Remembering Artt Frank

 I found out about Artt's passing on Facebook. Initially Artt was my personal connection to jazz immortal Chet Baker. Artt was a hall of fame jazz bebop drummer who played with Chet, Miles, Dizzy, Bird, all the immortals. Once during a visit to his home in Green Valley Arizona, he showed me a personal Christmas card from Dave Brubeck. But I'm just dropping names here. Artt was a strong, authentic, passionate human being who generously shared his musical history with me, and in the process created with me a deep and  very human personal connection.

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Artt was a personal friend of Chet Baker. I found contact info for him on a Chet Baker fan page and with much trepidation called him and began a series of phone dialogues with him. 

I found that they used to watch Bruce Lee and Japanese samurai moview together. This was of interest to me as I am an Aikido instructor. Artt also expained his name to me in another personal anecdote. He was with Chet once and Artt asked him why he didn't call more often. Chet said to him it was because he got the phones numberts confused with another jazz great, Art Pepper. So Chet had a personal book of phone numbers and he put an extra t on Artt's number to eliminate the confusion with Art Pepper. And my understanding was that the next day Artt had his name legally changed from Art to Artt.

Just little things like that made me feel included in a flow of time that connected me to their world and through that to the world for want of a better term of bebop. To the music of a prior age. Artt would give me tips, such as concentrating on the looooong tones. I was playing "Line for Lyons" and he humourously told me that the way I was playing made it sound like a Mickey Mouse tune. Then he got me to settle into the long tones. What I learned was the long tones give you a sense of space. Which creates time. And once the space is created you chop the notes into changes, beats, and sub-beats. He told me once that I had a great understanding of time. Being a martial artist I was expressing it mainly in motion. But it was a very helpful tip. It was like Steph Curry explaining the grip on the basketball in the shooting motion.. Authentic, Real. Can't explain it more than that.

And when I play these days I feel him soooo close. Poignant. Loving. Real. He once told me that Chet was a musical genius. I told him I thought he, Artt, was every bit as much a musical genius. He was totally an ear and heart player. In fact the last conversation I had with him on the phone I told him I had trouble learning new songs, because I couldn't really play a song until I FELT it. And his replay was,"That's because you're an ear and heart player, just like me and Chet."

The following was recorded in 2019 and posted on my June 9th birthday.

Osensei Memorial Training 2025

Osensei passed away on April 26th, 1969. We usually do a special training around that date. This year we would probably have done it Sunday April 27th, but due to other dojo circumstances, we wound up doing it quite early, Sunday April 20th. So we were also competing with Easter, which tends to be a strong family holiday pull.

Anyway, I had a conversation with Linda Holiday sensei, who had just gotten back from Japan and a visit with Anno sensei. Now Anno sensei is a direct student of Osensei, and a powerful influence on both Linda and myself. And what he passed on to Linda was that the most important thing for her, and by extension for me, was"to pass on the heart of Osensei".

And so this led me to ponder what this might mean. We both went to Japan in 1973 and trained at the Shingu dojo. Osensei's beard and hair were enshrined in the kamidana of the dojo. Many times after the morning early 6:30 am class Hikitsuchi sensei would chant norito or traditional Shinto prayers of Purification that were an essential part of Osensei's practice. It was once explained to me that the norito was a structured form of what he called kototama, tuning into the vibrational reality of the universe and achieving a union of sorts with it. In spite of the fact that it was strongly ritualized, and in ancient Japanese, hearing Hikitsuchi sensei chant norito resonated with me at an almost cellular level. I was inspired to learn amatsu norito and even the much longer and more challenging Kami Goto.

So last Sunday I chanted to full ceremony. I'm not sure if the current age and my rendition of the chanting has the same effect for those in attendance that the experience had for me in the early to mid seventies. So passing on the heart of Osensei. What might that mean? I guess for me there was always a sense to understand the movements at deeper and deeper levels and in the process understand my self in the process. Finding the  deeper and hidden dimensions of the movements stimulates my imagination and opens me up to creative force. But at the same time the heart of Osensei was passed onto me through my teachers. Robert Frager sensei(with whom I recently had lunch ) and Robert Nadeau sensei, with whom I still meet weekly to work on what he got from Osensei.  Hikitsuchi sensei, who passed onto  me the formal chants along with instruction in sword and staff/spear. Anno, Tojima, and Yanase senseis, with whom I spent many formative hours both on and off the mat.

