Doshu's European Tour

The second Doshu, Kisshomaru Ueshiba accompanied by his son Mr Moriteru Ueshiba and Sensei Suganuma 6th Dan will be arriving in London on 12th October to start their European tour. A demonstration only open to Aikikai members and their families will take place at the Town Hall in Oxford on 13th October followed by a reception and dinner.

From London, the Doshu and his party will travel to Holland, West Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Rome, Morocco, Marseilles, Madrid and Paris. The official demonstration of this European tour will be held in Paris on 3rd November with the reception sponsored by the French Government.

Details of the Doshu's activities in Great Britain will be announced in the next Newsletter.

Photograph  Endo Sensei 6th Dan, Chiba Sensei 6th Dan; and Mr Moriteru Ueshiba at Hombu dojo, June 1975 awaiting their turn to be Ukemi to Doshu
[Web Editor note: unfortunately the quality of the photograph on a stencilled sheet does not allow reproduction here]

From a speech by as O'Sensei

This first teaching course of 1975 was conducted by myself and national coaches due to Chiba Shihan having to fly to Japan at very short notice. I felt a great responsibility on being asked to take this course. However Chiba - Shihan handed me the new textbook of aikido by Tamura Shihan and told me to work from that with reference to our new grading system.

Before beginning practice on Saturday afternoon, all national coaches agreed with me that we should start from the beginning of the book and work through, omitting techniques already covered by Chiba Shihan at the London course in February based on the new grading system.

Thus on the first day we do it did Kihon Taisabaki; how to attack; how to use Shuto with a Kokyu; Kihon-nagewaza (basic throwing techniques); Kihon katamewaza (basic holding techniques). By Sunday afternoon we'd worked through to Katate Ryotodori kotegaeshi of 3rd Kyu.

The most obvious difficulty, which seemed to be experienced by students in general was in executing Taisabaki for Ryotedori (previously Ryotomochi Ryotodori) Kokyuho. In this technique both hands should keep strong contact through the hips even when fairly small leg movements are made. Students found it difficult to keep their upper hand in front of their body by moving their hips and also to keep contact with their lower hand when coming through (also dependent on hip turn) to the final extension. This problem was felt again in 4th Kyu Ryotodori Tenchinage and Ryotedori Ikkyo. In Ryotedori Ikkyo the actions of the upper hand (feigning atemi) and the lower hand extending uke down should be simultaneous - or one. The lower hand needs especially to be thought of as Kokyu (or cutting down with Shuto as with a sword) rather than of pulling down.

In 4th Kyu Chudantsuki Udekiminage we found a problem when uke attacked with Chokuzuki (straight punch) as compared with Furizuki . I myself have not yet resolve this, and hope to find the answer at summer school.

I think what struck us most in this practice of Tamura Shihan's aikido was that although footwork was not so large, his subtlety lay in Sankakuho. Irimi was always preceded by an element of Sankakuho. Thus in Katatedori Aihanmi Ikkyo Omote and Jodantsuki Ikkyo Omote exactly the same Taisabaki were employed-that of slightly receiving through a sankakuho and then cutting down. We found that Tenkan is an extension of Irimi, so it was very important initially to execute Irimi with strong contact and without breaking that contact turn it into Tenkan. In fact one might say that Irimi starts with a feeling of Tenkan and Tenkan with a feeling of Irimi.

On Sunday morning we prepared to do 3000 Suburi by practising seven forms of Suburi as in Saito Sensei's Volume 1. After half-an-hour we started the 3000 Suburi with kiai. During this session I was very surprised to find that the more mature instructors were in fact better than the younger 1st Kyu and Dan grades. Some of the latter could not cut up and down in a straight arc while many of the younger students kiai was very impressive, their movements did not quite match up. We must try to be honest with ourselves when we do a practice such as Suburi. Cheating is a waste of time for we must conquer ourselves through such practice. Those students who could only do perfect Suburi when I'm standing next to them please note this. I would also like to suggest that for those students not using a tsuba on their Bokken should do so, as it is all too easy for the right hand to creep up the toshin (blade) which makes for an extremely rigid right shoulder, lack of balance and a bad habit difficult to shake off. And lastly, I would mention that Kata Bokken are an absolute necessity for exercise such as 3000 Suburi.

In total though, I must say that everyone performed with great stamina and good spirit. I'm only sorry that I forgot to tell everyone that we'd done 3000.

As the last observation I feel that I must make it clear that in a teaching course it is not necessary to execute techniques in a hard or fast manner. It is not a demonstration of what we already know that an enquiry into the essence and detail of something new, or something not yet mastered, which was especially so in this course when we were trying techniques according to Tamura Shihan. All students on this weekend course were present or future instructors, so I would reiterate that even if the technique is familiar, you must observe carefully and practice likewise, the more so as you are responsible for transmitting this to your own less experience students.

To this end this article I should say that I was very pleased with the support I received from all the national coaches and with the positive and happy spirit that pervaded this first teaching course, in spite of our disappointment that Chiba Shihan could not be present. My thanks also to Liverpool for their very good management of the course and for their hospitality.

