How my time in Ki Society helps me understand Yuishinkai

Soren’s recent Post reminded me of some things I saw, heard and was told in Japan whilst training with Tohei Sensei and the Shihans of Ki Society for 22 years. The reason for this post is that some of the information from my time with Tohei Sensei and his Shihans may be useful in understanding Aikido Yuishinkai and putting it into the correct context. I realise that some of this information may be surprising, but it is what I saw, heard, and was told.

Aikido is a transformative martial art. If you train correctly mind and body are intimately integrated and your spiritual and physical capabilities become extraordinary. I have met and trained with several direct students of Ueshiba Sensei, and I’ve seen this for myself, not had it passed on to me as a dojo/Aikido story. Enlightenment? We all know that Ueshiba Sensei had a moment of enlightenment, but I was 6 feet from Tohei Sensei, sitting on the mat, when he said “I have never had a moment of enlightenment. I changed, but through training, and more training.” Saotome Sensei also said that while he was an uchideshi, one morning after training several other students said to him “you’ve changed, something is different about you and your Aikido today”, and O Sensei took him aside and performed the prayers he performed when someone had “broken through.” This seems to have been the most common experience, not a “moment” but the emergence of profound change after years of long, hard training, guided by someone who had already made the journey. So this is almost certainly our own journey as well.

I’m Murray Loader, 7th Dan, I run three dojos in Canberra, Australia; as well as Aikido I also study koryu Kenjutsu. First some background – I spent 22 years within Ki Society, reaching 4th Dan in Aikido, Chuden in Ki, and was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Ki. I spent well over a month in the dojo dormitory in Ki no Sato, Tohei Sensei’s home dojo in Tochigi Prefecture, of which two weeks was private training directly with Tohei Sensei three times a day in a small Australian group, and the rest was larger group training with him. I attended several one-week seminars with Maruyama Sensei during this period also, before he left Ki Society. During the next two decades I attended annual seminars run by Tamura Sensei (9th Dan) and Kataoka Sensei (8th Dan) in Australia and trained as often as I could, 4-6 times a week from then to now. I also visited Tamura Sensei regularly in Kawasaki, where he had 40 dojos at that time and 9000 students attending them. During these two-week visits I trained at every class every day wherever there was a dojo open. This meant seven classes a day and a lot of travel. While I was very fortunate that Tamura Sensei took an interest in me and guided me with perception and kindness, and visited me in Australia, I was not important, but I was able to meet and talk to several of the Japanese shihan of the Ki Society.

Because they had seen how I trained over a period of years, both Tamura Sensei and Kataoka Sensei, a couple of years apart, took me aside and very seriously said exactly the same thing “if you want to do Aikido for self-defence you must train very hard.”

Think about that.

They were telling me that I was training properly and with the right attitude, that was why they bothered to make the comment, but they were saying that what I was training hard to do wasn’t enough in some way! I have repeatedly cursed myself over the years ever since; I wanted to ask “Sensei, you have something particular in mind when you say that; can you advise me on what to do?” Because they knew me well I am positive that they both would have shown me what they meant. But out of deference, I just bowed and said “Hai Sensei! Thank you very much.” Idiot!

I knew they were right, because I could tell that what I was doing would not lead me to their level of ability, nor to O Sensei’s. I could see the difference between myself and them, but I had no idea how to bridge the gap.

All these shihans had one thing in common. They had all trained for years with O Sensei, and then with Tohei Sensei. And Tohei Sensei learned O Sensei Aikido. He talked and thought Ki. But his body did O Sensei; his Ki started with Ueshiba Sensei, then developed in a different direction, that of his own and of Nakamura Tempu. Who was also a direct student of O Sensei.

I run film in my mind all the time of seeing Tohei performing Taiso or technique, of Tamura and Kataoka (and Maruyama Sensei of course) doing the same, performing in a way and at a level I couldn’t see how to reach. But I now do understand, mostly, although of course not to their standard. What they were doing with mind and body is what Maruyama Sensei is teaching directly to us. All of them did what they learned from O Sensei. To it they added Tohei Sensei’s ideas. Tohei Sensei added to (and sometimes replaced) Ueshiba Sensei’s teaching, it was the platform for his own studies.

Every one of them trained in Ueshiba’s training method, and there was a reason that his dojo was called “Hell Dojo” – because O Sensei was completely convinced that no other method would develop his students into the spiritually aware, whole, complete, and formidably capable people that he wanted to create. I also watched for several weeks while Tohei’s uchideshi and the live-in students of his Gakuin at Ki no Sato were trained. I was an Army Officer at the time, and it reminded me forcibly of the difficult training I had experienced in the Army. The emphasis, like the Army, was on physicality, precision, and mental and physical toughness as the vehicle for learning the higher skills. It was demanding and tough, with not much kindness. They trained and worked around the complex from early morning until very late, often to 1-2am in the morning. Tohei allowed no mistakes, nothing passed uncorrected (450 people sat and watched while Tohei Sensei corrected my Yokomenuchi Shihonage for 25 minutes, and later another 15 minutes on a different technique – he was quite annoyed by that time) and even if training or work was done well, it was always “do it again” and again and again and again and again. They weren’t the same as “Japanese” classes, but ours were three 2-hour classes a day; if anyone went to the side for a rest, or people slowed down, or were chatting it wasn’t long before an uchideshi or shihan came over get them going again. So if this is how his own students were trained, and how he himself was trained, why didn’t he train us the same way, and expect us to do the same in our own dojos? Why the difference in standards? The reason emerges below.

Tohei Sensei said, while I was sitting on the mat right in front of him, “sitting in a quiet room meditating is good for your mind and health, but it is no use in the relative world; instead you must be able to act with a meditative mind in the middle of violence;” in the same session he followed this up with “every technique must be done as if it is on the battlefield.” Not violently, he meant very vigorously, very assertively, relaxed, calm, aware, with intent, control and Aiki Body working together in the most serious way as if in the most serious of circumstances.

Later he talked about sword – “sword and jo will teach you Aikido if done correctly, and Aikido will teach you sword and jo.” He said that when he travelled he would train by doing bokken for an hour in his hotel room, ending soaked in sweat. Shirata Sensei, quoted by John Stevens, also talked about sword “the sword, too, is an instrument of purification”, and bokken is often used as such in some religious rites in Japan. For O Sensei sword and jo were essential tools for learning Aiki Body, for learning Aiki Mind, and as tools for interacting with the universe. Aikido requires bokken, jo, tanto, taijutsu, mind and body.

