This weekend I was in Torino, for my first full Italian Aikido seminar (more to write about it, but it was a quite good experience! Fun, yeah!).. and apparently the snow followed me there as well!!

Talking about the bad timing!!

I love snow, but not when later today I will have to go to Malpensa for continuing this trip to France, for work, before starting back to China..

Thanks to Ivano, main instructor in Aikikai Biella dojo, in the morning I joined him and a few of his students for a special class of aikido as self defense in a local high school, where 99% of the students were 19 years old girls!! (actually there was one boy in the class, and everybody of us was surprised!!)

Saying the group reminded me the people that came to my Aikido lesson in Hefei, also here most of Aikido basics were skipped and Ivano had been showing them only basic ushiro ukemi and then moved to some more interesting application of personal defense from hand lock attacks (katatedori, both gyaku hanmi and ai hanmi). Girls always like these kind of applications that led to nikyo locks or the “mirrored” gyaku kotegaesghi (the one gripping kotegaeshi from below, typical for example from ryote dori attack).

During the class Ivano then decided to show what one can do after learning the other Aikido basic, mae ukemi for example, and he spent some time throwing me around! Best time for me, and quite funny to hear the girls expressing surprised “ohhhh”‘s at some of the more demanding (and fun) falls. Being then more surprised I was not injured, even with more “frightening” koshinage throws!

In the night, my special day continued with teaching a session in Ivano’s Aikikai Biella dojo.

First time for me to teach Aikido in Italian!!! And that made me very nervous!!!

In fact, now and then during the session I let some English words get out..

As for my usual one time teaching sessions, as did before at the first Vestlandet Aikido seminar in Norway or when briefly invited to different dojos, always especially in Norway, I introduced some of the old basic “rabbit hands” concept from Endo sensei. But before that, especially for emphasizing another important concept in the Aikido I like, meaning the way that uke moves, walking like a baby. For this I used one very nice kokyuoho version of Jorma Lyly sensei (Vanadis Aikido dojo), where tori‘s hand performs a screwing movement setting uke in motion and then extending the arm the very moment that uke starts walking (lifting the foot, uke becomes “light”, therefore easy to control and throw – timing for an effortless technique execution!).

After that I moved to Endo sensei‘s way to use hands and wrist, relaxing and extending.

Introducing the concept starting from ushiro ryote dori static grip, it is always easy, giving the chance to uke to perform a strong and sure grip. At the same time, when tori properly relax and manages to raise the wrist in “rabbit fashion”, ie. keeping shoulders down and elbows glued to the upper body, lifting uke‘s arms become effortless, even when the partner is asked to push downward.

Using then the same movement, I worked some throws from a tenchinage application, both from katatedori and from ryote dori attack, trying to emphasizing the relaxed way to move the hands, even when uke grips at full power.

For closing with some more “action”, we worked on katatedori uchi kaiten nage ura version, performing, after the uchi kaiten entrance, the cutting down of the attacked hand keeping the hand very close to the upper body and rotating at the same time the hips (like also Irie sensei and many other senseis I enjoy). Emphasizing the control of the collarbone once uke is bent down and while entering the irimi tenkan for ura, instead of just pushing uke‘s head downward (as down in the old times), caught the interest of the more advanced people on the mats.

Just for showing how effective is the control of the collarbone, I performed a couple of times the very direct shomenuchi soto kaiten nage in Tissier sensei form, where he enters completely the attack and goes straight to the collarbone control bending the intern arm around uke‘s head, stepping behind him and starting the irimi tenkan roation in almost one movement (ok, he does it in one fluid movement, I do it at 10% of speed in several smaller steps!!)..

And after that, we went to eat a delicious pizza and have a longer martial art chat, best way to finish every training!!

Looking forward to my next chance to visit these nice people!!!

This weekend, for the first time, I’ll take part to an Italian Aikikai Aikido stage with Martufi sensei, 6.dan Aikikai, at Piero Villaverde sensei (also 6.dan) dojo.

Quite curious after the experience of this week practicing in Biella, to meet also more people from the same group, under Tada shihan and Aikikai Italy.

Even more special, during the off-Aikido-time I’ll have the chance to meet my best friend Silvio and another good friend from Trondheim time, Marco, both long time resident in Torino!

Have a great weekend everybody!!

