Uwe RosebrockMay 2007 - June 2007
Nationality: Australian
Dojo: University of Tasmania Aikido ClubMr. Rosebrock stayed in Tokorozawa dojo for one month from May
2007 with Mr. Gataric. It seems that he had many experience during
his stay.

My life as an uchideshi at Kobayashi Dojo
Uwe Rosebrock
On May 16, 2007, I left for Japan to arrive on May 17 fromTasmania, Australia, to become an uchideshi at Kobayashi Dojo in Tokorozawa
near Tokyo. Firstly my warmest thank you goes to the Kobayashi family toallow me to train and welcome me to the dojo. The experience was truly eye
opening in so many ways.
One could have all the preparation in the world, but when living in awestern society, it would be hard pressed to envisage the lifestyle one enters into
in becoming a live-in student. The early rise to prepare and clean the dojo
almost becomes a mantra in which you focus on the immediate little things.
Especially when you are so sleep deprived. Not that I wasn’t warned –but I
wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.
The tight schedule meant to get up before 5:00am to either clean theTokorozawa dojo where we stayed, or travel to Kodaira, Dojocho’s place ofresidence and principle dojo. In all dojos was an intensive cleaning schedule tofollow, which in itself was a task and reminded me ever so often of what being
there was all about.
While Tokorozawa has been rebuilt several years ago, Kodaira is close toits original state, at least as far as the mats are concerned. These are old style
straw mats, compressed through years of practice to mirror the consistency of awooden floor. Since we had the opportunity to train in Kodaira many times aweek under Dojocho, it took a little getting used to. It did not take too long until
my knees did not appreciate the ongoing challenge. Considering that all thesenior students and teachers spend most their life
training on these mats, didn’t ease the pain but mademe admire them even more. Any of these challenges
were utterly overshadowed by the privilege to betaught by Kobayashi sensei and Hiroaki sensei. The
continuous training 2-3 times a day with so many
senior students and teachers was not only exciting butalso put my own study of Aikido in perspective. Iappreciated the structured teaching, the generosity, thekindness and particularly the smiles with which all those miss-steps of us gaijin
were overseen.
And than there are the ‘little’events outside the daily schedule, such as
taking part in the annual Aikido Enbukai (demonstration) under Kobayashi Dojo,
travelling to the foot hills of Mount Fuji to train under Dojocho and others for aweekend, or getting up early on the day when you could sleep a little longer totrain under Doshu at Hombu Dojo. Travelling to Meiji University where
Dojocho instructs the students of Meiji University, we met a great number ofincredibly keen students and it gave us yet another insight into the spectacularefforts these great teachers of Aikido and life make.
As a tradition the uchideshis are to prepare breakfast every Friday
morning for the sensei’s attending the weekly office day as well as for theuchideshis. I wondered often what sort of culinary inventions must have beenpresented. So we tried to stick with the simple and spent some effort on desserts.
But let there be no doubt, we couldn’t possibly compare any of our efforts with
Hiroaki sensei’s wife, Miyoko, who made a traditional Japanese breakfast every
Wednesday morning.
Thank you ever so much, for allowing us to gain this experience.