Lukas and Martina in Japan//japan.lukas-prokop.at/blog/2017-03-16T01:23:00+09:00Aikido Harugasshuku, Part 22017-03-16T01:23:00+09:002017-03-16T01:23:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-03-16:blog/harugasshuku-2.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the later days of the training camp; 9th of March to 12th of March 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The training was harsh. I don’t mean running in the morning, callisthenics or Aikido itself. But the temperature was freaking low. We practice inside the Dojo at temperatures very similar to outside. Remember that Japanese house typically have no heating isolation. The heater was used only occassionally and raise the temperature of the large room by 1-2 degrees. Outside, it had between 1°C and 5°C degrees after sunset. During the day, the temperatures reached up to 12°C. I was waiting for the following days. The weather forecast indicated warmer days. Anyways, the training was harsh, because I always struggled to keep my body warm, but once I had to practice my enbu on my own or follow the formal procedures, I moved little and my body got completely cold. At the night of 8th of March, we have been the last ones scheduled for the bath and training at night totally freezed my body. I was happy, that an awesome Aikidoka trained us some Jo techniques, but I was completely cold afterwards and just happily looking forward to a warm bath.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Thursday, we have been told to do 10,000 cuts with the bokken. This would have taken an estimated 5 hours. I think it is unnecessary, but compared to other students, I don’t feel pain when doing a lot of cuts. In the morning, the plan changed. The captain solved the mystery and we actually had a day off. No formal practice today. I ran 2 kilometers anyways (now I had the opportunity to take photos casually) and after breakfast our leisure time activities began.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
We took a ride to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kankakei">Kankakei</a>. We did a small hike, more like a walk. Being in the nature was beautiful and having a new view to the north of Shodoushima (where we live), was pleasant. I enjoyed it very much.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
We went to the beach. In the South-West of the island, the "Angel Road" can be found. It is a thin path between the beach and connected islands. This path might be flooded depending on ebb and flow. My trekking shoes kept me dry, but we basically walked through water to cross the Angel Road. We reached the next rock islands close to the beach and it was fun to climb along the rocks and see how many rocks we can master. I think it was enjoyable for everyone.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
We stopped briefly to eat some Udon. I ate one together with an Onsen Tamago (an egg half-boiled in an onsen).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
We went to サン・オリーブ 温泉 (Saint Olive Onsen). Shodoushima is famous for its olive product and in this ressort, you can buy olive merchandise and products. The ressort also features a hotel, wellness area and onsen. This was significantly larger than Arima Onsen. It featured a sauna and also a pool with 16.4°C to cool down. Another pool had a whirlpool built in and I also liked the pool outside with a beautiful view. I enjoyed the relaxation factor, but got in a hurry talking to a Japanese person. His friend and him got curious why a foreigners is in the onsen. He spoke very good English and asked me about Aikidou and Koube University. I recognized that my body was not able to enjoy the onsen fully and was quite exhausted.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
We bought some groceries for the last party. I bought two bottles of waters, because my throat was getting more and more dry.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the evening, we returned, went for dinner in our hotel and practiced as usual afterwards. The usual night bath felt strange, because we there was not much time gap between the bath and the onsen.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Shodoshima and POIs" src="images/shodoshima.png" width="350">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In this map, you can see the locations of the hotel (black), the hiking place Kankakei (blue), the beach (purple) and the Onsen (red).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I liked the day trip, but in the evening, I recognized that I caught a cold. Due to the cold during the training in the previous days, my body was certainly unhappy about the situation and got knocked down. Handkerchiefs, a surgical mask and warm clothes got important.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the following, on Friday, I failed to run 2 kilometers, because my nose did not allow me to breath properly. I told the captain and instead of attending practice, I watched it and took photos. I got scolded for drinking inside the Dojo and one colleague pointed out that I must not spread my legs and always stay in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agura">Agura</a>, better known as cross-legged sitting. After lunch, I slept for 2 hours to regain energy. It was very pleasant and I joined practice afterwards. However, with the surgical mask, it is more difficult to breath. So I didn’t work with 100% of my energy.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Saturday, an important day came. At 10:00, we performed our Enbu. My training, on the previous days, indicated that I am terrible at remembering my techniques. But I managed to do all 15 techniques in the correct order. Sadly, memorization took so much effort, that we spent very little time with other details to improve my enbu. Enbus of other members were also impressive. After lunch, the last official training took place. It was a significant one. It only took 1 hour, but was my about 1.2 the usual speed. It was very exhausting and finally we did Sumiotoshi in Hamnihantachi for 2 minutes. This totally gave me the rest with my surgical mask. However, it was a nice finish.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the Saturday evening, the party took place. We had to take care that OBs glasses do not become empty and had to fill them up before this happens. This is a terrible task for a short-sighted person without glasses. Later in the evening, we presented our gags. The first-year students devised a play based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter">The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter</a>. I had a minor role to play one anime reference and finally do a gag. Originally, I wanted to do my gag in Japanese, but Japanese people neither know <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightbulb_joke">Lightbulb jokes</a> nor was I fast enough reading it in Japanese the first time. I didn’t convince my friends and presented it in English with a lot of gestures. Here it is:</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Q: How many Russians do you need to change a light bulb?<br>
A: Ehhh??? KGB? That’s a state secret!</br></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Q: How many Germans do you need to change a light bulb?<br>
A: No-one available. They are all busy brewing beer.</br></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Q: How many Japanese do you need to change a light bulb?<br>
A: Does not matter. They are all too short.</br></p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— 3 lightbulb jokes
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Originally, I only wanted to the third. This one is funny and appropriate, because in Aikidou everyone points out how tall I am. But because they don’t know light bulb jokes, I added the other two to introduce them to the scheme.
