Rank and rank tests form an important point of reference in the minds of many if not most aikidoka, yet issues surrounding them rarely get discussed openly. Since Club members are preparing to test in three weeks, this may be a good time to talk about those issues. I asked Senseis Scott and Kagan, both of whom have run their own dojos and testing programs, to help me air some of them. After reading this conversation, please send any comments or questions to me at <Don@aiki-extensions.org>.
DON: It may not be so bad that we spend little time talking about kyu tests. One could argue that too much emphasis is placed on ranks and testing in American aikido practice. After all, O'Sensei did not have mudansha ranks in his teaching program, and preoccupation with one's ego in enjoying rank and preparing to shine runs counter to the aikido emphasis on humility and reducing the show of ego. I know some aikidoka, and they among the finest, who train steadfastly and refuse to take tests. Scott, what do you think?
SCOTT: Well, I am not even fond of the terminology that is used when we speak of kyu and dan "tests." I much prefer to call the event a "promotion demonstration." That speaks more clearly and truly of what actually is taking place: an opportunity for an aikido student to demonstrate the fruits of his/her consistent training.
Testing is associated with passing or failing, as well as all the ancillary tension, anxiety, and frustration. I have never, nor am I aware of any other aikido instructor who put or left a name on a list of testees who was not already (in the sensei's mind) worthy of that new rank. To me, the real test for students of aikido is regular and consistent training. A promotion demonstration is simply a public sharing of the accumulated result from such training.
If students and instructors alike can embrace this notion, students will no longer feel the need to "prepare" for the ordeal of testing. In particular, students can forgo the often useless attempt to make last minute changes to how they execute particular techniques. Last minute changes to one's technique never really work, nor look as good as techniques that may actually be less effective but are more comfortable to use do due familiarity.
Aikido training can therefore remain the relaxing, fun, and stress-reducing experience it was designed to be in the absence of testing. O'Sensei had said, "The only true opponent is one's self." Challenge yourselves to train consistently in the pursuit of personal development, and rank will come to you all by itself. Eventually, from time to time, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate your progress along the aiki path to your fellow students and instructors during a session of promotion demonstrations.
DON: Surely the testing experience should be a joyous one, like all training. I support your emphasis on reducing some of the anxiety associated with testing--but not all. I like the way that some describe the kyu test experience--as midway between everyday keiko and being attacked on the street. The point is to see how well one's training holds up under conditions of at least moderate anxiety.
As for failing students, my experience is different. I know several dojos where students have failed (i.e., told students to test again later) rank tests, including our own Club in the past. I do not think that's a good idea, and support your assumption that good aiki practice does not set students up to take the test until they are ready. Ideally, I see it as part of the training of a sempai to be able to say to someone they are working with: you're ready, go for it!--or: wait a while. You still need to practice more for that level.
Finally, whether you call it test or demonstration, I think there is much value in training specifically for the test. It lends training a degree of intensity and focus that is special. A number of people I know say they achieved some sort of breakthrough in that kind of training.
SCOTT: Regarding your last statement, I would say that the intensity of training that may lead to a breakthrough should be associated with regular, consistent training and not reserved for test preparation. Otherwise a student may train half-heartedly and approach practice seriously only in hopes of looking good for a test.
DON: For sure, regular consistent training is the goal. But getting focused help with a sempai, o a regular basis is hard to come by, yet must occur in the context of preparing for a public demonstration. Beyond that, preparation for shodan tests, in many dojos including ours, involves special kinds of training inputs. Kagan, what do you think?
KAGAN: I concur completely with you and Scott-san regarding testing. Since you ask, however, I will convey some of the notions that come to my mind regarding testing, in no particular order. Thank you for allowing someone at my level of inexperience to expound on this topic!
Preparing for a "test" includes an opportunity for the student to practice a set portion of the aikido curriculum in an organized, focused fashion for a limited period of time. Sometimes it is in such focused periods of training that "breakthroughs" can occur. Students may also pay closer attention to the details of how certain aikido arts work, since this is precisely what they will be asked to show during the test. However, preparing for a test is not a substitute for regular training. Real learning is a slow process that requires long-term commitment, and repeated correct practice. I agree with Scott-san that last-minute "corrections" before the test to the way one has been doing a technique can be counter-productive.
DON: Yes, to avoid that, I like to say that someone should be ready at the next higher level test before testing.
KAGAN: Taking a test is a time at which the students can demonstrate, primarily to themselves, that "they can." Secondarily, it is a time when they can demonstrate to their training partners that they have invested time and energy into their training. They express this in the form of their performance, which, in some ways, is a dedication of their Ki to their dojo, their training partners, their senseis, to the Universe and to the Way at large.
The instructor already knows what the student can do. That is why the instructor informs the student that he/she is ready to test. That is also why few aikido tests, if any, result in failures: the point never was to set up a situation in which the student would "fail" or "succeed". On the other hand, the test should very much be a situation that is set up for the student to LEARN. Learning while preparing, learning while being tested, learning after the test, when remembering certain moments in the test with a sharpness and clarity that may not always be present during regular training. This learning would not take place without a certain amount of pressure. One does not fail the test, yes, but there still will be moments in the test where one will be taken to one to one's limits, and hopefully beyond. For a while during the test, the ego is taken away, the cup is emptied, and tea even more fragrant than the last cup is served up by the ukes, the sensei, and the mat!
On a more manifest level, the test is a time for the student to show his/her understanding of the technical points inherent to the curriculum of his/her dojo, and it is thus also a time for the sensei to make the necessary adjustments or corrections to any "bad habits" in the student's execution of technique. The sharper focus & pressure of the test often ensures the corrections to become more permanent.
In my understanding, the test is also a time to experience and demonstrate even greater relaxation in the face of greater pressure. In fact, THAT may be the only real "test" in an otherwise mostly pedagogical exercise. How to perform randori against five rabid attackers, and still keep your shoulders relaxed and your face smiling (or almost...)... By inviting a student to test, the sensei provides an occasion for the student's spirit to shine, as he knows it can.
DON: Amen.