JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi, page 21
“Well, I still think it was pretty brave.”
He helped me get up and I dressed slowly, grateful for clean clothes. On the way out I saw the doctor and told him I wanted to make a donation to the hospital. He didn’t seem very interested in the fact that I had removed my own I.V. and was leaving. “Yes? Just leave it in the envelope.”
I looked at the envelope. “It won’t fit,” I said, and threw the big wad of cash I had taken from the Maoist rebels on his desk. He was surprised. “This is for the people.” I said. “The Nepali people,” and then we walked out into a brilliant, beautiful world.
Christian walked beside me all the way back to Namche Bazaar and although my back was sore and I could really only see well from my right eye I thoroughly enjoyed the trip down to the old city perched on the side of the mountain. At one point I needed to stop and lean against him because I was so dizzy. He just stood tall and strong and held me like a friend. We were having lunch in the Thamserku View Lodge when the rest of our group showed up.
“Oh Sensei, your face!” squealed Esra, and she and Celine both threw their arms around me. I have to admit I really enjoyed the attention. I’m still a man. The guys just watched with big grins on their faces.
I looked them over. In only five days their faces had taken the ruddy look of outdoors, sun and wind. They were ebullient, smiling and bubbling with happiness. Their young muscles had hardened. Their lungs and constitutions were now seasoned and at peace with the high country and thin atmosphere.
“So where are you going today?” I asked.
“We want to take the guys to the monastery at Tengboche,” said Esra. Her English was so much better I was amazed.
“Really?” I asked. “Where are your Italians?”
She blushed. “Oh, well, you know…” Everyone laughed.
“It sounds great. There and back in one day?”
“Sure! It’s easy,” said Celine.
“Go on,” I said. “Get out of here and make sure you take some pictures for me so I can see it.”
They laughed again and assured me they would and then were off. Five beautiful people I was proud to know. I sipped some more bad instant coffee and then a shadow fell over me.
“I heard what happened up there.”
I looked up to see Buz Donahoo standing beside me in full kit. Back pack and hiking polls sat on him like a normal man wears a suit.
“Hi Buz, you taking off?”
“Yeah, it’s time for me to go down.”
Somehow that depressed me. I was hoping to spend some more time with him. I suddenly felt a little lonely.
“That must have been something,” he said. He hunkered down next to me.
“What?” I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. I had to turn my head to see him with my good eye.
“The whole thing. Going up there, getting robbed and beat up, then going back and getting your stuff back. I wish I’d been there! Man, what an adventure! A real shoot out with a rebel army? Hah! Then climbing all the way up the back side of Gokyo in a blizzard, at night, without a coat or any gear…?” He grinned at me. “You know, I almost envy you! I’ve been robbed by Maoists in Peru. They call themselves the Shining Path or some such, and I’ve been chased by pirates off the Spanish Main.., I’ve been robbed by whores… and bartenders…” he laughed, “...and I just keep going and going and think, what an amazing, wonderful life! What an amazing wonderful world!
“Everything we do should be an adventure and you have to have the occasional rifle butt to the head once in a while in order to make you really appreciate the look of Cho Oyo after a blizzard. It’s a trade off, and it all comes out even. In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
He was preaching to me about ukemi.
He stood up. “Okay, see you around, sometime.” He turned and walked away.
“Hey Buz,” I called. “Maybe in Orlando or Winter Park???”
He turned, “How about we meet on some nice Greek Island like Santorini or maybe in old Havana?” He laughed and kept going down the bazaar and stopped a dozen times to speak to someone, shake a hand, or pat a shoulder. Then he was gone.
I sat and thought about what he’d said and decided that I agreed with him completely, and always had. Sometimes a rifle butt to the head causes your perspective to be altered for a time, but it wakes you right up if you let it. Perspective was returning.
Aikido is a metaphor for life. It is not a journey of its own, only a hiking pole to be carried along the way. Too many people train at aikido thinking that it is a worthy end in itself and if I can make an observation for all time, it is that aikido is meant to enhance the adventures in our life, not take the place of them.
