Fabien Sorin
Jan. 2008 -Feb. 2008
Nationality: French
Dojo: MIT Aikido Club
Although, Mr. Sorin, who studied and now works at MIT, stayed at
Tokorozawa dojo during the toughest and coldest time of the year, it
seems that he had a great time there.

A Month of Uchideshi
by Fabien Sorin
I stayed as an uchideshi in Kobayashi dojo for a month in January of2008. It has been such a rich and wonderful experience that it’s hard to write
about it, but I will try to give my first impressions. First though, I would liketo deeply thank Kobayashi Shihan and Hiroaki Sensei and their families for their
hospitality and the privilege of letting me stay as an uchideshi. Their opennessand kindness are reflected in the atmosphere of the dojo where one can find aunique harmony between an intense Aikido practice on one hand, and friendshipand simplicity on the other. I can only hope I was worth their trust.
I also would like to thank Jeff San who introduced me to Kobayashi dojo andmade this experience possible. I owe him sake and beer for a life time!
To give a quick background, I started Aikido in France in the federationof Tamura Shihan under the direction of Dominique Fleury at the Ecoled’Aikido Traditionnel (Paris). I then moved to Boston (US) for my studies andtrained there at the dojo of Kanai Shihan, and more regularly at the MIT Aikido
club under the instruction of Dick Stroud Sensei. In Boston, I met Jeff San
who told me about the uchideshi program at Kobayashi dojo in Japan. When I
graduated from grad school, I thought it could be a good time to take a breakand travel. I also always wanted to visit Japan and practice there, so naturally I
asked Jeff, who was in Japan at the time, if he would agree to recommend me
and be my guarantor for the uchideshi program at Kobayashi dojo. And, there
I was!
The experience is rich in many ways, but it doesn’t come without littleinconveniences: cold, tiredness, cuts and dry skin, sore muscles. Did I mention
cold? Jeff told me that when I communicated the dates when I could come,Hiroaki Sensei asked him to tell me that it’s freaking cold in January! Waking up
at 5 am in the morning to leave the warm sleeping bag and meet the cold air ofthe dojo, knowing that it will be even colder in a few minutes when I open thewindows to start cleaning, is not what I would call enjoyable€46 But, its part ofthe experience and training, and it’s very interesting to see how one cope with it.
On top of this, man, there is a lot of cleaning! You may look at the schedule andthink you will have some free time between the classes…forget about it! But,
if you feel a little overwhelmed by all the things to do at the beginning, you getused to it pretty quickly and it really becomespart of the training. I have read and heard a lot
about the virtue of cleaning and order in thepractice of Aikido but never really understood it.
I feel I get it a little more now.
These harder aspects of the uchideshi
life were part of what I was looking for incoming here. But I was very surprised by how
in the end it was not that difficult to cope withthem thanks to other aspects of the experience:
the Aikido practice of course, but also thepeople and Japan itself. I have learned somuch in Aikido it’s impossible to describe it
here. Technique wise of course, especially inweapons, and I wish I had stayed a second
month to study more Ken! And I am very grateful to Kobayashi Shihan andHiroaki Sensei, as well as to all the instructors and dojo members who were very
generous in sharing their knowledge and teaching me so many things. It was
not only the techniques but also the approach of the practice, of Budo, relaxation,
the center, “genki”etc… that was very intriguing to me. It was unspoken,
especially with my almost zero Japanese, but I feel I could kind of see in many
dojo members and instructors the influence of the Japanese culture on theirpractice. I will stop here before I say too many stupid things but it was very
interesting and gave me the will to practice even harder to try to grasp a bit moreof this mystery.
The tiredness and cold also quickly disappeared in front of the warm
smiles and kindness of everybody. I can’t describe each character individuallybut I can give common characteristics: dedication to Aikido, openness andsimplicity. I could feel it was important for them that I have the bestexperience possible and for that I am very thankful. Another characteristic isthe eagerness to party! The New Year celebration parties at Kodaira dojo andHigashi-Murayama dojo were a great cultural experience for me but also a great
opportunity to eat good food and drink good Japanese beer and sake! I am
again very thankful for the sayonara party at Tokorozawa dojo at the end of mystay. Even if the practice is not always easy the next day, the parties aredefinitely something to look for when you come here as an uchideshi!!
Talking about good food, sake and beer, discovering Japan where I camefor the first time was also a great experience. Some of the customs seem quite
strange at first, especially for a French guy like me: waiting at the stop lightwhen no car is around, the fact that the trains are always on time etc… It’savery intriguing society and, I know it’s a cliché but it is how it feels, a complex
mix between tradition and modernity that can take a long time, and certainly
more than a month, for a foreigner to grasp. The little free time you get as anuchideshi enables to discover a bit of the Japanese culture and everyday life
besides the Aikido world, and this is also definitely worth it.
As you may have understood reading this, the experience I had wasamazing and I encourage anyone who has this opportunity to go for it. I would
like to finish by thanking especially all the sensei at Kobayashi dojo, and a
special thanks to Kasahara Sensei and Anita who taught me the ways of theuchideshi. I hope I wasn’t
too bad of a student! If anyone comes to Boston,or in the future to Canada or France, I would be more than happy to welcome
you and try to give back a little of what I received during my time as anuchideshi in Kobayashi Dojo!

From left to right: Yasuo Kobayashi shihan, Hiroaki Kobayashi sensei, Mrs. Kobayashi, myself.
photo by Y. Kasahara