Osensei Memorial Class 2021

 

Monday was the anniversary of Osensei's passing. The whole weekend before was quite action filled. I notice that every year around  April 26th(He passed in 1969 on this date) the pace of things picks up quite a bit. On Saturday I was invited to teach both a Tai Chi class and an Aikido class for Bob Noha sensei's Aikido of Petaluma dojo. And on Sunday the 25th Linda Holiday sensei and Aikido of Santa Cruz sponsored an online Zoom celebration including Mariye Takahashi and Robert Frager senseis, both direct students of Osensei. And on Monday the 26th during our noon Zoom class we scheduled a formal ceremony including the amatsu norito and kamigoto chants. And to my delight and surprised we were joined by my dear friend Linda Holiday sensei. So quite a weekend plus.

First the Petaluma weekend. Robert Noha and I go back a long ways. When I first began training in 1969 he was already a black belt as a teenager. He is a longtime student and teacher of the art and has a long connection with Robert Nadeau shihan. And he is also a Tai Chi instructor. He studied with Master Cheng Man Ching. I studied with Master Choy Kam Man. It was interesting to lead a class with his students. I was able to share some of my personal experiences as well as lead a group practice through our 30 movement form. Following that was a class I led in our 30 movement spear staff misogi/gyo. And finally we as a group went out and dined at Petaluma's Riverfront Cafe. It's been so long since Elle and myself have travelled and dined out that it was a true delight. David Eves sensei from our dojo made the trip and trained in both classes.

Sunday the 25th was Linda Holiday's Aikido of Santa Cruz Online Zoom Osensei Memorial Celebration. I have heard 200 attendees across the world. Impressive. My thanks to Linda sensei for having the vision, patience, and energy to organize such an event!! 2 exclamation points.......I really enjoyed her special guests, Mariye Takahashi sensei and Robert Frager sensei, who was my home dojo teacher when I started in October of 1969. We go a long ways back. And I thought both instructors were able to present their memories of Osensei in a way that can round out our impression of him. Takahashi sensei recounted that when Osensei walked, others in his company had to run to keep up with him. And that he could glide through thick crowds at the subway stations. She also recounted how humble he was with the students, but that he could be very strict with the uchi deshi or live in students. Frager sensei recounted what it was like to travel with Osensei, and what from his perspective as a psychologist how developped he was as a human being. Many of his stories I had heard before, but it seemed as if I was hearing them for the first time.

And finally our class on Monday. Hearing the norito and kamigoto was a daily occurence when Linda sensei and I were in Shingu in 1973. I realize that most people these days probably don't relate well to this. But in the 1970's to early eighties we all as an area used to gather at the earlier Aikido West location for an area training, and Linda sensei and I would lead the formal ceremony. This was done on April 26th to honor the Founder. I am thinking that maybe I should at least once a week do the formal ceremony, probably at the end of the Friday noon Zoom class, and give it more exposure. The chanting is an important part of my Aikido practice. And Linda sensei shared that one way she has dealt with the stress of the pandemic is that she is learining the kamigoto. Both the norito and kamigoto that Osensei chanted are from the Omoto kyo sect and therefore from Deguchi sensei.

So we move onward, but next year's April 26th will hopefully see us alive and well and back able to train with each other.

    

This poster is from Hikitsuchi sensei's 1978 tour of the United States. His uke is none other than me. It was taken at the All Japan Aikido Demonstrations at the Budokan in Tokyo in May of 1977. I had some lift in my legs then. Maybe I should have tried out for the Warriors.

ShoChikuBau sword and sensing

I just posted a Zoom class video on Youtube. Usually I quickly scan and post. But this was Friday April 9th and really got my attention. So in addition to posting I am also blogging. The class began with a recount of Osensei and the phantom swordsman. During his World War II retreat in Iwama, A phantom of himself appears and they engage in swordplay. At first he cannot beat the phantom. But as the days progress he is able to anticipate the moves of the ghostly or spirit swordsman and is finally able to more than match him. And the experience leads to very important spiritual insights on Osensei's part. The narrative is at the beginning of the video.

And Osensei refers to the swordplay as Shochiku bai. That is something Hikitsuchi sensei sensei taught at the Shingu dojo. Not a set or a kata but something very distinct. In my second stay I had more position at the dojo and so Hikitsuchi sensei would call me up when demonstrating the sword. Those were very intense experiences every time he would demonstrate the sword. And I had little to no experience with the bokken. But I like to think he was so good he made me look like I knew what I was doing. The experience was what he referred to as shinken, training with the feel that it was done with live blades(we were using bokken, of course). Everything was in the moment, nothing to know or reflect on. But sort of burned into my soul memory.

