiza is definitely different to say the least. The class is fast paced. One major difference is that you pretty much keep the same partner for the entirety of the class. The pace is fast moving and there is very little talking during training. The classes are very large but there is enough room to train comfortably. I didn't take a count but there had to be around 35 to 40 people there (if not more). I am very sore now but look forward to going back tomorrow.

I decided against the reccomendations of my friend Dennis. Dennis reccomended that I tense up alot, shove a yudansha and then laugh about it. I used my better judgement and decided that Dennis may in fact be wrong...

Regardless training at Hombo Dojo was an awesome experience and I was shocked how smooth, strong, and without pain the techniques of the instructors were. During the class after they show each technique the instructors would do the technique to students so they could feel it. I was shocked how strong the technique felt yet I didn't feel any pain. It was quite eye opening.

On a search for food

I am definitely the type of person that has no issues trying differnt types of food. I rarely get grossed out by any foods. At the same time I do like to know what I am eating. As i walk around this area of Tokyo which is called Shinjuku there are so many different food places. There are little Sushi stands (which i will be getting for lunch today), nooodle places, meat (I didn't say the type of meat cause i have no clue) bowl places, tempura places, and all sorts of others. There is a Mcdonald's and 7 eleven as well. The thing is that at many of the places all of the writing is in Japanese (which makes total sense) and they have a picture of the food. Then in some cases the people don't speak english. This leaves me with the option of pointing and saying "that". Which works out totally fine for me.

Here is the irony in all of this. I find comfort in getting foods that are wrapped in stuff. I don't know why this is? There could be anything inside of this wrapping. I keep on being draw to egg rollish, pot stickerish, and rice ballish foods. The thing is that what they put inside here is similar yet different then what we do in the states. Yesterday I had some eggrolls and skewers with meat on it for dinner. I think it was chicken on the skewers but it tasted slightly different. It could have been the seasoning or it could have been something else. I also had an eggroll. I have no idea what was inside the eggroll. yes, I looked inside of it but I couldn't tell what the stuff was. It tasted good so i kept eating it. That will be my policy, if it tastes good i'll keep eating it.

Finding Hombo Dojo

So I woke up this morning around 7 am which is perfect because it gave me about 9 hours of sleep. I got up and organized myself and then went down to the lobby to find out where Hombo Dojo is. Hombo dojo is the most famous Aikido dojo in the world. It is basically the central location of all Aikido. I would Akin it to the White House of the Aikido World.

I had read in my guide how people in Tokyo don't like to say they don't know where something is so it is always best to ask multiple people how to find a location. this definitley was proven true this morning. Last night I had asked the woman at the counter (her name was Marie and was very nice) how to get to hombo dojo. I showed her a map and gave her the address. I then pulled out another map. She very confidentely explained to me how i could do it. She said it would be about 30 to 40 minutes walking maybe 10 to 15 minutes by public transportation. I decided that I was going to walk it because it gives me a better feel for the city. This morning when i woke up i asked the new person at the counter and he gave me way different directions. Marie had me going in a similar direction except approximately 3 times the distance further. I decided I was going to go with this guys decision simply because his distance was shorter. Well after searching for approximately an hour and a half I finally found the dojo. This is the funny part. His directions were perfect! But Tokyo is confusing. Elibear, this place is definitley not on a grid. It is funny because every person here I show the map too has a difficult time finding where we even are on the map.

It gets better. Hombo Dojo is actually super easy to find. Now, that I know where it is I will easily get there in under 10 minutes from hostel which means I will be training atleast today and tomorrow and possibly Sunday if i can wash my gi on Saturday.

I also find it humorous that had I followed Marie's directions to get to Hombo Dojo I would have probably gotten lost along the way and it wasn't anywhere remotely close to the actual dojo location.

I like travelling around and trying to find things.