Small Things Matter – How We Care for Each Other and the Dojo

In aikido, we train together. That may be the most important starting point of the art.

We need another person in order to practice. You take a hand, grip a wrist, train close to another person, and trust that your partner will look after you. At the same time, they trust that you will look after them.

That is why aikido has so many small things that at first glance may look like mere etiquette or pointless rules. Behind them is a very simple idea: what can I do so that the other person also feels good and safe here?

It begins before we even step onto the tatami.

In aikido we practice barefoot, so hands and feet are washed before training. Nails are kept short and smooth. Rings, watches, bracelets, necklaces, and other jewelry are left off. Makeup is also best washed off before practice.

These are not things we do so that the dojo should look a certain way. We do them so that it is pleasant and safe to train with a partner.

A long nail can scratch skin. An earring can catch. A ring can hurt when falling. Dirty hands or feet do not feel nice on another person's skin. Makeup can transfer onto a partner's clothes or skin when we train close together and sweat.

A single thing may feel small. But when we train together, these small things matter.

Aikido practice is continuous consideration of the other person. When a partner offers their hand, I take it. When they fall, I give them space and a chance to stand up. When I perform a technique, I do not think only of my own success, but also of how the technique feels to the other person.

The same idea extends beyond the tatami.

In the Japanese budō tradition, a dojo is not only a place where techniques are taught. It is a shared training place that is cared for. In many Japanese dojos, practitioners take part in cleaning after class. Everyone does something.

What matters most here is not who cleans the fastest or who gets the most done.

What matters more is that everyone takes part.

If ten people are cleaning the tatami, it would surely be more efficient to let one person do the work while the others wait. But then only efficiency would be taught. Cleaning together teaches something else: this is our shared place, and we can all do something for it.

At the dojo we do not only learn to do things efficiently, but to take responsibility for a shared place and for people.

This is an idea that matters to us at Aikido Unlimited too.

We look after the cleanliness of our dojo. We wipe the tatami, tidy things up, and make sure it is pleasant to come train — and also to spend time together before and after practice.

We want the dojo not to feel like only a place where you do an hour of training and then go home.

We want it to be a place where it is nice to arrive a little early. A place where you can exchange a few words with others. A place where you can stay after practice to chat or sit for a while. A place that, when you step through the door, feels good to come to.

That is why looking after cleanliness matters to us. It is one way of showing respect to everyone who comes to the dojo.

But a shared dojo does not mean that everyone should do everything all the time. We are happy to look after many practical things and take good care of the dojo on our part. At the same time, everyone can influence what kind of place the dojo is.

You can take your own trash out. You can put things back where they belong. You can wipe up water that has ended up on the floor. You can help if you notice something left undone. You can greet a new practitioner. You can make space for someone else.

And in these things too, there is no need to wonder who does the most.

In doing things together, the most important thing is not the efficiency of the work or that everyone does exactly the same amount. What matters is that each person understands they are part of a community and can, through their own actions, make it a little better.

In Japanese culture, as traditionally in Finland too, looking after a shared space does not necessarily mean grand deeds. It can be very everyday: cleaning up after yourself, putting things in order, noticing others, and taking part when something is done together.

Looking after cleanliness is also a good metaphor for aikido practice.

The tatami is not cleaned so that someone can check who did their job. It is done because it is nicer for the next practitioner to step onto a clean tatami.

Hands and feet are washed, nails are cut, and jewelry is removed before practice because it is nicer and safer for the next partner to train with us.

Small acts show that the other person has been taken into account.

Of course you can practice aikido through techniques alone. You can learn evasions, falls, throws, and locks. But perhaps equally important is gradually learning to notice what happens around us and how our own actions affect others.

Do I notice if my partner feels uncomfortable?

Do I make sure it is safe for them to train with me?

Do I keep my own gear and belongings in order?

Do I look after the shared space on my part?

Am I ready to help even when no one specifically asks?

These are small questions. But it is exactly from such things that a good dojo is built.

For us at Aikido Unlimited it matters that the dojo is a clean, pleasant, and safe place for practitioners of all ages. We want to look after it ourselves and do our part. At the same time we hope that everyone who comes to the dojo can, through their own actions, help build the same place.

Not because anyone should be perfect.

But because we train together.

And perhaps there is something essential in that for aikido as well: we do not train only to become better ourselves. We train so that the people around us can also feel good and practice well.

Small things matter.

Clean feet. Short nails. A ring taken off. Something put back in its place. A wiped tatami. A greeting. A helping hand.

-Sarita