In our dojo routine, it may seem we do a lot of bowing, both standing and sitting. Please regard bowing as display of respect and consideration. We show this respect toward O Sensei (for giving us aikido), our instructors for teaching us and to all our training partners. We are all deserving of respect as people regardless of rank or position at the dojo.

So…

Once you’ve climbed the stairs and enter the dojo proper, you may bow while standing, to the kamiza, a place of honor at the front of the mat that has a picture of aikido’s founder, O Sensei, along with his calligraphy of the word “aikido”.

As you enter the office area and members-only area of the dojo, please remove your shoes, place them on the shoe racks and swipe your membership card at the front desk computer. (We count each day as “1 hour” of training, regardless of how many classes you attend per day. For those members wishing to test for rank, this is how we keep track of your required training hours.) Then, proceed to the changing rooms.

We have two changing rooms: men’s and women’s. We also have a single stall restroom in the office area of the dojo that can be used for changing. 

Change into your clean gi and remove all jewelry for your protection and the protection of others. If you cannot remove earrings please cover them with tape.

Remember to take your gi home with you after training and wash it out of respect for your training partners.

No gi may be left at the dojo overnight for sanitary reasons. 

Enter the mat from the entrance on the east side of the members-only area. Bow to the kamiza, standing or sitting, and make your way on to the mat. You may warm up or train with another student before class starts. Don’t be shy, ask another student if you have a technique question or want to work on something specific.

If you are late to class, please wait at the entrance of the mat until you get permission to enter from the instructor. Then bow in and join the class.

Everyone on the mat should be sitting in seiza (on their heels) or zazen (cross legged). The instructor will sit in front of the class facing the kamiza. Following the instructor’s lead, we all bow together toward the kamiza. Then the instructor turns to face the class and we bow together. We say together “oh-n’gai-shemas” which means, “please help me learn.” 

The instructor will either do a brief warm-up or go straight to demonstrating the first technique. We then bow to our training partner and aikido begins.

We generally train with the same partner. However, the instructor may change partners or announce group techniques. Please keep in mind that aikido is a martial art and its techniques are effective and can be dangerous when executed recklessly. That is one reason for all our formalities and our emphasis on respecting the aikido level of your training partners. Once again, if you feel unsafe you may certainly tell your training partner; they may not be aware of your experience level or how intense they are training. If this doesn’t resolve the problem, please let the instructor know.

You will begin by learning basic movements and, most importantly, how to safely fall. At the beginning, don’t get hung up on aikido vocabulary. Let your body learn the moves; the names of techniques will come with time.

That said, there are three helpful terms:

Nage:  the person who performs the technique

Uke: the person who initiates the attack

Ukemi: safely responding to the technique by falling safely to the mat

Partner practice: Nage does the required technique 4 times, 2 on the left, 2 on the right. Then nage becomes uke and we repeat the above routine.

It can be a bit confusing to make sense out of the order of how things go while on the mat. The best bet is to follow along, but there are a few more tips for you that might help. The highest ranking person (often to be identified with anyone wearing a black belt, but over time you will begin to learn where you fit in rank) is the person who goes first as nage. In small groups, the highest ranking person is in the front of the line, and then we line up by rank after this. If you are working in a group, the instructor or the highest ranking person provides feedback. Generally speaking it is only the instructor who provides feedback or instruction to students as well. As your experience of training is so different from that of your partners, it serves us all well to just focus on our training, rather than our partners.

All of this said, at the very beginning, just try and follow along, be kind to yourself, and as patient as possible.

We often carefully stretch our partner’s back. Then we all sit as we did at the start of class, facing the kamiza. The instructor will lead the bow to the kamiza, turn to face the class, bow, and then exit the mat area. We say together “Arigatto gozai mas” which simply means “thank you.” The class waits for the teacher to be off the mat, then we bow to our training partner(s) and thank them.

Immediately after class, we clean the mat for the next class. Push brooms are located in a closet on the mat. First the mat is swept away from the kamiza and a member will then vacuum the dust on the wood floor. Then we spray the mat with a disinfectant and mop up the excess liquid. Try to help out and take pride in keeping the dojo clean, physically and spiritually.