WHAT HAPPENED IN APRIL:

OSHIRO SENSEI’S VISIT TO AAC AND SEMINAR, APR 21-23:

Waiting anxiously for Oshiro sensei at Newark Airport this Friday, April 21, I wondered what kind of mood he’d be in since the airline had changed his schedule and advanced it by 90 minutes, forcing him to get up by 4:00 a.m.? As a dutiful student who had inconvenienced his teacher, albeit unwillingly, I made ready to offer him an apology. When he emerged from the corridors of Terminal C, I was relieved and shocked at the same time. Relieved, because he was in a good mood, and shocked because he was sporting a crew cut. Gone was the proud mane I had long associated with his looks.

On the way to the dojo, we chatted about the upcoming international Yamanni-ryu tournament in Tokyo on November 5. The only people in Japan who could organize this event were Shotokan people, under the aegis of the legendary Kanazawa. No one on Okinawa could do this since there were not enough Yamanni-ryu practitioners there.

On the agenda tonight at the dojo was an introduction to Shurite–or Shorin-ryu–as Sensei meticulously went over how to make a proper fist, how to stand, how to pull one’s weight, how to punch, and how to move; what constitutes a powerful punch at any distance between points A (chamber) and B(target), and what’s a true reverse punch. Chris Ilao and Miro Musulin were the recipients of many demonstrations by Sensei and could attest to the truth of his allegations. The students paired off and Sensei taught a yakusoku (pre-arranged) kumite drill which illustrated his notions of simultaneous step-and-block or step-and-punch.

After class, Chris Ilao and Theresa Nguyen joined Sensei and me for dinner at Ginza where he regaled them with tales of old Okinawa (and where he determined that Ginza was not an authentic Japanese restaurant as I had thought.)

SATURDAY, APR 22: True to forecast, this weekend started out on the rainy side. This morning Sensei was introduced to my new kobudo students (the weapons class was depleted for a long spell but now we have some new blood) Matthew, Samantha, and Chris (although Sensei already knew Chris from the karate class); Brooke was an old hand. Sensei went over bojutsu basics, watched the students carefully, and checked out their katas, Choun-no-kon sho and dai. Then, he trained us on saijutsu. He watched each person perform his/her highest kata and was quite impressed with Samantha’s Nakan-Dakari. He pointed out the finer points of Kishaba-no-sai/dai to Brooke and me; we bowed out at 11:30 a.m.

After lunch, Mr. Sam Brockington and his student Michael arrived for the RBKD Instructors session. Brooke, as a shodan, stayed on for this class. Sensei Cleve Baxter from Yonkers came slightly late because of a wrong turn; Mr. Kowa Chhe from upstate New York had promised to come but never made it.

Sensei took us through some awesome dexterity exercises and difficult stretches he had gleaned from ballet dancers. Then he took us through Shirataru-no-kon, concentrating on some difficult sections. After we bowed out at 3:00, Cleve took him to New York where he was to meet with a former student.

SUNDAY, APR 23: Sensei had stayed overnight in New York and was brought over to Bloomfield Middle School this morning by his student, whose 10 year-old son was attending today’s seminar. I had arrived around 9:00 a.m. in the drizzle to set up the gym and prepare for the day’s work.

This was one of those times when I couldn’t even get twenty participants to attend. Don’t people realize Oshiro Sensei comes to New Jersey only once a year? As a martial artist, I will never understand people’s relative priorities and their inability to catch opportunities to study with a genius.

(So much for my complaining.) Kowa Chhe showed up with two of his students instead of the customary ten or fifteen; a new arrival was sensei “Duke” Allen, a talented former Jundokan instructor who is now in the IOGKF. He brought four of his black belts who would soon find out just how hard Yamanni-ryu is.

After we bowed in at 10:00 and Sensei let me run the warm-ups, we started with saijutsu, true to my schedule. Sensei went over the basics, then broke up the group into sub-groups for kata. I took the very beginners to teach them the Kihon katas.

