Tag Archives: morihei

Interview, Translation

An interview with Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Isoyama, Part 2

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The new statue of O-Sensei in Iwama, and the bust in front of Iwama Station
Hiroshi Isoyama sensei was born in 1937, and started training with Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei in 1949, at the age of 12.
Isoyama sensei, together with Hiroshi Tada sensei, formed a committee for the construction of a large statue of the Founder of Aikido on the precincts of the Aiki Shrine, which was unveiled on the 8th of November 2009. Surplus material from this monument was used to make a bust of the Founder which was unveiled at the newly rebuilt Iwama Station on the 24th of July 2012.
Hiroshi Tada sensei began Aikido shortly after Isoyama sensei himself – find out how Tada sensei met Morihei Ueshiba in "Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Tada: The Day I Entered Ueshiba Dojo". There is also a very long interview with Tada sensei in Japanese that appears in a nine part English translation – here is the first part of that interview.
What you are reading now is the second part of a two part English translation of an interview with Hiroshi Isoyama sensei that first appeared in the February 2009 issue of Gekkan Hiden ("Secret Teachings Monthly"), a well known martial arts magazine in Japan. You may want to read the first part of the interview before reading this section.

Interview, Translation

An interview with Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Isoyama, Part 1

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Hiroshi Isoyama and Steven Seagal
A few weeks ago I was watching Michael Schiavello’s interview with Steven Seagal in which he named Hiroshi Isoyama (磯山博) as the Aikido instructor who has influenced him the most.Hiroshi Isoyama sensei began training in the Iwama Dojo in 1949 at the age of 12 as a direct student of the Founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. Over a long career in the martial arts, he has been Chief of Defensive Tactics for the Japan Self Defense Force Academy, and also instructed the U.S. Army in self-defense tactics. I still remember his comment about starting to teach Aikido to the military – "They didn’t believe that Aikido works – I made them believe".
His trademark Ganseki Otoshi demonstrations are always a crowd pleaser at the annual All Japan Aikido Demonstration.
This is the first part of an English translation of an interview with Hiroshi Isoyama sensei that first appeared in the February 2009 issue of Gekkan Hiden ("Secret Teachings Monthly"), a well known martial arts magazine in Japan. It was also published in a collection of interviews with students of the Founder published in Japanese as 開祖の横顔 ("Profiles of the Founder") in 2009.There was a short introduction to this work in the article "Morihei Ueshiba – Profiles of the Founder".
I previously posted an English translation of the interview with Nobuyoshi Tamura sensei from that collection in two parts (Part 1 | Part 2).

Essay, Translation

Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Mangos and Johnny Walker Black

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Chris Li, translating for Moriteru Ueshiba DoshuAikido Celebration 2011 Banquet at the Manoa Grand BallroomJapanese Cultural Center of Hawaii in Honolulu
2011 marked the 50th anniversary of Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei’s visit to Hawaii in 1961 to dedicate the opening of the Honolulu Aiki Dojo (for an interesting story from this time see "Morihei Ueshiba: Untranslatable Words"). Many of the local Aikido dojo cooperated in the effort to hold a commemorative seminar and event.
Moriteru Ueshiba (San-Dai Doshu and grandson of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba) and his son Mitsuteru Ueshiba (Waka-Sensei) came to Honolulu to help celebrate this event, along with almost 500 Aikido students from around the world.

Essay, Translation

Lifting the Veil: Aikido Opens to the World

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The 50th All Japan Aikido Demonstration
May 26th, 2012 marked the 50th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (第５０回全日本合気道演武大会) in Tokyo, at the Nihon Budokan.  The All Japan is the biggest event of the year for Aikikai, and groups come from around Japan and around the world to attend. It is attended by thousands of spectators and demonstrators. But did you know that much of the motivation for these huge Aikikai events was actually provided by the Yoshinkan?At the end of the war the Wakamatsu-cho Aikikai dojo (the Kobukan Dojo before the war) was one of the few buildings still left standing after the bombing. Even so, the roof was badly damaged, many of the tatami mats were missing, and refugees were actually living in the dojo. Morihei Ueshiba was living in Iwama and rarely came to Tokyo.

Essay

Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae

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"Kamae" from the technical manual "Budo", Morihei Ueshiba 1938

Standing and walking – that’s pretty basic. It’s so basic that it’s really the first thing you learn in most budo, or even in life – if anybody can remember back that far.
Like everybody else, I received basic instructions in how to stand when I started Aikido – point the front foot forward and the back foot out at an angle. Some places break that down into a more detailed description, but that’s usually the gist of it.
Pretty easy right? Anybody can do it – which may be the problem. If anybody can do it, and you’re doing essentially the same thing that you’ve always done…why are you spending all that time on the mat?
"Budo" is a pre-war technical manual published in 1938 by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba. It was originally created for Prince Kaya Tsunenori, member of a collateral branch of the imperial family. Kayanomiya would eventually become Superintendant of the Army Toyama School – where Morihei Ueshiba would act as an instructor before the war.
"Budo" remains the largest and most organized collection of technique from the pre-war period, and an English edition ("Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido"), translated by John Stevens, was published in 1991.
A separate edition, the "Takemusu Aikido Special Edition", translated by Sonoko Tanaka and Stanley A. Pranin, was published in 1999 ("Budo: Commentary on the 1938 Training Manual of Morihei Ueshiba"). This edition is composed of some excerpts from the Japanese text, along with a commentary by Morihiro Saito, in both English and Japanese.