But I looked around after Tohei’s words, and there was great deal of discomfort on the faces of most of our small group. To them Tohei was the face of “love and harmony and ki” Aikido, and his statements were completely the opposite of what they expected and wanted to hear from him. They were unhappy, and subsequently reframed his words into their worldview, or ignored them. So why did he say it? The simple reason why is that Aikido is not what many westerners assume it to be, it’s not what their instructors may have told them it is, its not the myth of Aikido taken back to the West by many of the early Western Aikidoka who trained in Japan, which has become widely accepted as “truth”.
Certainly what Ueshiba, Tohei, Maruyama, Tamura, Kataoka and the other shihans I met wanted was peace in the world, a balance in human affairs for all. However Ueshiba and Tohei both had the same motto – “You must love and protect all creation.” What many westerners hear is “you must love all creation”, but that is not what O Sensei said, its not what Tohei Sensei said, and its not what the shihans wanted from their students. They were taught that to be righteous people, to be able to help deliver peace and harmony to human affairs, that they needed to both care and to be able to intervene, to act, to protect. Not to witness, or talk, they needed to be able to act and have the capability to be successful in that act.

From various sources, the simplified story behind all this that I was told over time is, essentially, that once word of Aikido started to spread in the West in the 60’s and early 70’s, two kinds of Westerner arrived to experience Aikido (a generalisation of course). One group was composed of people who came on the mat, opened their eyes and ears, and trained in the way their Japanese colleagues did. This group, for example Henry Kono and Walther von Krenner among others, learned what Tohei/Maruyama/Tamura/Kataoka etc had learned, or significant parts of it. At this time O Sensei was being more open than previously and knowledge about the real, hidden, Aikido was now much more available. As a result you can see in the videos and books by these Western students that they talk about and demonstrate exactly what Maruyama Sensei is teaching us.

The second group has caused Aikido great chaos and confusion. At the time much of the western world was in the throes of a cultural revolution, largely brought about by the younger generations, which has had a profound effect ever since. This group brought to Japan a strongly-held mindset and sought validation of it from Aikido, as what they had heard of it and of the sage/guru who invented it seemed to perfectly fit their worldview.

When they arrived, over various periods, but in large numbers, these people told the shihans “we don’t need to train like that, we are here to learn the love, harmony, ki and Aiki, we don’t want to do that martial training;” others said “we don’t train like that in the West and we don’t want to, we want the spiritual aikido not the budo aikido,” and “in the West we do things the modern way, and we don’t agree with these old-fashioned methods.” You might think I am making this up, but I have witnessed senior Western yudansha saying these things to senior Japanese instructors from the 1980s until the present day, and my discussions with shihans tell the same story.

The shihans were utterly baffled, for two reasons – (1) here was a group of Aikido know-nothings trying to tell teachers with decades of experience of O Sensei’s Aikido how and what to teach them, like Primary school students telling the school principal what the curriculum should be and how to teach it, and (2) when the shihans repeatedly explained that to get what they wanted so much – the love/harmony/ki/Aiki – they needed the full budo Aikido and that without it they would never achieve what they wanted, these westerners flatly rejected that view. They were so wedded to their worldview that they simply would not take the advice of the experts who had already travelled the path.

There were several outcomes from this. One was that a significant number of Japanese Aikido sensei refuse to teach westerners – “westerners can’t/won’t train, I can’t be bothered with them,” or to insist on proper training or they would be asked to leave. Another was that the entire Japanese Aikido community came to the conclusion that only Japanese had the attitude and capability to learn the real Aikido; those few westerners who trained properly were viewed with reserve and suspicion until they proved themselves, and were then welcomed but seen as aberrations. A further unfortunate reaction, perhaps the most common, was to provide the Westerners what they said they wanted and to assume all Westerners wanted that same thing; this reaction came from (1) economic reasons, (2) the view that the Westerners, although making a very serious mistake, were nonetheless sincere and often nice people, and if accommodated perhaps some of their students might later come to Japan with open minds and learn the real Aikido, and (3) kindness.

So that’s what happened in some Aikido Ryu (but not all) – Westerners arrived and were welcomed but were restricted to the Omote (open/public) Aikido, the hidden-in-plain-sight Aikido of O Sensei was not mentioned and was very difficult to access. They were given considerable insight into the mind/spiritual training of Aikido that they wanted, but with the (Japanese) expectation that the knowledge, while useful and helpful, would not take them particularly far. So that’s the story as I heard it. By the time I arrived in Japan in the 1980s the shihans had long given up explaining, as they thought no-one was listening.

The question we all need to ask ourselves is – will what we are doing lead us to the level of capability of spirit, mind and body of the Uchideshi? Or of Ueshiba Sensei? If not, we are not on the path that Ueshiba and Tohei wanted us to take. This can be because you, or your instructor, do not know how to get there, which is completely okay and completely understandable (me too until recently), and is what Aikido Yuishinkai exists to solve. Or it can be because you have chosen your own way of getting there, which implies “I know better than O Sensei”, which if you haven’t got there is self-evidently incorrect.

People often ask me about the differences I see in Ki between Tohei-style and Yuishinkai. Some of Tohei Sensei’s methods and ideas diverged from O Sensei’s over time, but the underlying platform is O Sensei in origin. Yuishinkai is based on O Sensei ki methods. Much of the confusion arises from the tradition that if you now belong to a different Aikido Ryu you shouldn’t use the intellectual property of the Ryu that you left. This means that Tohei having left Aikikai, and Maruyama having left Ki Society, have had in many cases to create different names and different explanations of their own for Principles and concepts that are actually common to all of them. For example, Extending Ki can also be Connection, or Intent etc. While Ueshiba’s ki can differ to Tohei’s, and Maruyama’s may appear to be different again, there is much in common, its just different words and explanations in many cases. Maruyama’s ki teaching is almost all Ueshiba and koryu, but again he sometimes uses different words and explanations, so look for the commonalities between the different names and the explanations. You aren’t being asked to replace your previous ki experience, instead the different methods and explanations within Yuishinkai often provide more depth and detail for things you might be familiar with under different names, and are actually more useful. There are also high-level concepts and methods for ki, based on Ueshiba and Koryu tradition, that are really fascinating and explain much about the unusual capability of the shihans. Yuishinkai is crammed full of ki training.

