I was fortunate recently to attend the Kobayashi Summer Camp Seminar held in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. This 4 day seminar was hosted by the Calgary Aikikai which is the home and Dojo of Inaba Yasuhisa Sensei. Inaba Sensei is a long time student and friend of Kobayashi Yasuo Shihan and as I watched the two of them interact over the weekend it was apparent that they have known each other a very long time. This is a testament, I believe, to the long and deep relationships which flow from the study of Aikido through out the world. Canmore, Alberta is a beautiful town located directly in the Canadian Rocky Mountains in the Bow Valley. It is surrounded by the Three Sisters Peaks and Mount Rundle to name a few. The magnificent Bow River runs right through the middle of town and is an amazing blue/green color from the glacial activity further up in the mountains. I camped along the Bow river during my stay in Canmore and enjoyed being in that beautiful part of the world very much. The Aikido Seminar taught by Kobayashi Shihan was a lot of fun and I met many excellent new friends and training partners. One aspect of the Seminar which I found interesting was how Kobayashi Shihan used Ukes to teach Aikido. Kobayashi Shihan would call someone up in front of the class and grab them and ask them to throw him with Kote Gaeshi or some technique. If they did the technique correctly Kobayashi Shihan would take the Ukemi from them and tell them "Good Job!". In fact he took koshinage ukemi from me, even though he did not know me at all and I am 6' 3' tall and he is 70 years old! This approach to teaching really helped folks to enjoy the techniques and not take themselves too serious while learning them. Kobayashi Shihan was an inspiration to me as an instructor and I will be trying to put into practice what I saw of his enthusiasm for Aikido and teaching approach. I wish to thank Kabayashi Shihan for teaching me during the seminar and I look forward to another opportunity to learn from him. I also wish to thank Inaba Sensei for his hosting of the Seminar as well as making me feel at home in Canmore. I also wish to thank Homma Kancho for giving me the opportunity to travel to Canada in his stead through his many relationships in the Aikido Community. Scott Olson July 25, 2007 |