Before Zen crossed the shores into Japan, the students of the Tendai school would study meditation, as part of their daily practice. Four of them, close friends all, promised one another to observe seven days of silence.
On the first day, no words were spoken, and the students took pleasure in their auspicious beginning. When night came however, the oil lamps grew dim, and the room slowly darkened.
One student, named Hoshin, called out to a servant: "Servant! Attend to the lamps, so that I might better observe our accomplishment!"
The second student was surprised to hear Hoshin speak. "We are supposed to keep quiet," he chided.
"But you also spoke!" declared the third. "You are an idiot!"
"I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth, as he settled into seiza.
And yes, it was the period historians defending the Fort that put it over the top.
The sunrise weapons class was pretty neat, too — I hadn’t seen that bokken kata in quite a while. (Dee learned it from Kanai Sensei many moons ago.)
I did receive one non-Aikido related lesson: If you’re placing vegetable packs on a hot campfire grill, make damn sure you have a way to remove them first. Ouch.
Want to see even more pictures? No problem — point your browser over here.
Our February 26 children and adult classes.
Many thanks to Kevin for his excellent woodworking skills, and Buck for his precise handwriting, for helping complete our new rank board.
You’ll notice that we added a fourth row, which we’ve reserved for our kid’s class. At some point, (sooner rather than later), we’ll need to add a fifth row. When that happens we’ll move our kids to the bottom row to make room for our adults.
Now for the really interesting news. I’ve learned from Buck that landscape architects employ a different script than other draftsman, different even than regular architects. So the script we have on our rank board, I think, is pretty unique.
Not just the beginning of our school, but the beginnings of Aikido, here in Jacksonville.
Posted below are a few pictures I found in the archives. Some background: The group shots were taken at Mark Spivak’s Institute and Dance Extension, from 1996 to 1998. Buck and Herve are training at the Jewish Community Alliance, also about 1998. These are some of our earliest students, pioneers really, helping to establish a new martial art in the Jacksonville area.
As always, my deepest gratitude to Dee, Mike, and Buck, who’ve kept the flame burning all these years.
It’s a debt I can never repay.
This year marks our fifth annual camping trip, and every year it gets a bit larger. In 2008, at Huguenot Memorial Park, fifteen of our students braved the unexpectedly cold weather. In 2009, at Gold Head Branch State Park, that number swelled to twenty. And last year, again at Gold Head, twenty-three intrepid adventurers enjoyed Aikido, a roaring campfire, and some awesome vittles.
(Trivia question: At what location was our first camping trip held? Winner gets dibs on Buck’s spectacular campfire stew.)
This year we’ll be headed to Fort Clinch State Park, home to the scenic Amelia River, scores of moss covered oaks, and of course Fort Clinch itself, where during our stay park historians will recreate a Confederate garrison, complete with black powder artillery demonstrations and marching drills.
Like always, we expect to hold two Aikido classes, at sunset and sunrise. In addition, we plan on continuing our tradition of gourmet campfire food. (We’ll still have marshmallows on a stick, though!)
Excited? You know I am. Take a look at our slideshows from 2008, 2009, and 2010, and tell me that doesn’t look fun.