The story of Aikido from the shihans tells us that there is no “Aikido Lite” where you can develop the mind and spiritual component separately from the martial. The whole of O Sensei’s method was based on the complete opposite – Aikido is a profoundly transformative art where you train mind and body and ki at the same time, intensely and mindfully, and that performs the transformation.

The transformation is not an intellectual exercise, it requires the rigorous integration of mind and body, then the integration of the Ki and Mind principles with that. The Mind/Ki practices utterly depend on the mind/body Principles and movements before they work properly. It seems that those individuals who returned from Japan having been taught, at their own insistence, the Omote physical Aikido and the “spiritual” Aikido, but not the Budo, returned with something which gave them satisfaction, and gave them validation of their worldview, but which was hollow, and neither brought transformation into the spiritual being they wanted to be, nor full martial competence, because they had refused the training that develops them. Unfortunately for them as individuals, and for the hundreds of thousands of students they have taught since, they had ensured that the transformation and spirituality they sought would be in sight, but always out of reach.

Aikido Yuishinkai is a forum where one of the Shihans who taught those people is reaching out to a newer generation, offering the full experience. The instruction is offered openly, not the case in the past, but the work must be ours, and it is accessible to everyone – first get the Principles and footwork right using Kotai, then keep them right while doing Juntai, then do the same for Ryutai. Focus on how to be Uke first, Nage is not the major learning role. Each move as Uke or as Nage must be mindful, “what went wrong, how will I fix it”, and as confidence increases so must the vigour of execution of both roles.

The Japanese training model is not uniquely Japanese, correct training is universally understood and prevalent across the Western world; Western countries are full of examples of historical and present-day sports, medical teams, defence, etc etc that train and prepare themselves exactly the same way, because it works. What we get in addition from Japanese Aikido though, is the mind and spiritual training and its benefits.

I came to Aikido after 4 seasons of professional sport, I had decided I wanted to be an athlete at the age of 14. I was lucky in that I had grown up getting used to hard work as my family had a small hobby farm, and being the eldest boy, my non school hours were spent doing all manner of farm work from hand cutting fresh plantation beds to carrying loads of dirt and manure. From a young age I became proficient with garden tools, especially shovels and the mattock.

What I am trying to say is that my development years held me in good stead when it came to body strength and endurance as well as a strong work ethic.

When I started Aikido I was strong, able to press 150kg and squat 200kg(I am 6’4” and 115kg), due to a rigorous training regime. All of these things contributed to a person that started Aikido that already had a different background to those stereotypically found in Aikido.

I trained diligently my first year, attending every class on offer, which at my first Dojo was luckily ten a week.

I was lucky enough to meet the Shihan that had been sent to my country to disseminate Aikido, and, after receiving ukemi for him, realised there was a quality and feel to his technique and structure that I had not experienced from anyone else before. It occurred to me that some of those around me had been doing Aikido for almost thirty years, and were nowhere near what I had just experienced in technical ability, but more importantly in body feeling.

I was in Japan three months later to begin training. I did not believe it was possible that what he had was the exclusive right of those born in Japan alone. After all, humans are humans. Being an athlete had taught me one thing, that anything is possible as a human being if one works hard enough, keeps an open mind to change, and looks for ways to constantly elevate their technical ability.

I still believe this, it has almost become a life mantra, that anything is possible as long as you just believe it is.

One of the first things that was obvious to me was the difference in training, in intensity, in repetition of basic movements and in zero tolerance for mistakes. Also there was a much greater emphasis on the ukemi component, and I was tutored by seniors outside regular class hours as to how to improve my skill and understanding in this vital area.

I remember failing to do basic footwork correctly , then being made to stand in the corner like a bad child writing lines, and repeat the movement for the duration of the class.(I didn’t realise at the time that these basic movements, that I practiced everyday, and where quite unique to my Sensei, would later lead me to understanding some internal aspects of Aikido movement)

I vividly(painfully?) remember being struck when I was standing in an exposed position during technique, or knocked on my ass if I was unbalanced.

I remember being taught to cut showmen with a bokken and tsuki-jodan with a jo, and being told that if I mastered these movements I would not need to learn fancy kata. I made a decision at that time to complete 1,000,000 sword cuts, which I completed about ten years ago, most against a tanrenuchi in my backyard or in my Dojo.

Training over there was very different in every way. I asked questions and received answers on many topics that seemed to contradict ideas and teachings in Aikido books in English, as well as what I had been originally told regarding Aikido philosophy and spirituality, in short my budo eyes were being opened, and I never wanted them closed again.

On returning to Australia, I floated between Dojo and even organisations trying to find what I had in Japan. I eventually decided to move and opened my own Dojo to return to or even go beyond the intensity in training I had experienced in Japan, and so I did, for the next 5 years average about 40 hours a week on the mat, exploring the techniques and principles that had been drilled into me in Japan. It was during these years I met Maruyama Sensei and dedicated myself to him and his teachings.

My personal Dojo offered 10 + 2 hour classes a week as well as personal classes and weekend weapons classes in soft sand at the beach. I surrounded myself with like minded individuals that wanted to discover Ueshiba’s Aikido, and weren’t afraid of how hard it may be to find it. By this time I had totally rejected what I had seen in my country and in the west in general as a way to discover the secrets of budo, and created misogi through tanren in a hope to rediscover the ancient ways and transcend the body.

This was my journey to Aikido. I never worked full time as I trained too often. I sacrificed that side of my life, when many young people are working hard thinking of purchasing a home and getting married and having a family, I was obsessed with getting something I hoped was more lasting. Lucky I had a partner that was supportive of this, and eventually got married and had children, and though the training slowed, it still remained a DAILY study.

In my training life there have been many truths I have lived by.

Firstly in learning reject nothing due to prejudices or fears. You can’t look at others Aikido and say that isn’t Aikido, it’s too violent, to martial(I have been accused of this many times), it’s too extreme, it’s not harmonious, it’s too hard. Every aspect of Aikido needs to be studied to be understood, not just one.

