I graded for shodan in aikido today. It was like being at a big party much to my surprise. I'd been deliberately not psyching myself into it as if I had spent any time thinking about it at all, I'd have an attack of nerves so I had figured my best tactic was to forget about it as much as possible. Since it had been a busy week workwise, that was easy enough.
For the non-aikidoka among you, getting shodan is the equivalent of getting a blackbelt. It signifies that I've learnt all the foundation techniques and the real journey of learning now begins. Our sensei (teacher) always says the kyu grades (all the grades before shodan) are when one is a baby, and now you begin to walk (at shodan). I think it's very true. It's also for us to remember that learning is a journey and when we're in the process of learning a large body of techniques it can be easy to forget that the real importance of it lies in being able to use it well not just know it.
The fun bit about the grading was really watching my seniors grade. It turned out there was the largest number ever of senior dan grades (all grades shodan and above are dan grades). So there were the usual multiple attacks with weapons which are a joy to watch. The spectacular, and funny, bits all occur during these gradings because it becomes glaringly obvious when someone leaves themselves wide open to attack or not. The was a girl who's very good with strong clean wide technique who was otherwise performing superbly but she kept forgetting to disarm the attacker armed with a wooden knife. She'd very efficiently take him down and then leave the wooden dagger lying in his hand while taking on the second attacker. It was only in round 3 that it occured to her that hey, maybe I should take the knife away so after flattening the guy, so she had to go back and get it out of his hand while he lay on the ground. Which of course made her mistake all the more obvious. But at least she remembered while grading and not after.
I as usual forgot one technique. There's always at least one technique that I forget and this time it was yokomenkaitenage which is a throw that looks like a windmill from an attack to the side of the neck. I ended up having to glance over at my fellow testees to see how they did it before I could figure it out. Fortunately, this isn't regarded as cheating but as common sense during a grading.
Being able to grade with some of the top 1st kyu (grade just before shodan) chaps in my dojo is also why I chose to grade this time around. I just graded last round so I really should have waited till the next round another 4-6 months when I'd have been further along the learning curve and been able to handle the test with ease rather than struggling through. But when I realised what good company I'd have on the mat, I went for it. And sure enough, it was definitely the right crowd to be a part of, not just my own grading but also because after me, the largest ever crowd of senior dan grades graded. That took a lot of stress out of my own grading since it meant that my uke (attacker) wasn't changed halfway through and naturally he got tired during the 45 min long test. And that I had someone to copy from, and that the chief instructor's attention was diverted to the later gradings and that the rest of the 8 person panel almost to a man all had to come down and hit the mat so I'm sure they were more charitable with the marks :).
So as always, gambatte! train on! It's the daily day to day practice that is the ultimately the main thing and is the part I love most, not these highlights.