We were supposed to stop at 11:00 and switch to bojutsu but when I looked at the clock and then at Sensei busily teaching, I didn’t have the heart to interrupt him or his group. By 11:30 he came over and asked me when we should be switching to the next item in the agenda. I told him, “Half-an-hour ago”; he laughed. So, instead, he agreed to run a half-hour of bojutsu basics and we stopped at 12:00 for lunch.

When we resumed at 1:00, Sensei was supposed to introduce the gusan (cane, or jo) as we had planned (and as I had advertised in the invitational flyers) but since it didn’t look like anyone except my students had brought theirs, we nixed the idea and instead ran a bojutsu class. I took the beginners for the Do-nyu-no-kon katas and Sensei broke up the remaining group to train them at various kata levels.

Later, while we watched the students self-practice, Sensei conferred with me regarding the last session of the day. We were supposed to teach kumibo (bo applications) but he thought the attendees were getting tired so we decided instead to offer them a choice of training: whoever wanted to practice tunfajutsu would follow Kowa, those who wanted to train in bojutsu would follow Sensei, while I took the senior instructors through Kishaba-no-sai/dai.

At 4:00, Sensei ended class, sat everyone down for a quick Q & A session and bowed us out. Outside, it had stopped raining and the sun had come through.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN AUGUST: THE AAC’S 3^RD ANNUAL JUNIOR KARATE SUMMER CAMP, AUG 14-18: I will be running a Junior Karate Camp again this summer, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. the week of August 14 - 18. I will be introducing a Junior Yamanni weapons class (with the sai and bo); Friday, the last day of camp, will hold our mini-tournament with its subsequent awards ceremony and pizza party. The fee for the entire week is $150 (including Friday’s awards and treat).

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN NOVEMBER: THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL YAMANNI-RYU TOURNAMENT IN TOKYO, JAPAN, NOV 5: The first ever world Yamanni-ryu tournament! Hosted by Hirokazu Kanazawa sensei of Shotokan fame, it will attract competitors from Germany, France, the Czech Republic, the USA, and, of course, the Japanese.

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BOOK REVIEW: THE ART OF PEACE

by Morihei Ueshiba,

translated by John Stevens

Most martial artists know of Morihei Ueshiba, the late founder of Aikido–which Steven Seagal had helped put on the map (and which nobody can study because it’s so difficult.) But few people know just how awesome he was (and I use awesome in the true literal sense) and what purpose he intended for his art. Aikido was not just another martial art; it is no martial sport (the way judo is), neither was it the modernization of Daito-ryu Aikijutsu, which Ueshiba had studied previously. There are practitioners who feel that, since Ueshiba sensei studied Daito-ryu himself, why not skip the middle-man and go directly to Daito-ryu and learn what he himself had learned? But that is not the answer. What Ueshiba sensei discovered had nothing to do with Daito-ryu. It was an apotheosis and an enlightened discovery into the heart and essence of martial art itself.

Morihei Ueshiba was born December 14, 1883, in Tanabe, located on the seacoast of what is now Wakayama Prefecture. His father, Yoroku, was a wealthy landowner and his mother Yuki was related to the Takeda clan. From an early age, Morihei had mystical experiences.

At the age of 18, in 1901, he ventured into Tokyo to start a thriving stationery business; there, he received his first martial art training and did Zen meditation at a Kamakura temple.

In 1904 war broke out between Japan and Russia and Morihei was sent to the Manchurian front the following year. The war ended quickly in Japan’s favor (and was cheered by all Asian nations); Morihei was discharged and returned to his native Tanabe to farm. He continued his martial arts training and eventually received a Yagyu-ryu Jujutsu certificate in 1908.

In 1915, in Hokkaido where he and other settlers were developing land, Morihei met and trained with the formidable Sokaku Takeda (1859-1943), the grandmaster of Daito-ryu Aikijujitsu.