Don’t reject ukemi styles either. Actually truly learning ukemi is the secret to learn to absorb and redirect force through the body.  Break falling, done correctly strengthens the joints, and helps build an immovable body. Don’t hold onto the simple kata of Aikido rolling and falling as correct for these connections, it is at the beginning, but at the end, when working on the principles, it has to be thrown out, as connection increases, attachment to form decreases. Ki musubi isn’t an action, ki musubi is a feeling. I have been very lucky in my life to have taken ukemi for about 14 different Shihan, so I say this from experience, not prejudice. Ukemi, real unattached ukemi is the secret to elevation in Aikido.

Look at videos of the founder, of the senior Shihan he left to dissipate Aikido to the world and find the common thread. Look for the common thread. Tohei, Saito, Shirata, Shioda, Hikitsuchi, Sunadamaru and Yamaguchi are my favourites, and I have watched literally all that I could find on their Aikido and tested nearly all of it at one time or another.

Read all that has been written by these giants on Aikido, all that they have had to say about the founders teachings. Read the founders teachings, his life history, but question everything you read, study Japanese history, it’s and the founders religions, both Shinto and shingon. Have a look at sumo, the founders first budo. Have a dabble in kenjutsu, especially itto ryu concepts and especially Kiriotoshi. Read about and look at the movements of other martial arts, especially Chinese internal arts, and try to see the connections between their movements and Aikido basic movements.

Learn to see Aikido basics as just that basics, not techniques as much as teachings or lessons in specific hidden principles, especially those techniques from Ikkyo through Gokyo, which are not techniques but lessons in body movements and building connections through the structure and softening the joints. ( prewar the techniques were called Kajo, or lessons, not techniques for example Ikkyo was called Ikkajo, literally first lesson. Yoshinkan Aikido still uses this naming method)

Allow yourself and your Aikido to be challenged, to be pressure tested in a more realistic situation. Yes, you may get hit, it’s ok, Aikido is a martial art. Take these lessons and workshop them, find out why you failed, then try again but with a better understanding. Never reject challenges by hiding behind dogma. To change someone, first earn their respect by rising to that challenge instead of running from it.

Stay fit and strong. When you read about the founders students, they were all very strong, powerful individuals. Tohei and ki Aikido may have been soft in nature, but he was a powerfully built man with thick legs and trunk. Maruyama Sensei still does weight training and physical exercise daily, and he is 82 years old. Don’t reject such lessons, they are more important than breathing if you want to do what they can do, you need to do what they did. There are no shortcuts to this, it’s not the Japanese mind versus the western mind, or the Japanese way versus the western way, it’s just quite simply the budo way, and rejection of this way leads to a hollow shell of form devoid of any function.

As an Aikido teacher it is my job to help those that would study the way to understand the way. To elevate all those below me in grade, I must be honest in my experience and share these truths. If I say technique or training methods can’t be done a certain way, it’s not out of arrogance, or ego, but what I am actually saying to you is “don’t make the same mistakes I made, don’t fail where I have failed”, my experience wasn’t debating the merits of such aspects, my experience came painfully, and I have chosen not to teach in such a way, but in the real world the lesson would be much more severe than it is on the mat, so indulge this crazy fool and just listen..

Respect the time and effort those above you have put into making such mistakes. Aikido isn’t a competition, it is a journey to the top of a mountain that never ends.

A journey to where you can discover glimpses of important concepts through experience and hard work, not through dialogue and dogma.

Tanren, mushin, zanshin, misogi, ki musubi, yamabikko no michi, aiki o kakeriru, fudoshin and misogi harai are not just concepts to be spoken, but rather states of awareness to be experienced and understood.

Anyone telling you they can articulate these concepts to help you to understand is just kidding themselves and misleading you. They are the essence of what will come when the ego self is overcome in the process of training free from personal agenda. The words sound fancy, and their meanings and concepts truly are, but the journey to them is not any easy path.

Don’t hold any human being above another. There is no such thing as a master of men, only those that can master themselves.

This can be your Aikido journey if you choose, I know it has been mine, and the juice has been worth the squeeze.

During the seminar in the UK this year sensei talked about the importance of developing Ki-Gata. Recently I have been reading a lot of the founders lectures on Aikido and am truly astounded that the truth of what sensei is teaching us has been in plain sight for such a long time. Of course, over the course of time people that have had their own agenda, including the founder’s son have conspired to change this message, what a shame that the founders lamented even as he lived……

I have posted a section of one of the founders lectures in english where he talks about KI-Gata, why it is important and what it takes to develop it. I will attempt with apologies to his enduring spirit to help those of you that want to understand his idea for Aikido to be to interpret his talk.

“The aikido which I am doing now is a path that builds people A WAY OF FORGING AND TEMPERING THE BODY AND SPIRIT (this is TANREN).
It is not a way that injures others, nor is it one that wields against them the evil sword of death.

I humbly ask that you, too, give deep thought to these considerations.

The training in Aiki concerns itself most with the practicing of KI-GATA(the forms and movement of Ki) and the method of perfecting them.

The most important element in true Ki-gata is the quality of shinken shobu(quite literally a fight to the death with real swords – it implies a certain seriousness of your attitude whilst training).

In budo there is no so called “Shiai” or competitive matches of the type seen in sports.

If we were to have matches, in true Budo they must become life and death situations.

Nonetheless, the vain striving after victory is a big problem since in point of fact, destruction, injury and murder are major crimes against human life.

Balancing the budo which has come down to us from the ancient days of our country has stood the Buddhist commandment ‘thou shalt not kill’ and ‘thou shalt not destroy’. The true bodo of our country is of great reconciliation and pacification.

IT IS MISOGI, ritual purification, of the spirit/mind and body.

In instituting on earth the rules of heaven and the purport of humanity, the first commandment of bu(concerns of a martial nature) is to PUT THE SELF IN ORDER AND TO BE ABLE TO PROTECT ALL THINGS.

On the contrary, though, in these times, we often find that those responsible for teaching bu have descended to passing on the not true budo of ancient Japan, but a later(more modern) militaristic budo of the medieval period.

This is deplorable and causes me sadness”

Morihei Ueshiba, The founder and creator of Aikido.

So we start of by the founder of Aikido talking about Tanren, I have spoken elsewhere ad nauseum about what tanren means, the process of change that the process is meant to bring about to the individual and their character. This process is ingrained in the ukemi of Aikido, in understanding the symbolism hidden within it of death and rebirth, and striving within the self to overcome fears and preconceived ideologies. It is important to note the founder speaks of not injuring the person, this is the reason ukemi deals only with connection, ki musubi, between uke and nage, and not with offering up resistance so as to cause conflict.

