1938 saw the continuation of the Japanese war in China, increased economic sanctions against Japan by the United States, and and the formation of the precursor to the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” (大東亞共榮圏), the “New Order in East Asia” (東亜新秩序). It saw the passing of the National Mobilization Law (国家総動員法) in the Japanese Diet, putting the national economy of the Empire of  Japan on a war-time footing.

1938 was also the heart of the golden years of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba’s Kobukan Dojo, known as “Hell Dojo” for the severity of its training.

Mr. Kimura began training with Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei in 1938, in an art called “Ueshiba-ryu Aiki-jutsu”, at the Kobukan Dojo that had been opened in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo in 1931. What follows is the first part of a two part English translation of his memories of that time from June 24th 1987 which originally appeared in the tenth anniversary edition of “Aikido Kodaira” (「合気こだいら」十周年記念誌), published on October 30th 1988. 

Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba around 1938

Aikido Memories (合気道の思い出)

1) My Current State

This year (Showa year 62 / 1987) I have reached “Koki”. Counting years I have already become an old man of 70. Now I’d like to look back 50 years to my younger days and talk about my memories of Aikido.

(Translator’s Note: “Koki” is an older way of saying “seventy years old”, from the classic poem by the Chinese poet Tufu (Toho, 杜甫, in Japanese) – “Jinsei nanaju korai mare nari” (人生七十古来稀なり), meaning that to reach 70 is a rare occurrence.)

2) Initiation

I began Aikido in March of Showa year 13 (1938), at the age of nineteen. At the time there was no such name as “Aikido”, it was called “Ueshiba-ryu Aiki-jutsu” (植芝流・合気術) and the dojo was called the “Kobukan Dojo” (皇武館道場).

As to the reason why I began Aikido, at the time I was training in Judo at my school’s Judo club, but the Judo contests weren’t divided into weight classes as they are now – everybody competed in the same division. That put smaller people like me at a disadvantage when competing.

Matsuhei Mori demonstrating Kyokushin Karate

with Kenji Kurosaki (黒崎健時), Tadashi Nakamura (中村忠)

and Hirofumi Okada (岡田博文)

Title reads: “The toughest man in the Diet”

So it was at the point where I was wondering if there were some method in which a smaller build was not a disadvantage. He has already passed away, but I had an acquaintance named Matsuhei Mori (毛利松平) who had a 5th Dan in Judo from the Keio University Judo club. He later became the Minister of the Japanese Environmental Agency. This person told me “There is an incredible master of Bujutsu in Tokyo, a man called Mr. Ueshiba. If five of us actively training 5th dans grab a person at the same time then we can almost always defeat them. But even when we grab onto that Ueshiba Sensei at the same time, Sensei just sends everybody flying with one shake of his hips. And when using the sword, he is number one in Japan.”.

(Translator’s Note: Matsuhei Mori, July 16 1913 – May 24 1985. Matsuhei Mori was a member of the Japanese Diet and served as the Minister of the Japanese Environmental Agency. He was student of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba,  Judo, and Kyokushin Karate, and was a mentor to Kyokushin Karate’s founder Masatatsu Oyama (it was at his suggestion that Choi Yong-I took the Japanese name of “Masatatsu Oyama”). He also served as the Director of the Nihon Budokan.)

At the time I was an exchange student at a school in Tokyo from Dairen (Translator’s Note: 大連 / Dalian – leased by the Japanese as a port city from the puppet state of Manchukuo, Japanese occupied Manchuria) in China. Since I had the good fortune to be studying in Japan I thought that I certainly wanted to train under one of the world’s masters and applied to become a student.

At that time in Aikido nobody could become a student without an introduction. So I asked Mr. Matsuhei Mori to write me a letter of introduction, then I went to the Kobukan Dojo to visit Ueshiba Sensei for the first time and ask for permission to become a student. At the time, somewhere in the back of my mind I had a sense of unease. Actually, in my mind I had imagined Sensei as a frightening figure who could crush ogres, but the Sensei that I met was an affable white haired grandfather around 50 years old who was even slightly smaller than me. In any case, I politely asked for permission to become a student, and Sensei told me that it would be alright. Even now I remember that warm and peaceful spring day with the spring sunlight filling the dojo with light.

After that I made a written oath. I was told not to speak to others about the content (“otome-ryu”) of the oath (Translator’s Note: 御留流 / “otomeryu”, an Edo era practice of restricting members of a Ryu from matches outside of their Ryu, also used to refer to Ryu that were sworn to a particular domain or a Ryu that did not permit interaction with the general public.). After doing this I was permitted to become a student.

At the time I was living in Toyama-so, in the Totsuka san-chome area of Takadanobaba, but it was quite far from the dojo in Wakamatsu-cho, so I moved into a place called the Chouseikan (長生館) boarding house in Okubo ni-chome where the artists lived, just 300 meters from the dojo. Everyday after I got out of school I would practice Judo with the Judo club, then go back to the boarding house and then on to the dojo. After Aikido training I would go back to the boarding house in the evening to have dinner and then return to the dojo for more Aikido, and that was my daily life.

At that time my brother, who was also an exchange student in Japan, often scolded me “You put a lot of expense into coming all the way to Japan to study, but you never study – what the hell are you doing?”, but in this case I just retorted “If I can learn Aiki-jutsu then it’s OK!”. I’m a little embarrassed to discuss a personal matter, but I was job hunting after graduating from school in Showa year 15 (1940), and if one was captain of their Judo club almost all of the companies would pass you on their tests. Thanks to that, I received offers of employment from the top ranked companies Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and the Southern Manchurian Railway on the same day – I gave a cry of joy!

Eimeiroku from the Ueshiba Dojo, dated 1926

Sankichi Takahashi and Eisuke Yamamoto’s names appear

along with the name of Admiral Isamu Takeshita

From “Aikido Kaiso Ueshiba Morihei-den” (合気道開祖植芝盛平伝)

3) The Face of the Deshi

A – The Monjin-roku (門人録 / “Record of Students”)

I was told that after becoming a student one was recorded in the Monjin-roku. When I opened that Monjin-roku I was astonished.

Sasaburo Takano (left)

with Morihei Ueshiba’s close friend, Nakayama Hakudo

The first name was Sasaburo Takano (Translator’s Note: 高野佐三郎 – Itto-ryu’s Sasaburo Takano is considered to be one of the fathers of modern Japanese Kendo).

He was the Ken-jutsu shihan of the Metropolitan Police Department. There was something written in an old serial novel published by the Asahi Shimbun – one day this Takano Shihan was put upon by a large number of gamblers on a bridge above the Sumida River. It was said that, facing them with his bare hands, he threw them off the edge of the bridge into the river.

Right wing theorist and general Sadao Araki

The second name was Sadao Araki (Translator’s Note: 荒木貞夫 – a general in the pre-WWII Imperial Japanese Army, and one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the Empire of Japan. He served as the Minister of War and then the Minister of Education, and was a member of the pre-war Supreme War Council (軍事参議官会議)).

He was an army general and later became the Minister of Education – as I recall, for a period of time he was a member of the Cabinet.

Admiral Sankichi Takahashi in 1935

as Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet

The third name was Sankichi Takahashi (Translator’s Note: 高橋三吉 – commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was instrumental in crushing the Treaty Faction of the Japanese Naval command that accepted limitations imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty agreed to by Japan after WWI. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Aikido and invited Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba to become an instructor at the Naval Staff College where he trained Imperial Japanese Naval officers for some ten years.).

He was a naval admiral who had served as the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy (連合艦隊指令長官).

Admiral Eisuke Yamamoto

The fourth name was Eisuke Yamamoto (Translator’s Note: 山本英輔 – an admiral and commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. During the February 26th Incident (二・二六事件), an attempted coup d’état organized by a group of young Imperial Japanese Army officers attempting to install a military-centered cabinet, he was part of a failed compromise solution to form a new cabinet under his supervision.).

He was a also naval admiral who had served as the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

That is to say, it was all top class people, compared to them I was nothing, a student – but as I said before I added my name while filled with embarrassment. I don’t think that there are other dojo anywhere that restrict membership like that. I think that is part of the tale of Ueshiba Sensei’s fastidiousness.

B – My Brother Students

– Ishii-san (石井さん)

About fifty years old and an executive at Kewpie Mayonnaise, every day we would hear the sound of his wooden geta as he walked to the dojo from Nakano in his kimono. He didn’t look very strong, and sometimes we’d try arm wrestling, but at those times I’d be defeated easily. Then he’d always scold me, hitting my shoulders and saying “Kimura-san, you’re putting power into your shoulders again, please relax.”, but in the end I just couldn’t relax.

– Ito-san (伊藤さん)

In his thirties and working for the Japan Railways at Shinagawa Station. This person said that Sensei told him that he would split the dojo with him and always trained as hard as he could. (Translator’s Note: this may be Hitoshi Ito / 伊藤等)

Gozo Shioda taking ukemi for Morihei Ueshiba – “Budo”, 1938

– Shioda-san (塩田さん)

A student at Takushoku University (拓殖大学), throughout the year he’d spend all of his time in the dojo, and even eat his meals with Sensei’s family in a room in the back. He was Sensei’s favorite pupil, and went with him wherever he went as Sensei’s O-tomo (“attendant”). He was the only one who could remain comfortable, no matter how far Sensei threw him. His grip was incredibly strong, it was called the “Takudai Punch” (Translator’s Note: “Takudai” is short for “Takushoku University”). You couldn’t move when Shioda-san grabbed you.

Now he has opened a dojo in Koganei City and is protecting Ueshiba Sensei’s teaching, spreading and promoting Aikido.

Kisshomaru Ueshiba with his father, Morihei Ueshiba

– Kisshomaru-san (吉祥丸さん)

Ueshiba Sensei’s son, at that time he was in the third year of junior high school. I remember working on Kokyu Undo with him.

I trained with the four people above from March of Showa year 13 (1938) to February of Showa year 15 (1940).

The Sumo Wrestler Saburo Wakuta – Tenryu

Outside of that there was Saburo Wakuta-san (Translator’s Note: 和久田三郎 – the real name of the Sumo wrestler Saburo Tenryu / 天竜三郎, who became a student of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba after encountering him in Manchuria.). This person was the Director of Physical Education for Manchukuo (Translator’s Note: the name of the Japanese puppet nation established in pre-WWII Manchuria) and had come to visit Ueshiba Dojo in order to master Aikido – he was the Sumo wrestler Tenryu Ozeki-san. He was very large, and during the breaks Shioda-san would lie down next to him and rest his head on his abdomen.

Continued in Part 2, “Sensei’s Teachings”……

Published by: Christopher Li – Honolulu, HI

The post Mr. Kimura’s Aikido Memories, Part 1 appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.

Tsuneo Ando in Gekkan Hiden Magazine

Tsuneo Ando (安藤毎夫) started Aikido as a university student with the Aikikai’s Taisuke Kudo Sensei. After a brief experience with the Yoshinkan he trained under Sadao Takaoka Sensei in Wakayama, birthplace of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.

A change in his employment situation and a call to his university Sempai Tsutomu Chida (former Dojo-cho at Yoshinkan Hombu Dojo) led him to 14 years as an uchi deshi to Gozo Shioda, the founder of Yoshinkan Aikido. He is often said to closely resemble him in terms of size, speed and style.

In 1990 he established the Urayasu City Aikido Association in cooperation with Masanori Nakashima Shihan of the Aikikai – a rare example of inter-organizational cooperation in the Aikido world.

He now heads Yoshinkan Aikido Ryu, founded in October 1996 and centered in Urayasu City in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

This is the second part of the English translation of a two part interview with Tsuneo Ando conducted in 2010 that appeared on the Japan Internet Newspaper JanJan. You may wish to read Part 1 of the interview before reading this concluding section.

Tsuneo Ando’s book “Aikido no Kai”
(合気道の解 “引き寄せの力”が武技と人生を導く！)

Talking to Tsuneo Ando Part 2 – Aikido and World Peace

Secret Kindergarten Stories, Part 2

A: This is about a time when I was having problems teaching the Kindergarten students, when I had been teaching at the Kindergarten for about three months. One day when I was driving for Shioda Sensei he suddenly said from the back seat “Ando-kun, are you thinking about quitting? There’s a rumor going around that you’re quitting.” .

As I said “Well…”, stuck for reply, he said “You can do it, you can do it for sure”, and all that I could say was “Osu” (押忍). When I said “Osu” a positive feeling that I had to do it was born in my heart.

Q: Not being able to say “Yes, I want to quit teaching at the Kindergarten more than anything” when you were asked “Do you want to quit?” meant that you were really on the varsity team…

A: Quitting the Kindergarten would have meant quitting as an uchi-deshi. If one is to be an uchi-deshi there is no way that they can do as they please. I thought that to “discard oneself” was Shugyo.