In the end, the play provided some laughs and therefore met its goal. Afterwards we gave presents to the third-year students. I contributed Austrian chocolate (Zotter chocolate and Manner Schnitten). We bought the other presents in Osaka about one week before we went to Shodoshima.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After the party, some students were knocked out by alcohol. One even vomitted twice and we took care, they get home safely.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Sunday, a new team took over the club. Apparently, captain, vice-captain and manager are responsible only for one year. They are succeeded by the previous second-year students. So new roles were assigned and the old team gave their final speech. Tears were shed and dramatic scenes were played. One student screamingly rushed to the old captain and cried that he does not want him to finish his term. To me, these scenes felt overly dramatic, but I have to make two remarks: First, the team spends more time with its members than in Austria and therefore is emotionally more attached to it and secondly, cultural differences might just play a major role in this, but I cannot judge on that.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>It turns out, that I am now a second-year student in Aikidou. This means they assigned me new duties (i.e. folding Hakama of third-year students), which I am not necessarily happy about.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The new captain lead a final training on Sunday, because we ate lunch, packed our stuff and got back to Honshu. The old team apparently stayed on the island to celebrate a little bit longer on their own and we left towards Himeji. When the ferry left, we threw colored tape towards them to celebrate them. They collected the tape afterwards to avoid pollution.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So what is my conclusion?</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
It was very Japanese style.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Enbu are very good to improve my jiyūwaza skills.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
With the formal procedures, I got to the very limits of my patience. I lost much training time, because of the formalities and I am not sure this is politeness policy, religion or nationalism. Borders seem to diminish.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Sport training camps are a perfect way to improve your Japanese, do something healthy during vacation time and learn about Japanese culture.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Training in the cold reduced my training capabilities a lot.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Let’s get back to Kobe. Martina is waiting there!</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Aikido Harugasshuku, Part 12017-03-09T08:51:00+09:002017-03-09T08:51:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-03-09:blog/harugasshuku-1.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the training camp on the first three days; 6th of March to 8th of March 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>My Aikido friend asked me at the end of January whether I want to attend their Aikido training camp. I paid 55,000 Yen and my friend informed me that at the end of the week, I have to do an enbu (Aikido performance in front of all other people) with some senpai and prepare a joke for the after event.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Monday, 6th of March 2017, we met at Himeji station. One Aikido friend is a big fan of Japanese castles and we joked about going to Himeji castle, because it is so close (you can see it from the train station). Together we were about 20 people and took a group bus ticket to 飾磨 (Shikama, which is the port near Himeji). We waited for the next ferry and it took us about 100 minutes from 飾磨 to 福港 フェリーターミナル (Fukuda Harbor Ferry Terminal) located at 小豆島 (Shoudoshima). A bus was waiting for us and lead us to our destination. The destination is a small hotel in Japanese style. We arrived there in the early afternoon.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our club members are divided in 3 groups. Students study 4 years for their bachelor’s degree and the last year, they are considered busy looking for a job. So the members are divided in 3 groups (where the fourth year stays the third year) corresponding to their year of studies: 一年生 (いちねんせい、ichinensei), 二年生 (にねんせい、ninensei)、 三年生 (さんねんせい、sannensei). I am considered as an 一年生 (first year student). This basically corresponds to my skills, because their Aikido style is different and much more focused on the techniques. They are very good at knowing which techniques exist and which techniques could be applied spontaneously. At this point in time, I can only confirm that it would be better if we do enbu more regularly in our Austrian club. Anything else requires further discussion. In the Japanese style we practice, less attention is paid to relaxed postures and applying the techniques smoothly. Whereas my Japanese friends distinguish 3 variants replying to an attack, in Austria we are only taught the smoothest technique. The first days I was focused on improving my skills to choose an appropriate technique spontaneously (じゆうわざ, jiyuuwaza).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Every day, the schedule looks similar to this:</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
At 6:00, we get up. We meet at 06:30 to run about 2 kilometers. This is not much and a good warm-up exercise.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
After doing some callisthenics, we mostly practice techniques with 木剣 (ぼっけん、bokken) or じょう (じょう、short staff).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At about 8:00 we have breakfast. Still dressed in our Aikidogi, we go to the other house. It contains a tatami room and eating happens very formally. Four students go to the building earlier, because they help to carry things from the kitchen to the dinner room.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At about 10:00, the next Aikido practice begins. Especially the first year students, like me, have to be there at about 09:10 in order to clean the tatami with a broom. Mostly, we don’t warm up together and everybody goes to the Dojo earlier. This training follows the usual structure. So our senpai shows a technique, we run to a senpai and together we practice the technique.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At about 12:30, it is lunch time. Again four students help with the preparations.