Get off the mat and go to the train station. Take off your gi and hakama, go get your back pack and take off. You’re not getting any younger. The world is an immense place and everywhere you go, aikido will serve you as an ambassador, and a way of smoothing out the rough edges and maybe sometimes save your life. But the living of your life is your real job and aikido is only a small tool in your kit. Trust me, nothing you ever do on an aikido mat will match the surge you get from riding horseback over the Khyber Pass and then going hell-bent for leather into the Hindu Kush and exploring the Karakorum Mountains. Nothing on an aikido mat will fire up your spiritual light like a camel ride deep into the Anatolian Desert. There, you can slip into a thousand year old caravansary to watch Whirling Dervishes perform their ancient and secret meditation by candle light to the sounds of drum and flute.
Okay, you don’t have a passport. There are 53 mountains that exceed 14,000 feet in Colorado alone. Speaking of Colorado, the river has some awesome white water rafting. On the East Coast, the Appalachian Trail is a serious challenge or you can go the civilized route and go listen to one song in every jazz club in New Orleans. Just do something!
Aikido has two sides: nage and uke. Nage is like death, the dissolution of energy… a kind of entropy that diminishes our life forces as we train. A perfect nage contributes nothing and intercepts uke’s attack and leads it away until it is extinguished or until uke escapes. It is almost impossible.
A perfect uke attacks with all the energy, the life force, the juice, that makes nage look like he’s actually doing something when he should, in reality, be doing nothing at all. If you feel really energized after an aikido class, nage is adding too much juice to his throws and giving too much back. It isn’t aikido.
Everything in aikido begins and ends with ukemi.
It is the only martial art that embraces such a scheme and it is what, in my opinion, makes it unique. I don’t care about nage and what he does, anymore. After 45 years of training my experience tells me a good uke knows it all, anyway. Certainly he knows more than a nage that bunches his muscles and loads up to throw an uke so hard he bounces and makes a big noise.
The noise you hear is the ego of the nage, pounding his chest and saying ‘look at me!’ The truth is, aikido is really pretty boring if done right. And that’s good! So let me be the uke. That’s where the fun is, that’s where the joy is, that’s where the life is.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it
Afterword
Chris went back to work. The entire American Defense Community is relieved. Curtis, after years of engineering on-board changes to the Space Shuttle now heads a team of scientists searching for water in the polar regions of the moon. Celine and Esra went back to Turkey. I heard that Esra is dating a member of the Saudi royal family. That’s just perfect.
Christian went back to school, received his Doctor of Jurisprudence and is now my attorney. He’s the one who insists that I now tell you that no one in this book actually exists. This is a work of fiction. Nothing that took place in this book actually happened. Every place in this book is fictitious.
That said, if you ever get the yen to go off to far and mysterious places, contact Buz Donahoo at Condor Adventures. www.CondorAdventuresInc.Com
Also, if you feel you could spare a few pennies the children and other Nepali people would benefit greatly from any size donation to the Edmond Hillary Hospital.
www.himalayantrust.org/health.php
And on a very sad note I must report that Pemba Sherpa died tragically in a climbing accident. She will be missed.
If you ever get to the mountains of Maine, where I have retired, come by for a beer, but bring enough for everyone.
Dan Linden
Sent from my IPAD.
Namche Bazaar,
Kingdom of Nepal
Glossary
(Common definitions)
Aiki The blending of energy.
Aikido Aikido is made up of three Japanese characters: ai - harmony, ki - spirit, mind, or universal energy, do - the way. Thus aikido is the way of harmony with universal energy, or the way of harmonious spirit.
Aikidoka A practitioner of aikido.
Aiki juitsu The ancient art of battling armed samurai empty handed. This art evolved into a practice where both partners fight empty handed. The first art learned by O’Sensei. From this comes the modified techniques we train today and call Aikido.
Aikikai “Aiki association.” A term used to designate the organization created by the founder for the dissemination of aikido.
Atemi Striking the body. Strike directed at the attacker for purposes of unbalancing or distraction.
Bokken a wooden practice sword.
Budo Martial way.
Bushido The code of the samurai warriors.
Chinkan Kishin A breathing technique.
Dan Black belt rank.
Do The way of… as in judo, the gentle way.
.
Dojo The place where we practice aikido.
Doshu Hereditary title for the head of an organization.
Gi (do gi) Training costume consisting of loose trousers and a jacket tied with a long cotton belt.
Hakama The long, flowing trousers worn in traditional Japanese society.
Hanmi Triangular stance. Ai Hanmi is harmonious stance and gyaku hanmi is opposite stance.
Hombu dojo A term used to refer to the central dojo of an organization. Thus this usually designates Aikido World Headquarters.