Then I thought of a way. It would be impossible to make progress while struggling to teach large numbers of small children by myself. The afternoon class was like a sports club, I would teach about one hundred people at a time. Of course there were assistant instructors there too…. So I wrote a textbook. I illustrated it myself, showing the content clearly so that it would be easy for the instructors to teach.

Also, I made a year long plan and told them what the expectations were for the entire year. Then, in order to increase communication with the instructors, I used the lunch breaks to hold meetings. I gave them exercises and discussed a variety of issues.

Actually, the instructors had their hands full just with running the Kindergarten, and weren’t very welcoming towards Aikido. So I worked to remove the burden from their spirits and get them to enjoy Aikido. I changed the way that certificates were recorded, and come up with ways to avoid problems.

As a result of this approach, in spring of that year the Director of the Kindergarten gave me fifty thousand yen, saying that it was “Mochi-dai” (餅代 / “bonus”). When I gave that money to Shioda Kancho and the office manager of the Yoshinkan they gave it right back to me. (laughing)

Q: It was like a special bonus, wasn’t it?

A: However, the fundamental problems still remained, left behind by the other uchi-deshi. I thought hard about why I had been ordered to teach at the Kindergarten. Part of it was because I was still a greenhorn, but in the end it was that the actual level of Aikido ability of the other uchi-deshi and myself was nowhere near high enough. I thought that this situation was unsustainable, so after all of the instruction at the Kindergarten was completed I thought that I would train alone in the Kindergarten Dojo. Normally, Aikido is practiced with a partner. However, I thought that there was no way that I wouldn’t be able to do it alone.

In the Yoshinkan there are basic movements called “Kihon Dosa” that can be done by oneself. Coincidentally, these are also said to be the most important part of training, so I thought “I will practice the Kihon Dosa by myself”.  I thought that it wouldn’t be a good idea if those around me knew that I was staying in the Kindergarten Dojo to train, so I turned off the lights and tried practicing by myself for an hour in the dark. However, I got fed up with it after doing it for about five minutes. It was then that I thought of my frustration at being dispatched to the Kindergarten and the shortcomings in my own technique and decided to push through it.

Q: Turning off the lights and training by yourself for an hour – that’s really incredible. Did it have any results?

A: I would do it off and on, but in the end doing it made a difference. The stability of my hips was completely different. I thought to myself “So…the gods sent me to this Kindergarten because they wanted to make me do the Kihon Dosa”, and I decided to train this way whenever I went to the Kindergarten. When that happened I would think “Today I’ll go to the Kindergarten and do the Kihon Dosa again”, and I started to look forward to going to the Kindergarten. In the end I went there for five years, and during those five years my Kihon Dosa improved steadily and I was finally able to catch up to the other uchi-deshi.

It was that Kindergarten that taught me that I was able to train without a partner.  It could be said that being able to train alone even after quitting Yoshinkan Hombu was because of that experience at the Kindergarten. I think that it was thanks to that experience at the Kindergarten that I was able to get through the hard times and adversity of my wife’s passing through my solo training.

At the Dojo, with a photo of Gozo Shioda in the background

My Eyes Open to Technique

A: Actually, it was around this time that I began to see the movements of my partner in slow-motion. It began to look as if my partner’s attack was slowed, almost as if had stopped.

That was when I thought “OK! Now even Shioda Sensei’s techniques won’t frighten me”. Shioda Sensei would often use his index finger like a sword and stab people in the base of their throat during demonstrations. So I thought “When he comes to stab me I’ll move out of the way…”.

Just at that time the Minister for Home Affairs came to the dojo and there was a demonstration, for which it was my turn to take ukemi. Shioda Sensei was discussing “Shuchu-ryoku” (集中力 / “focused power) while closing the Ma-ai (間合い / “distance”) between us.

Shioda Sensei would always use the stab with his index finger as an example while speaking about “Shuchu-ryoku”. While I was waiting for the thrust, Sensei seemed to sense something and the thrust never came. By and by, Sensei turned his face towards the Minister for Home Affairs and began his explanation again. Just in a pause between moments Shioda Sensei turned and thrust – unable to evade, I turned a somersault and fell back.

After it was over the Foundation’s Executive Director called me over “Hey…Ando-kun”, and told me “Shioda Sensei said ‘Ando has really improved’, and was very happy. Keep on working hard.”.

Shioda Sensei understood clearly that my intent while standing and waiting for his thrust was different than usual. That’s why he separated it by another breath. In the end, he had one level up on my performance.

“Do you want to become a master?” – a Promise to Shioda Sensei

A: There was a time that I was summoned by Shioda Sensei and asked “I want to make you a master. Do you feel up to it? If you feel up to it I’ll pull you along.”.

Of course, I said “I want to be a master”, and then he said, “OK, let’s do it together. However, don’t tell anybody about this, if you do it may cause distractions. This is a promise between the two of us.”. Then he told me “Once you grasp the Gokui (“secrets”) it’s alright to speak publicly about our promise”.

Some years after that Shioda Sensei passed away. I thought “Hey, weren’t you supposed to make me a master?”.

Even though Shioda Sensei passed away…

A: This happened on February 11th of Heisei year 8 (1996). My wife, who was also an uchi-deshi at the Yoshinkan, suddenly said “Let’s go visit Shioda Sensei’s grave”. Even though I protested because it was so far away she wouldn’t listen to me. There was nothing I could do, so taking our two children we went from Chiba prefecture to the gravesite in Kawagoe. On the way home we let the children play in the airport park.

About a week after we got home, my wife suddenly said “Shioda Sensei is at the front door”. Shioda Sensei had passed away in Heisei year 6 (1994), and we had visited his grave, so I thought “what are you talking about”, but she just said “he’s here, he’s here, Shioda Sensei is here”.

My wife said “we have to put out some tea”. I couldn’t see anything that looked like Shioda Sensei, so without really understanding what what was happening I just did as my wife told me and had him step into our house. (laughing) Then, when I asked my wife “What’s Shioda Sensei doing now?” she said “He’s looking at us”.

As this was happening my wife came to sit beside me and laid her head in my lap “I can’t hold onto the almighty” “I can’t hold onto the almighty” “I can’t hold onto the…” she said three times as she fell asleep.

— Hearing those words, I was taken aback.

When I drove for Shioda Sensei while acting as his Otomo (“attendant”) we spoke of many things. “almighty” was something that Shioda Sensei spoke about quite a bit, but my wife knew nothing about it. And remembering, when she came to sit next to me it had the feeling of Shioda Sensei when he was alive.

That way of talking he had when he was riding in the car, at the time I had all kinds of worries about things such as recruiting students, practice places, and so on. For that reason, Shioda Sensei told me not to spend my time in endless worrying, but to “hold onto the almighty” – in other words “hold onto Aikido!”, whose versatility (“almighty”) applied to all things. So I understood clearly that he had come to tell me “for that reason, you must train even harder than before!”. From being alone in a dark, dark place it felt as if a light had suddenly appeared in the distance. I wanted to shout and jump up into the air.

I thought “Shioda Sensei kept his promise to me, he came to encourage me – I can do it!”, and a sense of confidence welled up inside me.

Inside Tsuneo Ando Sensei’s Dojo

About Harmony

A: In combative sports the aim is to win over the opponent in competitions and tournaments. What is important is the result of the contests. However, in Aikido the aim is “harmony” (和合 / “wago”). To become friends with all human beings (and all life). Not just all human beings, but also to make friends with all animals and plants – making friends with those types of life, to feel comfortable with oneself, and to harmonize with those around you. Aikido is that method.

Q: Previously we spoke about the time when you established your dojo, and the real estate agent. You said that before establishing the dojo you felt frightened of the real estate agents?

A: For some reason I was afraid. I thought that if I went to them I would be cheated. (laughing) But in the process of establishing the dojo I went around to most of the companies in the city, came to understand the realtors and lost my dislike for them.

Q: In other words, while you think “I’m going to be cheated” or “I’m frightened” you somehow view the other person through those eyes and cannot understand them. When you put that feeling away, in other words, connect with the other person with a child’s eyes, you can “harmonize” with the other person, is that what you mean?

A: Yes, that’s right. People always have preconceived opinions, and that is why there are times when they cannot open their hearts towards other people. If one discards those distractions and becomes clear, not only will they have a good feeling, but the other person will connect with them in the same manner. I believe that it is important to return to one’s original self.

Q: I think that Shioda Sensei’s answer to the question “What is the strongest technique in Aikido?” was “Enlightening an opponent who has come to kill you and making them your friend”. When you say “like a child”, that doesn’t mean “following the opponent’s will” or “non-resistance towards the opponent”, it means to change the intent of the opponent, is that right? If one just smiles and answers “Yes, yes” they become like one of those elderly people who are cheated by “home improvement frauds”. On the other hand, if one confronts the opponent with force or argument they may not be caught by the “home improvement frauds”, but the tradesman who was confronted and frustrated may be motivated by their frustration to attempt even greater frauds on other households.

A: That’s right. By purifying your spirit one can see things as they truly are. It is there that you may be able to come up with an idea. Both the one being defrauded and the one trying to get an unrealistic bargain are wrong, in a manner of speaking. I think that dealing with people kindly and directly is the best way.

Q: One more thing, concerning the illness and passing of your wife, leaving you to raise your children on your own. Until that time you had never made the children’s Bentos, had never shopped for food at the supermarket…, you did not know how to handle any of the household chores, getting in front of these problems instead of running away, and being able to pull yourself out of that situation – isn’t that also an example of “harmony”?

A: At the time it was a matter of life and death. As I couldn’t run from the challenge, I resigned myself to accepting it. I think that it is through thriving in suffering that “Harmony” is born. It’s not living by taking the parts that matches one’s own convenience, it can be said that it is when one takes it all in and commits themselves completely that a “sense of security” is born. From this point I would like to spend the rest of my life building my experience one step at a time and realizing the full potential of my own power.

Tozan Ryokai (Dongshan Liangjie / 洞山良价)

Q: Concerning an opponent wielding a blade, Shioda Sensei said “if one steps back they will be stabbed, you must step forward”. Like Tozan Zenji’s (Note: the Founder of Soto Zen Buddhism in China) “place of no heat or cold” (無寒暑の境地), when it is hot one immerses themselves in the heat. Thinking of the experiences with the passing of your wife and the way that your eyes were opened to technique at the Kindergarten, it seems that you have faced and Hamonized with formidable opponents not only in the dojo, but in the trials of your actual life.

Translator’s Note: This is a famous story from Dogen Zenji (道元禅師), the Founder of Soto Zen Buddhism in Japan, in his book “Shobogenzo” (正法眼蔵 /”Treasury of the True Dharma Eye”): 

A monk asked Master Tozan, “Cold and heat descend upon us. How can we avoid them?” Tozan answered, “Why don’t you go to the place where there is no cold or heat?” The monk continued, “Where is the place where there is no cold or heat?” Tozan said, “When it is cold, let it be so cold that it kills you. When hot, let it be so hot that it kills you.”

A: That’s quite simply the truth. Formidable opponents enter weak points that one had no idea existed. Then, you fly to that point. I think that cultivating a spirit that can say “This was a chance given to me by the gods, I am thankful for it” is one of the blessings of Budo. When one reaches the place where they can think “Hey…Budo is useful”, that person has come to a good place.

Gozo Shioda’s book “Aikido Shugyo”

The Industrialization of Aikido

Q: Shioda Sensei wrote “The time for Aikido to be used as a weapon for war is over. Aikido as Bujutsu has finished with me.” (“Aikido Shugyo” / 合気道修行, page 248). What do you think is the best path for Aikido to follow in the future?

A: I think that this will be the age of cultivating people rather than material objects. The age when industry focuses on large scale growth and competition through financial power has finished. If a small group of people feel an affinity for each other then they can make it without extensive funding or competing on a large scale. It is thanks to human beings that an industry lives or dies. Young people say “a large company, a large company…take shelter under a big tree…”, but the age from here on out will not be one that just fixates on size.

Q: Are you saying that Aikido will play in part in developing the kinds of people that can build companies (organizations) built on an affinity with similar minded individuals?

A: In the 18th century there was an Industrial Revolution in England. The transformation in machines such as the steam engine changed peoples lives from the bottom up. People’s desires for material objects sparked a competition to produce goods. The inclination of industry to compete based on production and sales volume remains today, especially among large companies. However, the future is not an age for competing with others, for competition based on sales volumes. It is the age for Harmonizing with others, and for that reason cultivating the development of human beings — this is important. From an Industrial Revolution based on the production of goods, to the Industrial Revolution of culture, the Industrial Revolution of the spirit — it can be said that this is the mission under which Aikido must move forward.

In the future I believe that Aikido will grow as a “Peace Industry”, connecting person to person, family to family, nation to nation.  I believe that it could become a national movement, a national sport that can be enjoyed by anybody.

I think that it will be necessary for it to spread out on many more levels than it has so far. A great wave is coming. Just as production capacity skyrocketed in England’s Industrial Revolution, production capacity for cultivating human beings will skyrocket through the multi-faceted growth of Aikido.