My recent trip to Japan with Tamura Sensei was decided very suddenly and it was only two days before we left London that we informed Tokyo HQ about our visit.

As I had expected, the weather In Japan at this time of the year was uncomfortable as it was the monsoon season, the season before summer actually arrives in July.

First of all I paid a visit to the Ueshiba Doshu's house to report my return at the altar of O Sensei as I knew that I would not have time to visit the temple where O Sensei was buried.

A series of meetings took place during our stay in Tokyo with Aikikai officials including the Second Doshu, Osawa Sensei 9th Dan, the Technical Director for Tokyo HQ and Mr Fujita 6th Dan, the General Secretary for international affairs, regarding the present situation of International Aikido and particularly that of the European situation as well as the Second Doshu's forthcoming visit to Europe this Autumn. Because of our sudden visit most meetings had to be arranged whenever the officials were available between their busy daily schedule and we practically stayed at HQ for the whole week. Aside from these official meetings we also had a number of unofficial meetings with other senior senseis.

A meeting was also called by the Second Doshu of all the instructors teaching at HQ to openly discuss and exchange ideas and views on Aikido in general. It was especially important as many of these Instructors never had the opportunity of meeting us as they had become instructors after we left Japan.

Another meeting was called of the old boys of HQ with whom we use to train in the good old times of O Sensei and who had become responsible for organizing the branches of the Aikikai dojos within the neighbouring cities of Tokyo including the Prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba.

It was of particular Interest for me to attend these two meeting and exchange Ideas and views of Aikido in general as there we" remarkable differences in the ideas and views expressed by the two generations present the old boys and the young Instructors. It is hard to describe the differences precisely. However strong feelings were expressed whether consciously or unconsciously between both generations and the cause of this gap and differences is due to the absence of Uchideshis who were trained under O Sensei personally as residential students namely Mr Tamura teaching in Europe; Mr Yamada Mr Kanai and Mr Saotome teaching in the USA; Mr Sugano teaching in Australia and myself in Europe.

I saw their point and understood their feelings as being natural and I myself felt badly as I have not been able to accomplish my duty wholly in this sense. I believe this is not only my own feeling but also that of the other Uchideshis. I began to realize that I must take a strong initiative to fill this gap and differences as my duty to future generations.

Whatever the differences may be and the cause, it is somehow an unavoidable tendency of human life. Take for example a family, when it is young the children are brought up closely together under the loving protection and care of the parents, but as they grow older they tend to split and separate from one another not only physically but also spiritually. Particularly, this situation has come about in modern society because of the growing tendency of human relationship towards self interest and profit making resulting in the tragedy of modern man - human estrangement, the division between man and man.

It is a human tragedy if this whole truth of our life is missing the bond of man which is the source compelling us to return to the reunion of the family. In olden times there use to be some sort of form and wisdom to prevent this human tendency from turning into tragedy, like a church, temple or shrine where a higher power (authority) than man existed with an absolute power conducting the relative nature of man's problems, or various forms of folk festivals throughout the year when people had the opportunity to return to familiar soil. Similarly like the traditional religious festivals In Japan (I do not know if the same tradition exists in the West) when all families and relatives come together to talk and yearn for the departed. It is a sense of continuity and recurrence in the family and in a broad sense it is the culture of the nation. However this sort of tradition seems to be disappearing from the world day by day and great care and attention should be paid to preserve this bond of reunion of man in society

I began to understand what O Sensei use to tell us when he said Aikido is KAGURAMAI, the festival dance of Shinto religion which is performed and offered in front of God at the shrine, as well as his word that Aikido is MISOGI, that is to say in order for one to be able to stand in front of God and perform a dance one must have been purified. Moreover, the dance itself is the serious purification of man over the matter of life and death. It is God that one constantly faces within oneself and not the God that exist externally or the enemy that one confronts in the battle of life.

I see the essence of Aikido and its spiritualism within these words of O Sensei and it is the principle which makes Aikido the common property of man regardless of age, sex, nationality, culture, etc, and also accounts for its uniqueness among martial arts.

As the Association grows larger the separation between people would seem unavoidable and it would be a real tragedy if we lost the principle for reunion which is the real meaning of Aikido practice laid down by O Sensei. The practice of Aikido represents the ceremonial dance and purification over the matter of life and death in front of God whom one forever sees within oneself and who brings man to reunion as the source of oneness.

I had the opportunity to practice in the early morning classes of Doshu and also with the young Instructors who teach at HQ. 1

After a week's stay In Tokyo we both returned safely to Europe although we were both exhausted from the meetings we had, as well as from the typical Japanese hospitality of almost endless attacks of SAKE after the meetings. However I am glad to say in confidence that we have accomplished the mission of our visit though the real work now begins.

I was really sorry to miss the Liverpool Teaching course and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Kantesuka and all the other National Coaches who supported him in making the course successful.

(Continuation of the article In the June Newsletter in rebuttal to previous articles by two university students suggesting that 'randori' (competitive throwing) would be the only way to promote Aikido to the world.)

