Kagurazaka AwaOdori Festival.

The ALA OwaOdori group with our teacher

I must say, before joining the AwaOdori dance festival I didn't really know much about its history. My intention is to do as much as possible in within my one year stay in Japan pertaining to aikido, languages studies and culture understanding. This would fall into the 3rd group.

Practice started nearly month on Friday and Saturday evenings after school. On the first day of practice I think everyone was unprepared for the amount of physical effort to be put given. In order to get ourselves into the rhythm we were asked for first just bounce ourselves on the spot with our hands behind our backs. After 2 minutes our knees and thighs were calling out for help but I didn't want to stop until we were asked to. After the bouncing practice we then learnt how to step to the beat of the music. Basically you lift your knee and bring it down sideways with your toe landing first. The left leg lands to the heavier drum beat and you repeat the movement over and over again. First we practiced in a stationary position after with we started moving in lines of 3. Sensei was very strict about the formation and reminded us that we have to keep the line straight and SMILE at all times. It is a festival so we should be happy. Or least look happy. Finally in came the arms. You bring you arms up and down without bending your elbow. If your left leg is out, down comes your left arm and vice versa. One round of practice lasts for about 30 minutes so you can imagine how our very first practice was! There were moans of exhaustion behind me after 10 minutes into practice. We were admiring the other dancers whose movements were graceful and much more interesting. But I know that as a beginner, you should be practical about what you can do over a span of 4 weekends.

On that day of the festival, everyone gathered at the school reception and were handed out our yukata and fans. We were also given tags containing flags of our country to be pinned on the yukata. We then took off and gathered at the end of a street where the temple was located with much enthusiasm. I was feeling nervous about not dancing well. Notwithstanding the fact that I am a guest here, I do want to perform my best in the spirit of the festival. We made 3 rounds of dance that lasted 2 hours during which we passed by hundreds of people lined up on both sides of the street who watched and cheered for the dancers. I was perspiring to a point where I was blinking incessantly from the pouring sweat but kept my smile at all times. The festival ended with a fantastic dance number from the group that we practiced with. 

The festival ended at around 21:00hrs and it was followed by refreshments and giving of thanks. I looked for our sensei mama and asked to take a picture with her. She gladly took a picture with all of us and thanked us after for our hard work. As I approached to hug her, she hugged me back and said to me "貴方は上手だった。” I was stunned but flattered that she said that. I replied to her that I wasn't all that good but I am grateful for having a good teacher like her. It really made my night for I felt her sentiment despite our short exchange.

The night was followed by a group dinner and karaoke after. 

I really enjoyed it and hope I have the chance to do it again. 

I need to loosen up

It is one of those days where I am glad I went for keiko. Funny I would say that, you think. After all, the reason why I came to Japan was for aikido training. Of course, my intention is to attend classes everyday to make as much as possible out of my short stay in Japan. However, realistically speaking, execution of such a plan is easier said than done.

First off, there is the injury factor. I got injured twice over a 6 month period. One from over training before my body could adjust to the rigors of daily training. The other was from riding my bicycle. I won't bother explaining…. Then there is the holiday factor, the social factor and the I-don't-feel-like-a-million-dollars-today factor. 

Today was one of those days where I feel worn out and worried that I might not be able to make it through the hour long training. I had a very interesting but also exhausting weekend and it is an experience I d not wish to repeat for the sake of my health and well-being. I slept for most part of Saturday and did not attend any classes. On Sunday I also slept in but went to another dojo for training in the evening. Come Monday I was still feeling tired. In fact, I almost fell asleep in class today. Age is indeed catching up on me.

Anyway back to my story. I decided that I was going to attend class today. With trepidation, I stepped into the mat telling myself to take it slowly and keep going until the end. I trained with a nice lady and a nice gentlemen. I ended up chatting with both. The lady shared her experience on training with me when I told her about my problems with kokyuho. She told me I felt stiff when she threw me. So we went over the technique and she showed me where my problems were. As I thought, it dealt largely with the connection issue. I have problems staying connected with sensei and end up stiff and disconnecting prematurely. After listening to her we tried the exercise again and she said I felt much better than before. I realized that I was only relaxing parts of my body as opposed to keeping my body in a relaxed state. It goes right down to the toes really and I was so happy to learn that today. 

As for the nice gentleman, we chatted about aikido and he was kind enough to try and speak to me in English. He was very good to train with and I had a tough time keeping up with him. 

Well, here I am, at home and extremely tired but very happy. Happy that I went for training and got something important out of it. 

I am looking forward to tomorrow's lesson.