For example – from the aspect of “human resources”, activity by elderly instructors and women, demand for public-private partnerships in the inclusion of Budo as a required topic in the schools, in the realm of “education”. Aikido will become increasingly necessary for the nurturing of the health of our young people and as an occupation. A place for Aikido will emerge in areas such as public speaking and corporate training. I call the consolidation of these phenomena “the Industrialization of Aikido”.

“When a human being repairs and consolidates the earth
one stands on the Floating Bridge of Heaven,
that is the beginning of everything”
人は地球修理固成するときに、
天の浮橋に立たされるのでありますが、
それがすべての発兆です。

Shurikosei (修理固成)

Q: One more thing, sometimes you talk about “Shurikosei”  (修理固成) as the mission of Aikido.

A: The phrase “Shurikosei” appears in one of the myths from the Kojiki. Izanagi and Izanami were given a jeweled spear along with a divine command from the Heavenly Deities to “repair and consolidate this drifting land” (Note: “repair and consolidate” /  修め理り固め成せ is shortened in Kanji as “Shurikosei” / 修理固成). Stirring with the spear, they created the island of Onogoro and gave birth to the Nation. This great goal of “Shurikosei” continues even until the present day. In these days when war and famine still persist, the earth has not yet been repaired.

Essays by Morihei Ueshiba – “Aiki Shinzui” (合気神髄)

Accordingly, for who sets their sights on Budo must work to repair the environment around them at the same time as they work to perfect their own character. In Kisshomaru Ueshiba Sensei’s “Aiki Shinzui” (合気神髄, 1990) it is written that Aikido is to “construct the foundation for peace and calm and the and great harmonization of humanity” (Translator’s Note: 人類大和合浦安の基を築く – 浦安, “Urayasu” / “peace and calm” is used as a synonym for Japan in the Nihon Shoki). This means that we must create a foundation for Japan, which will be the leader in the great harmonization and unification of humanity.

Pages from Morihei Ueshiba’s “Budo Renshu” (武道練習)

By chance, a valuable book by Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, of which there are only three copies left in Japan, fell into my hands. One of the poetic names for Japan is “Urayasu” (浦安), and in this city of Urayasu we formed an Aikido organization in association with the Aikikai. On May 16th of this year we held a celebration commemorating twenty years since its establishment. This kind of cooperation between different organizations is seen nowhere else in the world, only in Urayasu. We are coming closer to realizing “Shurikosei”, the mission of Budo.

Q: From a favor by Chida Shihan to putting in the wrong contract bid that led to you working in Aikido. From your trials as a member of the staff to Shioda Kancho visiting your home….does it seem hard to believe that you are here today as a result of all of these miracles?

A: When I think of it now, it’s not a bad thing to go through rough times. All of those things let me to be the person that I am today.

Q: Thank you very much for speaking with us today.

February 17th 2007 – Yoshinkan Ryu Dojo

Published by: Christopher Li – Honolulu, HI

The post Talking to Tsuneo Ando Part 2 – Aikido and World Peace appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.

Gozo Shioda with Tsuneo Ando, Yoshinkan Hombu Dojo

Tsuneo Ando (安藤毎夫) spent 14 years as uchi deshi to Gozo Shioda, the founder of Yoshinkan Aikido, and is said to closely resemble him in terms of size, speed and style.

Born in 1956 in Nihama City, in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, he first encountered Aikido after joining the Tokushima University Aikido Club. After graduation from the university he came to the realization that the life of a Japanese salary-man was not for him, and decided to enter the Yoshinkan as an uchi-deshi.

He now heads Yoshinkan Aikido Ryu, founded in October 1996 and centered in Urayasu City in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

This is the first part of the English translation of a two part interview with Tsuneo Ando conducted in 2010 that appeared in the Japan Internet Newspaper JanJan.

 
Aikido Yoshinkan Founder Gozo Shioda with Tsuneo Ando, around 1990

Talking to Tsuneo Ando Part 1 – the Gozo Shioda that Nobody Knew

Gozo Shioda (塩田剛三 / 1915-1994) was a student of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba (植芝盛平 / 1883-1969), and established Yoshinkan Aikido after the war. When he was asked “What is the strongest technique in Aikido?” he replied:

“Making an opponent holding a blade who was come to kill you smile.”

Tsuneo Ando, who slept and ate with that Mr. Shioda as an uchi-deshi, now presides over “Yoshinkan Aikido Ryu” (養神館合気道龍), and works for the growth and education of Aikido.

(Note: In the beginning I had planned to speak with Mr. Ando concerning the curriculum guidelines introducing Budo as a required subject of study in Junior High schools that will begin in Heisei year 24 (2010). However, between discussing stories of his life as an uchi-deshi and his tales of his experiences visiting the home of Gozo Shioda our time ran out without ever reaching the subject of curriculum guidelines. Since these discussions of Mr. Ando’s history can be thought to contain hints and encouragement for a wide variety of people not limited just to those learning Aikido, I would like to postpone discussions of the educational system until next time and introduce Mr. Ando’s unique profile.)

Gozo Shioda’s book “Aikido Shugyo”

Encountering Aikido

Q: In addition to yourself, there are also people such as former Yoshinkan Kancho Kyoichi Inoue (井上強一), Takefumi Takeno (竹野高文), Tsutomu Chida (千田務) and Shioda’s son Yasuhisa (塩田泰久), but I often see you appear when watching films of Shioda Sensei. How did your original encounter with Aikido occur?

“Clouds Over the Hill” – NHK 2009-2011

A: My home-town is in Eihime Prefecture, which was recently featured in the NHK television drama “Clouds Over the Hill” (“Saka no Ue no Kumo” / 坂の上の雲). I went to school at Tokushima University, and that’s why I enrolled in Aikido. Until that time I had never been good at sports, but I enrolled in Aikido without knowing what it was at the suggestion of a Sempai from my home-town. I learned from the head of the Aikikai’s Tokushima Prefecture branch, Taisuke Kudo Sensei (工藤泰助). But my first impression of Aikido was something like “I don’t understand what this is”—“What’s Aikido, anyway?”.

Taisuke Kudo Sensei

Q: Then, during your time as a student you once went up to Tokyo for a Gasshuku at the Yoshinkan?

A: When I was a Junior in college I had to repeat a course. I had some time then, so I thought “Hey – I’ll go do a Gasshuku at the Yoshinkan!”. Chida-san (former Yoshinkan Hombu Dojo Head), who was my Sempai at the university at the time, was at the Yoshinkan as an uchi-deshi. Earlier, when Chida-san was enrolled at Tokushima University, we had trained together in the Tokushima University Aikido Club. After that Chida-san returned to the Yoshinkan as an uchi-deshi. I had heard “the Yoshinkan is incredible!”, and from looking at the books it seemed as if they had completed a system for technical development. This was in the spring of Showa year 53 (1978).

Q: At the time Shioda Sensei was in his early sixties, and he was still quite active – what was training at the Yoshinkan like?

A: It was exhausting. (laughing) As to what was exhausting…of course it was physically exhausting, but in the end is was mostly mental exhaustion. There was a lecture, “Zagaku” (座学), every Thursday afternoon, once a week. That is, the uchi-deshi would gather in Seiza and have an evaluation meeting. The person called on by Shioda Sensei would speak about their “Daily Reflections and Habits”. For example, “Yesterday, I had a cold and was a burden on others” (reflections), or “if there’s some trash I throw it away” (habits). The senior students would then comment. “That’s a good attitude…” and so forth. At times Shioda Sensei would further comment on those comments. That would continue for about an hour, and we were told “absolutely no movement from Seiza!”. Seiza was so painful that I couldn’t even hear what was being said. Greasy sweat would dribble off me, my head would spin, I just waited while praying to heaven for it to end.

Then, in training, they said “Suwari-waza” and we would practice basic techniques on our knees. We did that kind of training constantly, so by the second day of the Gasshuku my skin was raw and bleeding. The knees of my white Keiko-gi were dyed bright red with blood. Even when he saw those bright red Keiko-gi Shioda Sensei said “do Suwari-waza!”. I thought “this person is an ogre”. In the end, the wounds on my knees didn’t heal until after the completion of the one month Gasshuku.

Hinomaru in a Japanese children’s textbook, 1932
“Hinomaru no Hata, Banzai Banzai”

Q: The red knees against the white background of the Keiko-gi, that’s just like the Hinomaru (Note: the flag of Japan), isn’t it?

A: Yes, that’s right. From the beginning I thought that it would be strict, but I was really overwhelmed psychologically by the Gasshuku. More than the physical limits, it was the demands to endure through injury and the severity of Seiza that were overwhelming. “Aikido is impossible for me, I’m going to quit…”, I thought.

Tsuneo Ando Sensei and some of his students

I Encounter Aikido Again

Q: Did you quit Aikido after that?

A: Yes. After graduating from the university I got a job with a trading company in Osaka. Six months after entering the company I was transferred to Wakayama. I was in sales so I was told to visit the local companies. I would go to the company to greet them and then drink the tea they put out… It was too easy, there was nothing to do. There was even one time that I drowsed off at Wakayama Harbor. (laughing)

With all that free time pushing me, I gradually started feeling like I wanted to do Aikido. There was a person named Sadao Takaoka Sensei (高岡貞雄) in Wakayama. That person had learned from the Founder Morihei Ueshiba in the last years of his life for just two weeks and then continued with Aikido for some thirty years after that. In a way, he was someone who had come to investigate that path through self study. That Sensei taught me the results of his research without reservation. As that happened I began to catch fire, and I thought “I knew it! It’s Aikido! Aikido is fascinating! For me there’s nothing besides Aikido..”.

Sadao Takaoka Sensei

Translator’s Note: Sadao Takaoka actually encountered Aikido for the first time in 1939, when he met Hiroyuki Nozawa, who had trained Aikido with people such as Tsutomu Yukawa. They opened an Aikido dojo in Wakayama together in 1939. Takaoka was promoted to San-dan by O-Sensei in 1953 and Roku-dan in 1965. In 1955 he was invited to Tokyo to attend a week long Shihan training session. The session began with O-Sensei wielding a Jo in “Kagura Mae” (神楽舞 / “Dance of the Gods”). When questioned about technique during the training session O-Sensei would just repeat the “Kagura Mae” without saying a word. At the finish of the one week training O-Sensei told Takaoka Sensei:

「わしの宝をあげたよ。品物なら返してもらえるが、今日まで教えた法則は返してもらえない。 今後あなたは道場での稽古は滝に打たれて修行しているのと同じだ。 命ある限り稽古を続けなさい。」

“I have given you my treasure. I could take back an object, but I can never take away the principles that I have taught you up until today. From now on your practice at the Dojo will be the same as training (Shugyo) while being struck by a waterfall. Train as long as you have life.”

Yasuo Kobayashi Sensei said this about that seminar: “In the spring of 1955, a special practice was held for yudansha from all over Japan at Hombu Dojo. The various instructors from Hombu joined with Sunadomari Sensei from Kyushu, Tanaka Sensei of Osaka, Hikitsuchi Sensei of Wakayama and from Tohoku, Shirata and Otake Senseis and others along with us deshi for a week of practice sessions. The last day there was a party which was attended by Shioda Sensei of the Yoshinkan, Katori-Shintoryu’s Sugano Sensei, Ninjutsu’s Fujita Sensei, Matsuo Sensei of Iaido and many other noted martial artists. Sensei representing the various schools of Aikido were also invited along with the old officer class of the Navy; everyone had a pleasant interchange.”

Kagura Mae / 神楽舞

Q: With Takaoka Sensei giving you hands-on teaching in the Hiden (“secrets” / 秘伝) there’s no way that it wouldn’t be fascinating… However, you needed a job in order to make a living.

A: Actually, around that time I made a terrible mistake at work. At the time we were bidding on a contract in one of the cities, and I was sent as the person responsible for putting in the bid. I wrote the amount that had been decided by the company, and we should have lost the bid, but I made a mistake when I wrote one of the digits… (laughing) That threw the bidding into total chaos. It was really a mess.

Also, the food at that time wasn’t very good. I never really felt hungry. Even though I wasn’t really hungry I would eat when it was time to eat. But after Aikido practice the food was always delicious. (laughing) “Am I going to put up with food like this for the rest of my life? Where’s the pleasure in life? I don’t need money or guarantees for the future. Just eating delicious food and enjoying each day is the most important” – so I decided “I’ll do Aikido!”.

First, I had to resign from the company. I hadn’t really decided what I was going to do after that. “The first thing I have to do is quit. I’ll think about it after I quit!”. (laughing)

So I decided to quit, and I thought “I’ll become an uchi-deshi to Takaoka Sensei”, but Takaoka Sensei didn’t have very many students and it didn’t seem as if I would be able to make a living doing that. That’s when I called Chida Sempai at the Yoshinkan. When I asked him if the Yoshinkan would be able to pick me up he said “I’ll ask Shioda Sensei and call you back tomorrow”. When he called back he said “Shioda Sensei said ‘Come!'”, so I entered the Yoshinkan.

