Aikido Training With Our Sensei

Today we had an awesome Aikido class in Kyoto.

Aikido is a Japanese martial art that is based on not hurting yourself or your opponent. When we walked in, we saw our instructor who had a huge and awesome metal sword in his hand.

We learned a bit of history, and then we practiced some techniques where we would grab the other persons wrist and knock them down. We also practiced some falling where we would roll forwards and backwards if we fell down. We also learned a technique where if two people were grabbing you, you would raise your arms in the air and then turn around and throw them to the ground, because they wouldn’t be able to hold you anymore because it would really hurt their arms. So, we drilled that for a while and it was a ton of fun doing it. We also learned a move where if only one person was holding you, you would put your arm into them and stick your leg behind theirs, so they would fall behind you. After doing those, we learned how to unsheathe a knife while in combat, and we learned how to quickly unsheathe and slice with your sword. Next, we did a move where if someone had a knife and they were trying to stab you, you would roll away and run.

 

Then, we did it where he had a fake wooden knife and we would dodge it. After that, he did it with a wood sword. Then, it got really scary, but awesome!  Our sensei pulled out his real and sharp metal sword and we dodged it.

We had a great time learning some of the basics of Aikido. I really enjoyed it, and I think we all loved it.  Our instructor was awesome too.

Here’s a video of us getting thrown by our sensei!