This weekend, which is a formal date for the mitamasai or celebration of the date of Osensei's passing, we will be doing a booth at the San Jose Japantown Nikkei Matsuri. Hopefully our new dojo will open there soon and it's an important time to meet the community and re-establish our roots there.

Here is a video of the Osensei Memorial class for 2025. It has full norito, along with a demonstration of the Aiki sword or sho chiku bai no ken.

https://youtu.be/mrACdzzQaZE?si=fPa7GNph9dUIi4PT

 

 

Nemuri Kyoshiro Revisited

 I recently started watching an old samurai series from many years ago. The character of Nemuri Kyoshiro was portrayed on the big screen by Ishikawa Raizo. And more recently on the television screen by Tamura Masakazu. When I was first in Japan in 1973 I found there was a tv series with the same character. Look on YouTube for Samurai vs Ninja and Nemuri Kyoshiro 1972. When I found it I recognized the theme song from over 50 years ago. In my 1973 Japan trip there were no English subtitles. Mary Heiny sensei would describe basically what was going on. But regardless I enjoyed the swordplay and especially watching the sequences with his Full Moon Cut or Engetsu Sappo.

In a much earlier blog I described him as not a samurai, but rather a burai no to or rogue swordsman. The stories and thus the movies and tv are set in a time when everything was political and the people on top of the societal foodchain tormented those with less. Therefore the true meaning of samurai was perverted by clan ties and subservience to those in power. Kyoshiro is a very very dark character, but he winds up protecting and defending those whom the society keeps downtrodden and in torment. The suffering of the people by those in power leads to a subconscious torment that that leads to widespread suffering amongst the people. Kyoshiro is like a dark angel who winds up supporting those in torment and suffering. And societally everything is sooooo bad and Nemuri Knoshiro represents the darkness that brings back in the light.

The technique has a magical mystical sense to it. The people he faces are either those responsible for much torment and suffering amongst the people or those who blindly follow the orders of those in power. Samurai who blindly follow those in power and are really assasins. There is usually an exceptional dark swordsman who will face Kyoshiro at the end and fall to the Engetsu Sappo. Kyoshiro is frank that it is not a technique but rather death itself. Right at the start of a climactic duel, Nemuri drops his guard and traces a circle with his sword. It's almost as if he uses a preternatural calm to open a powerful gateway. The opponent is initially frozen by the power and energy of the gateway but ultimately trapped by an incredible draw that the move has that pulls them in to their death. The violence and corruption of those he faces is drawn to their death by a move of profound beauty and purity that they can't escape. He's an angel of death. The darkness that brings in the light

The tv portrayal is much more complex than the one in the movies. Tamura's version really stresses the influence his mother has on him, especially her suicide/death. Kyoshiro despises both the surface Christianity that exists underground in his day and the fact that the meaning of samurai is totally perverted for their own uses by those in power. Reminds you of what is going on today. 

And I began to see Kyoshiro as a sidebar to the Christ Archetype.Osensei told Nadeau sensei that had to deal with feeling the burning of the children during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Being spiritually conscious is no picnic. In fact you can argue that Kyoshiro's very existence is torment and crucifixion.

Here is a video I did around my appreciation for the character. The tv series has an excellent backgrouond score by Takeo Watanabe.

Looking for Zorro

 Last night on election night the country took a dark turn. The choice of Donald J Trump as President signals a major step backwards for the United States. The one thing you cannot fight is ignorance. You can only educate or enlighten it. What is ignorance? It is resistance. Resistance to a woman as leader, compounded by the fact that she is a woman of color. Resistance is reactionary. What is inflation? Trump's tax breaks for the ultra rich have created price gouging. Ie the price of food, gas, rent. We are reacting to his policies and blaming the present administration.