Q: You graduated from the university and found work, I heard that you were around 24 years old. Was there anybody around you who was against this?

A: Honestly, when I entered the Yoshinkan I hadn’t clearly set my sights on becoming an Aikido-ka. When I left my home in Eihime for Tokyo my Grandmother asked me “Tsuneo, can you eat doing this?”, and this is how I remember answering back then:

“Grandma, it’s no longer a time when we work in order to eat. It’s a time when we live by doing the things that we love. People should do what they love.”

When I think about it now, my answer was really cocky. Still, what I said back then was the foundation for my life now. When one starts to do what they want to do then next perhaps they will discover what they must do.

I believe that all humans beings have a mission to fully cultivate the gifts that they have received from the gods (heaven), and it is my experience that the mission that has been given to us from heaven is to “pursue the things that you love to the end”. In modern Japan, since lifetime employment and promotion by seniority are already things of the past, this type of lifestyle has become easier. In that sense, one could say that this is a good era in which to be alive.

“Pick up the phone before it rings!” – the Bittersweet Life of an Uchi-Deshi

Q: What was the so called “life of an uchi-deshi” like?

A: I became an uchi-deshi on May 21st of Showa year 56 (1981). At the time they gave me 60,000 yen and a place to stay but you had to provide for yourself out of that.

Uchi-deshi at the time were given a large variety of tasks. In addition to cleaning the Dojo, there was caring for the instructors – for example, preparing tea, meals, changes of clothing, driving cars, preparing the bath and washing their backs…In any event, the uchi-deshi did whatever was needed. Just like the phrase “Aiki is Life” (合気即生活), everything in life was Aikido.

However, our living expenses were provided for, so that is all that we wished or hoped for. First of all, being able to do Aikido all day the food always tasted delicious. Then, we could be near the master Gozo Shioda, and even receive money on top of that. We thought “could there be any place better than this?”.

The Yoshinkan uchi-deshi system was a modern arrangement based upon the service provided to the Founder Morihei Ueshiba by Shioda Sensei before the war at Ueshiba Dojo.

For example, the telephone. Picking up the phone when it rings is too late – we were told “Pick it up before it rings!”.

I thought “that’s crazy!” but I found out that this was training in sensing the atmosphere of the phone as it is about to ring and threw myself into it. When I did that there was never a time when I was unable to pick up the phone before it rang. (laughing) Actually, just before the phone rang the receiver would click, and we would pick it up at that moment. There were times when we could successfully pick it up before it rang. At those times the person on the other end would turn out to be quite surprised. So we were always running around on pins and needles when we were in the office.

At that time the Yoshinkan Hombu was in Koganei-shi in Tokyo, a two story dojo with 185 tatami mats. On the first floor were the living quarters, Kancho’s office, the dojo office and the dining hall. It was wide open and spacious. For example,  the doorknob to Kancho’s office would click, and in an flash we’d leap out ahead of Shioda Kancho and open the door to the toilet. Eventually Shioda Kancho would enter there.

Due to the structure of the building, the office where we uchi-deshi waited was further from the toilet then Kancho’s office, and even a slight delay would result in Kancho opening the door to the toilet himself. For that reason, our bodies had to be ready to respond in an instant. It was as if it were the start of the 100 meter dash and the office was always under the tension of the starting gun. It had a thrill that made us think that this was real ascetic training.

In the bath we would shed our shirts and scrub Shioda Sensei’s back, matching with Kancho’s movements to pour the hot water on him. This was training in reading Sensei’s mind – where to pour the hot water, and with what timing. It was also a chance to really observe the muscles and tendons of Sensei’s body. Even now, the tendons under Sensei’s arms are burned into my brain. When he moved his arms those tendons would become oddly prominent, as if the tendons were connecting his arms to his lower back. Actually, in the beginning I became entranced with those tendons and thought “I want to develop those too!”, so I hung the inner tube from a bicycle tire over a laundry pole and tried training that way, but they weren’t something that can be developed through muscular training… Recently, I have finally begun to develop those tendons as well. (laughing)

In the morning and the afternoon we would train with the riot police, and then in the evenings would be training with the general public. Six hours a day… I had quit my job and come to the city from the country, here was my “last stand” (背水の陣). Just as rumored, the life of an uchi-deshi was severe, everyday I felt “today I’ll fight hard for one day” “anyway, just fight hard for one day” – without a thought for the future, I desperately got through it somehow. I came to appreciate the setbacks that I had experienced during the Gasshuku of my student days.

Beginning to take Ukemi for Shioda Sensei

While that was happening, some time in October, I injured my neck during training and the office manager said “go to the doctor!”. I answered “I’m fine, I can’t go because I don’t have insurance”. Then the office manager intervened with Shioda Sensei for me “Ando-kun has a severe neck injury. Let’s make him part of the staff so that he’ll be covered by our insurance”. Thankfully, Shioda Sensei said “do it!” and I was able to become a member of the staff. It was really a “lucky accident” (けがの功名), wasn’t it? It’s odd, but until now I have only been injured that one time.

Q: From entrance, right to staff…that’s a rapid career advancement (laughing), did you receive direct instruction from Shioda Sensei from that time?

A: No, at first I was taught by the senior students. I wasn’t taught by Shioda Sensei until four or five years after I started there.

Q: What was the training like?

A: Most of the commercial video available of Shioda Sensei is from the Thursday training workshops, the “Kuro-obi-kai” (“Black belt class” / 黒帯会). That’s good, since it’s meant to provide explanation for the people around him…

What was frightening were the local demonstrations. One never knew where Shioda Sensei’s technique would emerge. I would attack and receive Shioda Sensei’s technique, so it’s decided from the beginning that I would be defeated. For that reason, when my name was called out to take Uke for a demonstration I would think “Ahh, I’ll be the next one to eat Shioda Sensei’s technique…”, and I’d fall into gloom from the night before. I felt as if I were a soldier planning for an assault.

However, among the uchi-deshi, taking Uke for Shioda Sensei held a certain amount of status. Being able to take Uke for Shioda Sensei was proof of coming of age, but I didn’t want to remain satisfied with just that. Taking Uke for Shioda Sensei was important to me, but I thought that it was even more important to really accomplish the skills that Shioda Sensei had achieved.

Q: Were there things that could only be learned through that precious experience as an uchi-deshi?

A: In the end, being near the teacher, and being able to sense the vibrations of his thoughts directly was an important point. When one is always near it may be that their minds become synchronized in a way, or that distractions are eliminated, it is something of a heart-to-heart communication (以心伝心) . The other day at a meeting one of the instructors, who wasn’t an uchi-deshi, said, wondering, “I sometimes had a chance to drink tea alone with Shioda Sensei for an hour. In the training after that, the techniques would always become more fascinating”. When I went abroad with Shioda Sensei we would be together around the clock, it was truly a learning experience.

Shioda Sensei once said “I learned about Aikido thanks to my Father”. Shioda Sensei’s father was a physician, a wealthy person. When Ueshiba Sensei traveled to far away places he made it a point to take Shioda Sensei with him – Shioda Sensei’s father would speak to Ueshiba Sensei’s attendant and slip him an envelope full of money. Ueshiba Sensei would anticipate that and designate Shioda Sensei to accompany him… (laughing) As a result, he really “learned about Aikido thanks to his Father”. In the end, staying with your teacher twenty-four hours a day…I think that it is important to experience that time.

Independence and Hardship

Q: After that you resigned from the staff of Yoshinkan Hombu and opened a Yoshinkan branch dojo on your own.

A: Shioda Sensei passed away in Heisei year 6 (1994) at the age of seventy-eight. I resigned from Yoshinkan Hombu on September 30th of Heisei year 7 (1995), at the age of 39, thinking to become independent. I thought “Now I will go out into society, and test my strength against society as a teacher”.

Q: Once you separated from Hombu you must have understood how difficult it is to independent.

A: First of all, I didn’t have any knowledge of how to run a dojo. When the Yoshinkan was established everybody came to help because of Shioda Sensei’s technical skill and character. But it wasn’t the same when it came to me. How to pull things together and establish something from nothing…I got here groping and bumping my way along.

However, all that aside, what was really difficult was when my wife became ill. The condition of her breast cancer gradually worsened, and on January 29th of Heisei year 9 (1997) she passed away. I was forty years old, and my wife was thirty-six. At the time I still had young children, one in third grade and one in first grade. I thought “maybe I should go back to my hometown in Shikoku”. My parents said “come home”.

But my heart sank when I thought about going home. The reason for that is that a short time before my wife passed away I had somehow begun to understand what could be called the essential point of Aikido, “Center Power” (“Chushin-ryoku” / 中心力).

This was the time when I began to think “Don’t I have a mission to transmit this essence of Aikido to future generations?”, so I was torn between returning to Shikoku and getting a normal job and raising my children while continuing my research into Aikido.

When my wife was ill I moved from Urayasu to a relative’s rented house in nearby Ichikawa City of Chiba Prefecture. By and by my wife passed away and I had to leave that house. For a month I worried constantly about where to go, but the day after I got the news “you have to move” I found a place in Urayasu. We started over again in Urayasu, where we had lived before.

I was advised to make this fresh start based on the “prediction” from a fortune-teller that my Aunt consulted, but my actual daily life was hard. Going shopping at the supermarket, making the children’s Bento, laundry and parent’s days at school…I had to do all of the things that my wife had done up until that time.

Even though it was a world that I knew nothing about, I did it because it was impossible to do otherwise, and matched the rhythms of my life to it. For example, giving up late nights and getting to bed early and rising early…. (laughing)

Q:  Up until that time you had never experienced cooking, cleaning or other household chores?

A: At least I did them during my time as an uchi-deshi, but when it comes to raising children the level is completely different. There were many trying times during that period in Heisei year 9 (1997). However, I think that I was able to galvanize myself through my wife’s passing. I thought, “Even while raising children, I need the training and growth of Aikido”; “I endured many trials, but it was thanks to them that I was able to push myself and became able to change myself”.

New Challenges

Q: You have built a website for Yoshinkan Ryu and keep a blog. Isn’t it unusual to see an Aikido-ka who’s so knowledgeable about IT?

A: I started around the time that “Center Power” (“Chushin-ryoku” / 中心力) became a focus in the media, around Heisei year 8 or 9 (1996-1997). It was around Heisei year 7 (1995) when my late wife said “from here on out will be the age of the internet”, so I purchased a computer. After my wife passed away that computer, which was around 300,00 yen at the time, was left behind, so I thought “I have to use this somehow…”.

“The Age of Center Power” (中心力の時代)

So I built a website. At the time, I made it with the Windows 95 Notepad. Now when I go to the electronics stores and tell the people there “I built a website with the Windows 95 Notepad” they don’t believe me. Anyway, somehow I was able to build a website. It was the first try in the Yoshinkan, in Heisei year 9 (1997).

In Heisei year 10 (1998) a young person came hoping to become an uchi-deshi. When they asked “where is the dojo?” I replied “there isn’t one”. At the time I was still teaching at public gymnasiums and Budokans. But I re-considered, thinking “without a dojo I cannot raise uchi-deshi”, and made up my mind to establish a dojo.

Aikido at Himawari Yochien

Secret Kindergarten Stories

Q: I had heard that you had your eyes opened to the techniques of Aikido through being sent to instruct at a Kindergarten?

A: No, it’s not that I had a Kindergarten child as a training partner and understood the techniques…however, within my Aikido being dispatched to instruct at a Kindergarten is something that I cannot forget.

About one year had passed since I had started as an uchi-deshi, it was just the time when I thought that I was beginning to get used to life as an uchi-deshi. I was ordered by one of the Shihan who was my supervisor to “go teach at the Kindergarten”. It was “Himawari Yochien” (ひまわり幼稚園) in Kawagoe City in Saitama Prefecture. This Himawari Yochien wanted to start programs in Aikido and soccer. This was some twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago, so it was a very progressive school. They were the first Kindergarten in Japan to have a bus service for the children.

I would teach there twice a week from the morning to the evening. After that I would teach elementary school students who had graduated from the Kindergarten. My predecessor had not been able to deal with the stress of having only Kindergarteners and elementary school students as partners, and I was the replacement.

Other uchi-deshi were teaching and practicing together with police officers or the general public at Hombu Dojo, anyway, they were full of energy. At the time the Hombu Dojo was in Koganei-shi, and Kawagoe-shi was quite far, and with only Kindergarteners and elementary school students as partners it felt as if I were being banished to the outer islands. I thought that if things continued this way that I would be forced to resign as an uchi-deshi. Actually, my predecessor had done just that. The people around me were also thinking “if that were me I would have to resign…”.

Continued in Part 2…

Published by: Christopher Li – Honolulu, HI

The post Talking to Tsuneo Ando Part 1 – the Gozo Shioda that Nobody Knew appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.

