Selected Articles from Issue 4

November 2000

RANK TESTING FALL 2000

The fall rank testing of Hilo Seishikan Aikido has just been completed and we would like to congratulate all those who tested.  Even the heavy rains couldn’t dampen our spirits, as most of our members participated in testing.

The club instructors met following the rank testing on Monday evening, November 13, and reviewed the testing and the test requirements.  They were very pleased with the performance of the test arts. Everyone felt that the students displayed much more than is visible in regular practice sessions.  They also felt that the students had generally performed even better than they had expected!  There were also arts identified as the ones needing to be worked on, and these will be reviewed in the various classes in the near future.  The students were individually graded and evaluated by the members of the testing board.  The tests and procedures were also evaluated and a few minor changes will be made prior to the next testing.

Now that the testing is over, we need to focus on where we are at and to set our sights on moving on ahead.  We have the finest set of instructors that one can hope to have.

NOW WHAT?

Okay, so the rank testing is pau.  Now what?  This question was asked of some of our instructors, and their responses are reported here:

Adams-sensei:  “You all showed understanding of the basic movements of the arts.  Now, we need to polish certain fundamental movements to make the waza more effective.  Congratulations to all of you for a job well done!”

Kahana-sensei:  “Keep up the level of aikido that was displayed tonight.  Extension of ki was shown very well.”

Yamamoto-sensei:  “They did good work in the testing and the practicing for the test.  Now we need to work on putting in more feeling into performance of the arts.”

Walker-sensei:  We were proud of our students’ achievements after watching their performance at our first rank testing.  However, a serious reminder!  Your hard work to improve begins now!  There’s always room for every one of us to improve.”

Kamau-sensei:  “Practice in class with as much effort as they put in during the test.”

C. Yonemori-sensei:  “Performance during the testing was really good.  Now, we have to practice with this same level of intensity and desire.  We also need to think about and set our goals for the immediate future and long-range also.  Keep up the good work everyone!”  

“HILO SEISHIKAN AIKIDO”

At the rank testing on Monday, November 13, we had for the first time placed a kanji (Chinese writing) of our club’s name on the shomen.  Reverand Daien Soga of the Puna Hongwanji was kind enough to take up his brush and do the kanji for us.  The result is really beautiful!  We had the writing mounted and framed for use on the shomen.  We will be having smaller copies made for individual classes to use, too.

The character of the kanji literally spell out the “Seishikan” in our club’s name.  The first character spells out “Sei” and refers to “righteousness, sincerity, truthfulness.”  The “Shi” refers to the “will or determination.”  The final character is “Kan” which means “place.”  In other words, Seishikan means the place to develop the will and determination to be righteous, truthful, and sincere.  We feel that this will help us to become the kind of people we would like to become.  The writing placed on the shomen then serves as a reminder for all of us to strive to be this kind of people.

We would like to express our thanks to Reverand Soga for his kindness and thoughfulness in helping us out.  Thank you!

RIGHTEOUSNESS, SINCERITY, TRUTHFULNESS

Righteousness – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Sincerity – Be sincere in all that you do and say.  Mean what you say and do to and for others.

Truthfulness – Be honest and truthful to others and to yourself.  To thine own self, be true.  Look yourself in the eye.