Linda Eskin - Aikido 1st Kyu Exam - Aikido of San Diego
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ม.ค. 2025
- My 1st kyu Aikido exam, on 9 March 2013. I began training in May 2009. As usual, there are parts of my test I was happy with, and parts that, ahem, help show me what I need to work on. Learn more about Aikido, the martial art of harmony, and follow my blog sharing my experiences as a student at GrabMyWrist.com. Aikido is a non-oppositional, non-competitive practice appropriate for all ages.
Many thanks to my mentors, ukes, and fellow test candidates, whose teaching, coaching, and encouragement have been an important and happy part of my Aikido training from the beginning, and to my teacher, Dave Goldberg Sensei, and all the instructors and students at Aikido of San Diego (www.aikidosd.com).
You can find all of my exam videos here: grabmywrist.com.... Better yet, come see a class in person. Most dojos, including Aikido of San Diego, welcome observers. If you are thinking Aikido is something you might enjoy and benefit from, don't wait, find a dojo and start training!
Thank you so much, Michael. I have not visited a Yoshinkan dojo yet, but the person who got me interested in Aikido in the first place (Mark Rashid) trains in a Yoshinkan dojo in Colorado. I'm glad you enjoy my blog. Writing it really helps me clarify my own understanding. Hope to see you on the mat one day. :-)
Wow, its really great that you made these videos. I watched ur 6 kyu video and now this, huge difference hehe. Congratulations! Good luck in your Shodan examination!
Thank you, Sarah. I'm glad you are enjoying my videos. :-) Thank you for your encouragement! I will likely be testing for Shodan later this year. Training, training, training! :-)
I've only now come across your channel. It's amazing to be able to see the whole transformation all at once! You rock!
Congratulations to you both......taking a grading is not easy, whatever level of the grading, and I'd like to say that I enjoyed the slow steady, smooth approach to the demonstration of your knowledge so far. A grading well earned !
David O'Brien
Takama Hara Aikido
Cumbria
England
Congrats Linda. Proud of you. I also do aikido. I'm just 6th Kyu. I like TH-cam videos
We don't adhere to a specific style, but Dave Goldberg Sensei trained at Iwama with Morihiro Saito Sensei for some time. Our weapons training definitely comes from his time at Iwama. Our open-hand techniques might have more varied sources.
Thank you both for your kind comments.
Hi Reina! Thank you. :-) Congratulations on beginning - that's the most difficult part. Glad to be walking the path with you. Happy training!
Congrats for your progression. Waiting for your next DAN black belt videos.
Hi Judoka. Thank you for your kind words. :-) I'll have to check out your videos (of Jujutsu). Happy training!
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. The biggest lesson in preparing for and taking this exam is that I have a lot to learn. :-) I will try to be mindful of the stops and starts. Good point.
Your technique is graceful, controlled, and powerful. I really enjoy watching your kyu tests. Thanks for posting them. I'm gearing up to take my 2nd Kyu test on October 1st, 2013. I'll look forward to seeing your Shodan demonstration in the future. Keep up the good work. Masakatsu Agatsu.
-Jeremy san-
That was great. Looked exhausting also. I train in American Jujutsu and I'm seeing a lot of shared techniques. Your iriminage impressed me most. Osu!
Another method frequently taught in my dojo, usually with tanto, leave weapon on ground behind you, and counter circle uke as they go to pick it up.
To put a whole grading on U TUBE takes a lot of guts, I commend you for that, you are bound to attract all kinds of criticisms good and bad. You both acquitted yourselves really well and apart from a different outlook on some of the techniques overall it was a good demonstration of your Art. You are now 1 step away from becoming a beginner as your Sho Dan will prove to you. Good luck and take care.
Thank you, Clive. It just takes honesty. :-) My exams are what they are. There are aspects I'm proud of, and parts I'm mortified about. I'm not concerned about people's approval (and I do get slammed from time to time, which is just funny). What I love is when someone tells me that seeing my videos got them to walk into the dojo for the first time. :-) That's worth all the criticism. And the kind and thoughtful comments, like yours. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words, David. It definitely wasn't easy. LOL A humbling lesson in seeing just how little I know. I'm glad to have it behind me, and am starting fresh, trying for beginner's mind every day. Cheers.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments, RHOOWL. I'll be sure to pay attention to those things. I understand exactly what you are saying about projecting forward, and owning the space. I love your image of using Aikido to brush the obstacles aside. Cheers.
Congratulations Linda! I've been following your blog since I discovered it last summer and I've really enjoyed all your thoughts and shared experiences. Although I train Yoshinkan/Renshinkai style, it's always enlightening to get different perspectives on the art and way of this budo.