Ikkyo The first wrist pinning technique.
Ikkyu 1st rank below black belt rank (dan rank).
Irimi Entering movement.
Iriminage A throw that uses an entering motion and continues with a large pinwheel like movement. It is designed to kill.
Katatedori An attack in which Uke grabs one of Nage's hands in one of his hands.
Katadori An attack in which Uke grabs at Uke's shoulder or lapel.
Katana Two handed killing sword used by Samurai.
Ki Mind, spirit, energy, or vital force.
Kohai A student junior to oneself.
Kokyu Breath. Part of aikido is the development of breath power.
Kokyudosa Training technique done on knees to develop ki.
Kokyunage Breath throw.
Kotegaeshi An outer wrist throw.
Kung Fu Being of master level proficiency in martial matters. Also a style of fighting.
Kyu White belt rank or any rank below shodan.
Ma Ai Proper distancing or timing with respect to one's partner.
Munetsuki A strike to the lower mid section of the stomach.
Nage The person performing the technique.
Nidan 2nd degree black belt.
Nikkyo The second wrist pinning technique.
Nikyu Second rank below black belt rank (dan rank).
O’Sensei Literally, Great Teacher, Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.
Randori The practice of warding off multiple attackers in training.
Ryote Mochi Two hands attacking one wrist.
Sandan Third degree black belt.
Satori Instantaneous understanding, enlightenment.
Seiza Sitting on one's knees.
Sempai A student senior to oneself.
Sensei Teacher. It is usually considered proper to address the instructor during practice as ‘Sensei’ rather than by his/her name. If the instructor is a permanent instructor for one's dojo or for an organization, it is proper to address him/her as “Sensei” off the mat as well.
Shihan A formal title meaning, approximately, master instructor. A teacher of teachers.
Shodan First degree black belt.
Shomenuchi A strike to the top of the head.
Tenkan Turning movement, turning the body 180 degrees.
Uke Person being thrown (receiving the technique).
Ukemi The art of falling in response to a technique. (Hah!)
Ushiro Backwards or behind.
Waza Techniques.
Yokomen Referring to the side of the head.
Yudansha Those individuals of black belt rank.
Daniel Linden, JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi
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He helped me get up and I dressed slowly, grateful for clean clothes. On the way out I saw the doctor and told him I wanted to make a donation to the hospital. He didn’t seem very interested in the fact that I had removed my own I.V. and was leaving. “Yes? Just leave it in the envelope.”
I looked at the envelope. “It won’t fit,” I said, and threw the big wad of cash I had taken from the Maoist rebels on his desk. He was surprised. “This is for the people.” I said. “The Nepali people,” and then we walked out into a brilliant, beautiful world.
Christian walked beside me all the way back to Namche Bazaar and although my back was sore and I could really only see well from my right eye I thoroughly enjoyed the trip down to the old city perched on the side of the mountain. At one point I needed to stop and lean against him because I was so dizzy. He just stood tall and strong and held me like a friend. We were having lunch in the Thamserku View Lodge when the rest of our group showed up.
“Oh Sensei, your face!” squealed Esra, and she and Celine both threw their arms around me. I have to admit I really enjoyed the attention. I’m still a man. The guys just watched with big grins on their faces.
I looked them over. In only five days their faces had taken the ruddy look of outdoors, sun and wind. They were ebullient, smiling and bubbling with happiness. Their young muscles had hardened. Their lungs and constitutions were now seasoned and at peace with the high country and thin atmosphere.
“So where are you going today?” I asked.
“We want to take the guys to the monastery at Tengboche,” said Esra. Her English was so much better I was amazed.
“Really?” I asked. “Where are your Italians?”
She blushed. “Oh, well, you know…” Everyone laughed.
“It sounds great. There and back in one day?”
“Sure! It’s easy,” said Celine.
“Go on,” I said. “Get out of here and make sure you take some pictures for me so I can see it.”
They laughed again and assured me they would and then were off. Five beautiful people I was proud to know. I sipped some more bad instant coffee and then a shadow fell over me.
“I heard what happened up there.”
I looked up to see Buz Donahoo standing beside me in full kit. Back pack and hiking polls sat on him like a normal man wears a suit.
“Hi Buz, you taking off?”
“Yeah, it’s time for me to go down.”
Somehow that depressed me. I was hoping to spend some more time with him. I suddenly felt a little lonely.