Sho represented plum and the triangle It was called zettai fuhai na taisei or the posture of invincibility. Chiku was bamboo or the circe, and the teaching associated with it was the circle has no center. Bai was the pine, radially symmetrical having no front or back. I made the association that this was also related to the zoka no sanshin or the 3 origins Ikumusubi, tarumusubi, and tamatsume musubi. One of the reasons I mention this is this is material that has no virtual interest in today's Aikido. But when I was in Japan in the early to mid seventies along with Mary Heiny and Linda Holiday, we were encouraged to leave no stone unturned in our quest to absorb the essence of what Aikido truly is. So any sense of Osensei's words were considered to have knowledge and power associated with them. It is amazing to me that much of what has sustained me during this pandemic has been going over Osensei's words and reliving my own direct experiences surrounding them.

So what caught my attention about the video was the importance of the word sense. Osensei often talked about how misogi was to cleanse the 6 senses. That is the 5 obvious ones and the 6th is translated by John Stevens as mind. I asked Mary Heiny what she thought was the Japanese word that Mr Stevens translated as mind, and she thought it was nen. And that is the thought/moment/instant. My current thought is that our 5 obvious senses are in Osensei's words contaminated because they tie us to a very limited reality and a corresponding limited sense of self. Misogi practices are not just to unclog our 5 senses but the awaken a dormant sense that senses the finer dimensions of what constitutes reality and also awakens correspondingly finer and finer levels of ourselves. As we are able to sense/feel the finer dimensions of the universe we also awaken the finer more original levels of our own being. Being able to sense kami leads us to our own nature as kami. 

Did Osensei really meet himself as a ghost or spirit swordsman? Or did his Overself come to him in the form of pure ki and coach him to his next level. Osensei said after the encounter, which lasted weeks, he felt revitalized. And he could sense/feel the whole universe in his belly. How much of our own ability to understand Osensei is tied to our own growth in our ability to sense the finer levels of the creation'/universe? What troubles me about Aikido these days is that we settle for so much less. Hopefully when we are able to re-open and along with other things begin together to explore this.

So the video is long, 1 hour 40 minutes. But it is good. At the end I go into 2 people I study that I feel did/do something of what Osensei did. Chet Baker, the jazz great , and his ability to channel sound and phrasing through his empty spaces. And Stephen Curry with his ability to be an absolute master of using stillness to set up his motion. We are vast and ultimately universal in scope. And we can settle for so much less. Be safe and well.

As We Re-open.....

 As the year progresses and more and more of us get vaccinated, we are moving towards a re-opening for dojos in general and Aikido of San Jose in particular. Both Elle and I recently got our second vaccination and made it through our 2 week wait period. This is a relief, as others I have talked to also find. But the Japanese term is zanshin. It never ends with the throw. The ki must continue and readiness is ever maintained. I know we are all sick of  all the restrictions, the social distancing, the politicizing of the pandemic. We could go on and on. And we will.

But we are faced with how this can be done responsibly and safely. Currently classes are online and outdoors. This will continue. Outdoors we can begin to allow vaccinated participants to increase the level of contact. Even after we re-open inside contact must be monitored to allow just people who have been vaccinated. I know this is a dojo decision, but my feeling is that only people who have been vaccinated and gone through the 2 week period should be allowed anything close to normal dojo distancing and contact.

As an economic entity we have survived. Those of you who have continued your online payments or have continued to mail checks, Thank You!!!! To those who read this and feel like renewing your subscriptions, Yes!!!! In the event you are new and wanting to do Aikido, we are working on ways to include you!!

The reality, however, is that the level of income is insufficient to go back to our old location paying what we did pre-pandemic.  Long term we have a location that would be a permanent facility, but that location has issues to work out with the city of San Jose before it can be dojo fitted and available. So in the short term what can we do?

We can continue the outdoor classes, even expand them, because with daylight savings and seasonally this is outdoor weather. And include more movement and regular contact in the outdoor training as dojo members become fully vaccinated. And we might want to open on an interim basis for indoor classes at a Recreation Center.  For many years Aikido was very successful at the Los Gatos Rec center. A beginning class was offered through the Parks and Rec which was a feeder for an ongoing dojo which met after the class and was open to the general public. So if any of you would know of a Rec Dept near you and would inquire if they would be interested in an Aikido program, please let me know.

It has been suggested that an open available store front could be available temporarily (until the permanent place is ready). We would watch the building and this could be temporary but rent free. I talked with Nadeau sensei about possibly renting his Mt View space on Sundays. It's a 20 minute weekend drive from San Jose. His pre-pandemic schedule left Sundays open. It's being considered. If you have any suggestions, please let me know (jack@aikidosj.com).

And a vision for the future must include making a connection with those who will build tomorrow, ie, the younger people. Trying to re-build our childrens and teen classes. But also reaching out to those who need to find and hone their purpose as well as themselves. Issues such as climate change, equity, racial and gender equality, uniting bipartisan divides in political, social, and economic divides. These are all things Ueshiba Osensei in HIS vision of Aikido and World Peace left for us as projects. So it will be a great journey, and a transformational one for us all........Onegai shimasu!!!