More Full Contact Karate at the Aikido Sangenkai! Previously we presented a translation of the article “Secret Technique: The Secret of Aiki” (秘技・合気の秘密) from the  January 1996 issue of the Japanese magazine “Full Contact Karate” (フル・コンタクト・カラテ). This time we’re happy to present the English translation of an interview with Yoshinkan Aikido Founder Gozo Shioda (塩田剛三) and legendary Judo champion Masahiko Kimura (木村政彦) that appeared in the December 1987 issue of Full Contact Karate.

Gozo Shioda was born in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1915. He began training with Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei in 1932 and trained under him for eight years before the war. After World War II he established Yoshinkan Aikido and became one of the major figures in the post-war Aikido world.

Masahiko Kimura was born in Kumamoto in 1917. At the age of 18 he became the youngest Judo 5th Dan in history, after defeating eight opponents in a row at Jigoro Kano’s Kodokan Dojo. It is said that he was defeated only four times in his professional career, one of those losses to Aikido student Kenshiro Abbe (although Abbe would not begin studying Aikido until some years later). He is most well known in the Western world for the famous match in 1949 in which he defeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Founder Hélio Gracie.

Gozo Shioda and Masahiko Kimura were classmates at Takushoku University, which also counts such famous Karate instructors as Masatoshi Nakayama and Mas Oyama among its alumni.

Masahiko Kimura and Gozo Shioda in Full Contact Karate Magazine

Interview with Gozo Shioda and Masahiko Kimura

(Full Contact Karate Magazine, December 1987 – translated by Christopher Li)

Interviewer: I’ve heard that you were classmates at Takudai (Takushoku University / 拓殖大学).

Shioda: In Takudai at that time I and Kimura and one other Karate practitioner, Fukui (福井功 / Isao Fukui), were called the “Three Crows” of Takudai (拓大三羽烏). (Translator’s Note: this is a common way of referring to three pre-eminent proponents of a certain skill) Kimura was shy and wouldn’t speak to Fukui, but for some reason I hit it off with both Kimura and Fukui and became friends with the two of them.

Kimura: Was Fukui that strong?

Shioda: Fukui started the Karate Club at Takudai along with Mr. Masatoshi Nakayama (中山正敏) and Mr. Masatomo Takagi (高木正朝). He was a strong fighter, but he had a strong personality and said that Judo or Aikido would be no problem for him.  So I said that I would take him on, and the two of us did it in the gymnasium. He combined a right Seiken-zuki (“forefist punch” / 正拳突き) with a Mae-geri (“front kick” / 前蹴り), but I slipped right past him on the left, sandwiched his fist under my right forearm, and when I hit Fukui’s right elbow with my left forearm he just flew away. That guy’s elbow hurt for awhile, you know, and they took me in, just an unknown at the time who had been training in Aikido, as one of the Three Crows. (laughing)

Kimura: Shioda and I played at arm wrestling back then. Ahh, he was really strong. I was 170cm (5′ 6″) tall and 85 kg (187 lbs), and Shioda was 154 cm (5′) tall and 47 kg (103 lbs).

Shioda: Somewhere Kimura said that he lost ten out of ten times, but actually we did it three times and I only won the first two times. At most, he slipped his hand out the third time. (laughing)

Interviewer: Shioda sensei, were you doing some special kind of conditioning?

Shioda: No – in Aikido, in order not to create stagnation in the body, you mustn’t build up your muscles. However, I didn’t understand that when I was young, so I would hide from Ueshiba sensei and lift weights. When he found out I’d really get scolded. Of course it’s natural to want to make your body strong when you’re young, and logic comes later. Anyway, you should just train as much as you can. I trained everyday from five in the morning until nine at night! I think that kind of period is important to have when you’re young. Kimura over here was called the “Training Ogre” (稽古の鬼). There’s a famous phrase, “triple effort” (3倍の努力), but he really went through that.

Masahiko Kimura’s Teacher – Tatsukuma Ushijima

Kimura: Well, you can’t just lie around sleeping like everybody else. Before the Emperor’s Games (天覧試合) in Showa year 15 (1940) I didn’t even have time to sleep because I was practicing ten and a half hours every day. In my university days I would get up at 4:30 and clean, since I was one of the private students of Ushijima sensei (Translator’s Note: Tatsukuma Ushijima / 牛島辰熊, colloquially known as “Ogre Ushijima” and famous for his intense workouts), and then strike the makiwara from the left and right a thousand times each. You see, when you strike the makiwara you grip the thumb firmly, and when you strike the arms, elbows and wrists also become strong. Then I would go to the Police Department and train from around 10:00. For just about an hour. Then training at Takudai for about three hours, then at the Kodokan from 6:30 and from 8:00 to 11:00 at a local dojo in Fukagawa.

Masahiko Kimura

Interviewer: Was that the end of your training?

Kimura: No, after I went home and ate I would take a bath and then do solo training. First, a thousand push-ups, then body-building – six-hundred bench presses with 80 kg (175 lbs) barbells. Just that would take about an hour. Then uchikomi (打ち込み) against a maple tree a thousand times. I would wrap a Judo belt around a very thick maple tree and do uchikomi, but doing that a thousand times a day the trees would snap rather quickly. It was really expensive. (laughing) Then I would take out the rope and do Osoto Gari (大外刈) training. In those days, when I did Osoto Gari at the Police Department and the Kodokan, an average of ten people a day would get concussions, so I was told not to use it during training. When I heard that I worked it even harder, thinking that I didn’t want to be satisfied with just a concussion. I made a thorough study of Osoto Gari. Doing all this would last until around 2:30 at night. However, I couldn’t go to sleep right away. When human beings go to sleep it’s the same as if they’re dead. Even if everybody dies, I wanted to alive and training alone. I thought that this kind of training would help me to be victorious. I would pinch myself and practice keeping myself awake until around 4:30 in the morning. I would always take the first train of the morning and think “Ahh, the night is ending. There were many times when I didn’t sleep a wink. But I had a secret technique – I would sleep at school! (laughing)

Shioda: You were always sleeping in class. Kimura was in our class, so nobody failed. Because he’d kick our butts.

Kimura: When you don’t lie down in a futon to sleep the day’s training condition floats into your mind. Usually I’d train with around a hundred people a day, and each person would come out so that I could review the instant of applying each technique in stop motion. That way I would know whether each technique was good or not.

Shioda: Well, even if you tell young people today to train like that it’s just impossible. There is nobody comparable to Kimura in today’s Judo. Even if he did it today, people like (Yasuhiro) Yamashita and (Hitoshi) Saito would just be tumbled over. Even with just a single Osoto Gari, the execution was different. It wasn’t like today’s competition of physical power, Kimura threw with technique.  No matter how big they were, they would be down on the mat in an instant.

Gozo Shioda

Kimura: When I work with a large opponent I think that it is easier to throw them. That’s because Japanese guys who are over 100 kg (220 lbs) aren’t solid. Since they don’t train enough they just build up fat.

Interviewer: Kimura sensei, from your point of view don’t Yamashita and Saito train enough?

Kimura: Hmm, I just can’t believe that they’re doing serious research on a technical level. When you do Judo you develop a wide gait, so when you step forward with your left foot you can’t help opening up a little. Since this is no good I changed the way that I walk. I point my toes straight forward and slide forward. That’s why even normal walking became training in footwork. If you can’t concentrate your power in one point then it just becomes throwing with your upper body, that’s why today’s Judo can’t win against Sumo. Actually, the larger the opponent is the easier they are to destabilize. Because they have weight, if you destabilize them just slightly then their own body weight works against them.

Shioda: There is no destabilization (“kuzushi” / 崩し) in Judo today. It has become okay even if a small person cannot throw a large person.

Sumio Endo downs Yasuhiro Yamashita with Kani Basami (蟹挟)

Kimura: Their way of seeing Judo is different. In our time, it was a Bujutsu that considered responses to an opponent that would punch or kick. In a game there is just winning and losing. When Yamashita fought with Endo, in that match Yamashita was clearly the loser. Just after the match began Endo threw Yamashita with Kani Basami, so why was it extended into a draw? Kani Basami is a prohibited technique, so it was a foul against Endo, but if it were OK then Endo would have won. The results of a match are something that follow you for the rest of your life, so for the victory or defeat of the athletes to be at the mercy of the rules of the organizers is ludicrous.

Shioda: Even if you talk about death, someone who hasn’t confronted death doesn’t understand how to be ready for it.

Kimura: A while ago the Chancellor of Takudai said “Kimura-san, you said that you would accomplish things even if you were dead, but if you died wouldn’t you lose everything?”. I thought that here was a person who had never thoroughly trained in Budo. What I want to say is, if you are truly resigned to death, then the level of your training is different.

Shioda: You can’t ask people to try and understand that intellectually. It’s easy to talk about staking your life on something, but when you get to the actual execution they can’t abandon their self.

Kimura: That’s right, the self really disappears. I thought about the meaning of death, about showing them that I would die if I lost the match, I placed a short sword on my desk. There was a time when I stabbed the short sword into my abdomen to see if I could really die or not. I thought, okay – if I just pull the sword now then it’ll be done. So first is the match, then I just have to pull it in one swift stroke. Then I was at ease – I had proven to myself that I would be able to die.

Shioda: True to your nature, the man called Masahiko Kimura is really something. If you go that far then there will be nothing that can frighten you. Takudai really produced an amazing man. There is no university other than Takudai that has ever produced a man like Kimura, who has reached to the heart of the martial arts. Takudai should feel more pride about that. Because all that Todai (Tokyo University) has is knowledge! (laughing) It’s not intellectual, if you don’t realize it by actually discarding your self and experiencing it then it will be impossible for you.

Kimura: Shioda, you have also experienced the edge of life and death many times. A lot of things happened back then, didn’t they?

Shioda: The edge of life and death…Well, it’s all in the past, so I guess that it’s alright to talk about it. Until that time, although I was training in Aikido, I didn’t know whether or not I was becoming strong, but when I left Japan Sensei said to me “Shioda – wherever you go you won’t lose”. Even so, I didn’t have much confidence, but there was an event that caused me to face death, and I feel that this was where I somehow learned to abandon the self.  When I returned to Japan I went to teach at the Japanese National Police Academy, but I was never defeated, even once.

Kimura: Speaking of discarding one’s life, I had a mysterious experience in which I truly discarded my life. I went to train, and there were about 82 students there, all of whom had been undergoing strenuous training. They were strong back then.  We’re talking about an instructor’s college. So I said “Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu” and stepped into the Dojo for Kakari Geiko (かかり稽古 / “continuous attack practice”). I had won the student championships, so when I threw one of them the next one would charge at me, and I’d try to hang on and go all out to throw him. I thought that even if I went to my knees I would get Ippon. I’d do about five minutes with one person, for around seventy people. At some point I began to feel faint, and when I braced myself against it I lost consciousness and fell forward. However, my body was moving. Even though I lost consciousness the offensive and defensive techniques kept on fighting for me. I don’t know where I went then. When I looked, about 15 students of the instructor’s college were gathered together looking at something in one corner of the Dojo. I wondered what they were doing while I was training, and when I glanced over I saw somebody stretched out on the floor. When I looked down from above I said “Hey, isn’t that me?”. (laughing) When I looked at my face stretched out on the floor it looked calm and peaceful. I was smiling as I slept. I felt that this was a really good way to sleep.

Shioda: I wonder which was reality?

Kimura: Well, as I was wondering which was real, and if I was here then who was it that had died, the training finished. Just before human beings die, before they go to the spirit world, maybe there’s something there.

Shioda: It’s a good thing that you didn’t die!

Kimura: Because it went on for seven hours. I never went to my knees, not once. I was in a haze, but everybody was shocked when I left humming a tune. (laughing)

Shioda: Like Kimura, I have seen the miracle of spirit, of inner strength as well. Sensei’s idea was that even if the body deteriorates one must strengthen the spirit, that’s why he said “I’ll be the strongest before I rise up to heaven”, and I have a story that demonstrates this. Sensei passed away from cancer, and in the days before he died he was reduced to skin and bones, but he suddenly jumped up from the futon and said “Let’s train!”. When the strong young uchi-deshi tried to stop him, because he had been restricted to complete bed rest, all four of them were thrown out into the garden. Kimura spoke before about fighting without consciousness, but this is also one of the secrets of Aikido.

Interviewer: Can you two masters teach us how a normal person can train so that they can approach this secret?

Kimura: Of course, you can’t do anything but train. But if you just tell people today to train it doesn’t work. Perhaps it’s that they don’t want to waste their time with useless training. However, it’s important to remember this – there are different levels in training. At first one just thinks to to become strong, but there’s no art in that. Once one reaches a certain level they wish to be seen as strong by the people around them. Because they want to show how strong they are they want to throw their opponents. But that’s no good. If you keep a clear hold on your purpose, on which techniques you want to master, then whether you are thrown by your opponent or whatever, it’s not relevant. Since I specialized in Osoto Gari, even if I lost I lost with Osoto Gari. By thinking to master that technique I kept my beginner’s mind.