He then goes on to humbly ask that deep thought and consideration is given to what he is saying, yes, to him, his idea of what Aikido was supposed to be was that important, this my friends is Aikido, without personal agenda of misconstrued ideas or misinterpretation…….

He then tells us quite clearly that Aikido is about understanding Ki-Gata, the movement and intent of ki, quite literally, Aikido is about developing the intuition to understand and respond to energy, physical, mental and spiritual………

And now comes the most contentious part for the majority of people, and either the part that is disregarded or interpreted and not relevant to modern times, he tells us AIkido is about a fight to the death will real swords, he doesn’t say love he says a fight to the death. What he is trying to say is that train in an earnest manner, with every moment every interaction having the seriousness of a fight to the death, to train in a martial minded way, Sunao, means to be honest and earnest in your actions and interactions on the mat. See and know where you are vulnerable, experience the frailty of human existence, realise the preciousness that is life by facing the vulnerability of death, and do this over and over again….

I am not trying to say that the idea of love is not important, of course it is, but why do we feel we have to use the art of Aikido as a vehicle to teach human morality?

A person that studies Aikido should already have an understanding of morality. In the past to enter the founder’s dojo a person needed two referees that would vouch for their character before they were even allowed to enter the dojo. Perhaps this is the reason that they were made of the right stuff, they were of a quality that the tempering process would create a blade of exceptional quality, their character was either tempered or they left and never returned.

Love towards fellow human beings is not an ideology of Aikido per-se, it is just a high moral standard as a human being, it is a character that all humans should posess.

The love the founder spoke of was beyond morality.

To understand and fulfil your purpose for existing in this world is far higher than human morality, it is the very definition of benevolence, an all encompassing love that protects and nurtures all things in nature.

If we all find our true nature, our true self, then we will fulfil our purpose in this world. If all humans were to do this, then this world would truly be a world of peace, not a peace of morality, but a peace of universality.

The heart or essence of Aikido is not shallow enough to be dealing with what is relative, though it does use what is relative, but rather the essence of Aikido deals with what is absolute. Universal principle is absolute, man made morality is relative….

The symbolism hidden within the fight to the death is that each time we train the human being in us is struggling in battle between its human nature and its true nature. Through Tanren and with time and correcting of the heart and mind the victory of the true nature of the carnal nature is assured.

Next I need to address a larger issue as the founder brings to us the essence of what it means to train in this way based on his strict upbringing in the confucian doctrines, and namely the four books, which children of his era were drilled in with military precision at school. Actually recently I read a lecture by Hiroshi Tada shihan where he confirms exactly what I just had to say, (9th Dan Shihan, may know a little bit about the founder and Aikido).

Reconciliation of the world starts with the reconciliation of the self.

Above, the founder clearly states that Aikido, the art that he devised has only to do with reconciliation of the self.

Let me explain.

Confucius talks a lot about these things, a pretty smart guy that thought, as all great leaders and thinkers do, that world peace and universal harmony where pretty good ideas. He even created a formula to do this.

It’s actually quite simple really.

Reconcile the self, then reconcile the family, then reconcile the city, then reconcile the country, the reconcile the world.

Aikido, under the founder’s own admission deals with the first of these principles.

Anyone can see that if the first principle were to be obeyed in every household in the world what the flow on effect of this would be, he didn’t state that Aikido was going to jump right to the end, and where he does state this he supposes that people that study Aikido would have been morally educated enough to get what he was actually implying.

THAT TRAINING IN THE WAY THAT HE PROPOSED WOULD ELEVATE AND CHANGE THE HUMAN CHARACTER OF THE INDIVIDUAL DOING THE TRAINING.

I think the saddest thing for me in the context of modern Aikido training is what he states at the end. That he finds people that teach a watered down more modernised version of his creation fills him with great sadness. He wants and expects those that study this great art that he created to know that there are no better ways than the ancient ways where men of high moral character were forged in the fiery crucible of a life that went beyond what was thought possible.

Aikido is the vehicle if we just commit to the process, sensei says Aikido Yuishinkai is about making the impossible possible,

the revolution starts here…….

The following passage is from a lecture given by Yamaoka Tesshu to his students. In it he tries to explain the process of Shugyo.
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There are three methods the carpenter adopts when using his plane. They are rough planing, medium planing and finish planing.

To practice rough planing make your body firm, stretch out the stomach and brace the lower trunk then with equal strength in both arms plane to a rough finish. In other words use the strength of your whole body without relaxing it. If you do not use sufficient effort you will not manage to rough plane.

Next there is medium planing. With medium planing it is not merely a question of using all your strength. You must plane the surface flat by adopting a natural modulation of strength in the hands. This is to prepare it for the finish plane. However without the experience gained from rough planing it will not be possible to succeed with medium planing.

Finally there is finish planing. This time the wood that was prepared by earlier medium planing is made even smoother and free of flaws. To do this you must plane with one single stroke at a time, from one end of the timber to the other. If your heart is not calm when you make this single stroke, you will score many flaws and faults into the wood and if there are flaws then the timber has not yet been finished. For the carpenter in his use of the plane this is the most important stage.

First of all you must be in possession of mind, body and technique. For the carpenter mind, body and technique equals plane man and timber. If the man thinks to plane the plane will catch; if the plane is thought to plane it will rise off the timber. To possess mind, body and technique is represented here in the action of one place of plane, man and timber. If this is not mastered thoroughly then however much you train to be a carpenter you will never plane timber well.

In order to become proficient at planing timber the most effective way is to begin training in the way of rough planing. If you can do this well then you can also manage medium planing and finish planing.

However, in order to finish plane well there is a secret. Although I say it is a secret, actually it is nothing so special. Just put mind, body and technique out of your head and plane away. It is by doing it in this way that you do a good job. And here, without being aware of it, you will have mastered the secret of finish planing. There is something quite interesting about this secret, I think.

Before you have mastered this for yourself, nothing that has been taught you will be of any real use. Thus, there is no other way than to try to discover it for yourself. No matter what you do, there is no way that anyone can communicate this to you.

