Filip Arvidsson
June 2009 - July 2009
Nationality: Swedish
Dojo: Gubbangens Aikidoklubb
Mr. Arvidsson stayed in Tokorozawa dojo as an uchideshi for onemonth. It seems that he had many good experiences in and outof dojo during his stay.

My Uchideshi Experience
Filip Arvidsson
Since I first started training Aikido in 1999 I’ve always wanted to go toJapan and experience aikido on its home turf.
Now, ten years later that dream has come true. My dojo back home,Gubbangens Aikidoklubb in Stockholm, have given me great support throughoutthe years and they are highly responsible for making it possible for me to havethis uchideshi experience for one month in Kobayashi Dojo.
When I first came to Tokorozawa dojo I ate lunch with Hiroaki sensei
and the other two male uchideshis, Shinozaki san and Hayashi san. I felt
welcome and calm. The long flight had made me tired but I was too excited totake the first evening of practice was great, very confusing with all the newfaces an all the new impressions, but I felt that this was going to be a memorablestay.
Before coming to Japan, I’ve been attending classes with Kobayashi
sensei and Hiroaki sensei as they were teaching at Iyasaka Dojo in Stockholm.
This time around, I was their guest at their own
dojo, in their own hometown.
It is amazing to learn aikido and to be apart of Japanese everyday life in full scale. I
saw Tokyo through the eyes of an aikido trainee,
not through the shaded glasses of a tourist.
Except for the training, I got to do a lot of things
with the people I’ve met through Kobayashi Dojo.
Yano san invited me for dinner at his place; I ate
hamburgers at Dylan’s barbeque party; sangkaraoke at Hiroaki sensei’s daughters’ birthday
party; just to mention a few highlights.

Of course I got to do somesightseeing too. Except for my Tokyo
trips, I took the train to Nikko one
Monday, visiting the shrines, temples
and climbing the mountains.
Mycamera’s photo count displays about
2000 pictures. Even when my memory
starts to fail, the camera will help me.
I have a lot to show my friends at home.
At times it has been really tough waking up after just a few hours ofsleep to clean the dojo and at times I’ve wished that the next morning would bekeiko-free. But of course that was rarely the case. During class I’ve always
been smiling on the inside even when the heat and my tiredness sometimes kept
me from doing so on the outside. To have this opportunity has been incredible.
The greatest lesson of this stay hasn’t been the basic techniques of aikido
that we’ve been practicing everyday. Of course my aikido has improved and it
will keep on improving as time goes by. I wouldn’t hesitate to state that thishas changed me a lot, not only when it comes to aikido, and that I will carrythese memories for a long time to come.
I would like to thank Kobayashi sensei, Hiroaki sensei, Koyanagi sensei,
Kasahara sensei, Komine sensei, Suzuki sensei and all the other great teachersthat I’ve had the opportunity to learn from, in fact, I would like to thank botheveryone that I got the opportunity to train with and all the others that have beenpart of creating the Kobayashi Dojo atmosphere. I would also like to thank mydojo back in home for all the support and Urban Aldenklint from Iyasaka Dojothat recommended me for this uchideshi stay.