Shioda: It’s the basics. Until you have mastered the basics it will be impossible for you to progress. When I was being taught by Ueshiba sensei, I never knew from day to day what I would be taught. One day would be extremely advanced, and the next would be basics. Now, as I stand in a position to teach Aikido, I have extracted just a few basics from my experience and try to have people master those thoroughly.

Kimura: When I was training alone it would be mostly the repetition of basics. However, once one reaches a certain point it shouldn’t just be the repetition of traditional forms, one must also understand the meaning contained within the movement. Where you throw the opponent, if you throw them here, when the direction of the throw changes the movements of your hands and the way that you drop your hips becomes completely different. That is because once you decide to throw them in a certain place then the movements of your hands, the position of your hips, the way that you close your armpits and the way that your hips enter becomes determined. People today do not research this, they just repeat the ancient forms the same way each time. There are tall people and there are short people. Depending on their height the technique changes. If one does not understand the principle then one cannot begin to research a technique that is appropriate for that person.

Shioda: If you infuse the techniques into your body thoroughly then after that techniques that are appropriate for an opponent come forth naturally. Kimura spoke about fighting while unconscious, but that is something that comes about after thoroughly infusing the techniques into the body. If one thinks about trying to throw them this or or that way it will never work. Perhaps an adept like Kimura can do it while unconscious, but in Aikido this is called Kokyu-ryoku. Power that is not power, power that comes forth and naturally matches to the opponent. You could call it a rhythm. There are three kinds of breathing – inhaling, exhaling, and holding your breath. The inhaling breath invites the opponent in, exhaling is the moment of greatest power, and holding one’s breath is the moment of instantaneous movement. One matches the centerline (中心線) to these three pulses. As long as the centerline from your head to the bottoms of your feet is not destabilized you will not be thrown by your opponent. If one thinks about applying a technique in a certain way the technique follows after the thought, so a gap can occur and there will be no connection to the breath. However, if the breath and the movement match then all one has to do is to match with the opponent. One becomes able to react in response to the opponent’s movement. Before you realize it the opponent’s body becomes destabilized and one is able to throw them. This is Shizentai (自然体 / “natural stance”). It must be because he has mastered Shizentai that Kimura was able to throw his opponents, no matter how large they were. When Kimura won the student championships he was in nothingness. The opponents moved as he wished them to – that is because Nature worked in his favor.

Kimura: I don’t know anything about Nature, but I knew from the day before the competition that I would win. I would sit in seiza on the day before and think about whether I would win or lose. The same as Zen – when I did that the image of myself winning would rise up to the surface. Then I would light a candle to the gods and buddhas and pray for victory, and on the next day every opponent would appear small to me and I would win, as I had seen the day before. The day before the competition I would allow myself to become anxious over desires of winning or losing. As Shioda said, it may be that I would rid myself of those desires and then approach things in Shizentai.

Shioda: Although the movements of Aikido and Judo may be different, the fundamentals are the same. Although there are many ways to climb a mountain, the peak is always the same.

Kimura: The only way to climb up is through training.

Shioda: When you are young one must throw everything into it. Whether it’s fighting spirit or brute strength it’s important to use it all up. There is time enough to think about secrets or Shizentai when one becomes older, when one is young they should charge ahead recklessly.

Kimura: I would like for young people to come forward to continue the traditions of Japan, the nation of Budo.

Kimura Masahiko with Kyokushinkai Karate Founder Mas Oyama

Published by: Christopher Li – Honolulu, HI

The post Aikido and Judo – Interview with Gozo Shioda and Masahiko Kimura appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.

Full Contact Karate at the Aikido Sangenkai? Not really, but many of the quotations in this article originally appeared in the January 1996 issue of the Japanese magazine “Full Contact Karate” (フル・コンタクト・カラテ), in an article entitled “Secret Technique: The Secret of Aiki” (秘技・合気の秘密). They present an interesting survey of comments on Aiki from some of the leading exponents of both Aikido and Daito-ryu.

You may also be interested in Sagawa-den Daito-ryu Aiki-Budo instructor Masaru Takahashi’s technical essay’s on the nature of Aiki “What is Aiki?” (Part 1 | Part 2  | Part 3).

Survey says – this is Aiki!

Masatake Fujita on the cover of Aiki News #124, April 20th 2000

Masatake Fujita (藤田　昌武) – Aikikai Hombu Dojo

(student of Morihei Ueshiba)

合気会は合気道を国内外に推進・普及している中心団体として活動していますが、合気という言葉自体を特別に取り上げ定義・説明はしていません。合気道は競技体系を持っていませんので、約束稽古・型稽古を通じて体の鍛練をすると同時に、相手と合い和する心の鍛錬を目的にしています。そして、こうした稽古を通じて、誰もが持っている合気も養われ、発揮されてゆくと考えています。

The Aikikai is the central organization promoting and spreading Aikido domestically and abroad, but it has not adopted a particular definition or explanation of the word “Aiki” itself. Since Aikido has no form of competition, it seeks to train the spirit of harmony with the partner while conditioning the body through “Yakusoko-geiko” and “Kata-geiko”. Through this practice we believe that anyone’s Aiki can be developed and manifested.

Photo from the Hawaii Hochi, 1974, announcing
Morihiro Saito’s one day seminar at the Honolulu Aiki Dojo
on his way back from California to Japan.
In front: David Alexander, Morihiro Saito and Shigemi Inagaki

Morihiro Saito (斉藤　守弘) – Aikido Ibaragi Dojo

(student of Morihei Ueshiba)

合気道はそもそも植芝盛平先生から伝わったもので、先生から伝えられた合気を、現在正しく伝えているのはうちしかない。今の多くの合気道家は、合気を求めるあまり、先生の伝えた稽古を疎かにしている。それでは合気を得ることは出来ない。合気は本来誰もが持っているものだが、それは正しい型の稽古から発揮されるもので、その為には、正しい型の稽古を繰り返すことにより習得しなければならず、それなくして合気を得ることはない。

From the beginning Aikido was passed down from Ueshiba Morihei sensei, but today we are the only ones who are correctly transmitting the Aiki received from Sensei. In their quest for Aiki most Aikido students today are neglecting the training passed down from Sensei. So, they are unable to grasp Aiki. Aiki is fundamentally something that is possessed by everybody, but it is manifested through correct Kata practice. If one does not learn through the repetition of correct Kata practice then they will never grasp Aiki.

Hitoshi Nakano – Nakano Orthopedic Clinic (なかの整骨院)

Hitoshi Nakano (中野　仁) – Yoshinkan Hombu Dojo

(student of Gozo Shioda)

合気を得るには、理屈によるものと体によるものがあります。どちらも合気という答えを求めているのですが、戦後の新しい流派の多くは、過程を飛ばして理屈により答えを求めているようです。私達はそれとは違い、基本動作や指導稽古等の過程、体を使った稽古を通じて合気を習得する方法をとっています。また、合気は必ずしも神秘的なものではなく、敵との間合いや殺気を感じる等のことを含めて合気であると思います。

In order to grasp Aiki there are those that approach through theory and those that approach through the body. Both of these seek the answer to Aiki, but most of the new schools from the post-war skip past the process and seek the answer through theory. We are different from that, we chose the method of learning Aiki though the process of such things as Kihon-dosa and guided practice, training that uses the body. Further, Aiki is not necessarily mysterious, I believe that Aiki also includes such things as the Ma-ai with the enemy and sensing their murderous intent.

Keisetsu Yoshimaru taking ukemi for Yukiyoshi Sagawa, 1972

Keisetsu Yoshimaru (吉丸　慶雪) – Aiki Rentai Kai

(student of Yukiyoshi Sagawa)

合気というものは伸筋を使い相手を崩す「技術」で、その原理は全て合理的に説明が出来ます。そして多くの人が気と呼んでいるものは、この伸筋の力を指しているもので、神秘的な意味での「気の力」は存在しません。ただ、この伸筋の働きは、使っている人が「力を使っている」という意識が出来ないため、多くの人はこれを指して「気の力」と呼んでいるわけです。ですから合気と気は分けて考える必要があるのです。

Aiki is a technique that uses the extensor muscles to destabilize the opponent, the principles can all be explained rationally. Since what many people call “Ki” actually refers to the power of those extensor muscles there is is no such thing as a mysterious “Ki Power”. However, since the person making use of the movement of these extensor muscles has no consciousness of “I am using power”, many people refer to this as “Ki Power”. For that reason, Aiki and Ki must be thought of separately.

Minoru Mochizuki – around 1930

Minoru Mochizuki (望月　稔) – Yoseikan Aiki-Budo

(student of Morihei Ueshiba)

合気の気は「やる気」。すなわち闘志です。闘志と闘志のぶつかり合い。それが合気道だと思います。気には強いものもあれば弱いものもある。しかし、それらは修練によって強くなるものです。私のところにも女か男かわからのいような若者が入門してきますが、稽古が進むにつれて、道場での態度も引き締まってくる。つまり、やる気が出てくる。やる気のある者は、より積極的に稽古に取り組むようになる。それが大切なのです。

The Ki of Aiki is “Yaru-ki” (“the spirit of commitment”). In other words, “fighting spirit”. The collision of fighting spirit with fighting spirit. I believe that this is Aikido. If there is someone who is strong in Ki then there is also someone who is weak. However, that is something that becomes strong through training. We have both young men and women enter my place, but as they continue to practice their bearing becomes firm. In other words, they develop “Yaru-ki”. Those with Yaru-ki begin to tackle their training even more aggressively. That is important.

Yusuke Inoue at the 50th Anniversary of Sokaku Takeda’s Passing

Yusuke Inoue (井上　祐助) – Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Kodokai

(student of Kodo Horikawa)

言葉や文章ではなく、実技を通じて伝えてゆくべきものであるだけに、定義したり、本に書いたりしたこともありません。人それぞれの個性というものがあるように、修業の過程でその者の個性ないし特徴を見ながら、「それを伸ばしてやるにはどうすればよいのか」という部分に重点を置いて教えています。その結果、私と違った合気を身につけたとしても構わないと思います。それがその人の持ち味なのですから。

It is something that should only be transmitted through actual techniques, not through words or writing, I have never defined it or written a book about it.  Just as everybody has their own character, while watching those people’s character or characteristics I teach them while placing emphasis on certain sections – “what should you do in order to extend that?”.  I believe that the result, that they may acquire an Aiki that is different than mine, is acceptable. Because that is each person’s inherent flavor.

Katsuyuki Kondo’s DVD “What is Aiki”

Katsuyuki Kondo (近藤　勝之) – Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu

(student of Tokimune Takeda)

大東流の技は５つの基本（礼儀、目付、呼吸、間合、残心）を修得し、合気による崩しが加わることで完成します。柔術の崩しと合気による崩しは異なるので、必ずしも合気=崩しではありませんが、最初の段階では「崩し」と理解してよいでしょう。相手の虚をついて崩すこともありますが、合気による崩しは相手が触れた瞬間に崩していなければなりません。そのためにも、基本の修得が必要不可欠となるのです。

Learn the five fundamentals of Daito-ryu (reiho / etiquette, metsuke / use of the eyes, kokyu / breath, maai / distance, zanshin / awareness), and perfect them through the addition of destabilization by Aiki. Since the destabilization accomplished through Aiki is different from the destabilization of jujutsu, Aiki is not necessarily equivalent to destabilization, but at the beginning level it is acceptable to conceive of it as “destabilization”. There are instances in which one destabilizes the opponent when they are unaware, but destabilization through Aiki must destabilize the opponent in the instant in which they touch you. Also for that reason, learning the fundamentals are absolutely necessary.

Takeshi Maeda (right) with his teacher Toshimi Matsuda

Takeshi Maeda (前田　武) – Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Renshinkan

(student of Toshimi Matsuda)

「集中力」ではなく、触れることで相手を無抵抗にさせることだと思います。接点から気を出して、丹田から足へと伝えることによって相手を動けない状態にしてしまう。あとは投げようが倒そうが、こちらの意のままです。師匠の松田敏美には「力を入れるな」と教わりました。師の手を握った時の感触を覚えておいて、あとは自分でいろいろ思考錯誤することで身に付くはずです。私の場合には３０年ぐらい掛かりましたね。

It is not “Shuchu-ryoku” (“focused power”), I believe that it is to make the opponent non-resistant upon touch. Extend Ki through the contact point, transmit from the Tanden to the feet and put the opponent in a condition in which they are unable to move. After that, they may be thrown or taken down at will. I was taught by my teacher Toshimi Matsuda “Don’t put in power!”. One must remember the feel of taking the teacher’s hand and then absorb it through their own process of trial and error. In my case it took about thirty years.

Gozo Shioda with Kodo Horikawa of the Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Kodokai

Gozo Shioda (塩田 剛三) – Yoshinkan Aikido

(student of Morihei Ueshiba)

こうしてやろう、ああしてやろうという欲を棄てなければなりません。頭で判断して動くのではなく、五感の反応にまかせてしまったとき、初めて自由にさばくことができます。そうなったらもう、相手の攻撃の種類などは問題外になるのです。

You must rid yourself of the desire to do this at this time, or to do that at that time. One does not move through an intellectual decision. Only when you leave it to the five senses is one able, for the first time, to move freely.

