A Memorable Event

On Sunday January 10th Aikido of San Jose and I were honored to be a part of a very special event. The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and Robert Frager sensei sponsored "Osensei Interpreted" at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. The event was hosted by John Stevens sensei, who, almost singlehandedly, has made Osensei' s words and philosophy available into the English language. There was an extended slide show showing Ueshiba's life along with photos of his calligraphy. Following the presentation was a reception where people could meet with the host. There were other instructors besides me who were brought in to give demonstrations. Included among those was Henry Kono sensei from Toronto, Mary Heiny sensei from Seattle, and more locally, Linda Holiday sensei from Santa Cruz, as well as Bob Noha sensei from Petaluma.

Henry Kono sensei was a contemporary of Robert Nadeau and Robert Frager senseis at Honbu dojo in the '60's. As such he is also a direct student of the founder. I was privileged to watch his Friday night class at Aikido of Santa Cruz, as well as to hang out with him Sunday and Monday. Of course it was wonderful to see Mary Heiny sensei, as always. She will be out next month to teach a series of workshops in Northern California. She will be at Aikido of San Jose the second Wednesday of February. Please make a note of that.

The following video is of my demonstration on Sunday. It is graced with some beautiful photos by Beau Summers(beau@rainbeaupictures.com)which . are included with his permission.