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While many run around seeking the fast way to technical invincibility, Tesshu would argue that if you haven’t found it within yourself, it can never really be yours. Train the body hard, overcome fears and narrow mindedness  remove opinion and ego – Always seek the truth within the basic movements, destroy the ego, uncover the truth. When you listen carefully to body mind and spirit, the true potential as a human being can be discovered.

I wonder sometimes where the art of Aikido veered of the path the founder set for it.
Truth is traditional Japanese arts cannot be studied in a western way, they weren’t designed to be, and were never intended to be.

Knowledge and wisdom come from two different places.

My focus in teaching this year is ukemi.

Below are many quotes from students of the founder. Read them to understand what he meant, and how learning in Aikido was supposed to be transmitted.
The art of Ukemi, true ukemi (this is not rolling, falling down, break falling or “performing”) is the path to understanding the hidden. It is linked to tanren(forging or tempering the body) and misogi harai (purification of the spirit).

There are not two ways, his game means his rules………… Enjoy!

^^^^^^
The “Riai” (principle/truth) (this is what is “hidden” (Ura) not what is taught) must be the base which gives coherence and reason to all things.

If we were to analyze or breakdown the Riai like a scientist might, we can call the things that we find manifested on the physical surface (omote) “Ho”, [that is to say a rule or method or law].
Aikido is one such Ho. It is one of the subtle laws of the heaven-sent truth of Takemusu Aiki (literally Bu generating Aiki).

We can also call it the “Way of Accord between Heaven, Earth and Man,” and therefore it can be described as the Way of reconciling the myriad essences and their multiple manifestations.

You must know that Aikido techniques are a Way of Misogi, [that is, of ritual purification] of the body and the spirit/mind (kokoro) and a way of training.

That fact is what makes us aware of the laws of the universe (ie, training as misogi Harai to purify body is what makes us understand universal principle, not thinking or chatting or intellectualising, but training) – and that same fact is the core truth of the workings of the Universal.
For these reasons once you have mastered this Aikido you will understand the Universal Rational and also come to a good understanding of your own self.

For example, if you move a sword you put into that action your entire self and unite with the whole universe for that movement.

In Aikido there is a subtle and mysteriously clever way of swordsmanship.

In this Way of the Sword, if you can not completely perfect the fundamental morality your art will surely become that of the
“Perverted Sword of Injustice and Wickedness”.

But just what is this. fundamental morality of humanity?
It is keeping to the virtues of fidelity, honesty and exemplary behavior, charity of heart and faithfulness. It is to make truth, joy, and beauty the foundation by which you protect and preserve them. Then by making one’s very best effort, to bring forth virtue.

We must strive in the direction of becoming more and more wise and sharp of sensitivity. It is necessary to have an absolute and all encompassing sincerity in all things. In short we have to proceed toward the “Way of Accord” in the spirit of Love congealed of Love.
In order to attain this sincere mind and foster it, we must start by over-coming ourselves!

Morihei Ueshiba
The Nelson kanji dictionary defines the two kanji that make up the word “rial” as meaning “reason,” or “ri-“ (principle, truth) with “coming together, meeting, or harmonizing (“-ai”). In other words, in budo, riai is the underlying principles behind a technique, it is in essence a realisation, of the “truth” hidden inside the form.
Henry Kono –

He never explained what he did, he just did it! This is what I mean by magician. He did it and if you couldn’t discern what he did, there was no way to figure it out. He never explained anything but he left hints which were very difficult to discern because of the way he stated his ideas in very short phrases that no one could understand.
I saw a tape of Shioda Sensei being interviewed in England. He was with O-Sensei for ten years from about 1930-40, he said O-Sensei never explained once in that 10 years as to what he was doing!

He wasn’t a teacher in the sense that he was teaching. The Japanese may look at that as teaching, but in the western sense it isn’t. You had to intuit what he was doing and saying, read between the lines, so to speak.
Henry Kono: O Sensei did not hide anything, everything was unveiled right in front of us but we could not see it. In fact, it has always been the norm for great masters of martial arts to take their knowledge with them to the grave. Ueshiba was no different. Alan Ruddock has a video of Gozo Shioda Sensei where he says that never, during the 10 years that he spent with O Sensei, the master explained what he was doing, not a single time. Shioda had to interpret everything by himself.
We were trying our best to reproduce what we saw him doing but with very little success. Besides, it is one thing that we could not reproduce what he showed but he, himself, constantly refused to explain us what we were not getting. If you did not get it, he would simply do the technique again and say “look carefully!” but never would he give any explanation. As surprising as it sounds, this was actually very typical of O Sensei’s way of teaching and to a larger extent, it was common to all the great Japanese masters of Budo. These men always took their secrets with them to the grave and O Sensei was no different.

I remember an interview of Gozo Shioda Sensei that he gave in England a few years ago where he explained that during the 10 years he stayed with O Sensei; never did he receive any explanation from the master about what he was doing. Therefore, Shioda had to patiently interpret everything by himself without any other form of instruction than watching his master demonstrate.
Henry Kono: Yes, I have seen videos where some Sensei say this. But it is precisely on this point that they missed the essential. Actually, Ueshiba Sensei only removed the notions of victory and defeat from his Budo. I think that he had been really shocked by what had happened during the Second World War, in particular with the two atomic bombs. He realized that if men were to carry on opposing each other, competing and making war, it would soon be the end. Therefore, he started from what he knew; Daito-Ryu Aiki-jujutsu, and used it to develop a system of harmonious resolution of conflicts. He could have used a completely different approach though. Despite this, the martiality and the efficacy were still very present, but freed from the visible aspect of opposition. It is obvious when you compare pre- and post-war videos. O Sensei often said “forget what I used to do before, this time is over. Now, I do Aikido!”

Rinjiro Shirata –
Beginners learned techniques from the uchideshi, starting with the ikkajo of Daito-ryu
Jujutsu. Techniques like ikkajo, nikajo, shihonage… There wasn’t any iriminage then, only techniques which, on later reflection, can be considered to be the antecedents of iriminage. Iriminage was originally developed by O-Sensei. Sensei’s techniques were always changing. Techniques which had their origin in Daito-ryu were transformed into aiki, and as he trained himself, gradually his techniques changed as well. That’s why the techniques Tomiki Sensei learned, the techniques we learned, the techniques Shioda Sensei learned, and the techniques Murashige Sensei learned before that, were all completely different.
Sensei sometimes said to me, “Shirata, my techniques have changed. Look!” So I watched him. They became circular in a way completely different from his earlier techniques.

