Learning To Be Silent

Editors Note: This is the second in a three part interview with Seabolt Sensei, chief instructor at the Aikido Center of Jacksonville. The full interview can be found under the Sensei tag.

Jerry: Let’s talk a bit more about the early days. Why did you decide to move from the dance studio?

Sensei: Well, we left Mark Spivak’s [the dance studio - Ed.] because our training time was being cut. The space we rented was also being used by cheerleaders. They would stay during the evenings, which left less time for us.

Jerry: And then where did you go?

Sensei: We moved to the JCA [Jewish Community Alliance - Ed]. They were renting space to community groups.

Jerry: How did that work out?

Sensei: At first it was great — we had a really nice room. The problem was that when the JCA rented space for special events, we would always have to move. And the space we were moved to was really small. It became clear to us that it wasn’t working out.

Jerry: What did you do?

Sensei: Well, at that time I was getting my Masters in Psychology at UNF. I looked into organizing the school as a UNF club and moving there.

Chief Instructor

Jerry: Were you the chief instructor at that point?

Sensei: Yes.

Jerry: What was it like to take on that responsibility?

Sensei: [Laughs] It was a lot of work! When Chris moved, he left the school pretty disorganized. Little things, like a mailbox, our own phone number…these things weren’t really planned out. If we were to keep training, I would have to step up and put things in order.

One of the first things I did was make sure we stayed a USAF dojo. For me, it was never a question, but my fellow students didn’t have the experience I had going to seminars and training in New York. I had to convince them that it was important.

Jerry: At that point were you a student of Yamada Sensei?

Sensei: Yes, that happened when I first stayed in New York for five weeks.

Influences

Jerry: Who are your main influences?

Sensei: [Laughs] All my teachers!

I obviously owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Yamada Sensei. And of course Sugano Sensei. I also owe a lot to my other teachers in New York, especially Donovan Waite, but also Steve Pimsler, Jane Ozeki, and Douglas Firestone.

And of course Peter and Penny Bernath, and Grady Lane. Grady especially has been a great help to me over the years.

Jerry: Who are your influences regarding your weapons training?

Sensei: I’d have to say I learned the most from seminars with Kanai Sensei and Claude Berthiaume. And of course Sugano Sensei’s classes in New York.

When Mike joined the school he also brought a lot of weapons experience, which was very helpful.

Jerry: You’re obviously grateful to your teachers. How important is it to receive this type of personal instruction?

Sensei: Very important. I’ve always believed that if you want to learn Aikido, if you’re serious, you have to put in your time with the shihans. You need to apprentice yourself, over a period of years. If that’s not possible, then you need to find an instructor who has that experience. And then you need to attend seminars. Lots of them. I’m a big proponent of seminars.

Jerry: Is that also your experience with weapons?

Sensei: Absolutely. With weapons there’s a lot of subtlety which you really can’t see unless it’s personally demonstrated. And again, you need this experience from a shihan or shidoin. When you’re receiving instruction from someone with thirty or forty years experience, over time it informs your technique a lot.

My job as an instructor is to bring these insights back to Jacksonville, to my students.

To Be Continued…

Editors Note: This is the first in a three part interview with Seabolt Sensei, chief instructor at the Aikido Center of Jacksonville. The full interview can be found under the Sensei tag.

Jerry: When did you start training?

Sensei: In Aikido? I began in 1996 with Chris Rozette. I had actually tried a little Hapkido before joining the dojo. And later on, when I wanted to try grappling, I enrolled in San-Jitsu for a bit.

What I wanted back then was to learn a martial art. A coworker had taken some Aikido lessons with Curtis Rosiek, who started our school. He suggested I give it a try.

Jerry: What was the school like in the early days?

Sensei: For me, it was incredible. Back then we were training in a dance studio. But it didn’t matter! I just loved training. Chris and I would travel to every seminar we could. I probably attended a seminar every three weeks or so my first two years. I wanted to learn everything.

Jerry: What seminars did you go to?

Sensei: [Laughs] Every one I could! Boston, Montreal, Atlanta, New York, Fort Lauderdale…

Jerry: OK. How many students were in the school back then?

Sensei: Around six to eight, on average. After Chris left, our black belts were Mike [Sands] and Brett Jackson.

New York Aikikai

Jerry: Tell me how you first met Yamada Sensei.

Sensei: I first met Sensei in Atlanta, at Dogwood Aikikai. Yamada and Kanai Sensei were teaching. I had asked Chris to make the introduction, because I knew I wanted to train in New York. Chris introduced me to Edwin, who was a deshi in New York. Edwin then introduced me to Sensei.

Jerry: And then you stayed in New York?

Sensei: Well, the first time I went to New York, I stayed for one week. This was in December 1996. I then went back in April 1997, and stayed for five weeks.

Jerry: What was it like for you in New York?

Sensei: It was amazing. I was in awe of everyone. You have to remember, when I first went, I was just a 4th kyu. I was 35 years old. I worked out a lot with the deshis, who were in their early twenties, and male.

The talent there is unbelievable. Not just the instructors, but the students as well. When I first went, I didn’t want the deshis to think  I was a wimp. I wanted to be tough, so I trained hard. I would take, on average, three classes a day, and on Tuesdays I would take five. And of course I would never miss class when Yamada or Sugano Sensei was teaching.

Soft Ukemi

Jerry: Is that where you learned soft ukemi?

Sensei: I was first introduced to soft ukemi through Joey Turner. But yes, my real education was in New York, with Donovan Waite Sensei and his students.

Jerry: It must have been thrilling learning a new way to take ukemi.