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At 15:00, the next training begins. Because all eating procedures are very formal, they typically use at least one hour for all of us. We wait together until everybody is seated in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiza">seiza</a> (formal sitting posture). Then the captain announces someone’s name. This person will ask " 手 を 合 わせて" (てをあわせて, te-o-awasete, "close your hands") followed by the famous <a href="http://jisho.org/word/%E9%A0%82%E3%81%8D%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99"> 頂 きます</a> (いただきます, itadakimasu). Then you can start eating. The meal is also terminated by using this procedure. First, everyone has to finish his meal (sometimes people get in a hurry, because all other people are waiting), then the captain announces one’s name. After the meal, <a href="http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%94%E9%A6%B3%E8%B5%B0%E3%81%95%E3%81%BE">ご 馳走 さまでした</a> (ごちそうさまでした, gochisou sama deshita, in the dictionary it is given in the present tense, but it is usually used in the past tense) is used.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At about 17:30 or 18:00, it is dinner time.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At about 19:30, we typically started with self-practice. There is no formal training, but we all practice on our own and our enbu needs to be practiced with our Uke (partner).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At about 21:00, the bathing schedule is announced. Typically, the first-year students have been the first. So we went for a traditional Japanese bath (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furo">Ofuro</a>). I remember always the saying that Japanese people are very concerned with saving water. The bathing phase triple is, in my opinion, the exact opposite (you use much water than in Europe).
*# First, you take a shower to clean yourself.
*# Second, you enter the main bath tube shared by everyone (water is filled up again and again to keep it warm)
*# Third, you take a final shower.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
After the bath, we returned to our room. Our room was apparently also used as entertainment room and so many other people occasionally dropped by. Until midnight, we prepared our gags for the last event and I did some Kanji exercises.
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In between, we also had formal duties. Whenever a OB (old boy, ex-student of the Aikido club) arrived or departed, we had to bow in front of him. I learned that we are the 54th generation of this club (one generation per year). So this was scheduled for a specific time and then we had to gather in front of the main building before that time. Often, we had to interrupt training, because of this procedure. We waited for the car to arrive, carried his suitcase from the main building to the car and helped him entering it. We shouted ありがとうございました (arigatou gozaimashita, thank you for what happened) and bowed in front of him. We had to bow until the car disappear in the curvature of the street behind buildings. This is certainly a significant cultural difference to Europe.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A cultural difference, beneficial to me, was gift giving. Japanese gift giving is very omnipresent and I distributed a lot of gifts in Japan already. In case of harugasshuku, we often got sweets as presents by OBs or Shihan.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Overall, the schedule was very tight, because we had to wait a lot until formal procedures can begin. Once the formal procedure ended, the next task was already about to start. During the day, I spent at most 30 minutes in the room to relax.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>However, not every day was the same. On Tuesday, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shihan">Shihan</a> (a very honorific, exclusive title to important Aikidokas) dropped by. I did not know why, but was happy to have another expert available. As it turns out, the second-year students are taking their first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_(rank)">Dan</a> exams. Shihan was the examiner. I did not like that the behavior of my colleagues totally changed in the presence of the Shihan. Procedures are turned even more formal and waiting became even more important. In the end, the Shihan certainly knew his techniques (especially his Jo movements looked nice), but he used a lot of force which is contrary to the Aikido style, I am used to from Austria.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Aikido Buikukai Performance2016-12-26T11:30:00+09:002016-12-26T11:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-12-26:blog/buikukai-aikido.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the morning of 23rd of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>With Jo, we wanted to visit the Osaka Aquarium. If you remember, we <a href="osaka-chikko.html">missed to be there in time</a> last time with Martina and when chatting, Jo pointed out, he wants to go there too.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We initially scheduled the visit for Sunday. On Thursday, my Aikido colleagues pointed out that their performance will be tomorrow and instead of a typical practice session, they practiced their <a href="http://jisho.org/word/%E6%BC%94%E6%AD%A6">Enbu</a>. They told me, they will have their performance in <a href="http://www.osaka-info.jp/en/facilities/cat24/post_187.html">Osakajo Shudokan</a>. So we spontaneously planned to go to Osaka with Jo. Martina has Volleyball in the morning and will come to Osaka in the afternoon. So the first event of the day was watching an Aikido performance in Osaka with Jo without Martina.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Certainly it would be more interesting to have some videos here, but I will try to make a text summary:</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Students from various dojos gathered together. I think they all belong to Osaka Buikukai Dojo. Hence their style is defined by Egami Kenzo, whose sensei was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirokazu_Kobayashi_(aikidoka)">Hirokazu Kobayashi</a>.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
They warmed up together.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
From every dojo, pairs of students showed their skills in a 1 minute 30 seconds Enbu which roughly corresponds to 15 applied techniques.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
First, the young students started. Students of the age of <sub>3 up to the age of </sub>25 performed. Finally, a sensei showed his skills (hopefully I don’t get this wrong, but I think it was Egami Kenzo himself).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I also saw my Aikido friends. They were performing on three <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami">tatami</a> simultaneously. So I could not watch all of them.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I don’t really like the choreographed aspect of such performances, but you can clearly see how the style develops over years (between the students of different age).
