(Aikido Shodan Grading Essay) by Ryo Takamatsu Before digging into the reasons of taking a grading test, I would like to write about the reasons why I wanted to study Aikido. The technique of AIkido is not always necessarily a physical performance but its teaching is rather focused on how you have nourished your mental preparation not to cause a fight throughout day-to-day trainings. For instance, I always try to think of what I really want to protect when the real case happens such as my family, best friends and could be my future wife and kids. Its always the best if no one gets hurt but I too train the physical techniques because if the fight is unavoidable even after having tried to evade it, I must not still get involved in a potentially intense fight, crime, condition, or situation to protect what I want to protect beside them. So even when I get into to a violent situation, I can avoid it when I think of my surrounding people. I can even just run away and its nothing to be ashamed. I have been admonishing myself that I do not need to have a power or an authority to help and protect every single person in the world. I think that it is sufficient to have a power to protect a handful of people in my circle because what an individual can do is very limited, but I want to maximize what I can do for the people around me, and I know that if each of us tries to do this for others, what will see there is a harmony. Aikido enables me to break this limit and helps me to reach my objective to protect my people physically and philosophically/mentally as well. When I was depressed after my friend passed away last year, one of my friends told me not to try to hold the hardness by myself and rely on her and not to forget that there are also people who want to protect me just like I want to protect my people. I will be satisfied if I can gain an enough power to cherish people like her and I will be happy if this circle of people gets bigger. I think that this can be called a part of the practices of Aikido. Learn and realize how we are supposed to interact each other with sincereness and recognize that each of us has someone that we really care and someone who cares about us as well. I strongly believe that the Aikidos discipline especially Sensei Michaels teaching of being humble to the others allows us to achieve it. Thus, if I am regarded a worth higher Kyu, Shodan or even upper Dan eventually, it will strengthen my confidence and motivation because it means that my determination in Aikido is recognized by the sensei who I greatly respect. Taking a grading test is not simply a process of reaching a black belt with no mind and determination. If I just deserve a title of Dan in Aikido I could just go to any other dōjōs out there, however, I do not do this particularly because I would like sensei Michael and the members of Humble Aikikai to see how far I have successfully reached the sense of Aikido and my goal so far which I have written above. Here are the reasons why I want to take a grading test at this Aikikai and my passion on Aikido.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:18:02 +0000
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