The statement that the purpose of Aikido should not be mere training in waza but knowledge of 'movement' (hataraki is acceptable, but it must be remembered that there can be no movement which neglects waza, for an inseparable and
intimate connection exists between the spirit of man and execution of waza. Just as the man who practises Judo or Karate over a long, period of time becomes molded naturally into the ideals of Judo or Karate, the character of man who enters into the practice of waza, trains according to the inherent spirit of Tao, and lives according to the highest ideals of Aikido is likewise formed and developed. It is a proven fact in psychology that daily repetition and practice of waza subconsciously affects the personality and character of an individual to eventually mould him into an ideal Aikido type. The educational value of practical training in the martial arts is to be found in this truth. The living spirit of Tao, must be found in every waza and realized by the individual in every waza, so that the daily repetitious practice will contribute to the unification of the individual and Tao, in a single wholeness.

It is absurd to state that the basic principle of 'attaining harmony without fighting' is mere sophistry, reflecting nothing more than a passive philosophy and revealing ignorance of the essence of Aikido. This is a shallow criticism which completely misses the basic and fundamental point about Aikido. 'Because there is no fighting, harmony is attained' the difficulty and austerity of non-violence, its basic truth and profound implication, can never be appreciated by those who would affirm and justify fighting as a means to an end.

That Aikido answers the deepest needs of contemporary man lies in this very fact. When each man, organizations society, or nation is given free rein to unleash its blind, instinctual desire and to become strong, and powerful for self centred motives, the rationality and wisdom of man are trampled upon and crushed. This is the tragic situation in our world today.

Even though I agree that the essence of Aikido should be discovered in a unique sphere, different from either Judo or Kendo, if one should believe that the essence lies In kansetsu waza (joint technique) which is characteristic of Aikido and holds that the uniqueness of contemporary Aikido is to be found, therein, I cannot help concluding that it reveals an utter ignorance of Aikido.

It is true that kansetsu waza is important in Aikido training, but it is primarily for beginners, and the Founder, as well as his disciples, say that it is only one kind of training. A fundamental misunderstanding arises when this is thought to be the beginning and end of Aikido.

Aikido was born and developed from the persona]. quest of the Founder, Morihei Ueshiba, who was a master of martial arts and a human being of deep thought and compassion. Within Aikido flows the wisdom of the ages and the vital energy of a people, nurtured and perfected in the martial arts of Japan, and today its flames continue to burn as new ideals for mankind.

The true form of heaven and earth -
So very beautiful -
Is one huge family
Created by the Master

It is our sincere hope that the spirit of Founder Ueshiba expressed in this poem will provide the ideal Way, unifying strength, love, and reason, to save mankind from crises, both within man in the form of dehumanisation and depersonalisation and without man in the threat of nuclear destruction. We must at the same time

Internalise and actualise the Founder's spirit through our daily training in Aikido and thus contribute to the conscience and spirituality of the world.

------

Chiba Sensei would like to point out that his fundamental attitude of mind to Aikido and its training has been the same as at the time he wrote this article ten years ago. While his art of Aikido has undergone considerable changes since his arrival to this country because of his experiences here meeting a different culture, way of life and custom, these have been important factors in the progress of his Aikido.

Five 2nd Dan students from Wasada University Aikido Club, Japan on a tour of Europe will be arriving in London, the last city of their tour on 21 August 1975. A one day course on Saturday 23 August open to all high grades only (3rd kyu and above) will be held at London Aikikai HQ so that members may have the opportunity to meet and practise with these students of Tada Sensei. Members travelling specifically to London to attend this course are also invited to join the five students in the Friday evening classes at HQ from 7 9.30PM. Kindly advise Dorothy at LA HQ by 15 August if you wish to join in the dinner following the course.

COURSE TIME: 10.30am 12.30pm 3.00pm 5.00pm
COURSE: No charge

COURSES

15 & 16 November Kokoro e, Glasgow changed from 8 & 9 Nov
13 & 14 December Blyth Bujutsukai, Northumberland

PROMOTIONS

The following students have been promoted to Fukushidoin as of 21 July 1975:

    T ANDREWS 1st Dan London Aikikai HQ 6th class
    BOB LINCOLN 2nd Dan London Aikikai HQ 6th class

NEWLY AFFILIATED CLUBS

SOUTH WALES AIKIKAI, ABERDARE AIKIKAI
Instructor: William Davies
45 Upper Gynor
Ynyshir, Rhondda, Glamorgan

ESSEX AIKIKAI HARLOW AIKIDO CLUB
Instructor: D N Glanville
78 Fennells
Harlow Essex Tel No: HARLOW 416508

GLOUCESTERSHIRE AIKIKAI, GLOUCESTER AIKIDO CLUB
Instructors D C Cantillion
25 Arundel Drive
Rodborough
Stroud, Gloucs GL5 3SH Tel No: STROUD 6505

PLEASE FORWARD CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE NEWSLETTER TO DOROTHY AT LONDON AIKIKAI HQ