In the end, it was nice to see some good-quality Aikido and this event gave me a perfect opportunity to film Aikidokas during their techniques. This allows me to analyze their movements and also discuss their style with my Austrian club.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I enjoyed it. Jo (without any martial arts experience) seemed bored 😉</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Next stop: Shudokan is located at the Site of the Osaka Castle. So I visited Osaka Castle with Jo.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Language barriers in action2016-12-08T23:50:00+09:002016-12-08T23:50:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-12-08:blog/language-barriers-in-action.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This happened on Thursday, 8th of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After Aikido practice, I have two choices:</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
After 2 hours of offical practice, I leave and excuse myself for leaving so early.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I stay with them. After the official practice, we can ask our senpai to show us certain exercises. Eventually the sensei/senpai asks everybody to finish and clean up. Afterwards we return all the equipment to the club’s room. We visit the Konbini before going to the train station together. In total, this takes 4 hours.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I choose either option half of the times. At the Konbini, we are offered a free snack. If your item costs less than 130 Yen, the senpai will pay for it. This has been explained to me the very first time I followed them to the Konbini. However, an Aikido friend wanted to point it out again (probably he didn’t knew, I know, or he wanted to do it explicitly after I bought some 140 Yen item on my own). Because he could not express this offer in English words, he wrote it in Japanese and started Google Translate (hopefully I remember all words right):</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>If you stay late with the sensei, the night can be delicious.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— Google Translate Japanese to English translation
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I laughed pretty hard and I don’t think they understood why. As far as I am concerned I think the statement refers to something different than what they actually wanted to say. On the other hand, I also don’t know what they originally typed in. Anyways, this is a wonderful example of how words can be interpreted differently and language does not end where syntax and semantics end. You also need to study the associated culture.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Aikido Trained the Austrian and Japanese Way2016-11-27T23:45:00+09:002016-11-27T23:45:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-27:blog/aikido-training.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This text was a recent submission by Lukas in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay">essay</a>-writing for our class "Academic Writing". Lukas is not attending this class any more.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Aikido is a traditional martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba in Japan. It employs a defensive approach using the attacker’s energy against himself. The techniques typically terminate with a throw or a joint lock. Today, Aikido is practiced in many parts of the world including Austria and Japan. Let’s take a closer look at the apparent differences in the training styles between the two countries.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
First of all, training in Austria is done with less structure. People greet each other when entering the Dojo and warm up together. They also offer to work together formally. But in Japan those greetings and wishes are expressed more often. Specifically before every individual attack, people express their gratefulness. The greetings and wishes shared is generally much larger.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Secondly, Austrian teachers use their sense of humor to express their thoughts. They like to share a good laugh in class while proceeding with their explanations. They try to establish a focused, but happy, atmosphere. In contrast in Japan, Ukes and Toris show little feelings and focus on Sensei’s opinion. The Sensei strictly sticks to a formal style, where the explanation is given after demonstrating the technique twice. No audience interaction is intended. Therefore the training seems more robotic, but people also stay focused on the techniques practiced.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Finally, the differences are also visible in clothing. In Austria, people wear casual clothing if the Gi (Aikido clothing) is currently not available. People train in T-shirts transforming the group into a less uniform one. Additionally, The Hakama is a black trouser worn by advanced Aikidokas. They protect the knees better, but especially acts as a symbol for the advanced status of the practitioner. In Austria, Hakama are worn beginning with the 5-th Kyu. Japanese practitioners need to fight hard for their right to wear a Hakama. They are allowed to wear it beginning with the first Dan.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In conclusion, differences in Austrian and Japanese training styles are apparent in the training structure, the use of humor and also clothing.</p></div>
</div>
</div>