Hakaru Mori at the 50th Anniversary of Sokaku Takeda’s Passing

Hakaru Mori (森 恕) – Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Takumakai

(student of Takuma Hisa)

合気をかけ、合気技を行なうためには、関節技で要求されるこのような力・技術・要領等は必要要件ではない。むしろ、邪魔になると言ってもよい。

In order to apply Aiki and execute Aiki techniques, the strength, technical points and other essentials required for joint techniques are not necessary requirements. You could even say that they are an impediment.

つまり、合気技と関節技は、技の原理が全く異なっており、極端に言えば、両者の術理は対極にあると言ってもよい。従って、関節技の稽古をどれ程重ねても、それだけでは絶対に合気には到達できないのである。

In other words, the fundamental principles behind Aiki techniques and joint techniques are completely different, stated extremely one could even say that their technical principles are diametrically opposed. Accordingly, however much one trains in joint techniques, that alone will absolutely not enable one to accomplish Aiki techniques.

Yukiyoshi Sagawa demonstrates Morote-Dori Aiki-Nage

Yukiyoshi Sagawa (佐川 幸義) – Sagawa-den Daito-ryu Aiki-Budo

(student of Sokaku Takeda)

柔術を形としてやるのが一番悪い。実際に全然使い物にならなくなってしまう。変化が大事なのだ。私の所のやり方はそうだ。一つの代表として形を教えても臨機応変に変化する。

Doing jujutsu as Kata is the worst. It will become something that you can’t use at all in reality. Change is important. The way of doing it in my place is like that. Even if we teach a single representative Kata, we change flexibly.

結局のところ（諸々の技は）合気之体を作ることが目的であって、合気之体ができればどのように動いても技になり合気になる。

Ultimately, the goal (of my technique) is to create the Aiki body, if one can create the Aiki body than however they move it becomes a technique, becomes Aiki.

Morihei Ueshiba in uniform during the Russo-Japanese War

Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平) – Aikido

(student of Sokaku Takeda)

動けば技が生まれる。

When I move technique is born.

この道は、天の浮橋に最初に立たなければならないのです。天の浮橋に立たねば合気は出て来ないのです。

In the Way, you must first stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. If you do not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven then Aiki will not come forth.

この合気も、また天の浮橋に立ちまして、そこから、ものが生まれてくる。これを武産合気といいます。

This Aiki stands on the Floating Bridge of Heaven, from there something is born. It is called Take Musu Aiki.

The Floating Bridge of Heaven (天の浮橋)

The phrase “Floating Bridge of Heaven” appears in O-Sensei’s lectures to the Byakko Shinkokai collected in the text “Take Musu Aiki” more than any other phrase, including the phrase “Take Musu Aiki”!

If you’re interested in reading more about the Floating Bridge of Heaven and how it relates to Aikido and Aiki you may be interested in the three articles below:

Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven

More on Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven

Morihei Ueshiba and the Way of the Cross

You may also be interested in some thoughts on a technical translation of the term “Aikido” that appears in “Aikido without Peace or Harmony“.

合気というのは、相手の力を抜き、抵抗を無にしてやる技だよ。

Aiki is to remove power from the opponent, a technique for making them non-resistant. 

– Sokaku Takeda 

Christopher Li

The post Survey says – this is Aiki! appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.

Ingang van Izanagi Jingu op Awaji Island
De vlag is ter ere van de viering van het 1300 jarig bestaan van de Kojiki

*This is a Dutch translation of the article “Morihei Ueshiba and the Way of the Cross – Izanagi and Izanami cross the Floating Bridge of Heaven“, courtesy of Ernesto Lemke of Seikokan Aikido.

Izanagi en Izanami steken de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel over

Herinner je je Izanagi en Izanami nog uit “Aikido en de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel“?

Zo niet, Izanagi en zijn echtgenote (en tegelijkertijd zijn zuster) Izanami hadden de opdracht van de Goden van Japan om op de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel (Ame no Uki Hashi/ 天之浮橋) te staan en de Japanse archipel te creëren.

Maar….je zou eigenlijk eerst het andere artikel moeten lezen aangezien de rest van wat ik te vertellen heb alleen via die context duidelijk wordt.

Hier is alvast een grappig weetje: in de Nihongi, het oudste boek van de Klassieke Japanse Geschiedenis (op de Kojiki na) worden deze Goden de “Goden van In en Yo” (陽神陰神) genoemd. O-Sensei was hiervan op de hoogte en verwees regelmatig naar In en Yo in termen van Izanagi en Izanami.

In ieder geval, ik hoop dat je je ze nog kunt herinneren want zij waren een veel voorkomend element in de uitspraken en geschriften van Aikido Grondlegger Morihei Ueshiba.

Zoals je wellicht weet stonden de mannelijke en vrouwelijke God op de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel en roerden met de juwelen speer (Ama no Nuboko/ 天の沼矛) in de zee waarop zij een maalstroom creëerden. Druppels zout water vielen van de speer en vormden het eerste eiland (Onogoro Shima/ 淤能碁呂島) waarop de heilige wezens neerdaalden van de Brug naar de aarde. 

Maar waar blijft het kruis?

Het Kruis was een veel voorkomend thema voor Morihei Ueshiba. Zo noemde hij bijvoorbeeld ‘Aikido’ 十字道 – de Weg van het Kruis. Of in een alternatieve manier van schrijven, ‘Aikido’ 合気十, het ‘Aiki Kruis.’

Hier is een verwijzing naar het kruis – zie hoe de schematische weergave van Hemel naar Aarde dezelfde is die Ueshiba geeft in zijn omschrijving van de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel, en die door het geheugensteuntje A I U E O wordt uitgebeeld (de Hemel bovenaan en de Aarde, vertegenwoordigd door Onogoro Shima, onderaan):

天火水地の十字の交流によって生みだされる言霊の響きによって宇宙万物が生成されたのであり、それに習うことが合気の道なのである。

De weerkaatsing van de Kotodama die geboorte geeft door de uitwisseling tussen het kruis van de Hemel/Vuur/Water/Aarde leidt tot alle dingen in het universum, dit leren is de weg van Aiki.

Een beetje abstract, maar als we dit terugkoppelen aan “Aikido en de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel” zien we dat O-Sensei in feite een technische trainingsmethode bespreekt.

Het creatieve aspect is ook belangrijk in dit beeld, met name omdat dit een verhaal is over….creatie.

Wanneer Morihei Ueshiba deze voorbeelden gebruikte om zijn technische methode te illustreren benadrukte hij vaak het creatieve aspect van zijn methode in relatie tot de technische martiale toepassing.

Dat wil zeggen, de technieken die hij onderwees werden continu en spontaan gecreëerd (volgens zijn eigen zeggen) door deze methode van het gebruik van lichaam en geest, door de wisselwerking van In en Yo, Geest en Lichaam, verenigd in het technische model van Hemel-Aarde-Mens.

Dit wordt ten zeerste benadrukt in de vele verklaringen waarin hij beweerde dat de technieken zelf onbelangrijk zijn en onmiddellijk vergeten diende te worden zodra ze beheerst werden (覚えて忘れる稽古).

In 1951 deed Gozo Shioda, de Grondlegger van Yoshinkan Aikido examen voor zijn 9e Dan in Iwama onder Morihei Ueshiba.

Het examen bestond uit twee onderdelen – het eerste waarbij Shioda Ueshiba confronteerde met een zwaard maar niet in staat bleek om een opening te vinden, en het tweede deel waarbij Shioda ongewapend Ueshiba tegemoet trad.

Shioda deed het beter in het tweede deel en was in staat om een opening te vinden waarop Ueshiba het examen onmiddellijk stopte (Shioda slaagde ondanks dat hij zakte op het zwaard onderdeel van het examen ).

Het is belangrijk om op te merken dat er geen technieken gevraagd werden tijdens het examen en dat het geheel maar erg kort duurde. Het oordeel werd op een enkele aanraking gemaakt – waarop Ueshiba in staat was om te bepalen of Shioda’s lichaamsgebruik aan zijn voorwaarden voldeed.

…nu terugkerend naar het hoofdonderwerp – hier is een iets meer heldere passage uit Aiki Shinzui:

合 気道はまず天の浮橋に立たなければならないと言われる。天の浮橋とは火と水の交流という。丁度十字の姿、火と水の調和のとれた世界である。つまり高御産巣 日、神産巣日二神が、右に螺旋して舞い昇り、左に螺旋して舞い降り、この二つの流れの御振舞によって世界が出来たという。火と水でカミになり、このカミ （火と水）の根源は一元に帰るが、一元から霊魂の源、物質の根源が生まれる。

Er wordt gezegd dat Aikido eerst op de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel moet staan. Er wordt gezegd dat de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel de uitwisseling is tussen Vuur en Water. Precies in de vorm van een kruis, het is de wereld van Vuur en Water in harmonie. Met andere woorden, er wordt gezegd dat deze wereld gecreëerd wordt door de handelingen van de tweeling Goden Takami-Musubi en Kami-Musubi zich omhoog kronkelen in een spiraal aan de rechterkant en omlaag kronkelen in een spiraal aan de linkerkant. Vuur (‘Ka’) en Water (‘mi’) worden ‘Kami’, de oorsprong van deze ‘Kami’ (Vuur en Water) keren terug naar het Ene, maar het Ene wordt de oorsprong van het fysieke en het spirituele.

Kami-Musubi no Mikoto vertegewoordigt het principe van fysieke creatie, het plantaardige en het dierlijke. Takami-Musubi no Mikoto beeldt het principe van de creatie van de geest en bezieling uit. Met andere woorden, lichaam en geest:

天之浮橋は丁度魂魄の正しく整った上に立った姿で、十字の姿にならなければならない。

De Zwevende Brug van de Hemel staat met Geest en Lichaam op de juiste wijze geordend, het moet exact de vorm van een kruis aannemen.

We zien wederom dat Morihei Ueshiba ‘God’ (‘Kami’) definieerde als een ezelsbruggetje voor de uitwisseling van Vuur en Water. Dit is belangrijk om te onthouden wanneer we zijn beweringen ontleden die doorgaans voorzien zijn van meerdere lagen van betekenis en informatie.

Net als bij de Zwevende Brug van de Hemel zien we dat Hemel en Aarde het verticale component van het kruis voorstellen. Verder zien we dat de rol van Vuur en Water nu opgehelderd zijn om het horizontale component van het kruis uit te beelden.

Dit past ook precies met het kruis van de ademhaling die beschreven werd in “Aiki, Iki, Kokyu, Heng-Ha en Aun“.

Nu zien we de spiraal van Vuur en Water, de flow van Geest en Lichaam in een onafgebroken uitwisseling tussen Hemel en Aarde.

Ik zal niet weer op de spiralen ingaan aangezien die al behandeld werden in “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo en Kamae“, maar hier is nog wel een interessant voorbeeld van het kruis.

Als je je “Aikido zonder Vrede of Harmonie” nog kunt herinneren kaartte ik daar de acht In-Yo trigrammen aan uit het klassieke Yin-Yang symbool die de tegengestelde krachten laten zien in hun reeks van veranderingen rondom de cirkel.

Morihei Ueshiba’s 8 krachten worden vertegenwoordigd door 8 trigrammen die de progressie van verandering laten zien – In krachten uitgebeeld door onderbroken lijnen en Yo krachten uitgebeeld door vaste lijnen.

In-Yo Trigrammen

Het bovenstaande diagram is voor de hand liggend – maar heb je het kruis ook gezien?

Kijk nog maar eens naar het complete diagram:

In-Yo Trigrammen met het kruis

En zie hier het complete diagram van de Yin-Yang triagram veranderingen – de verticale component van Hemel en Aarde verbonden met de horizontale component van Vuur en Water.

(Vertaald door Ernesto Lemke)

Christopher Li – Honolulu, HI      

The post Morihei Ueshiba en de Weg van het Kruis [Dutch Version] appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.

Hiroshi Isoyama and Steven Seagal

O-Sensei would say, “Well you aren’t a goat are you?”

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). 

Hiroshi Isoyama demonstrates Ganseki Otoshi at the All Japan Aikido Demonstration (全日本合氣道演武大会)

An interview with Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Isoyama, Part 1

(English translation by Christopher Li)

The Founder takes ukemi for me

Q: Sensei, you were born and raised in Iwama, in Ibaragi Prefecture, so it seems to be fate that you met O-Sensei while he was in Iwama and became his student.

A: That’s right, it was when I was twelve years old, in the first year of junior high school. I became a student on June 1st of Showa year 24 (1949). I remember this clearly.

Q: What was your motivation?

A: Other people may have had lofty goals, but I was very impure (laughing). Not to lose in a fight.

Q: Did you know anything about Aikido?