I bring in the Zorro analogy. Under the reign of the evil alcalde or commandante, who faces the real crippling taxes? The peons are bled. Those in power need the rancheros for continued income, so they bleed the poor. Taxed slmost out of existence. Although in our society the uber rich get richer. The rest of us suffer.

I've recently found myself watching and re-watching The Mark of Zorro(1940 Tyrone Power). As Don Diego he blends with the rich, unjust, and powerful. He finds their weaknesses and strikes as Zorro. But Zorro is a champion of the people. He uses his wits and cleverness against a force whose magnitude he could not singly oppose. In the movie he is a master of sleight of hand magic. And just as deftly he shifts from Don Diego to Zorro and visa versa.  The next 4 years are going to be very harsh , with democracy and our position as leaders of the free world in question. We must move as deftly and bravely personally as Don Diego/Zorro simply to survive.

For myself I remember feeling really strange just before the 2016 election. This time I felt real positive. A part of me still does. Instead of a negative psychic premonition causing worry and fear, I felt open  and even optimistic. What I realised was I WAS BETTER. Coming from a stronger place. More confident about myself and my life's purpose.  And so I'm looking at this coming period as a time when I can up my game. I was told that a month before he passed,Osensei said,"Now I'm really going to do it!" I feel the same way. Let's continue to train, grow, transform, and use the next 4 years to hit levels of being we haven't heretofore even dreamed of.

Osensei said, "Economics is the basis of society.": When the ultra rich are able to rise to power they bleed those under, and we have what we have now..  And Osensei also said "Aikido is true democracy".

I believe what he means is that the power comes from and through the people. Political systems tend to be top down. Power through and from the people is bottom up. The spirit of Zorro can and must come from us. It must bring out first intelligence, then discrimination. The economics of the recent past have created a reaction to high prices and rents and for people to live in a rigid judgment.. Can you believe the people choosing the evil Commandante instead of Zorro? But that is what has happened.

In sports there is a saying that it takes steel to sharpen steel. By choosing to grow and transform, you choose spirit. That spirit will continue to sharpen itself again and again and again until their is a brilliant tranformation. Let us go forward and tranin together. Onegai shimasu!!

 

My Willie Mays Moment

 

The recent passing of Willie Mays has left us sad. Willie was probably my major sports figure growing up. The Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958. I was 10 years old. My dad took me to my first Giants game in 1959. I got to see the old Seals Stadium. One of my vivid memories was seeing Joe DiMaggio at a hot dog stand. I believe the Giants won the game, because they won the first couple of games I attended.

Thinking back to Willie. I mainly followed him  on radio. Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons. In those days the only local Giants games were when they were visiting the Dodgers. So most of my memories of him are first hand memories of him when I was at games. My 2 most vivid memories of him were ironically when he was picked off at second base and a swinging strike. I saw him hit a couple of home runs. But the first started when he was picked off second base. Mays was a great base runner who was very aggressive and not afraid to take chances. In fact let's say he willingly courted danger.  Willie executed an Aikido like move when the second baseman tried to tag him. He dodged the tag with an entering off the line move. Instead of freezing and getting caught in a run down, he put pressure on the defense by taking off for third base. A bold exciting move. This forced the second baseman to rush his throw and it sailed into the outfieled. Mays flew around 3rd, streaking for home. The outfielder made a great throw, Mays slid, and.....was tagged out. To this day from where I was sitting, I think he was safe..

But the excitement and memories he generated by recording an out. For my money the greatest ballplayer of all time. Not the greatest hitter. Or necessarily the greatest outfielder(although you would have an argument here), or stole the most bases, or had the strongest arm.....But overall the greatest Ball Player. Could hit. Hit with power. Field and throw, both with flair, ran the bases and raised your pulse.....For my money the greatest BALLPLAYER!!

The second memory was I believe in 1966 at Candlestick. He took a viscious swing. Although it was a swinging strike the whole stadium shook with the force and power of that swing. How may players can say they generated a fan's most vivid moments by being thrown out on the base paths and swinging and missing? Probably only Willie.

Another feature of Mays showmanship was chasing down fly balls and making impossible catches. And his cap would fly off. It became signature. In fact I remember one of the radio announcers blurting out when Mays was in pursuit of a deep drive, "There goes the cap!!!"