Sensei: It was. I was so excited about all the new things I had learned. I couldn’t wait to bring it back with me.

Jerry: What happened when you did return?

Sensei: [Laughs] Well…It was difficult.

Let’s just say that my reception wasn’t all positive. The ukemi I was taught was different than what my fellow students had been practicing here. It was something new and different. Some even refused to learn it.

Jerry: A lot has changed though, right?

Sensei: Yes. Now, soft ukemi, the kind I learned from Waite Sensei and his students, is very common. But when I first brought it back to Jacksonville, that wasn’t the case.

I’m happy that it’s become a standard type of ukemi here locally.

To Be Continued…

A nafudakake is a rank board, and is a common part of traditional Japanese dojo. Not all nafudakake are uniform, however; there are variations in the lineage recorded, and in board placement. In our dojo, we have reserved the uppermost left board, or fuda, for O-Sensei. In other dojo, the ranking fuda is reserved for the current Doshu.

Board placement can also vary. For our rank board, the fuda proceed from left to right in rank order, from dan to kyu. In other dojo, board placement is dictated by its position to the shomen. In those dojo, the ranking fuda is closest to the kamiza.

Although rank boards traditionally acknowledge O-Sensei, or the current Doshu, it is worth noting that neither actually have rank in Aikido. Rather, it is Doshu who confers rank on others, through the Aikikai Foundation, and ultimately through its shihan. In that sense, then, it may be more accurate to view a nafudakake not as a rank board, but as recorded lineage.

For most dojo, however, it is more than that. The nafudakake also serves to memorialize dojo membership. This is distinct from an attendance sheet. Typically, once a student achieves rank, her fuda remains on the wall, even if she takes a leave of absence or stops training altogether. The reality of limited wall space, however, does dictate some compromises, depending on student turnover. In some dojo, membership, and therefore fuda placement, is fixed only after reaching yudansha. At our school, we intend to permanently display fuda after a student passes their first promotional test. Time will tell whether that is realistic.

Since a nafudakake represents dojo membership, rather than dojo attendance, a student’s fuda typically remains on the wall even if she transfers or opens her own school. (Of course, much depends on the circumstances of her departure.) For example, on our rank board, we will continue to acknowledge one of our own, although she previously left the dojo and joined New York Aikikai as an uchi-deshi. In her case Seabolt Sensei introduced her to Yamada Sensei, who then accepted her into his dojo.

Lastly, as a United States Aikido Federation dojo, our intent is to acknowlege rank received through the Federation, either from Seabolt Sensei in her capacity as a fukushidoin, or from our shidoin and shihan.

Sensei would like to thank Kevin for his excellent woodworking skills, and Buck for his practiced script, for making our rank board a reality.

Editors Note: This is the eighth in an eight part series discussing past seminars at our school. The videos can be found in our multimedia archive. The series can be found under the video tag.

And so we come to it - the final installment of our video series.  Fret not, however; the dojo vault is teeming with memory cards chock full of videos of seminars past. (To pique your interest, how does technique performed by Nobu Arakawa sound? Or Penny Bernath? We thought so.)

Today, however, we have two videos of Ed Di Marco Sensei, chief instructor of Lake County Aikikai. For those who may not know, Di Marco Sensei is an alumnus of the storied New York Aikikai, where he trained for twenty years under the leading lights in the American Aikido community. He brings a host of real world experience to his technique, which he is fond of sharing on the mat. (And no, I’ve never asked Sensei the particulars about these experiences. These things, I think, are way above my pay grade.)

The first video shows Sensei executing kokyu-nage from a shomen strike. And uke? Well, that’s Joel Miller, one of our past instructors. Nowadays you can find him on the mat at Austin Aikikai, under Damir Jamsek Sensei.

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The second video shows a variation on the same technique. Dee Sensei is uke.

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The seminar itself took place in April 2007 at the UNF dojo.

Editors Note: This is the first in an eight part series discussing past seminars at our school. The videos can be found in our multimedia archive. The series can be found under the video tag.

We’ve been fortunate to host Peter Bernath Sensei several times over the years, most recently in January 2009.  It really is a privilege to observe his technique; our students are always grateful when he visits.  The videos and pictures below were taken from our seminar in March 1996.  Don’t worry if the location seems unfamiliar—at this point in our history we were training in a dance studio in the Mandarin area.  We’ve come a long way since then!

In the background you can see Chris Rozette, one of our early instructors, and Grady Lane Sensei, chief instructor of Brevard Aikikai.  Neil Bednar is uke.

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To me, what’s interesting about this technique is the throw itself; or more specifically, the cut and follow through.  Notice the connection Sensei makes with uke’s hips.  The throw, (really a cut to uke’s center), is a perpendicular strike which casts uke away.  It is as much a hip throw as shiho-nage.

It is also the type of throw Dee teaches—a perpendicular cut across uke’s center that redirects uke’s energy outwards.  You’ll see this hip movement throughout her waza.

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In this next video, Sensei is executing a direct kaiten-nage, soto variation.  Joey Turner is uke.  There is a lot going on here, but what I wanted to mention is Joey’s ukemi.  Dee learned what is sometimes referred to as soft or wide legged ukemi at New York Aikikai, which she then introduced to the Jacksonville area.  Although her primary influence here was Donovan Waite Sensei, she also trained with Joey, himself a former deshi.

Our students undoubtedly recognize this style of ukemi from our classes.  If there is one thing that distinguishes our school, I think it would be this—Dee’s emphasis on soft ukemi.

Below are two still shots of the seminar.

Comments?  Observations?  Fire away!