A: Nothing at all (laughing). Just that there was a rumor that “a master is here”.

Q: I have heard that it was difficult to become a student of Aikido at that time.

A: The time when I began was just when the junior division was started. Since this was the era of chaos after the war, it must have been the desire of the Founder to nurture the development of young people. It didn’t last more than three months at the most.

Q: Didn’t last?

A: The training was very hard. When we started there were about ten of us, but they all disappeared. So in the end I went to train in the adult class.

The young Hiroshi Isoyama (right) with Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei

Q: So the training was quite hard?

A: It was tough. Since tatami would be damaged if it were in the dojo, it was cleared away and from the beginning we practiced on the wood floor. Ukemi was tough, and since techniques were applied right to the limit they really hurt.

Q: Was there any kind of special training for the junior division?

A: No. O-Sensei would come in, perform some Shinto prayers, and then practice.

Q: Eh? O-Sensei would instruct the junior division directly?

A: Of course. He would take our hands one by one and apply the techniques – he took ukemi for us, too.

Q: I had heard that training with the Founder was normally a matter of a demonstration of technique followed by “do it!”, but that’s completely different. This is the first time that I have ever heard of him taking ukemi.

A: He’d say “Isoyama, come!”, and allow me to take his hand and apply Nikyo or something.

Q: What did it feel like?

A: It felt like applying technique to a large tree. However, he’d take the proper ukemi for me, and not try to struggle against me or sneak out of the technique. About the time that I was in high school I tried to force some power into the technique, but I couldn’t put any power into it.

Q: Why was that?

A: I don’t know. It felt like being suppressed while power was being drawn out by the opponent. I couldn’t apply any power. Even now I really don’t understand what happened.

Q: Hmm…

A: When he partnered with me for Kokyu-ho his shoulders would drop down immediately, and he’d be as immovable as a mountain. Before I knew it, as I struggled to somehow raise my hands, I’d find myself pushing on O-Sensei’s chest with my head. He’d say “well you aren’t a goat are you?” and instantly crush me (laughing).

Q: That’s also a valuable experience, isn’t it? (laughing) Were most of the techniques performed from a seated position (“shikko” / 膝行) at that time?

A: No, first we would do Tai-no-henko, I think that shikko training is something that was developed later. In terms of warm-up type exercises, perhaps there was only Funakogi-undo (“rowing exercise” / 船漕ぎ運動). Then we would begin techniques, and at the end would be finishing exercises (“shumatsu undo” / 終末運動) and Kokyu-ho.

Q: How were the techniques named at the time?

A: “Kyo” wasn’t used yet, we said things like “Ikkajo” (一ヶ条) and “Nikajo” (二ヶ条). I think that the first time names like “Ikkyo” (一教) and “Nikyo” (二教) were used was when the were used in the first book “Aikido” that was published by Kisshomaru sensei.

Q: However, the curriculum itself that exists today was in existence from that time?

A: That’s right, but at that time O-Sensei would decide upon the content depending upon how he felt at the time. So if he said “Today is suwari-waza!” then we would do nothing but suwari-waza until the skin peeled off our feet and left them bleeding. It was very hard.

Hiroshi Isoyama (complete with handlebar moustache) taking ukemi for Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei

The overwhelming speed of the Founder’s movement

Q: The junior division fell apart and you entered the adult division, who was training there at that time?

A: There were a number of people. Among the uchi-deshi was someone who went to do pro-wrestling with Rikidozan (力道山), he probably thought that he was taking it easy on me, but for me it was really hard and painful. Of course, since I was a child I would start crying. When that happened he would shout, “Idiot! This is no place to be crying!”, grab me by the belt and throw me out the window.

Q: It was really tough, wasn’t it!

A: Then he’d say, “If you start feeling like you want to practice then come back in through the front door!”. That kind of thing happened many times, it was really frustrating.

Q: Abe sensei was from around that time, wasn’t he?

A: Yes, that’s right. However, I was never taught directly by Abe sensei, we just received O-Sensei’s training together. And then, of course there was Morihiro Saito sensei. There were many other people, but not many of them have continued.

Q: What about Shioda sensei?

A: At that time he wasn’t around much anymore, so I never got a chance to work with him.

Q: How did it feel to actually take ukemi for techniques from the Founder?

A: In throwing techniques or whatever we were doing it always felt as if I were protected and could receive them in safety. There were never any feelings of fear.

Q: How about controlling techniques?

A: It would feel as if a weight were loaded on you, and you couldn’t move. There are pictures of O-Sensei holding people down with a single finger – there a single point is being held down. It felt like a specific vertebrae – it was done to me many times, and O-Sensei would always smile and hold me down at the same point.

Q: I have heard that the sword was often practiced in Iwama.

A: Yes, that’s right. It didn’t always happen, but occasionally we did it. I was sometimes the uke, and it was extremely fast! We would begin facing each other in the Seigan posture (“seigan no kamae” / 正眼の構え), and just as I would begin to raise the bokuto above my head the tip of O-Sensei’s bokuto would already have entered to my throat.

Q: Did you raise it up at normal speed?

A: Yes. At the moment that I raised up my sword his tip would enter the opening at my throat. Then, at the moment that I cut down he would perform Irimi-tenkan and the tip of his sword would cut through my neck. At the fastest there were times when he would turn in place and the tip of the sword would cut the back of my head.

Q: I had heard that he was fast, but this is faster than I had imagined.

A: He was fast, and there was a lot of pressure. There are demonstrations by O-Sensei where people are falling all over the place – there too O-Sensei’s hand is entering just as they move, and they fall without thinking about it because there is no time to do anything else. His forearms were amazing too, they were like logs.

Q: He had an amazing amount of power.

A: It was superhuman strength. But it’s not as if he was clenching to produce power, it felt as if it was entering him naturally. When I was feeling cocky I tried to force things many times, but he wouldn’t even pay attention. We would try to do the same thing, but somehow we would always end up matching with our partner’s power and the power would slip right in. O-Sensei would never become flustered. Whether we were trying to force something with all our might or we were doing nothing, O-Sensei would do things with the same power. It felt as if his Ki was draining out, but it wasn’t. In that area he was completely different.

Kintarō (“Golden Boy”) wearing a “haragake” – woodblock print by Tsukoika Yoshitoshi

Q: What did the Founder do for his own personal training?

A: When training alone he would do sword cuts. He would often go shirtless in the summer, but in order to keep his abdomen from becoming chilled he would wear a “haragake” (a Japanese style workman’s apron) like Kintarō and swing a thick iron staff (“tetsubo” / 鉄棒).

Q: An iron staff?

A: He’d use various things, but I was told, “It’s important to stop firmly each time”. It’s also important to go quickly, but I was told to first “connect navel to navel” by cutting down to the opponent’s navel each time.

Continued in part 2…

Christopher Li – Honolulu, HI      

The post An interview with Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Isoyama, Part 1 appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.

Entrance to the Izanagi Jingu on Awaji Island
The banner celebrates the 1,300th anniversary of the publication of the Kojiki

Izanagi and Izanami cross the Floating Bridge of Heaven

Remember Izanagi and Izanami from “Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven“?

If you don’t, Izanagi and his spouse (and sister) Izanami were tasked by the Gods of Japan to stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven (Ame no Uki Hashi / 天之浮橋) and create the islands of the Japanese archipelago.

But…you really should go back and read the other article first, since the rest of what I’m talking about here will make much more sense in that context.

Here’s a fun fact: in the Nihongi, which is the oldest book of classical Japanese history after the Kojiki, these gods go by the names of the “gods of In and Yo” (陽神陰神). O-Sensei was aware of this, and often referred to In and Yo in terms of Izanagi and Izanami.

Anyway, I hope that you remember them, because they were a very common element in the speech and writings of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.

If you remember, the male and female gods stood on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and stirred the sea with the jeweled spear (Ama no Nuboko / 天の沼矛), creating a vortex. Drops of salty water falling from the spear formed the first island (Onogoro Shima / 淤能碁呂島), whereupon the divine beings descended from the Bridge to the earth below. 

So where does the cross come in?

The cross was a common theme for Morihei Ueshiba – for example, he would call “Aikido”, 十字道 – the Way of the Cross. Or in an alternative way of writing “Aikido”, 合気十, the “Aiki Cross”.

Here’s a mention of the cross – note that the schematic from Heaven to Earth is the same one given in Ueshiba’s description of the Floating Bridge of Heaven, and that is represented by the mnemonic A I U E O (Heaven at top and Earth, represented by Onogoro Shima, at the bottom):

天火水地の十字の交流によって生みだされる言霊の響きによって宇宙万物が生成されたのであり、それに習うことが合気の道なのである。

The reverberation of the Kotodama given birth to by the exchange of the cross of Heaven/Fire/Water/Earth gives rise to all things in the universe, learning this is the way of Aiki.

A little abstract, but if we relate it back to “Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven” we see that O-Sensei is actually discussing a technical training method.

The creative aspect is also important in this imagery, especially since this is a story about…creation.

When Morihei Ueshiba used these examples to illustrate his technical method he would often emphasize the creative aspect of this method in relation to technical martial application.

That is, the techniques he taught were continuously and spontaneously created (according to his own words) through this method of using the mind and body, through the interplay of In and Yo, Mind and Body, as unified in the technical model of Heaven-Earth-Man.

This is strongly underlined in the many statements he made declaring that the techniques themselves are unimportant, and ought to be immediately forgotten once mastered (覚えて忘れる稽古).

In 1951, Gozo Shioda, the Founder of Yoshinkan Aikido, tested for 9th Dan in Iwama with Morihei Ueshiba.

The test was comprised of two sections – the first, where Shioda faced Ueshiba with a sword but was unable to find any method of entry, and the second, where Shioda faced Ueshiba empty handed.

Shioda did better on the second section and was able to successfully find an entry, at which point Ueshiba immediately stopped the test (Shioda passed, despite failing the sword section of the examination).

It’s important to note that there were no techniques on the test at all, and that the entire exam really only took a very short time. The judgement made here was on a single touch of the hands – at which time Ueshiba was able to see if Shioda’s body usage was up to standards.

…returning to the main topic – here this is a slightly clearer passage from Aiki Shinzui:

合気道はまず天の浮橋に立たなければならないと言われる。天の浮橋とは火と水の交流という。丁度十字の姿、火と水の調和のとれた世界である。つまり高御産巣日、神産巣日二神が、右に螺旋して舞い昇り、左に螺旋して舞い降り、この二つの流れの御振舞によって世界が出来たという。火と水でカミになり、このカミ（火と水）の根源は一元に帰るが、一元から霊魂の源、物質の根源が生まれる。

It is said that Aikido must first stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. It is said that the Floating Bridge of Heaven is the exchange of Fire and Water. Precisely in the form of a cross, it is the world of Fire and Water in harmony. In other words, it is said the this world is created through the two actions of the twin gods Takami-Musubi and Kami-Musubi winding up in a spiral on the right and winding down in a spiral on the left. Fire (“Ka”) and Water (“mi”) become “Kami”, the source of this “Kami” (Fire and Water) returns to the one, but the one becomes the source of the physical and the spiritual.

Kami-Musubi no Mikoto represents the principle of physical creation, of the vegetable and the animal. Takami-Musubi no Mikoto represents the principle of the creation of the mind and spirit. In other words, mind and body:

天之浮橋は丁度魂魄の正しく整った上に立った姿で、十字の姿にならなければならない。

The Floating Bridge of Heaven stands with Mind and Body correctly ordered, it must take the exact form of a cross.

Once again, we see Morihei Ueshiba defining “God” (“Kami”) as a mnemonic for the interchange of Fire and Water. This is important to remember when dissecting his statements, which typically contain multiple layers of meaning and information.

As with the Floating Bridge of Heaven, we see that Heaven and Earth represent the vertical component of the cross. Further, we see that the role of Fire and Water are clarified to represent the horizontal component of the cross.

This also fits right in with the cross of the breath described in “Aiki, Iki, Kokyu, Heng-Ha and Aun“.

Now we see the spiral of Fire and Water, the flow of Mind and Body in continuous exchange, between Heaven and Earth.

I won’t go into the spirals again, since they were already mentioned as far back as “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae“, but there’s another interesting example of the cross.

If you remember, in “Aikido without Peace or Harmony” I touched on the eight In-Yo trigrams around the classic Yin-Yang symbol showing the opposing forces in their progression of changes around the circle.

Morihei Ueshiba’s 8 powers are represented by 8 trigrams, showing the progression of change – In forces represented by dashed lines and Yo forces represented by solid lines.

In-Yo Trigrams

By now the above diagram should be fairly straight forward – but did you see the cross?

Take another look at the complete diagram:

In-Yo Trigrams with Cross

And there it is above – the complete diagram of the Yin-Yang trigram changes – the vertical component of Heaven and Earth connected with the horizontal component of Fire and Water.

Christopher Li – Honolulu, HI      

The post Morihei Ueshiba and the Way of the Cross appeared first on Aikido Sangenkai Blog.