That is one beautiful dojo,you are very lucky to have a place like this to practice in.keep on practicing aikdo :)
Good point about handing off a sword. We usually hand off bokken horizontally, blade up, but that's not anything I've been formally taught. I do hope I didn't hand someone a bokken with the blade facing them - yikes - I'll go back and watch for that. As for tsuki, we do it blade down. There are other attacks where we hold it the other direction. And yes, I do enjoy training in different styles. It's interesting to see how others do things.
Thank you very much for the reply.
Howdy. We talk a bit on aikiweb, think Xmas for christmas. You have given yourself a tremendous gift by cataloging your tests on video. And you have given a bunch of following aikido students the gift of getting to see someone progress confidently and successfully through a training curriculum.
So, shodan when? And when do we get to train together?
I am a new student. haven't test for anything yet so I guess I have no rank. :o( I can't hardly wait to learn some of the stuff you are showing. they look great and watching your skills opens up a hunger for me to continue to learn and earn my belt in aikido. thank you for taking the time to inspire others.
Thank you, Olga (?). It might be a few years before shodan... :-)
Those who detract to much have most probably never done a grading. Nerves can cause total brain fade .. and panic sets in ..
well done for getting this far .. You did ok .. And for your Dan test I hope you do well ... Namaste
Thank you, Paul. :-)
nicely done! Congratulations....
This is really good! I can hardly wait to see your Sho Dan exam... :)
Thank you to everyone who has posted thoughtful, kind, and/or intelligently critical comments. I welcome sincere discussion, questions, and feedback. Outright insults, however, will not be tolerated. I delete comments and ban people who are just plain mean - especially if they are both stupid and mean. Go be mean somewhere else. I don't have time for that. Everyone else, stick around. :-)
Different schools, different traditions, different reasoning.
I have been thoroughly taught to never hand a weapon back to a person in a way that they can immediately attack me with it properly. Usually, this means that I hand a bokken back blade at them, tsuka up, slightly angled toward them. My grip is such that I can use the bokken on them until the moment I decide to let go and move to a safer ma-ai.
Interesting test...loads of ura at the start...if I may suggest one thing...in the free form project forward..even if your stepping back think forward...don't draw into yourself... Own your space and move freely in it. Use aikido to brush the obstacles aside.
Too graceful to be a martial art ! next please.
You are very kind.
unfortunately I haven't been caught in any videos yet but you will get a good idea at the Shin Tai Ichi Dojo facebook page. My sensei and myself manage that page. I posted quite a few AJJP demonstration and belt test videos. Enjoy.
Ms. Eskin, what aikido style do you practice? Some techniques I see in the video remind me of Iwama-ryu (e.g. katate dori ikkyo, shomenuchi ikkyo) but some are kind of different.
Very good Mrs Eskin, congrats for ur 1kyu! in my opinion you should improve your timing and your contact with uke because you work so much in static mode, and your techniques contain an stop at start. Regards from Tenerife, Canary Islands.
PD: the ukes should improve too the attack with shomen and yokomen with more fastness and sureness
legal!! muito bom.
Congratulations!your techniques are really good.they seems so clearly. i like it. i think if you do more fastly and fluently it will be great :)
Thank you for your kind words, Sinan. I focus my practice on clarity, alignment, and connection. I figure speed and fluidity will come with time. :-)
Congrats on your first Kyu.
Watching your video's you show a good fundemental understanding of Aiki, though I would encourage you to go to a couple of different schools to see the difference of styles.
One thing that made me cringe however was the lack of weapon discipline. Just because they are wooden weapons doesn't meant you can't damage someone with them. With Tanto tsuki it is always blade upwards. Bokuto, you would never take a sword offered to you blade first.
The young lady did really well
that girl in hakama didnt even know how to do yokomen uchi
It's rude of you to come here and criticize my friend, who was generous in mentoring me and being my uke. "That girl in hakama" is a nidan, and a very dedicated student of the art. Show a little respect.
Attacks are sometimes executed differently in different schools. You may do yokomen-uchi another way. That does not mean others don't know what they are doing. Your critique comes from ignorance and inexperience.
Please feel free to delete your comment. Years from now, when you are a little wiser, you may be embarrassed by what you said here.
I say what I know is right. She may be nidan, practiced for long time. But a wrong technique is a wrong technique. Every cut begins from your forehead, not above your shoulder.
Aria132 Your understanding is limited. That may be the way you strike in your dojo - the way your teacher was taught. That is fine - we can strike that way, too. It comes from sword technique. I often see it in ASU dojos. But it is not the only way to strike yokomen. My teacher trained with Morihiro Saito Sensei (9th dan) in Japan, and Saito Sensei taught the strike you see my uke doing. It is not incorrect. If you have an argument with that way of striking, your argument is with the late Saito Sensei, not with my friend.
Saito Sensei demonstrates yokomen-uchi:
th-cam.com/video/7ouo6auP9Fc/w-d-xo.htmlm5s
OMG a lot of! self defense i like it i can combine whit my jkd .. MG its 40 minutes of full slef defense!!!
If you don't care for it, don't practice it. Easy.