Dojo deep cleaning

Making sure the dojo is clean and tidy is part of our aikido lives: we may need to put down the mats in an orderly manner before every training, and we need to make sure the mats and the dojo itself are clean so we can train in a clean and nice place.

When I trained in Veszprem, Hungary, wherever the trainings were held we always needed to put down the mats before trainings and stack them again after finishing. It was part of the etiquette and everyone was happy to help. I think it was also good to tune ourselves to the trainings and to build the team as well. We learned to arrange the mats so that they don't slide much when we roll and fall on them, and we learned that we should stack up the mats so that the 'dirty' side of a mat (the bottom of the tatami) should face another mat's dirty side. This becomes a harder task the cleaner the dojo is and the more indistinguishable the two sides of a mat are. We would have 'roles' when stacking up the mat as heavy mats are harder to put on top of many more mats and they should be aligned properly on top of one another. I was sometimes a 'carrier' who would carry mats from their places to the stack in which they were stored between trainings, and sometimes I was a member of a team of two who would help others to put the mats on top the others (clean and dirty sides facing up or down properly) and aligned the stacked mats so the mat tower wouldn't fall down when it became 1.5m high.

Karesz (sensei) says that in their old dojo they used to mop up the mat every time they trained. We didn't do this so often. Also, it is said that mopping up the tatami after trainings is a challenging task in Hombu, Tokyo (HQ of Aikikai) because people take the mops and start cleaning up so quickly that a newcomer has no chance to get to one and they might need to beg to be allowed to take part in cleaning up the dojo.

In my current dojo, we have permanent matting, so there is no need to arrange the mats or strengthen our arm muscles by carrying the heavy 2m by 1m mats to and from their place. Also, we share the place with people doing other activities such as kickboxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) where they don't train barefoot but sometimes wear some sorts of shoes. Nevertheless, the dojo needs to be clean if we are to walk, roll or fall on them. A very good indicator of the mats not being clean are our knees after suwari waza techniques, but obviously there are better ways to remove dirt from the tatami. Usually, we sweep up the place before every training on a first-come-first-sweeps basis; sometimes we also hoover the tatami. The kick boxers are supposed to mop up every week some time. However, when we restarted our trainings after the summer break we found that the mats were pretty dirty having some of the remainders of the summer refurbishment on them.

Tegatana, centre, broom

To perform a deep cleaning, Karesz decided that the place should be mopped up properly, using bleach and shikko dachi backward movements :). For some reason, he wanted to do the cleaning by himself, which was unusual for me as cleaning is generally the task of students and not the instructor. As I had our only key to the dojo (because of the kids' training) I was asked to come and let Karesz and his girlfriend (who also trains with us) in. I volunteered to participate in the cleaning procedure, so we went to the dojo on Saturday evening and cleaned it up. Each of us got two 'lanes' of mats and we finished within 20 minutes and with a lot of dark water in the bucket :). The types of movements we used when cleaning can be very useful to develop hip movements and to keep our centre of gravity low, so Karesz said he would select groups of people who would come to the dojo earlier and mop up the place. He mentioned groups of three (two lanes each) who would come on certain Sundays and prepare the dojo for training. One week it would be the responsibility of three people and another group would have to clean up another weekend. 

Lowering the centre

Karesz's behaviour of not asking students to clean up made me think about culture and attitude. I can see two options an instructor in a western culture can consider.

Option 2: The western culture is about getting something for your money and paying for services. Since you pay for your trainings and there is an instructor who teaches you aikido, they provide a service to you. If I follow this 'service' logic, it is the students who are supposed to arrive in a place which is nice and clean already. You could say their monthly fee includes cleaning up the dojo. But do jo show enough respect to your teacher this way? Do you learn discipline? I'm not 100 percent sure, and since I'm not a master yet I have time to think about this question until I actually become one one day.

The other thing regarding the above two options is related to how people join a dojo. If you wanted to join O-Sensei's classes, it was very likely that you had to arrive with a recommendation and, possibly after an interview to make sure you are worthy, it was up to Sensei to decide whether you can train under him or not. Today, you come in with X pounds/dollars and say you want to join. It is basically your decision and you are refused entry only with a very good reason (and here I haven't even mentioned any political correctness issues and being afraid of being sued for imagined negative discrimination of any kind, against which instructors are encouraged to take courses in 'protection').