Crónicas de un gallego gallego en Japón
Archive for December 2008
Once finished the Japanese Course, today I’m taking a bus to Osaka and tomorrow a flight to Manila. I have no time now to sketch all the route I’m going to follow, but I can say I’ll visit Manila, Palawan and Boracay. Until next year there won’t be more posts.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you don’t get a cold, and think that I’ll be drinking from a coconut in the “Asian Caribbean” in Christmas (hahaha).
It was yesterday when the Aikido Grading Tests took place at the Hombu Dojo, the last ones of this year, this is why it was so crowded. I think there were about 60 people in total, 30 of whom took the tests. During the test is not allowed to take pictures and/or video, so all the pictures that you will see in this article were took before the “battle” started.
No, I took no test… It was just curiosity what lead me to see how the ceremony is held. I got to the Hombu Dojo at 12h and the tests started at 13h. The lower grades first, so it started with the 5-kyu, and then 4-kyu… until the top, 4-dan.
The whole ceremony took about 3 hours and was interesting, however at the end was a bit “too much”. Three hours of seiza sitting made me think that it were the public who took the test and not the keikogi dressed people.
In this address is a table with all the techniques classified by grade: Aikikai Grading System
This is the street where the Hombu Dojo is, a 10 minute walk from my apartment:
Here is again, the facade of the Hombu Dojo, now under better light conditions 
The entrance (I’m the guy reflected on the crystal)
The front door statement, which I think there is no need to explain as it is fully understandable…