“That must have been something,” he said. He hunkered down next to me.
“What?” I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. I had to turn my head to see him with my good eye.
“The whole thing. Going up there, getting robbed and beat up, then going back and getting your stuff back. I wish I’d been there! Man, what an adventure! A real shoot out with a rebel army? Hah! Then climbing all the way up the back side of Gokyo in a blizzard, at night, without a coat or any gear…?” He grinned at me. “You know, I almost envy you! I’ve been robbed by Maoists in Peru. They call themselves the Shining Path or some such, and I’ve been chased by pirates off the Spanish Main.., I’ve been robbed by whores… and bartenders…” he laughed, “...and I just keep going and going and think, what an amazing, wonderful life! What an amazing wonderful world!
“Everything we do should be an adventure and you have to have the occasional rifle butt to the head once in a while in order to make you really appreciate the look of Cho Oyo after a blizzard. It’s a trade off, and it all comes out even. In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
He was preaching to me about ukemi.
He stood up. “Okay, see you around, sometime.” He turned and walked away.
“Hey Buz,” I called. “Maybe in Orlando or Winter Park???”
He turned, “How about we meet on some nice Greek Island like Santorini or maybe in old Havana?” He laughed and kept going down the bazaar and stopped a dozen times to speak to someone, shake a hand, or pat a shoulder. Then he was gone.
I sat and thought about what he’d said and decided that I agreed with him completely, and always had. Sometimes a rifle butt to the head causes your perspective to be altered for a time, but it wakes you right up if you let it. Perspective was returning.
Aikido is a metaphor for life. It is not a journey of its own, only a hiking pole to be carried along the way. Too many people train at aikido thinking that it is a worthy end in itself and if I can make an observation for all time, it is that aikido is meant to enhance the adventures in our life, not take the place of them.
Get off the mat and go to the train station. Take off your gi and hakama, go get your back pack and take off. You’re not getting any younger. The world is an immense place and everywhere you go, aikido will serve you as an ambassador, and a way of smoothing out the rough edges and maybe sometimes save your life. But the living of your life is your real job and aikido is only a small tool in your kit. Trust me, nothing you ever do on an aikido mat will match the surge you get from riding horseback over the Khyber Pass and then going hell-bent for leather into the Hindu Kush and exploring the Karakorum Mountains. Nothing on an aikido mat will fire up your spiritual light like a camel ride deep into the Anatolian Desert. There, you can slip into a thousand year old caravansary to watch Whirling Dervishes perform their ancient and secret meditation by candle light to the sounds of drum and flute.
Okay, you don’t have a passport. There are 53 mountains that exceed 14,000 feet in Colorado alone. Speaking of Colorado, the river has some awesome white water rafting. On the East Coast, the Appalachian Trail is a serious challenge or you can go the civilized route and go listen to one song in every jazz club in New Orleans. Just do something!
Aikido has two sides: nage and uke. Nage is like death, the dissolution of energy… a kind of entropy that diminishes our life forces as we train. A perfect nage contributes nothing and intercepts uke’s attack and leads it away until it is extinguished or until uke escapes. It is almost impossible.
A perfect uke attacks with all the energy, the life force, the juice, that makes nage look like he’s actually doing something when he should, in reality, be doing nothing at all. If you feel really energized after an aikido class, nage is adding too much juice to his throws and giving too much back. It isn’t aikido.
Everything in aikido begins and ends with ukemi.
It is the only martial art that embraces such a scheme and it is what, in my opinion, makes it unique. I don’t care about nage and what he does, anymore. After 45 years of training my experience tells me a good uke knows it all, anyway. Certainly he knows more than a nage that bunches his muscles and loads up to throw an uke so hard he bounces and makes a big noise.
The noise you hear is the ego of the nage, pounding his chest and saying ‘look at me!’ The truth is, aikido is really pretty boring if done right. And that’s good! So let me be the uke. That’s where the fun is, that’s where the joy is, that’s where the life is.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it
Afterword
Chris went back to work. The entire American Defense Community is relieved. Curtis, after years of engineering on-board changes to the Space Shuttle now heads a team of scientists searching for water in the polar regions of the moon. Celine and Esra went back to Turkey. I heard that Esra is dating a member of the Saudi royal family. That’s just perfect.
