Aikido

I've been hesitant to write about my experiences of Aikido in Japan to date, but I've decided to have a little faith that the words will come out right, and that they might mean something to someone. Here goes...
You may recall that I visited three Aikido dojos in the past two months, and I left off having trained at Honda Sensei's dojo for the first time a few weeks ago. Now, I've trained at Honda Sensei's a handful of times, and already it has left an impression on me. My impression? I am convinced that exceptional Aikido is alive and well in Japan.
It is not just Honda Sensei that impresses(more on that below). There is a group of men, his students and peers, I believe, ranging from 60s to early 70s who rock the dojo. I don't mean they cradle it and put it to sleep. I mean they ROCK the dojo. They are elegant, intense, spirited, full of ki[--if you are unfamiliar with this term, please ask your local martial arts master to give you a definition(sorry)]. They create an atmosphere of great integrity and support(reminiscent of Boulder Aikikai's base community, but perhaps 20-30+ years down the road :) ). They believe in the power and beauty of Aikido, and through training, they invite me to grow and blossom, too.
Yet, in emphasizing them, I deemphasize Honda Sensei, which I think is a mistake. Honda Sensei is an exceptional martial artist and he is an exceptional teacher--and please know that I will never say those things together lightly. I can't believe my good fortune for having met him here. Tonight, after numerous attempts, I have found that I am unable to describe him in writing. Some people are better to experience than to explain, don't you think?
I will risk sounding nutso for one minute right now. The other night at practice, I was paired with one of the 'elders'. Even though I don't speak much Japanese, I feel as though the language barrier disappears on the mat. Somehow, intuition breaks through barriers. We were practicing a basic kokyunage(breath/timing throw), and the guy began to express a flood of words to me. I didn't listen, instead I felt what he was saying. 'Reach up, up, up to the heavens,' he said, 'up even more, up, wait, wait, now touch the heavens!!! That's it!! Now--Breathe. Connect your breath to the heavens, and bring them here. Here, now. Connect to the heavens and bring heaven here to earth. Connect heaven with earth, and now move, express, throw.'
My lesson that night was to remember why I train in Aikido. It is about something, after all, isn't it? I train to experience the possible, to create the experience of the heavens(ideal realms) and the earth touching, cooexisting. I'm going to stop here because I don't want to blather on about the whole thing, but thought you might want to know some of my real thoughts about my Aikido experiences so far.