Aiki Shrine Trip

After Thursday morning keiko, Taisho and I began our 20 hour trip to the Aiki Shrine.
When we finally arrived at the "Aiki Corral" we were happy to see the training area had removable walls allowing the sounds of the surrounding bamboo to fill the dojo as the cool breezes came through. There were about 30 of us in attendance and we were treated to an excellent training session focusing on the ki extension and precise irimi. Sensei gave us some nice gems to enrich our study and Taisho and I were fortunate to be used for ukemi several times. When we took lunch break on saturday, Taisho was recruited to cut some wood for the evening's fire. He was the only person to not change out of his dogi and when he finished with the work, was covered in a nice layer of sawdust from his face to his knees. After the days keiko, we celebrated Saotome Sensei's birthday and were treated to some excellent food, beer and the best birthday cake I've ever tasted. There was a very friendly, easy energy throughout the entire experience and we got to talk story with some of Saotome Sensei's original students, some serious characters and great story tellers. Sensei came out sunday morning in all white with a black haori and laughed as he told us he nearly forgot about the hour we lost to daylight savings time. We had a very rich keiko after which we were able to take a photo with Sensei and hang out before the long trip home. If you ever get the chance to train at the Aiki Shrine, 1) do not miss it & 2) for god's sakes do not drive.
click on the title for more photos.