Even though Ueshiba Sensei studied Daito-ryu, it does not mean that his art was Daito-ryu. O-Sensei went beyond that, and combined various budo
and created what we call “Aiki no Jutsu.”
Although some of the original Daito-ryu forms remained in his art, his way of thinking and way of moving the body were very different.
My aikido and Ueshiba Sensei’s aikido are quite different. The techniques of Tomiki Sensei, Shioda Sensei, and Saito Sensei are all different. There is nothing wrong with this. Since aikido is formless, we move according to how we feel. However, we must do this without forgetting the spirit of budo in ourselves.
We must practice, but not let our techniques turn into an aiki dance. It may be okay if we “dance” at the beginning, but gradually, it has to become an expression of budo. Ueshiba Sensei expressed aikido in a budo way. Religious people express aiki in religious terms. Aiki is expressed by singers in songs, and artists in their art. Aiki pervades everything. We merely express things which unite us with the universe.
I think this is as it should be.

There are many poems concerning the kotodama. The “Way of the Mountain Echo”
[yamabiko] is kotodama, and of course it also refers to aikido. If you say, “Ya-ho” [a mountain call used to produce an echo] and you hear “ya-ho” echoing back, this is called yamabiko.
This is kotodama. There are a great many poems entitled “Yamabiko no Michi” which refer to the fact that your mind and your partner’s mind are in mutual communication. I am proposing to Doshu that he proceed one step further in conjunction with the one hundredth anniversary of the Founder’s birth, and write about his state of mind. Otherwise, the essence of aikido cannot be understood. When we demonstrate techniques in the dojo, we should explain that this is kotodama. We have to show ki in realistic terms. We have to show that this is not a budo of competition.

Kotodama is not sounds.

It is the echo of ki which precedes the emergence of sounds.
Sounds are the next stage.
Kotodama comes first, and preceding it, there is ki.
Ki changes into many forms. It becomes sound, light, and kokyu. When two sources of ki combine, this results in kokyu. While breathing, it becomes sound, light, kotodama, and many other things.
Then it becomes hibiki [echoes], that is, the seventy-five sounds. Subtle changes of hibiki become the mystery of creation. First, there was the word and the word was God—this is kotodama and also aiki.
I think young people had better train hard while they are young, especially those who
intend to become instructors. Then they can become soft gradually. Being soft from the beginning is also worthwhile because, if you cause young people to train hard, some may give up aikido. In this respect, soft training has some merit.

However, those who want to become instructors cannot reach that level unless they train hard.

This type of training should include the mind. Unless the training is severe, you can’t reach that level. The reason Ueshiba Sensei reached that level was due not only to his natural talent, but also to the fact that he engaged in severe training.
Although material civilization and science have improved, people still struggle all the
time. When we reach the final stage, when fighting is considered evil, a different, aikido-like world will be born. Neither Christ nor Buddha taught this. As times change, various great wise men, whom we call messengers, are sent in turn to reform mankind. I think that this is a truly wonderful love. Although the wicked sons of the earth are absorbed in killing one another, heavenly messengers continue to come to the earth to lend a helping hand. I think this shows the true love of the kami. The purpose of the birth of people in this world is to realize the love of the kami in this world.
Ueshiba Sensei said clearly that human beings are “the children of the kami, the living shrine of the kami. Human beings by nature occupy a small space.” Everything is contained in these words. It is written simply and concisely in the Dobun. If you have trained sufficiently, you will understand it as soon as you read it. If you read only the words, you will be confused. We read them repeatedly, and gradually we understand what it was he said.

Gozo Shioda –

Today’s aikido is dimensionless. It’s empty of content. Now we see nothing but imitation, without any grasp of the real thing. People try to reach the highest levels without even paying their dues. That’s why it seems so much like a dance these days. Ueshiba Sensei was the only one who could do that sort of soft, fluffy movement. You have to master the basics solidly, with your body, and then proceed to develop to the higher levels.
We old-timers received our training from Sensei during the time his youth was still
in full bloom. But only O-Sensei was able to perform techniques without resorting to
power. Even if you are told not to use power, you still can’t do it. At one stage, you put
in every bit of your power and exert yourself in training. That gradually over time will
develop into aiki.

Zenzaburo Akizawa –

A big demonstration is held every year at the Budokan [in central Tokyo], but it’s really not much more than a pre-arranged display. Don’t you think that if things continue in this direction, aikido will become just some kind of dance?
There’s nothing wrong with a dojo being considered a place for healthy exercise, but from the point of view of budo, it seems that a little something is lacking.
O-Sensei was an astonishing person, that’s for sure! However, without doing some sort of spiritual training, no one can ever hope to become like him. People who are training today may well be folding their hands before the kamisama, but few are practicing Zen meditation.
Therefore, they cannot hope to become divinely inspired as O-Sensei did. That’s why we make progress to a certain point, but then find ourselves running into a wall.
I suppose it isn’t fair to compare, but I really am worried about whether or not people
nowadays have an acceptable level of strength. O-Sensei died, and gradually the people who were uchideshi are also passing from the scene. Those qualified to teach are becoming fewer and fewer. Of course, there are some wonderful teachers now, too. People like Saito, Shioda, and Shirata are really strong.

 
Koichi Tohei –

This occult-style ki just isn’t possible. That which does not exist simply does not
exist, and that’s the end of it! Knocking someone over by glaring at them, for example.
It’s so obvious that that sort of thing is fraudulent. It’s just not possible! There are
some who would say that nobody knows aikido better than I do, right? So if I focus a
concentrated glare on you, are you going to fall over? I doubt it!
Many people were surprised that I was able to throw the sumo wrestler Kurosegawa,
seemingly without touching him. People think, “Tohei can throw people without
touching them!” But that’s not right. I may not have been touching him with my hands,
but I was touching him with my ki. A person that comes rushing forward to attack is
preceded by his ki, and wherever that ki goes, his body is obliged to follow. (This is
why it is impossible to throw people who are not really intending to attack you.) So all
I had to do was evade his ki; I simply let him go where he seemed to want to go, and
he fell of his own accord.
Ki is something that is conveyed from one person to another. If you like someone
a lot, that person is bound to pick up on your feeling. The only reason it is possible for
me to throw a very large individual who is moving in with a strike or other attack is that
I am able to grasp his mind, his intention, the instant it manifests itself.
This is one of the things that Ueshiba Sensei truly wanted to teach. Much of the
aikido we see today has degenerated into mere fighting. I call what I do Shin Shin
Toitsu Aikido, because I don’t want to be associated with that kind of aikido. Aikido
is a path to harmony with the universe, and it should suffice to call it aikido (since the
name incorporates this meaning), but for the sake of clarity, I added Shin Shin Toitsu.
Abroad it is referred to as “Ki Aikido.”

