These are some of the more common terms you will encounter while studying Aikido. You will find a somewhat less abridged glossary in Appendix A.

bokken = wooden sword. dan = black belt ranks. dojo = practice hall. gi = training clothes. hai = yes! hakama = black or blue divided skirt worn over the gi. hyoshigi = wooden clappers. jo = stick. joshu = assistant teacher. ken = sword. kiai = a yell with spirit; "E-YEA-E" in sound. ma-ai = proper distance between nage and uke. misogi = purification. nage = thrower; throw. onegaishimasu = humble request, as in "please teach me." rei = bow. seiza = kneeling posture. sensei = instructor; teacher. shinshin = mind and body. shokushu = Ki Sayings booklet. shomen = the wall where the Ki calligraphy (ki-no-sho) is hung. tanto = knife. taiso = exercise. toitsu = coordination; unification. tokanoma = altar. uke = a person who is thrown by nage. ichi = 1 one. ni = 2 two. san = 3 three. shi = 4 four. go = 5 five. roku = 6 six. shichi = 7 seven. hachi = 8 eight. kyu = 9 nine. ju = 10 ten. ju-ichi = 11 eleven. ju-ni = 12 twelve. ju-san = 13 thirteen. ju-shi = 14 fourteen. ju-go = 15 fifteen. ju-roku = 16 sixteen. ju-shichi = 17 seventeen. ju-hachi = 18 eighteen. ju-kyu = 19 nineteen. ni-ju = 20 twenty. ni-ju-ichi = 21 twenty one. ni-ju-ni = 22 twenty two. Etc.

As you arrive at the dojo, hopefully on time for class, you bow at the door and mark up the attendance sheet. If it is your first time there and you wish to participate in a class, let Sensei or one of the advanced students know. There will be some paperwork for you to fill out. You walk around the mat and bow again at the shomen, as you enter the koishitsu (dressing room). Should you be late for class - heaven forbid - get fully dressed in the dressing room. Then again bow at the shomen and enter the mat.

You line up sitting seiza, facing the shomen, with the highest ranking students to the right of the mat and the lowest ranking to the left of the mat. When Sensei turns around, you first bow to the tokanoma, then when Sensei turns again, you bow to Sensei.

After bowing, Sensei reads a Ki saying out of the shokushu, a line at a time, that you repeat after him.

First off, the Makku-Ho (health exercises) are performed. Then, before Ki Class, Toitsu Taiso (Ki development exercises) and Relax/Oneness Taiso are performed.

Toitsu/Relax/Oneness Taiso leads into Ki Class. Here, it is Sensei's job to push you over, lift you up, bend your arm, ad nauseate-um. It is your job to ignore whatever Sensei does to you. (By the way, did you see the Ki tests in Kevin Costner's version of Robin Hood? Welcome to NJKS!) "Official" Ki exercises are used or others are invented at the spur of Sensei's whims.

You sit seiza while watching Sensei demonstrate exercises and techniques. Then you bow to Sensei and select a worthy looking victim. You bow to each other, in the spirit of "Please teach me," and pair off to practice. When Sensei claps, you bow to your partner in the spirit of "thank you for teaching me" and return to your position.

If you are selected as demonstration material, you bow to Sensei and make yourself available as per Sensei's instructions in the most expedient of manners.

Before Aikido class, Aiki Taiso (Aikido exercises) are performed. (Although Mondays and Wednesdays are geared towards advanced students and other classes towards beginners, the participants determine the level of the class.)

You behave as in Ki class.

After class, when heart and lungs have returned to their normal rate of operation, it is time for Ki breathing. Breathing is the most important of all because if you do not breath, you turn purple and fall over. For more on the subject, read on. Ki breathing is described in detail in "Ki In Daily Life" by Koichi Tohei.

You sit seiza. When Sensei claps the hyoshigi (wooden clappers), you breathe in through the nose all the way down to your One-Point and cease to inhale. When Sensei claps again, you exhale through the throat to the sound of "Haaaa" to the end of the Universe and cease to exhale.

Depending on the participants, the in-out cycle lasts between 30 and 60+ seconds. At the last exhale, Sensei claps repeatedly, thus signaling "this is the last one." Expel all air and cease to exhale until the very last clap.

Sensei turns around and you bow to the shomen. Sensei turns again to the class and you bow to each other, with a resounding "Thank you, Sensei."