The dojo has already quite a lot of students:

Tuesday we worked on 2 different ways to meet yokomen uchi attack. One was like a kind of entrance I am used as well, with irimi tenkan, one hand meeting the attack and the other cutting more uke‘s head. The other way, keeping always the hand meeting the attack, was using the second hand performing a shomen uchi cut in the direction of uke‘s body.

Working on the same techniques for both ways to meet the attack (basic applications like shihonage, kotegaeshi, udekiminage, and then more advanced movements like uchi kaiten nage) one could clearly see the difference of a more round movement (the one cutting at uke‘s head) compared to a more direct entrance (with shomen uchi).

Among the teachers of Ivano, like for the main instructor in the other dojo in Biella, there are Tada sensei and Fujimoto sensei. But another sensei has been also relevant, and since I already posted videos for the first two, I present here one from Hosokawa sensei, a teacher that has suffered a serious disease in 2004 that does not allow him to teach and practice anymore.

Aikido at Ken Kyu Sei Biella

Vittorio’s Aikido (as he told me) is a combination between Tada sensei and Fujimoto sensei teachings. For me are both quite new. I practiced with Tada sensei in Japan, and I met Fujimoto sensei students, mainly at Endo sensei seminars.

I was not 100% sure I could survive for about 3 hours practice, even if the first part was a beginner session. And a good lesson I learnt in 15 years of Aikido is learning how to decrease the speed during practice.. but knowing myself if I enjoy I don’t think about this until too late!

Anyway, the evening was a good combination between projections-ukemi and more static techniques, working both from uchi attacks and some less common grips, like ushiro katatedori kubijime (strangulation), the lock around the chest and the attack passing the arms under the armpits trying to lock them behind tori‘s neck.

For ushiro katatedori kubijime techniques, we worked 2 possible “escape” way, depending when the leg on the “strangulation” side was back or front. And for each “escape” way we worked on different technique: when the leg is backward (leg corresponding to attacked hand is front) a natural kaiten allows tori to easily turn and then control uke (ikkyo and similar principles as easiest application). In the other situation, using a tenkan movement, around the forward foot and not moving the attacked hand leads to either a kotegaeshi on this hand or a more advanced shihonage on the hand holding the jacket.

Both variations give a good work on taisabaki and body relaxation!

Then we moved to more special kind of locks, not commonly derived from a front attack: very difficult to allow anyone to walk around you and then lock you around your waist or even worse under the armpits and behind your neck, in the more wrestling lock called “full nelson“. Still, these are good positions to work ways to relax the body for escape the lock, or anticipate the movement (before the lock is completed) and apply some Aikido. With both attacks, especially when possible avoiding a completed lock, we worked on throws. always an advantage when tori manages to keep the body relaxed, even facing a quite hard locking attack.

All in all, an interesting session.

I could not say many things were different from what I am used.

It’s worth then closing with a video from both Fujimoto sensei and Tada sensei, sources for the Vittorio’s Aikido:

Tada sensei (83 years old this year!!):

Fujimoto sensei:

toma cheese, bread & barbera

panettone & moscato

FUNNY THING OF THE DAY - Yesterday night, after Aikido practice (I’ll write later about this) I walked 15 minutes to get home. I live quite in center Biella. Not historical center, but also not outskirt.. Anyway, on the short walk home around 9:30pm, I crossed 6 cars and 3 people!!! Another proof I am in Italy, not China for sure! Even if I had some doubts when I met those 3 people: they were.. Chinese!! Then, after some thought (I wanted to call them laowai, foreigners, as many time I have been called) I shout at them “Happy New year” in Chinese, 新年快乐, and after a few seconds (startled by the Chinese or could not understand my shitty Chinese! Or both), they did answered 新年快乐!! Maybe I am still in China, and just was luck to find great food!

新年快乐!!!!

2012 – the year of the dragon has started..

..and my jet lag kicked in right on schedule

It has stop snowing..

Delay until 5-6am tomorrow morning are acceptable for me since my flight to Italy is around 11:30.. But I’d rather be a little less stressed..

…

Now I’m on Beijing.

The flight I have been coughing continuously, not sure why. Also my throat is a little sore. A pity: I’m afraid for the long flight.

Now I’m at a cafe on the third floor of Beijing international airport. Free wifi, probably everywhere, but here a quite comfortable sofa and place for my luggage. Safe place close to me. I’ll try to catch some sleep until 7-8 in the morning at the price of a mango milkshake.

If the snow did not stranded my flight, right now I’m having my night in Beijing..

..Beijing airport!!!

Sunday morning, flight to Italy.. hopefully!!!