 
Kanshu Sunadomari –

I seize my partner at the exact moment he grabs. That’s the point I’ve reached. In terms of body movement, it is enough to avoid the opponent’s strike. It is not necessary to move the attacking hand. When my partner grabs, he himself ends up being grabbed. When my partner touches me, I move to the inside faster than him. Your own feeling must flow at this point. Your power will pour forth just at the time you extend your ki naturally. The power has already gone there when you extend your ki to encourage his attack.
I leave everything to this power. We become as one body when I suddenly stop the flow of my power and have completely entered to the inside of my partner.
However, it is not merely a matter of the two of us being close together, but rather,
I become the center, and after I have moved in close to him, I can cause my partner to move freely.
Ueshiba Sensei often said, “It is a matter of who is the faster.” I used to think
superficially of speed, which involved collisions when I was still immature.

But I understood that it was not at all the case when I discovered kokyu power. As soon as he grabs me, I enter to his inside. I become the center and become as one with my partner, and am completely bound up with him.
When this happens, techniques freely emerge.
You must not act using unnecessary power. You rely on the point of contact with your partner.
If you do this, other kinds of power are naturally eliminated. It is a matter of feeling. It is not a matter of the mechanics of the technique.

Ueshiba Sensei clearly said to me before I came to Kumamoto, “There are no head
families (soke) in budo.” The fact that there are no head families in budo means that
aikido technique is limitless, and those who truly master the Way can transmit it. I think that one will not be able to comprehend Ueshiba’s Sensei true mind without practicing aikido with a clear understanding of this.
One’s aikido remains frozen.
By transmitting only unchanged form, you are led in a direction which is contrary to Sensei’s thought.
Your techniques become one if you study the spiritual aspect of Morihei Ueshiba Sensei.
You have to continually overcome barriers. Aiki is a matter of you becoming one with
others.
You have to create techniques which unite you and your opponent.
If you are not able to achieve this, you should not use the expression “Aiki is love,” in an ideologically sense.
This is something you can achieve through your body, and you should not think
that spiritual matters are separate.
I don’t think there should be various kinds of aikido. The goal of aikido is the study of
the spirit of Morihei Ueshiba Sensei.
The true world of harmony will be created through aikido, after the barriers have been overcome, when all human beings come to a realization of how wonderful aikido is. I think that this was the mission of Morihei Ueshiba Sensei.
It was difficult for O-Sensei to cause the flower of aikido to bloom and bear fruit. However, if Sensei hadn’t created the seeds, the Way of aikido would not have been transmitted. We students should assimilate the seeds, grasp the goal, so to speak, and decide what flowers should be made to bloom, what fruit should be allowed to ripen. If you wish to pursue the path of injuring and beating your opponent, something other than aikido will be best. There are many other arts for this purpose. Unless this is truly understood by practitioners of aikido, the art may end up being unfavorably criticized.

 
Michio Hikitsuchi

After the war the founders thinking about Budo had changed radically. And the way he related to people also changed. His fierce gaze had become more tender. One felt more like getting closer to him. It was as you see in photos taken in his old age. His eyes were still strict, but they were no longer so scary.

After the war, O-Sensei’s thinking about waza also changed enormously. Before the war, the purpose of waza had been to kill the attacker. And we had practiced like that. After the war, he urged us not to attack opponents or to think of beating them up. “If you do that,” he said, “it will be the same as before. I have changed how we do everything.”

O-Sensei told us that we must give our opponents joy. To do this, he said, we must become capable of immediately sensing their ki. And, to do this, we must unify ourselves, we must unify our words, our body, and our mind. We must become one with the workings of all things in the universe — with Kami and the forces of Nature. We must bring all three things — words, body, and mind — into harmony with the workings of the universe. “If you do that,” O-Sensei said, “true Budo will be born. The Budo of destroying others will become transformed into the Budo of offering joy and compassion to others.”

After the war the method of practice was the opposite of what it had been. We no longer attacked. We looked at our partners’ ki in order to see the whole of them. From the top of their head to the tips of their toes. Not just external appearances. We needed to become able to absorb our partners’ minds.

Training this way was more difficult. We couldn’t wait for a partner to attack. We had to have the ability to instantly perceive the partner’s suki (openings) and intent to attack.Where will they strike? How will they move? We had to train to cultivate these sensing abilities in ourselves.

Now all the techniques I teach are those of the postwar period. They are the true waza of O-Sensei’s Aikido.

If we look at our partners, our hearts will be taken by them. Never look in their eyes. If we look in our partners’ eyes, our minds will be snatched away by their eyes. If we look at our opponent’s weapon, our ki will be stolen by that weapon. So, we must not stare at our partners.

If we are always one with the universe, one with great nature, there is no space for the opponent to attack.

When opponents do try to attack, we must not rely on form alone, but spontaneously create technique.

In the old days, when the opponent attacked, we parried the blow and drove forward. After the war, things changed. The instant the opponent raised his arm to strike, even as he was raising his arm, we were already changing position. We had to act quickly. To do it well, we had to become one with nature and move without thinking.

Another aspect of postwar Aikido was O-Sensei’s even greater emphasis on shinji for spiritual purification at the beginning of every practice session. He’d always begin with purification.

And below, the secret to understanding riai…………

 
So for your first three years in aikido you were only uke?

Henry Kono – That was the concept. I used to ask, “I have been doing this for a year and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” They said, “Don’t worry Kono-san. Just take uke! It will come clear to you.” It was important to develop this body sensitivity and mobility.
Sensitivity is important…

Because I’m learning exactly what you are doing. You are really becoming yin. You have to be soft. Then the center starts to develop. That’s the only way to develop it.

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“DONT RESIST, RECEIVE UKEMI”

Maruyama Sensei