Sensei gets up and walks off the mat, the senior student says "Class dismissed," and then you bow to each of the other students in the spirit of "Thank you for teaching me."

As you leave the dojo, turn around and bow to the shomen. And that is the end of another day at the dojo. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

Described below are a number of exercises that you can perform, in and out of the dojo.

Kiatsu is the art of healing yourself and others by pressing with Ki. It may look like Shiatsu or Acu-pressure to the uninitiated bystander. However, Kiatsu is more than just pressing on nerves. It is replenishing of Ki in the recipient of the Kiatsu. In a sense, it is like "jump-starting" an automobile whose battery has run low. And, like re-charging someone else's battery, your own battery and charging system must be in good working order. Please refer to Tohei Sensei's excellent book "Kiatsu" for more information on this subject.

Suzuki Sensei told us at a summer camp about the allied soldiers in the Far East jungles... As you march, climb up long stairs, or otherwise do some strenuous activity, breathe out for 5 steps, then breathe in for 5 steps. (Adjust number for amount of strain.) Keep this rhythm until you get where you are going. Reserve your talking 'til you're done the walking! Also, when you walk down the stairs again, you may want to walk diagonally, in a zig-zag pattern.

Misogi breathing requires the proper seating, and the proper beating. You sit seiza, as in Ki breathing, and hold a suzu (misogi bell) in your right hand. The bell is held lightly, like a bokken, but with it's body down. The right arm moves up and down, as if cutting with bokken, but along the direction of the right leg (appr. 30 degrees to the right). The right arm is to be relaxed, or it will HURT the next day. The bell should make one single noise on the down stroke, not like buckshot on a tin roof. This requires Ki. The strokes make up the rhythm for the chant. The tempo and the accents shift throughout the exercise. The underlined syllables mark the downstroke.

TO-HO-KA-MI-E-MI-TA-ME, i.e., 8 beats to the chant, then

TO-HO-KAMI-EMI-TAME, i.e., 5 beats to the chant, then finally

TOHOKAMI-EMITAME, i.e., 2 beats to the chant.

The actual duration of the whole exercise varies, but expect between 20 and 60 minutes, per recommendations of Suzuki Sensei.

Speaking of misogi, every first Sunday after New Year, NJKS engage in what is known as "river misogi." It is similar to the Scandinavian custom "bastu-bad" (sauna), with the exception that the heat is generated internally. The following is a subjective description of such an event.

You show up at the dojo at 06:00 on the first Sunday after New Year (yes, that means January). You dress up in your regular Gi, plus Hakama if you wear one. At 06:30, a mysterious procession heads out to Kirby's Mill Pond near Medford, New Jersey.

You get to the pond below the dam, which is usually free from ice, and do Toitsu Taiso to get things moving. Then you undress to whatever you have under, if anything. (At that temperature, what is there to look at?) Sensei does a series of Ki-ai, then everybody does their ki-ai, wade into the stream until the water is at waist level, and form a circle. You join hands with the others, ki-ai again, three times with a feeling, and plunge into the wetness below. With only heads above the water, you ki-ai three times again, then plunge back up into the dryness above. The plunging is repeated a number of times, until the water feels nice and toasty. Then you head for dry land, as dignified as possible, and scrape the ice off your body. (Tip: bring extra underwear and change on the spot.) If it wasn't for the ki-ai, surely you would hear the virii, bacteria, and other undesirable organisms yell: "Abandon shiiiiiiiiiiip!"

When you are dry and dressed in your gi again, you perform Ki breathing. After all wet textiles are collected, you head for the post-misogi activities. They are the icing of the cake, unless your diet consists of Pepsi and Tootsie-Rolls. The warmth of the miso soup, sushi, and hot sake soon thaw out the icicles in your breath.

Let the Misogi Committee know that you are joining us next time and we'll make a Viking out of you yet. As a matter of fact, the thought of going into the water is by far much worse than actually doing it - especially afterwards. (It can also be done around midsummer on top of Borgafjäll...)

After the pursuit of spiritual beauty, inner peace and eternal cosmic wisdom, certain participants get a craving for some physical beauty and a cold one. This activity often takes place at a local go-go-bar, which some visitors from Virginia Ki Society can attest to. This is also known as "Doll House Misogi." Just don't get your tongue stuck in the tie-clip.

Student: "Oh, my God, please save my soul, she's sliding up and down on a ten foot pole!!!"

Sensei: "or maybe two five foot Rumanians..."