Sunday 14th April
Some of the group got up early to go and stand under a freezing cold waterfall. The rest of us were not so spiritually minded and took the opportunity to have a lie in. As it turned out the spiritual experience was having technical problems and the waterfall had been turned off (apparently it isn’t such a natural feature) so spiritual cleansing would have to wait.
Others of us experienced the spiritual enlightenment or the spiritual frustration of ordering a breakfast in McDonald’s. However our spirits were, it was time for the day’s main event, the afternoon training. Our training was to be in the Kyoto Budo Centre, the modern (built in 1989) martial arts training centre. Immediately opposite was the Butokuden, the older (1899) Budo centre where we’d be training on Tuesday.
Shoes off (of course) and we found our way to the dojo we’d use for the afternoon. Our first challenge was to put the mats down, correctly. Some of the mats were numbered, some weren’t and there was a plan on the wall, partly in English and partly Japanese. It was a team effort to get the mats set out correctly, and before we arrived at a too-many-chiefs situation Sensei Ian Tyler took charge.
The training started with Sensei Riley taking the first session. Sensei Pryce and Sensei Derrick each took a session. We had many students of the White Rose on the mat from both the UK and from Japan, old (sorry Clives!) and young (the youngest was around five!) and all grades from novice to 7th Dan.
After a short break for lunch Sensei Reg Sakamoto and his uke Pavel gave a demonstration of Yoshinkan Aikido showing us a range of techniques first with bokken, then with jo, then with empty hand.
Sensei Riley took the final session of the class. Like all good things it was over far too quickly but it had been a wonderful opportunity to train with Aikidoka we’d not met before from dojo we’d only heard of.
Today was the only day of rain we were to have, which was fine since we were inside training. We managed to get a few pictures of the Butokuden, even though we’d be back here in a couple of days. For some of us, the day included more than one experience with Kyoto’s community of taxi drivers. These are largely older gentlemen who aren’t concerned with modern conveniences such as sat’ nav’ or knowing how to get from A to B, or even where A or B are. Buses can be more reliable and even just as quick as taxis. However, we have learned that Sensei will visit all manner of unspeakable evils on anyone who persuades him onto a Kyoto bus in future. We learn many things while practising our Aikido, and this was an important lesson.
The evening event was to be a traditional Japanese meal. Buses were out of the question, and despite the challenges we needed to rely on taxis to get us to the restaurant in the Gion district. For our group the challenge was made harder by the driver a) dropping us somewhere near the restaurant, b) the driver not knowing where the restaurant was, and c) the restaurant only having its name outside in Japanese (oh, and it was raining).
No matter, we all arrived safely, and largely on time. The evening meal was a traditionally seated Japanese meal, meat cooked at the table, and a seemingly unending supply of beer. This was the second all-you-can-drink meal and I think again we educated our hosts in just how much we can drink. The restaurant was set out with space under the table so we were seated in a more western style.
An excellent evening was had by all, and of course we had to do group photos outside. After that folks made their way back to wherever they were going, by walking or by taxi or by staggering, and for some us we had to have a final drink in Sensei’s secret bar. A late night drink was no problem, tomorrow was to be far more restful and peaceful.
