Nidan Preparations

On November 6 (3 weeks from now) I will be testing for the rank of Nidan in Yoshinkan Aikido.  Although the next few weeks will involved some very focused and important training, as I clarify the finer points of some more advanced techniques, I feel confident that I will go into the test well prepared.  I should, considering I have preparing for this test for six and a half years.

I began training in Yoshinkan Aikdio on April 3rd, 2004, under Mark Lemmon Sensei who is still my teacher.  I can even remember the first technique that I learned:  Katate Mochi Nikajo Osae Ni.  Along the way there have been many challenges and barriers through which I had to pass.  Learning break falls, my kyu tests, Kenshu, and my Shodan test were all pinnacle achievements at the moment they occurred.  In the larger picture however, all of these gates, including my pending Nidan test are just part of a long unfolding study of a particular tradition and martial practice.

What is striking about this test however, is that I do not feel the same level of anxiety that accompanied previous tests.  There is definitely an intensity to the matter, but there has been a shift in my perception of the situation that I can not quite put into words.  What I can identify as an influence in this feeling is my approach to training and test practice, and this is no small part of how I feel as I approach my Nidan test.

When I was a junior student at the dojo, I wanted desperately to do well.  As I watched my seniors go through the tests that were ahead of me, I noticed that there were common difficulties encountered by the majority of students at each level.  From this I made a conscious decision to study their difficulties and attempt to make them into my strengths.  This did not come from a sense of  wanting to out do my classmates, but from wanting to perfect my art.

To my juniors I offer the major points that I have found useful in terms of testing...

• Do not wait until the dojo is in a test practice period to start learning the techniques you need to know.  Look at your next test right way and ask a teacher or senior to help you before and after class.  If Sensei asks for technique requests in class, speak up.
• Work and think in Japanese from the start.  Although we translate technique names into English to help teach junior students and help explain certain concepts, all names are just labels that describe a certain way of moving and connecting with Uke.  As quickly as possible, you want to get to the point when you can hear the word kotegaeshi and before you can think reverse hand you can touch or envision the movements and connections associated with that technique.  In short, when the time comes for your tests to be in Japanese, you want to language to be as second nature as bowing.  (Heck, many dojos don`t even bother translating into English).
• Work on something outside of class time every week.  There are buki waza and toshu waza that we don`t get around to very often, so it may take some additional effort to keep them active in your practice.
• As you advance, look for opportunities to be someone else Uke when you are not eligible to test.  When you engage in the process of testing, even when it is for someone else, you grow.
• Show up for test practice.  It is not uncommon to see people reduce their training in test practice when they are not eligible for the upcoming test.  This is very unfortunate.  We engage in test practice for two weeks, every two months.  This means that we spend one quarter of our training year in test practice.  This time is significant.  This is the time to turn up the heat on our own training. 

There is much to be done over the next few weeks.  It is of no greater or lesser importance than the work of the new student preparing for their 9th kyu test.  They too are preparing for Nidan.  They just might not see it yet.