New York Aikikai Kyu/Dan Grading, December 2004

This is a kyu/dan grading held at New York Aikikai in December 2004. I found it on a backup DVD while sorting through old papers for a move. I remember receiving it from one of the dojo members who had been filming.

I am taking ukemi in the very first pair, nearest the camera. It was about two years after I started aikido, just after I had received my shodan. Nobody cared, so I had neither shaved nor had a haircut, a truly American (or should I say New York?) look. I feel a certain kinship with Kei Komuro, who wore his hair in a long ponytail in New York.

The examiners are the dojo-cho, Yamada Sensei, together with Sugano Sensei and Donovan Sensei, both of whom have since passed away.
If I remember rightly, Sugano Sensei had his left leg amputated the previous year after his diabetes worsened. Even after losing his leg he returned to teaching, and I could feel his deep passion for aikido and for the dojo.
I happened to attend that first class after his return and saw the dojo members give him a thunderous round of applause. I remember sensing that very American spirit of celebrating anyone who takes on a challenge.
The diabetic-diet restaurant Sugano Sensei took me to was incredibly bland. Diabetes is frightening.

I think this is a valuable record offering a glimpse of a grading abroad from the days before smartphones became widespread, so I am posting it here.
Please have a look when you have a moment.