So how does all this translate into a Willie Mays movement during by Aikido career?

I went to Japan to train in Aikido in 1973. My dojo there was the Kumano Juku Dojo in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture. Hikitsuchi  sensei was dojo head, Anno, Yanase, and Tojima senseis were of shihan rank and calibre and also taught.

My story concerns Yanase sensei. After one evening class I requested some extra training from Yanase sensei. He was known for his impeccable technique and being tireless. It was an ukemi session where I was thrown, got up, attacked again, thrown again, got up, attacked again. I think you get the picture. Aikido is not an art where you spar with the teacher. The teacher is like a master swordmaker. You are the sword being forged. Fire. Being pounded and shaped. Being put into water. Back into fire. More pounding and shaping. Back into the water. This is called ukemi, the art of falling. Ukemi is from the Japanese verb ukeru, literally to receive. So my job was the receive the throw by providing a good attack, role or fall safely, get up, and repeat. Linda Holiday sensei, who was present, insist the session was 46 minutes. I was too occupied to pay attention to the time.

Now the Willie Mays part: My job was to keep going at him, like Mays going after fly ball after fly ball. As the session progressed my belt flow off. But just like Willie and his cap, I kept in pursuit. Since my belt flew off, it was only a matter of time before my gi top flew off. But even bare chested I kept getting up, attacking, receiving the technique. Finally the session ended when when I was hit in the face and one of my contact lenses appeared to have been dislodged.

And through the whole thing one of the things that motivated me to keep going was the joy and energy that I saw in Willie! Truly a gift.

And after the session I was in an altered state. The whole dojo seemed like it was a  glimmering field of energy. Part of me realized that due to Aikido's nature, Yanase sensei was feeding me energy. And if I was able to receive it(not fight it) and somewhat match it with my own, something profound was generated.

Anyway, here is a video of a session with Yanase sensei. I was not a black belt so I'm the white belt. And it is not THE session:

https://youtu.be/jrMorkThnT0?si=RaDTseXyqnmq5Qqt

Or:

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Remembering Frank Silvey sensei

Today I learned that Frank Silvey sensei has passed. Those of you who are longtime dojo members

will recall that Frank has been apart of the San Jose dojo since the 1970's. And his passing leaves quite a void in our collective spirit. He loved aikido and training. Brought an energetic spirit to the mat. Was very helpful and encouraging to new dojo members. I have come up with some photos from over the years.

If you look at the above photo you'll see Frank in the top row on the right most position.

Above you'll see Frank to your extreme right.

 And above you'll see Frank in the middle of the left row.

In recent years we had seen his health decline. Thanks to people such as Lou Bermingham and Paul Heffernan and numerous others he was able to get along and still enjoy life.

One of my true regrets is that Frank will not get to see the opening of our new location back in San Jose's Japantown. But we know that he will be there in spirit. Word I have gotten is the the new dojo is back on course to open sometime early this year. Frank, we will miss you........

 

 

New dojo update

It's been a good invigorating summer. San Jose State starts next week. Classes still going at our temporary location in Mountain View. So for me a good time to check in with another blog.

Aikido of San Jose opened in July of 1976 at our old location in Japantown. Robert Nadeau shihan opened the school and I was initually invited to teach and took the Friday evening class, stayed over in the office, and taught kids and the adult morning class on Saturdays. Nadeau sensei sold me the school and since February of 1980 I have been running Aikido of San Jose. In November of 1978 my daughter Jennifer was born in the dojo, as her Mom and me had a home birth. And the dojo was our home at that time.

 

In summer of 2001 we moved to our location on Martha Street. Thus our stay at our initial Japantwon location lasted for 25 years. Our stay at Martha Street lasted pretty much 20 years, but was ended with the pandemic starting in March of 2020. We are currently awaiting the opening of our new location at the corner of North 3rd street and Empire. The opening was substantially delayed by the pandemic and the City of San Jose taking its time to rezone and other such details.

So at present I hear that we are looking at October of this year. So I know all of you are looking forward to our re-opening. So we will be trying to keep you all informed. So for now. October. Keep your fingers crossed.