{"id":2856,"date":"2025-02-07T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2025-01-24T23:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T04:32:11","slug":"navigating-chiba-what-not-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=2856","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Chiba – What Not to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Norman Wight
North County Aikikai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day I was training with Yahe Solomon in the dojo on University Avenue in San Diego. From behind me I heard Sensei\u2019s voice. (I never did hear him coming up behind me – ever). He said, \u201cNorman. You test?\u201d (There was testing the next day.) I said, \u201cI do not plan to test, Sensei. I only have a few hours of training since the last test.\u201d He said, \u201cYou test.\u201d And he walked away. Yahe said, \u201cLooks like you are testing.\u201d After my test the next night, Sensei said, \u201cNot pass. Not ready yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any time we were lined up on the mat, waiting for Sensei to come out and start class, there was always an electricity in the air. And maybe some fear. He\u2019d come out, finishing up the ties on his hakama, and then take us to places we\u2019d never been before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At testing, about once every three months, after the tests, the Senior Council would go back into the kitchen area with Sensei and after passing most of the junior students testing, he\u2019d turn our attention to the more senior students. He would say to me, \u201cNorman. What you think?\u201d I\u2019d say, \u201cI think (he or she) should pass.\u201d Then I\u2019d say why. Sensei would sometimes say, \u201cTosh! Your eyes they cannot see. Not pass. Norman. You talk.\u201d That meant that when we went back out, I had to tell the student they didn\u2019t pass, and why. I had no idea why they didn\u2019t pass. So I had to make something up \u2013 quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One night we had testing, and Yahe was taking ukemi. He was challenging the student testing and I thought to myself, \u201cYahe, you better be careful. Sensei isn\u2019t going to like this.\u201d Afterward, in the kitchen, Sensei said the student passed, and Yahe was being demoted. He asked for comments. I said, \u201cSensei, it seems to me that once a student gets his rank, it should be for life, even if he makes a mistake.\u201d By the time he was done with me, I was pretty sure I was going to be demoted, along with Yahe. It turned out he was demoted. I wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one talked on the mat when Sensei taught. He said, \u201cIf they want to learn a technique, they\u2019ll have to steal it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day I was teaching a noon class and Sensei walked into the dojo. He watched for less than a minute, and then started teaching the class, in his street clothes. After about twenty minutes he left. It wasn\u2019t that I was teaching anything wrong, it was just that Sensei had somewhere he wanted to go with it. For him, a technique was only a part of an overall program. A technique was related to the technique before it, and the one after it. Like a symphony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norman WightNorth County Aikikai One day I was training with Yahe Solomon in the dojo on University Avenue in San Diego. From behind me I heard Sensei\u2019s voice. (I never did hear him coming up behind me – ever). He said, \u201cNorman. You test?\u201d (There was testing the next day.) I said, \u201cI do not … <\/p>\n

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