In 1919, receiving the news that his father was gravely ill, Morihei left Hokkaido and returned home; on the way, he met the mystic Onisaburo Deguchi (1871-1947). He became the latter’s disciple and in 1920 moved his family to Ayabe to be near Onisaburo’s compound. Onisaburo was a pacifist and optimist who profoundly influenced Ueshiba. Soon Morihei distanced himself from Sokaku and the Daito-ryu.

In 1924, Ueshiba, Onisaburo, and other members of their sect embarked on “the Great Mongolian Adventure”, trying to locate Shambhala (otherwise known as “Shangri-la” by Westerners). They survived floods, hailstorms, near-starvation, poisoned food, bandits, and a near-execution at the hands of the Chinese army. But through that ordeal, Ueshiba discovered his mystical and miraculous ability to sense the direction of bullets and dodge them. He had realized “the essence of Aiki (harmonization.)”

When he returned to Tanabe in 1925, Ueshiba was a different person. Then he received illumination in a momentous experience:

“Suddenly the earth trembled. Golden vapor welled up from the ground and engulfed me. I felt transformed into a golden image, and my body seemed as light as a feather. I could understand the speech of the birds. All at once I understood the nature of creation: the Way of a Warrior is to manifest divine love, a spirit that embraces and nurtures all things. Tears of gratitude and joy streamed down my cheeks. I saw the entire earth as my home, and the sun, moon, and stars as my intimate friends. All attachment to material things vanished.”

Ueshiba became an invincible martial artist and set off on his mission as a prophet of the Art of Peace.

Here’s an eyewitness account of Ueshiba’s uncanny ability to actually sense and dodge bullets, as recounted by Gozo Shioda (1915-1994), one of his early students:

“One day [in the mid-1930s] a group of army sharpshooters visited the dojo to observe a demonstration by Ueshiba Sensei. After the demonstration, Sensei suddenly announced: “Bullets cannot touch me.” This was a direct provocation, and the marksmen immediately challenged him to prove it at their home firing range.

When we reached the firing range, we found that not one but six marksmen would be taking aim at Sensei.

“Ready, aim, fire!” went the command. There was a loud explosion, a swirl of smoke, and suddenly one of the marksmen went flying. Morihei was standing behind the shooters, laughing. All of us were totally stunned and bewildered. We asked him to perform the miracle again, and he agreed. The scene was repeated–the shots, the explosion of noise and smoke, a flying marksman, and Sensei standing behind the shooters.”

Ueshiba increasingly spoke against war and was under constant surveillance by the government because of his views. He stated that Bushido is not learning how to die, but learning how to live, how to protect and foster life.

In 1945, at the war’s end, Morihei proclaimed, “We will train to prevent war, to abolish nuclear weapons, to protect the environment, and to serve society.”

In 1957, he gave a lecture to a group of college students: “All of us in this world are members of the same family, and we should work together to make discord and war disappear from our midst. Without Love, our nation, the world, and the universe will be destroyed. The purpose of education is to open your spirit. The entire universe is a huge open book, full of miraculous things, and that is where true learning must be sought. In that spirit, take responsibility, train hard, develop yourselves, bloom in this world, and bear fruit.”

Morihei Ueshiba continued to train, travel, and teach widely until the very end. In 1967, he fell ill with what was eventually diagnosed as terminal cancer and grew very frail, but not weak.

He passed away peacefully at dawn on April 26, 1969, at his home in Tokyo, at the age of eighty-six.

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WORDS TO LIVE BY:

–“The Art of Peace begins with you. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your inner enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.”

–“Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.”

–“Your voice is a very powerful weapon. When you are in tune with the cosmic breath of heaven and earth, your voice produces true sounds. Unify body, speech, and mind, and real techniques will emerge.

...A sincere human being is one who has unified body and spirit, one who is free of hesitation and doubt, and one who understands the power of words.”

–“As soon as you concern yourself with the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weakens and defeats you.”

Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace

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