Christian went back to school, received his Doctor of Jurisprudence and is now my attorney. He’s the one who insists that I now tell you that no one in this book actually exists. This is a work of fiction. Nothing that took place in this book actually happened. Every place in this book is fictitious.
That said, if you ever get the yen to go off to far and mysterious places, contact Buz Donahoo at Condor Adventures. www.CondorAdventuresInc.Com
Also, if you feel you could spare a few pennies the children and other Nepali people would benefit greatly from any size donation to the Edmond Hillary Hospital.
www.himalayantrust.org/health.php
And on a very sad note I must report that Pemba Sherpa died tragically in a climbing accident. She will be missed.
If you ever get to the mountains of Maine, where I have retired, come by for a beer, but bring enough for everyone.
Dan Linden
Sent from my IPAD.
Namche Bazaar,
Kingdom of Nepal
Glossary
(Common definitions)
Aiki The blending of energy.
Aikido Aikido is made up of three Japanese characters: ai - harmony, ki - spirit, mind, or universal energy, do - the way. Thus aikido is the way of harmony with universal energy, or the way of harmonious spirit.
Aikidoka A practitioner of aikido.
Aiki juitsu The ancient art of battling armed samurai empty handed. This art evolved into a practice where both partners fight empty handed. The first art learned by O’Sensei. From this comes the modified techniques we train today and call Aikido.
Aikikai “Aiki association.” A term used to designate the organization created by the founder for the dissemination of aikido.
Atemi Striking the body. Strike directed at the attacker for purposes of unbalancing or distraction.
Bokken a wooden practice sword.
Budo Martial way.
Bushido The code of the samurai warriors.
Chinkan Kishin A breathing technique.
Dan Black belt rank.
Do The way of… as in judo, the gentle way.
.
Dojo The place where we practice aikido.
Doshu Hereditary title for the head of an organization.
Gi (do gi) Training costume consisting of loose trousers and a jacket tied with a long cotton belt.
Hakama The long, flowing trousers worn in traditional Japanese society.
Hanmi Triangular stance. Ai Hanmi is harmonious stance and gyaku hanmi is opposite stance.
Hombu dojo A term used to refer to the central dojo of an organization. Thus this usually designates Aikido World Headquarters.
Ikkyo The first wrist pinning technique.
Ikkyu 1st rank below black belt rank (dan rank).
Irimi Entering movement.
Iriminage A throw that uses an entering motion and continues with a large pinwheel like movement. It is designed to kill.
Katatedori An attack in which Uke grabs one of Nage's hands in one of his hands.
Katadori An attack in which Uke grabs at Uke's shoulder or lapel.
Katana Two handed killing sword used by Samurai.
Ki Mind, spirit, energy, or vital force.
Kohai A student junior to oneself.
Kokyu Breath. Part of aikido is the development of breath power.
Kokyudosa Training technique done on knees to develop ki.
Kokyunage Breath throw.
Kotegaeshi An outer wrist throw.
Kung Fu Being of master level proficiency in martial matters. Also a style of fighting.
Kyu White belt rank or any rank below shodan.
Ma Ai Proper distancing or timing with respect to one's partner.
Munetsuki A strike to the lower mid section of the stomach.
Nage The person performing the technique.
Nidan 2nd degree black belt.
Nikkyo The second wrist pinning technique.
Nikyu Second rank below black belt rank (dan rank).
O’Sensei Literally, Great Teacher, Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.
Randori The practice of warding off multiple attackers in training.
Ryote Mochi Two hands attacking one wrist.
Sandan Third degree black belt.
Satori Instantaneous understanding, enlightenment.
Seiza Sitting on one's knees.
Sempai A student senior to oneself.
Sensei Teacher. It is usually considered proper to address the instructor during practice as ‘Sensei’ rather than by his/her name. If the instructor is a permanent instructor for one's dojo or for an organization, it is proper to address him/her as “Sensei” off the mat as well.
Shihan A formal title meaning, approximately, master instructor. A teacher of teachers.
Shodan First degree black belt.
Shomenuchi A strike to the top of the head.
Tenkan Turning movement, turning the body 180 degrees.
Uke Person being thrown (receiving the technique).
Ukemi The art of falling in response to a technique. (Hah!)
Ushiro Backwards or behind.
Waza Techniques.
Yokomen Referring to the side of the head.
Yudansha Those individuals of black belt rank.
Daniel Linden, JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi
