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| Saru mo ki kara ochiru - Si maimutele cad din copac - Even monkeys fell from trees |
miercuri, 29 februarie 2012
Saru mo ki kara ochiru
marți, 28 februarie 2012
Stagiul national Targu-Mures
Am revenit de la stagiul national de la Targu-Mures, organizat de Florin Trisca sensei si condus de Dorin Marchis sensei, presedintele si directorul tehnic al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai. A fost un eveniment deosebit iar in afara de tehnica, am revazut colegi si prieteni din Reghin, Cluj, Baia-Mare, Pitesti si bineinteles Targu-Mures. Locatia aleasa a fost una foarte buna, hotelul Business facandu-ne sa dorim sa revenim si cu alte ocazii. Din partea Kenshin dojo au participat doi practicanti, Ionel Pana si Bogdan "Bob" Resmerita, pe care ii felicit pentru efortul si dedicatia lor. Ii multumesc si lui Cristian Popescu, cel care a asigurat practica la Kenshin dojo, in absenta mea. Nu in ultimul rand, la acest stagiu Dorin Marchis sensei si-a sarbatorit ziua de nastere, fapt pentru care ii dorim din nou "La multi ani !"
luni, 6 februarie 2012
sâmbătă, 4 februarie 2012
Redirectionare impozit pe venit 2%
Pentru cei cei doresc si pot face asta, puteti directiona 2% din impozitul pe venitul anual global catre Asociatia Sportiva CSO Aikido Aikikai, in contul bancar cu numarul RO68BITRBU2RON031312CC01, deschis la banca Italo-Romena Bucuresti.
Pentru formular si informatii puteti folosi urmatorul link :
www.doilasuta.ro
Multumesc anticipat celor ce vor dona catre Asociatia noastra.
Pentru formular si informatii puteti folosi urmatorul link :
www.doilasuta.ro
Multumesc anticipat celor ce vor dona catre Asociatia noastra.
vineri, 3 februarie 2012
March 2009 post translated in English by Mihai Vladu sensei
Tuesday, 31st of March 2009
Saito Sensei’s comments
The text bellow represents Saito Sensei’s comments, wrote for the introduction to the second volume from Takemusu Aikido series, appeared in French edition, under the Budo Concepts publishing edition (2001). For me it seemed very interesting the progressive practicing method for the Aikido techniques, also because our master Fujita Masatake Sensei showed us that we need to allow our partner to catch us strongly, executing the techniques afterward.
During the age when I started publishing one first technique series in five volumes, I stopped teaching in three different places, to dedicate myself only to the Iwama dojo. I was considering in fact that, for training good instructors, I did not have to miss too often, going to teach classes in other areas. I felt it was indispensable to be in contact every day with my students to be able to pass on the knowledge that I received from the founder Morihei Ueshiba. In this way, during the evenings and mornings, I was the one teaching the instructors and a big part from Iwama’s instructors is conducting today an excellent work throughout the world. It is indispensable to preserve the traditional Aikido in order to pass on the “takemusu” concept. For this purpose I use a progressive practice method. This method has 4 steps: the hard form, the supple form, the fluid form and the form with ki.
I insist upon the first three stages, especially upon the hard form, which corresponds to one stern and solid practice.
One day, when I was executing the techniques in a fluid manner, the founder stopped me telling me: “You do not have to train in the fluid form before receiving the third degree black belt!”. I remember even today this scene.
The founder always used the following remark: “If you want to become strong you have to become used to performing the technique after you have been caught!”. So, we have to let the partner to catch us strong before we start performing the technique. I want to say that, the majority of the techniques presented in this book, except some forms with “ki no nagare”, are techniques which are performed only after the partner ensured his grip.
Aikido is without cracks. If any error is done, it is always possible to link it with some more proper technique. The founder demonstrated sometimes movements, making circles with his arms and saying: “If you will touch my arm with which I am just about to make a circle, a technique will appear from the point of touching it!”. Each new situation contains a new technique.
I think this is what the founder wished to say with “takemusu”. But we have to practice correctly after the traditional method, in order to be able to reach this advanced level.
I hope sincerely that this manual, like the first volume also, will represent for the readers, a valuable help in obtaining this objective.
Saito Morihiro, Ibaragi Dojo, 17th of March 1995
Stefan was saying….
Very interesting this comment, especially during this age, when Aikido is seen, from the outside and from the manner in which some instructors and so-called instructors present and execute the training, like a nicely executed ballet.
Nevertheless I think one problem still needs to be solved. In which way can be useful this method in the case of a weak tori and a very strong uke (let’s say tori weighs 70 kilos and uke weighs 100 kilos)? Is it indicated to use a method like this or you have just to train with partners with likely the same sizes?
1st of April 2009, 08:58
Monday, 30th of March 2009
Why Aikido?
“Why Aikido?” This is a question I addressed and will address still in the future, to my friends, practicing partners, beginners and those who wish practicing Aikido. Because it is not (too) correct to ask only others, today I am going to answer myself to this question.
I missed the television show, in 1977 I think, which presented images with O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, so, I was not attracted to Aikido from this reason. My first contacts with the Japanese martial arts are due to one publication, which, even know, brings me back sweet memories, Pif Gadget. One of the comics’ characters in this magazine, is Dr. Justice, Benjamin Justice, Doctor in W.H.O. (World Health Organization) and Judo and Karate practitioner. The quality of the drawings, executed by Oscar Ratti (between others, co-author together with Adele Westbrook of many books about Aikido and Martial Arts, from which, in my opinion, the most representative is “Aikido and the dynamic sphere”), still stands for me as a standard for this kind of illustrations. I also read/browsed/had different books translated in Romanian, from which I can not stop my self to mention “Ju Jitsu – The art of personal defense” and “Judo – From the white belt to the black belt” written by the master Florian Frazzei and Nicolae Bucur’s book named “Karate”. This last book represents my first try in understanding the Karate, which I found in those times, more attractive than Judo or Ju Jitsu, for example. Probably it held a certain importance because it was new in the landscape (I speak here about the last period of the 70’s) and because of the movies hat started to appear (more Chinese – “The silver lance”, but some Japanese also – “Cobra”, “Cobra returns”). I have to admit that I was not able then to understand too good, the book being pour in illustration, and the text just know is clear as understanding.
Anyway, until 1985, when I succeeded to enroll in the Judo section at Dinamo’s sports club in Bucharest (coach Gheorghe Nache), I had no way and no where to learn more about martial arts. Judo, where the trainings where intense and physical, I did not like it (then) too much because my wish it was to learn Karate. Something very difficult – at least for me – because I was not able to find a dojo. This was solved when, in 1986, I began studying Kyokushinkay with master Leonardo Voinescu, which I continued to do (with breaks due to the military service which was mandatory in those times) until 1990, 1991. In this way I had the opportunity to know a real master, to learn some things from an absolutely remarkable Karate style and to meet some persons which I feel very close even today, although I was not able to keep in touch with everybody: Dan Constantinescu, Mihai Mihailovic, Traian, Geroge Dumitrascu, Viorel, Licurici and many others which I ask them to forgive me if I am not mentioning them here. When master Leonardo left for Germany, where he had an absolutely remarkable carrier in the martial arts area, I did not continue anymore training in Karate.
I succeeded, meanwhile, to meet another master, in Ju Jitsu this time, which, despite his age, the same like mine, proved a great talent. I am speaking about my friend Lucian Gavrilescu, together with whom I started on a road that did not end even today: the study of Ju Jitsu. The first dojo where I have been studying Ju Jitsu was the one in “Ady Endre” high school, in Bucharest (and maybe you will also see that a certain cycle does exist in life), since 1990 since 1992 when Lucian decided to stop practicing Ju Jitsu. After this, together with a colleague and friend, Cristian Popescu, I rent a dojo inside the “Health Complex”, in Socului area, where we succeeded in opening a new Ju Jitsu dojo: “Heiwa”. In 1993 I obtained my first degree black belt in Ju Jitsu, from another great master and human being, which I had the chance to meet, Alois Gurschi. For me, knowing master Gurschi was a big chance and I want even now to honor his memory, for all he realized and represented for the martial arts in Romania. I obtained in 1994 the second degree black belt and after this the third one (1997) – from the master Dan Alexandrescu – master Gurschi’s student, which this one recommended to me laying on his bed in hospital, three days before he passed away.
In 1997 I decided to break the practice in Ju-Jitsu, disappointed that I was not, technically speaking, where I thought I should have been. Besides this, the routine of practicing appeared, that I considered there was the case I had to start all over again and I begun to study Kendo. In that time, there was a seven degree black belt Kendo master in Bucharest, Ono Takashi. On the suggestion of another friend, also I already saw a Kendo training at the “Politehnica” University of Bucharest, we went to see an Aikido training at “Ecran Club”, where the master Dan Corneliu Ionescu held his dojo. Again I will have to take a break and tell you that, in 1991, I went and saw two Aikido dojos, and here I am referring to the master Ionescu’s one and master Geroge Raicu’s one. I also have been practicing for several month at “Ecran Club”, but, on that time, it looked like Aikido was too soft for me, resulting I did not go farther away with it. Anyway, that desire of seeing Aikido, was due to the apparition, in 1990, of the first Aikido book in Romania, written by the masters Dan Corneliu Ionescu and Serban Derlogea.
Coming back to the second Aikido experience (being the third one in fact, because in 1994 I practiced several Aikido trainings, in Massimo Castelli’s dojo from Mogliano-Veneto, third degree black belt then, fifth degree black belt today). I tell you that I went to see one training, being skeptical, due to my memories from 1991. I had the big surprise of seeing master Dan Ionescu in an extraordinary shape, and, in this way a forgot about Kendo and enrolled in Aikido. Wearing the white belt, after years of instructing, was a strange experience but the pleasure of learning Aikido balanced everything. Here also I met a lot of special people, Ioan Grigorescu, Serban Derlogea, Adrian si Laurentiu Vasilache, George Ilie, Viorel Dan, Nicolae Mitu, Dorin Marchis – this to specify only few of the instructors. Besides them, many people, men and women, who, just like me, tried to learn and understand Aikido: Valentin Taulescu, Eugen Matei, Florina Raduca, Silviu Vieru, Arthur Alexiu, Dan Gramada, Luis Turcu, Dan Ene, Ion State, Stefan Serafim, Mihai Vladu, Silviu Vieru, Cristina Ghinea and many, many others.
Besides master Ionescu, one person which I respect and admire even today, I had the chance to meet my friend from today, master Viorel Dan. Student of Raicu sensei, left his organization upon certain reasons and practiced at “Ecran Club”. He managed to make me really interested in Aikido, from the moment when he had the patience to explain and show me the Aikido basics.
In 1999 I met Constantin Popescu "Tinel", a formal practicing partner of Viorel, who, on his turn, introduced me to master Nicolae Mitu, the Romanian Aikido Aikikai Federation’s president back then. Nicu proved himself to be a man with a great soul, step by step starting to train together and in 2000 I had the chance to personally meet master Fujita Masatake, whose student I also became. Back then also I decided to join the Romanian Aikido Aikikai Federation, practicing also in parallel with master Dan Ionescu.
I stopped this double practice in 2002, when I had a conversation with master Ionescu, thanking him for all that I learned and letting him know what I have decided. It was not an easy conversation for me because it is not easy to say this to a man that you respect and admire. Sensei Ionescu is a person with a great power of acceptance and patience, who understood me and also today, with the proper respect, we are friends and practice Aikido from time to time. The extraordinary opportunity to learn from a direct disciple of O-sensei, made that others aikidokas joined the organization led by Nicu Mitu. In 2000 I sustained the examination for equating the first Kyu rank and in 2001 I was examined for the first degree black belt in Aikido.
In 2005 we re-organize ourselves under the name of the Romanian Aikido Foundation (after that becoming Romanian Aikido Aikikai Foundation), led by our friend Dorin Marchis, showing that not all the friendships begin in a spectacular way and that essential is the quality and determination that the people show in time. We grow, have been officially recognized by the Aikikai Hombu Dojo and, in generally speaking, tried to make things in a proper way. I hope we managed it and I also hope that others will come and help us on this way, of promoting and practicing Aikido.
The years passed, there were examination in Ju-Jitsu and also in Aikido, there were many seminars, I had the chance to travel several times to Japan, I watched my friends separating, finding themselves again, opening dojos, creating new organizations…living…and I had my part and my role in all of this.
“Why still Aikido?”
Because I still discover new things. Because there are things not that new which I can not work out. Or that I work out sometimes. Because I have a lot of friends for which I care about and I train with: Dorin Marchis, Iulian Perpelici, Sorin Despa, George Stoian, Viorel Dan, Nicolae Mitu, Dan Gramada and many others. Maybe you will say that I enumerated the ones above only for political reasons (it is not like this but I will not try to convince you otherwise). There are also things that I regret. Some that I did, some done by others. But I believe that we have to have the wisdom to respect each other, try to understand other points of view and respect the devotion of still walking on the path.
The presence in the virtual world
I think it was necessary for me to create this blog (this due to the shortage of more advanced programming knowledge and the desire to spend money for the domain) for being present in the virtual world, which tends, more and more, to be a part of our daily life.
I will try, according with the limit of the time and talent (or the shortage of this one) to offer you different writings, articles, translations, hoping that some will find them interesting. But the main purpose is communicating information about Aikido, Romanian Aikido Aikikai Foundation and my dojo, Kenshin.
Kenshin means, like I try to write it, devotion. The devotion is one of the qualities that I consider essential in our becoming as a human being. Without devotion I do not really think much can be realized in this life. The name is in Japanese because Aikido, being a part of this people’s culture, sends not only techniques ad ideas, but also language knowledge. For this reason, I also wanted to name my dojo using Japanese language and trying to underline one of the qualities necessary for a true character.
Wednesday, 25th of March 2009
DO (The way) – Dave Lowry
The way, in the beginning, is obscure. The initiated steps also are enveloped in mist. The peaks towards which she leads are apparently hidden by a congestion of clouds, which, observed from bellow, seem impossible to penetrate. (Translation made by Adrian Bunea from the Italian edition of the book “Sword and Brush”.)
But this is a good thing because, seeing too clearly what there is in front of us, could intimidate us more than necessary. The clarifications appear only in retrospection: the traveler has walked for a lot of time on this Path, has left behind a quiet and peaceful realm, has confronted a journey which presents continuous challenges but which also offers rewards greater than it would have been expected in the beginning of the travel. Advancing on the Path, he realizes that is directed towards a destination which, even remaining mysterious, appears attractive in an absolute manner.
On this Path it is not about traveling in a physical way, even if the cases are rare when the “bugeisha” (the Budo practitioners) discover they can do it without leaving their own houses. The Path is a journey of the mind, of the spirit and, in the end, also of the soul. The mechanics of the Path is a contribution of the Taoists, the old wise men of China, whose Tao philosophy (“Do” in Japanese) stimulated them to leave an existence synchronized with the currents of the nature. By the brush of the calligrapher, “Do” is a composed character. The lines which indicate “main” or “fundamental” are united with those of the radical which means “movement”. But, “Do” wants to signify “main street”, a Path to follow in harmony and accord with the difficulties suggested by the universe, a long path on which one may discover the uniqueness of the life’s elements in universe.
In this way, the trails of the Path are very old. It took form for the first time when an individual begun an activity with the conscience of pushing it over the boundaries of the utilitarism and to overtake the restrictions of the ego. It is true, the Path may also lead to art, may even have a practical value, but the final purpose of the Path is the “process”. This means to make one thing not for its result but, to involve ourselves in order for the fulfillment of this act to free us of the restraints of our limited ego: narcissism, egocentrism, the concerns inducted by our fears, problems and worries which make our daily like drabber. The Path attracts us in the place where our potential ego dominates: self-fulfillment, self-cultivation and self-improvement.
The “Do”, either singular or universal, is opened to all who have the determination and the partial to walk on it. Anyway, those who do it, chose a big variety of disciplines to approach the way, because the “Do” transcends the specific in order to come near to the general. The tea ceremony, the art of arranging the flowers, the gardening, each of these disciplines, is a way of the Path. The way chosen by the “bugeisha” is the Martial Way. Even if this one’s particular chosen way is not important, the “Do” of the “bugeisha” leads to a more close confrontation with fundamental conflicts of the reality: life and death, pain and pleasure, temporal and spiritual problems. The Martial Way requires moral resistance together with visceral and emotive courage. It requires also social conscience and physical resistance. Be certain, each of these qualities will be tested along the way. They will be, mean while, purified and strengthened during the process but, they should, anyway, be present at least on a certain level inside the person who decides to take a journey which will carry him very far away.
As a traveler on the Path, the “bugeisha” is guided by a sextant sensitive to the influence of the Japanese traditional culture. The geography of this culture is the land where all the Paths of Japan grew and alimented themselves. The “bugeisha’s” level of familiarization and adaptation to this land will have an important weight in his success in this way.
An individual who begins to walk on the Martial Way has to be courageous and virtuous, has to have the sense of involvement and sensitivity towards the values of the past. Even if he will have these meritorious characteristic features, the “bugeisha” aspirant will also have interior uncertainties, including the doubt of having lost something from his own existence, something vital. Because of this reason he takes the journey which will take him to his mysterious destination. He will do it even if the others will attract his attention about the Path being a naïf practice, old-fashioned or ideal. He follows his course because he knows others walked it before him, because the immutable direction of the Path attracts and calls him. He goes forward because he feels constrained to do it. He began the life’s journey because he is convinced, as the kanji for the Path shows, that this is the main road which he has to walk through. This Path is the only one which can take him to a place worth of being reached.
Wednesday, 25th of March 2009
The actor Claudiu Bleont speaking about the martial art
Claudiu, first of all, thank you because you agreed to discuss with us about Aikido.
With great pleasure, but wait to tell you which reasons I had – two…filming, the role (for a movie which will be launched in 2009) and coming here at the dojo, because for nine months I have not stepped inside the dojo. I broke up with Aikido nine months ago when I suffered an accident and now, in your dojo, I recovered after these months and it seems like my body is telling me “Yes, you can go on”.
Adrian Bunea: Anyway, it is a great pleasure for us. Claudiu, how did you find out about Aikido for the first time?
Claudiu Bleont: For the first time I think…a, yes: from the PIF magazines (the French cartoons magazine). I used to see doctor Justice (one of the magazine’s characters, a Judo practitioner in the first place but also a Karate and Aikido one) and I liked the principles put there, in that dialogue box and I was fascinated by this thing because, I always like a martial art which does not cultivate the conflict, which leads to an end that wants itself to be harmonious, but if I have to “cut your neck I will do it”. This answer is due to your strong insistence.
Tell me please, if you can, as an actor, do you think there is any relationship between playing on the stage and Aikido?
Yes. When I first reached the dojo (Claudiu Bleont is master Dan Ionescu’s student) I realized that somewhere, the theatrical tradition, essential for the western world, which is “commedia dell’arte” tradition, has developed also what Aikido is doing and, in general all the martial arts, the balance, aggressiveness/passivity, involvement/non-involvement, cultivated by all the martial arts coming from Japan or the Asian land. In the same time, there a code of a master, elaborated long before Christ, which speaks about the physical part of the theatre and is cultivated, this author, in his principles, by the Kabuki theatre.
In our space, coming to Aikido, I found things happening in basic trainings which are also happening in “commedia dell’arte”. We have also here the training with the staff; the staff not only as an object of defense but also learning how to handle it, how to situate in space, the relationship between your body and space, the staff as a katana, the staff becomes the refined part of your ego. For example, even now there are some exercises practiced in the theatre, and also in the theatre school – the patriarch of the contemporary theatre, Peter Brook, practices physical exercises with the staff. The actor tries to project his body outside, that is to say is not you anymore. There is a very deep relationship. Paradoxical, you could say they are separate things, but everything is in everything. Is a principle from Hermes Trismegistos – all there is above is also bellow. Nothing is far from shadow and dark, the dark delivers the light, the light calls and needs the dark.
Complementarity or opposition?
Yes… Exactly! Or even contradiction but complementary… as a bridge between… What I like in Aikido is that one person, the one which attacks, suffers a harmonious imbalance. And going inside the harmonious universe of an aikidoka’s movement, somewhere things balance again and, the person who created first that energy of imbalance, as an attack or a blow, a person rather calm and balanced and with an area of human deepness, realizes that his attack was not necessary.
I will not tell you that our experience filming is a significant one…
I should ask you that…
Our artistic experiment in filming I think made us find another point of similarity between Aikido and film… the discipline…
The discipline of filming…
We, for sure, strive very much to learn the basic forms, pre-arranged exercises, “kata”, but what we really look for is certain naturalness, managing to execute exercises based upon not very fluid movements. You, as actors, do the same thing?
So… a monologue is a “kata”. And not only for the words. It is a “kata” of the thoughts, inflexions, the way of leading the idea. In the same time is a physical “kata”… in cinema you can say “Sit on the chair and the camera makes the game”. But you play with your eyes, nose, with your face… the mask of the face. In the same time, if you are on a stage, all this “kata” gains amplitude. The feet enter the game… hands, gestures… practically the martial art and we refer now to Aikido because I practice it together with you and it gives us the chance to perfect and refine this… let’s say… this conglomerate formed by two components… I do not know how to say it… binomial… human/animal, better said, by Pascal: “Pig and saint”. You know, there is something animal inside us… physically and something spiritual, something which knows to observe and something which knows to control. The Greeks said it better: centaur. From the hips above is human, from the hips bellow is horse, stallion or mare.
Look, there is another question that just now appeared in my mind: how do you see it, what is the role of the ego in acting and Aikido?
Well… is just like the snake. The ego does not exist. It appears through education, formation, a routine that forms through your relationships from kindergarten, school, family, culture, race, history and, in the same time, becomes present in the moment when you identify yourself with a certain identity… with a certain attitude which gives the perspective upon life. In that moment the ego exists, is… is an illusion.
Maya…
Yes, Maya. It is a caprice. And if you have the chance to understand it, to make it appear and in this was to understand that the phenomenon of ego exists. But for me it does not exist anymore.
Is it a little bit like in the exercise with the staff, about which you told us earlier?
Yes because, also in Aikido, when you execute something, after you do not execute anymore… it happens – the technique…
You do not do it anymore conscious… you are not a protagonist anymore but just an actor…
Yes, we have it just like you do: you are a “pipe” through a message is sent; you are a bridge through which the connection is made between harmony/disharmony, yin/yang.
…
Claudiu, thank you very much for these interesting words!
Thank you!
(Interview realized by Adrian Bunea on the film set.)
Kenshin Dojo
Kenshin is an Aikido Aikikai dojo, affiliated to the Romanian Aikido Aikikai Foundation.
http://www.aikikai.ro/
The Aikido practice takes place in 2 dojos, inside the “Lia Manoliu” Sports Complex and inside “Ady Endre” high school, in Bucharest, Bulevardul Ferdinand 89, sectorul 2, upon the next schedule:
MONDAY 20:30 – 22:00 (Lia Manoliu)
WEDNESDAY 20:30 – 22:00 (Ady Endre)
FRIDAY 20:30 – 22:00 (Lia Manoliu)
For registration or any other questions about Aikido, call before at 004-0724.382.971.
Only adults are accepted (over 16 years old) and only inside the limit of the available places.
Saito Sensei’s comments
The text bellow represents Saito Sensei’s comments, wrote for the introduction to the second volume from Takemusu Aikido series, appeared in French edition, under the Budo Concepts publishing edition (2001). For me it seemed very interesting the progressive practicing method for the Aikido techniques, also because our master Fujita Masatake Sensei showed us that we need to allow our partner to catch us strongly, executing the techniques afterward.
During the age when I started publishing one first technique series in five volumes, I stopped teaching in three different places, to dedicate myself only to the Iwama dojo. I was considering in fact that, for training good instructors, I did not have to miss too often, going to teach classes in other areas. I felt it was indispensable to be in contact every day with my students to be able to pass on the knowledge that I received from the founder Morihei Ueshiba. In this way, during the evenings and mornings, I was the one teaching the instructors and a big part from Iwama’s instructors is conducting today an excellent work throughout the world. It is indispensable to preserve the traditional Aikido in order to pass on the “takemusu” concept. For this purpose I use a progressive practice method. This method has 4 steps: the hard form, the supple form, the fluid form and the form with ki.
I insist upon the first three stages, especially upon the hard form, which corresponds to one stern and solid practice.
One day, when I was executing the techniques in a fluid manner, the founder stopped me telling me: “You do not have to train in the fluid form before receiving the third degree black belt!”. I remember even today this scene.
The founder always used the following remark: “If you want to become strong you have to become used to performing the technique after you have been caught!”. So, we have to let the partner to catch us strong before we start performing the technique. I want to say that, the majority of the techniques presented in this book, except some forms with “ki no nagare”, are techniques which are performed only after the partner ensured his grip.
Aikido is without cracks. If any error is done, it is always possible to link it with some more proper technique. The founder demonstrated sometimes movements, making circles with his arms and saying: “If you will touch my arm with which I am just about to make a circle, a technique will appear from the point of touching it!”. Each new situation contains a new technique.
I think this is what the founder wished to say with “takemusu”. But we have to practice correctly after the traditional method, in order to be able to reach this advanced level.
I hope sincerely that this manual, like the first volume also, will represent for the readers, a valuable help in obtaining this objective.
Saito Morihiro, Ibaragi Dojo, 17th of March 1995
Stefan was saying….
Very interesting this comment, especially during this age, when Aikido is seen, from the outside and from the manner in which some instructors and so-called instructors present and execute the training, like a nicely executed ballet.
Nevertheless I think one problem still needs to be solved. In which way can be useful this method in the case of a weak tori and a very strong uke (let’s say tori weighs 70 kilos and uke weighs 100 kilos)? Is it indicated to use a method like this or you have just to train with partners with likely the same sizes?
1st of April 2009, 08:58
Monday, 30th of March 2009
Why Aikido?
“Why Aikido?” This is a question I addressed and will address still in the future, to my friends, practicing partners, beginners and those who wish practicing Aikido. Because it is not (too) correct to ask only others, today I am going to answer myself to this question.
I missed the television show, in 1977 I think, which presented images with O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, so, I was not attracted to Aikido from this reason. My first contacts with the Japanese martial arts are due to one publication, which, even know, brings me back sweet memories, Pif Gadget. One of the comics’ characters in this magazine, is Dr. Justice, Benjamin Justice, Doctor in W.H.O. (World Health Organization) and Judo and Karate practitioner. The quality of the drawings, executed by Oscar Ratti (between others, co-author together with Adele Westbrook of many books about Aikido and Martial Arts, from which, in my opinion, the most representative is “Aikido and the dynamic sphere”), still stands for me as a standard for this kind of illustrations. I also read/browsed/had different books translated in Romanian, from which I can not stop my self to mention “Ju Jitsu – The art of personal defense” and “Judo – From the white belt to the black belt” written by the master Florian Frazzei and Nicolae Bucur’s book named “Karate”. This last book represents my first try in understanding the Karate, which I found in those times, more attractive than Judo or Ju Jitsu, for example. Probably it held a certain importance because it was new in the landscape (I speak here about the last period of the 70’s) and because of the movies hat started to appear (more Chinese – “The silver lance”, but some Japanese also – “Cobra”, “Cobra returns”). I have to admit that I was not able then to understand too good, the book being pour in illustration, and the text just know is clear as understanding.
Anyway, until 1985, when I succeeded to enroll in the Judo section at Dinamo’s sports club in Bucharest (coach Gheorghe Nache), I had no way and no where to learn more about martial arts. Judo, where the trainings where intense and physical, I did not like it (then) too much because my wish it was to learn Karate. Something very difficult – at least for me – because I was not able to find a dojo. This was solved when, in 1986, I began studying Kyokushinkay with master Leonardo Voinescu, which I continued to do (with breaks due to the military service which was mandatory in those times) until 1990, 1991. In this way I had the opportunity to know a real master, to learn some things from an absolutely remarkable Karate style and to meet some persons which I feel very close even today, although I was not able to keep in touch with everybody: Dan Constantinescu, Mihai Mihailovic, Traian, Geroge Dumitrascu, Viorel, Licurici and many others which I ask them to forgive me if I am not mentioning them here. When master Leonardo left for Germany, where he had an absolutely remarkable carrier in the martial arts area, I did not continue anymore training in Karate.
I succeeded, meanwhile, to meet another master, in Ju Jitsu this time, which, despite his age, the same like mine, proved a great talent. I am speaking about my friend Lucian Gavrilescu, together with whom I started on a road that did not end even today: the study of Ju Jitsu. The first dojo where I have been studying Ju Jitsu was the one in “Ady Endre” high school, in Bucharest (and maybe you will also see that a certain cycle does exist in life), since 1990 since 1992 when Lucian decided to stop practicing Ju Jitsu. After this, together with a colleague and friend, Cristian Popescu, I rent a dojo inside the “Health Complex”, in Socului area, where we succeeded in opening a new Ju Jitsu dojo: “Heiwa”. In 1993 I obtained my first degree black belt in Ju Jitsu, from another great master and human being, which I had the chance to meet, Alois Gurschi. For me, knowing master Gurschi was a big chance and I want even now to honor his memory, for all he realized and represented for the martial arts in Romania. I obtained in 1994 the second degree black belt and after this the third one (1997) – from the master Dan Alexandrescu – master Gurschi’s student, which this one recommended to me laying on his bed in hospital, three days before he passed away.
In 1997 I decided to break the practice in Ju-Jitsu, disappointed that I was not, technically speaking, where I thought I should have been. Besides this, the routine of practicing appeared, that I considered there was the case I had to start all over again and I begun to study Kendo. In that time, there was a seven degree black belt Kendo master in Bucharest, Ono Takashi. On the suggestion of another friend, also I already saw a Kendo training at the “Politehnica” University of Bucharest, we went to see an Aikido training at “Ecran Club”, where the master Dan Corneliu Ionescu held his dojo. Again I will have to take a break and tell you that, in 1991, I went and saw two Aikido dojos, and here I am referring to the master Ionescu’s one and master Geroge Raicu’s one. I also have been practicing for several month at “Ecran Club”, but, on that time, it looked like Aikido was too soft for me, resulting I did not go farther away with it. Anyway, that desire of seeing Aikido, was due to the apparition, in 1990, of the first Aikido book in Romania, written by the masters Dan Corneliu Ionescu and Serban Derlogea.
Coming back to the second Aikido experience (being the third one in fact, because in 1994 I practiced several Aikido trainings, in Massimo Castelli’s dojo from Mogliano-Veneto, third degree black belt then, fifth degree black belt today). I tell you that I went to see one training, being skeptical, due to my memories from 1991. I had the big surprise of seeing master Dan Ionescu in an extraordinary shape, and, in this way a forgot about Kendo and enrolled in Aikido. Wearing the white belt, after years of instructing, was a strange experience but the pleasure of learning Aikido balanced everything. Here also I met a lot of special people, Ioan Grigorescu, Serban Derlogea, Adrian si Laurentiu Vasilache, George Ilie, Viorel Dan, Nicolae Mitu, Dorin Marchis – this to specify only few of the instructors. Besides them, many people, men and women, who, just like me, tried to learn and understand Aikido: Valentin Taulescu, Eugen Matei, Florina Raduca, Silviu Vieru, Arthur Alexiu, Dan Gramada, Luis Turcu, Dan Ene, Ion State, Stefan Serafim, Mihai Vladu, Silviu Vieru, Cristina Ghinea and many, many others.
Besides master Ionescu, one person which I respect and admire even today, I had the chance to meet my friend from today, master Viorel Dan. Student of Raicu sensei, left his organization upon certain reasons and practiced at “Ecran Club”. He managed to make me really interested in Aikido, from the moment when he had the patience to explain and show me the Aikido basics.
In 1999 I met Constantin Popescu "Tinel", a formal practicing partner of Viorel, who, on his turn, introduced me to master Nicolae Mitu, the Romanian Aikido Aikikai Federation’s president back then. Nicu proved himself to be a man with a great soul, step by step starting to train together and in 2000 I had the chance to personally meet master Fujita Masatake, whose student I also became. Back then also I decided to join the Romanian Aikido Aikikai Federation, practicing also in parallel with master Dan Ionescu.
I stopped this double practice in 2002, when I had a conversation with master Ionescu, thanking him for all that I learned and letting him know what I have decided. It was not an easy conversation for me because it is not easy to say this to a man that you respect and admire. Sensei Ionescu is a person with a great power of acceptance and patience, who understood me and also today, with the proper respect, we are friends and practice Aikido from time to time. The extraordinary opportunity to learn from a direct disciple of O-sensei, made that others aikidokas joined the organization led by Nicu Mitu. In 2000 I sustained the examination for equating the first Kyu rank and in 2001 I was examined for the first degree black belt in Aikido.
In 2005 we re-organize ourselves under the name of the Romanian Aikido Foundation (after that becoming Romanian Aikido Aikikai Foundation), led by our friend Dorin Marchis, showing that not all the friendships begin in a spectacular way and that essential is the quality and determination that the people show in time. We grow, have been officially recognized by the Aikikai Hombu Dojo and, in generally speaking, tried to make things in a proper way. I hope we managed it and I also hope that others will come and help us on this way, of promoting and practicing Aikido.
The years passed, there were examination in Ju-Jitsu and also in Aikido, there were many seminars, I had the chance to travel several times to Japan, I watched my friends separating, finding themselves again, opening dojos, creating new organizations…living…and I had my part and my role in all of this.
“Why still Aikido?”
Because I still discover new things. Because there are things not that new which I can not work out. Or that I work out sometimes. Because I have a lot of friends for which I care about and I train with: Dorin Marchis, Iulian Perpelici, Sorin Despa, George Stoian, Viorel Dan, Nicolae Mitu, Dan Gramada and many others. Maybe you will say that I enumerated the ones above only for political reasons (it is not like this but I will not try to convince you otherwise). There are also things that I regret. Some that I did, some done by others. But I believe that we have to have the wisdom to respect each other, try to understand other points of view and respect the devotion of still walking on the path.
The presence in the virtual world
I think it was necessary for me to create this blog (this due to the shortage of more advanced programming knowledge and the desire to spend money for the domain) for being present in the virtual world, which tends, more and more, to be a part of our daily life.
I will try, according with the limit of the time and talent (or the shortage of this one) to offer you different writings, articles, translations, hoping that some will find them interesting. But the main purpose is communicating information about Aikido, Romanian Aikido Aikikai Foundation and my dojo, Kenshin.
Kenshin means, like I try to write it, devotion. The devotion is one of the qualities that I consider essential in our becoming as a human being. Without devotion I do not really think much can be realized in this life. The name is in Japanese because Aikido, being a part of this people’s culture, sends not only techniques ad ideas, but also language knowledge. For this reason, I also wanted to name my dojo using Japanese language and trying to underline one of the qualities necessary for a true character.
Wednesday, 25th of March 2009
DO (The way) – Dave Lowry
The way, in the beginning, is obscure. The initiated steps also are enveloped in mist. The peaks towards which she leads are apparently hidden by a congestion of clouds, which, observed from bellow, seem impossible to penetrate. (Translation made by Adrian Bunea from the Italian edition of the book “Sword and Brush”.)
But this is a good thing because, seeing too clearly what there is in front of us, could intimidate us more than necessary. The clarifications appear only in retrospection: the traveler has walked for a lot of time on this Path, has left behind a quiet and peaceful realm, has confronted a journey which presents continuous challenges but which also offers rewards greater than it would have been expected in the beginning of the travel. Advancing on the Path, he realizes that is directed towards a destination which, even remaining mysterious, appears attractive in an absolute manner.
On this Path it is not about traveling in a physical way, even if the cases are rare when the “bugeisha” (the Budo practitioners) discover they can do it without leaving their own houses. The Path is a journey of the mind, of the spirit and, in the end, also of the soul. The mechanics of the Path is a contribution of the Taoists, the old wise men of China, whose Tao philosophy (“Do” in Japanese) stimulated them to leave an existence synchronized with the currents of the nature. By the brush of the calligrapher, “Do” is a composed character. The lines which indicate “main” or “fundamental” are united with those of the radical which means “movement”. But, “Do” wants to signify “main street”, a Path to follow in harmony and accord with the difficulties suggested by the universe, a long path on which one may discover the uniqueness of the life’s elements in universe.
In this way, the trails of the Path are very old. It took form for the first time when an individual begun an activity with the conscience of pushing it over the boundaries of the utilitarism and to overtake the restrictions of the ego. It is true, the Path may also lead to art, may even have a practical value, but the final purpose of the Path is the “process”. This means to make one thing not for its result but, to involve ourselves in order for the fulfillment of this act to free us of the restraints of our limited ego: narcissism, egocentrism, the concerns inducted by our fears, problems and worries which make our daily like drabber. The Path attracts us in the place where our potential ego dominates: self-fulfillment, self-cultivation and self-improvement.
The “Do”, either singular or universal, is opened to all who have the determination and the partial to walk on it. Anyway, those who do it, chose a big variety of disciplines to approach the way, because the “Do” transcends the specific in order to come near to the general. The tea ceremony, the art of arranging the flowers, the gardening, each of these disciplines, is a way of the Path. The way chosen by the “bugeisha” is the Martial Way. Even if this one’s particular chosen way is not important, the “Do” of the “bugeisha” leads to a more close confrontation with fundamental conflicts of the reality: life and death, pain and pleasure, temporal and spiritual problems. The Martial Way requires moral resistance together with visceral and emotive courage. It requires also social conscience and physical resistance. Be certain, each of these qualities will be tested along the way. They will be, mean while, purified and strengthened during the process but, they should, anyway, be present at least on a certain level inside the person who decides to take a journey which will carry him very far away.
As a traveler on the Path, the “bugeisha” is guided by a sextant sensitive to the influence of the Japanese traditional culture. The geography of this culture is the land where all the Paths of Japan grew and alimented themselves. The “bugeisha’s” level of familiarization and adaptation to this land will have an important weight in his success in this way.
An individual who begins to walk on the Martial Way has to be courageous and virtuous, has to have the sense of involvement and sensitivity towards the values of the past. Even if he will have these meritorious characteristic features, the “bugeisha” aspirant will also have interior uncertainties, including the doubt of having lost something from his own existence, something vital. Because of this reason he takes the journey which will take him to his mysterious destination. He will do it even if the others will attract his attention about the Path being a naïf practice, old-fashioned or ideal. He follows his course because he knows others walked it before him, because the immutable direction of the Path attracts and calls him. He goes forward because he feels constrained to do it. He began the life’s journey because he is convinced, as the kanji for the Path shows, that this is the main road which he has to walk through. This Path is the only one which can take him to a place worth of being reached.
Wednesday, 25th of March 2009
The actor Claudiu Bleont speaking about the martial art
Claudiu, first of all, thank you because you agreed to discuss with us about Aikido.
With great pleasure, but wait to tell you which reasons I had – two…filming, the role (for a movie which will be launched in 2009) and coming here at the dojo, because for nine months I have not stepped inside the dojo. I broke up with Aikido nine months ago when I suffered an accident and now, in your dojo, I recovered after these months and it seems like my body is telling me “Yes, you can go on”.
Adrian Bunea: Anyway, it is a great pleasure for us. Claudiu, how did you find out about Aikido for the first time?
Claudiu Bleont: For the first time I think…a, yes: from the PIF magazines (the French cartoons magazine). I used to see doctor Justice (one of the magazine’s characters, a Judo practitioner in the first place but also a Karate and Aikido one) and I liked the principles put there, in that dialogue box and I was fascinated by this thing because, I always like a martial art which does not cultivate the conflict, which leads to an end that wants itself to be harmonious, but if I have to “cut your neck I will do it”. This answer is due to your strong insistence.
Tell me please, if you can, as an actor, do you think there is any relationship between playing on the stage and Aikido?
Yes. When I first reached the dojo (Claudiu Bleont is master Dan Ionescu’s student) I realized that somewhere, the theatrical tradition, essential for the western world, which is “commedia dell’arte” tradition, has developed also what Aikido is doing and, in general all the martial arts, the balance, aggressiveness/passivity, involvement/non-involvement, cultivated by all the martial arts coming from Japan or the Asian land. In the same time, there a code of a master, elaborated long before Christ, which speaks about the physical part of the theatre and is cultivated, this author, in his principles, by the Kabuki theatre.
In our space, coming to Aikido, I found things happening in basic trainings which are also happening in “commedia dell’arte”. We have also here the training with the staff; the staff not only as an object of defense but also learning how to handle it, how to situate in space, the relationship between your body and space, the staff as a katana, the staff becomes the refined part of your ego. For example, even now there are some exercises practiced in the theatre, and also in the theatre school – the patriarch of the contemporary theatre, Peter Brook, practices physical exercises with the staff. The actor tries to project his body outside, that is to say is not you anymore. There is a very deep relationship. Paradoxical, you could say they are separate things, but everything is in everything. Is a principle from Hermes Trismegistos – all there is above is also bellow. Nothing is far from shadow and dark, the dark delivers the light, the light calls and needs the dark.
Complementarity or opposition?
Yes… Exactly! Or even contradiction but complementary… as a bridge between… What I like in Aikido is that one person, the one which attacks, suffers a harmonious imbalance. And going inside the harmonious universe of an aikidoka’s movement, somewhere things balance again and, the person who created first that energy of imbalance, as an attack or a blow, a person rather calm and balanced and with an area of human deepness, realizes that his attack was not necessary.
I will not tell you that our experience filming is a significant one…
I should ask you that…
Our artistic experiment in filming I think made us find another point of similarity between Aikido and film… the discipline…
The discipline of filming…
We, for sure, strive very much to learn the basic forms, pre-arranged exercises, “kata”, but what we really look for is certain naturalness, managing to execute exercises based upon not very fluid movements. You, as actors, do the same thing?
So… a monologue is a “kata”. And not only for the words. It is a “kata” of the thoughts, inflexions, the way of leading the idea. In the same time is a physical “kata”… in cinema you can say “Sit on the chair and the camera makes the game”. But you play with your eyes, nose, with your face… the mask of the face. In the same time, if you are on a stage, all this “kata” gains amplitude. The feet enter the game… hands, gestures… practically the martial art and we refer now to Aikido because I practice it together with you and it gives us the chance to perfect and refine this… let’s say… this conglomerate formed by two components… I do not know how to say it… binomial… human/animal, better said, by Pascal: “Pig and saint”. You know, there is something animal inside us… physically and something spiritual, something which knows to observe and something which knows to control. The Greeks said it better: centaur. From the hips above is human, from the hips bellow is horse, stallion or mare.
Look, there is another question that just now appeared in my mind: how do you see it, what is the role of the ego in acting and Aikido?
Well… is just like the snake. The ego does not exist. It appears through education, formation, a routine that forms through your relationships from kindergarten, school, family, culture, race, history and, in the same time, becomes present in the moment when you identify yourself with a certain identity… with a certain attitude which gives the perspective upon life. In that moment the ego exists, is… is an illusion.
Maya…
Yes, Maya. It is a caprice. And if you have the chance to understand it, to make it appear and in this was to understand that the phenomenon of ego exists. But for me it does not exist anymore.
Is it a little bit like in the exercise with the staff, about which you told us earlier?
Yes because, also in Aikido, when you execute something, after you do not execute anymore… it happens – the technique…
You do not do it anymore conscious… you are not a protagonist anymore but just an actor…
Yes, we have it just like you do: you are a “pipe” through a message is sent; you are a bridge through which the connection is made between harmony/disharmony, yin/yang.
…
Claudiu, thank you very much for these interesting words!
Thank you!
(Interview realized by Adrian Bunea on the film set.)
Kenshin Dojo
Kenshin is an Aikido Aikikai dojo, affiliated to the Romanian Aikido Aikikai Foundation.
http://www.aikikai.ro/
The Aikido practice takes place in 2 dojos, inside the “Lia Manoliu” Sports Complex and inside “Ady Endre” high school, in Bucharest, Bulevardul Ferdinand 89, sectorul 2, upon the next schedule:
MONDAY 20:30 – 22:00 (Lia Manoliu)
WEDNESDAY 20:30 – 22:00 (Ady Endre)
FRIDAY 20:30 – 22:00 (Lia Manoliu)
For registration or any other questions about Aikido, call before at 004-0724.382.971.
Only adults are accepted (over 16 years old) and only inside the limit of the available places.
April 2009 post translated in English by Mihai Vladu sensei
Tuesday, 21st of April 2009
Dojo’s schedule
Between 22.04.2009 – 04.05.2009 I will not be able to be present at the dojo, so, the trainings will be led by Master G. The schedule remains unchanged, except the day 24.04.2009 when there will be no practice because the dojo is not available..
Tuesday, 14th of April 2009
The seminar in Sovata, 10th – 12th of April 2009
I just came back from the seminar in Sovata, organized by our friend Florin (dojo-cho in Reghin and Targu-Mures), where I had a very good time. The organization was extraordinary and I want to thank Florin again for his really remarkable efforts and the participation was the same. Probably – I do not have yet the exact data – there wee around 140 Aikido practitioners, children and adults. Adding also the children’s escorts, the deployment of forces was impressive.
Both daily practices were inspired by Dorin Marchis sensei, who knew how to drive us and make us give our most on the tatami, thus the ones present felt the enthusiasm and pleasure of the practice. There was also an examination session where we had the pleasure to see only well prepared people, both technically and physically. Congratulations for Ciprian (sandan, Pitesti), Laura, Oana and Marius (nidan, Cluj), Bogan (shodan, Cluj) and Nicu (shodan, Pitesti).
There are also regrets because the seminar ended quickly but we wait with impatience next occasion to meet all in May, in Cluj, to practice under the leading of Master Fukakusa Motohiro (nanadan, Japan).
Tuesday, 7th of April 2009
The spirit of the Dojo
The Dojo (the place for practicing the Way) exists as a fix ambient for practice and for the manifestation of the attitudes previously described. Either standing or sitting in the formal position (seiza), only in this sacred place, the student experiences a great peace, a sense of unity with the nature and with all those who already made the way of personal development. When the practice (keiko) started, we are absorbed by the living study of the Aikido’s movements and everything else is forgotten. Practicing the spontaneously manifestation of the Aikido’s principles, we experience our own natural existential state. In the end of practice we feel reinvigorated and refreshed.
(Extract from “The spiritual fundaments of the way of harmony” by William Gleason.)
The Aikido dojo exists today thanks to the efforts of those who have created and protected the Way since the antiquity. In modern times this spirit was relit thanks to the spiritual genius, dedication and enlightenment of Morihei Ueshiba sensei. The Dojo is not a sport hall or a place for the exhibition of the ego. It is a space which solicits sincerity, respect and humility – essential qualities for the safety and progress of each student.
For the goal of not making errors on the Way, the students have to be trusty to the obligations regarding themselves, regarding their colleagues, instructor, dojo and Aikido itself. In the times of O-sensei, the internal students (uci-deshi) took care of the dojo and the master’s needs, day and night. Their way of life was always in front of the master’s eyes. But today, the time spent inside the dojo represents few hours per day. In this agitated times it is necessary a serious implication in practice.
Aikido can not be practiced from a conceptual perspective. We use the real resistance of a partner to study the resolution of conflicts. In Aikido, like in Zen, even the sudden intuitions can be useful to us, though they can not ensure a permanent ability or a deep understanding and the experience teaches us to do not attach ourselves to them; they represent only the crest of the development’s wave.
More important is the daily implication which builds the body and mind. Aikido’s objective is not an unexpected revelation but constantly leaving starting from hara: to experience everything in our life with our full body and mind and to manifest the joy and wonder of the natural existential state. It is not a walk-through searching for an individual and illusory salvation. Aikido is a spiritual Way which demands years to exert and manifest itself, not only in technique but in our whole being. The constant practice is necessary in order for our spirit and understanding of Aikido to be able to grow inside us. The external observatories of Aikido are often surprised to see students practicing seriously, even if just in a friendly manner. An excessive chatter on the tatami is not acceptable. The words are not taboo but they do not have to interrupt the isshin-den-shin, the intuitive and direct transmission between the teacher and the students.
The tradition of the Orient is usually not only verbal but the words have their weight as guiding lines for the students. The verbal explanations can never communicate the effective experience (“The way you can speak about is not a correct one.”), but, for the westerners used to detailed explanations, the non-verbal teaching might seem unacceptable. Even in Japan, very few persons still manage today to follow an exclusively non-verbal path.
The direct transmission is possible only when the student receives constantly a personal attention from the teacher. In other words, it is difficult to teach Aikido for big groups. The verbal teachings, even if not completely understood by the student in that moment, bring in his mind the realization of the basic principles. This leads us to the use of the apparently paradoxical questions (koan) in Zen practice. Either in Zen, or Aikido, the realization of the meaning behind the words depends on the continuity in practice and meditation.
In Aikido there are many precious “key” experiences: the examples include “ashi mimi” (the ear of your own foot), “ashi moto” (in the forehead of your own foot), “koshi ga suwaru” (being well implanted in the earth), “chikara wo nuku” (to loose your own rigidity). These are very short explanations and, immediately transmitted, help the student understanding the correct working manner. Even the direct transmission is often made easier by a well chosen word or phrase which makes the student to go through the solution of a difficult problem. Even trying to understand the teachings of the ancient masters helps the students to go deeper to their own experiences.
The verbal teachings provide a fundament of comparing for the validation of own experiences. We can also tell this using the Buddhist saying of Hee-Jin Kim: “Despite the inherent fragility of their composition, the words are bricks of the supreme truth”. Speaking and turning onto outside in order to help the others, it is realized the ki of fire, which is balanced with the inner development, the ki of water. We should become like the Shinto deity Omotaru no Kami which constantly radiates spiritual energy to others, but remaining full and complete inside us.
The ceremonial aspect serves in dominating the arrogance. If we are excessively trustful or arrogant, we will be easily defeated. Aikido requires that you receive the attack of our opponent and unite with it in such a way to do not have weak points that can be attacked; and also, when is necessary, to be able to roll without problems. This is the art of Ukemi. You have to receive the attack of your partner with an open defense but impenetrable. Calm a sensitive consciousness, devoid by arrogance and aggressiveness, is developed through the observation of the opportune etiquette. Bowing correctly, for example, it helps not only to eliminate the attachment to the close centralism of the ego, but it will teach you also the correct distance and the calculation of times (“ma-ai”), developing precaution and discernment. We should not bow too much when the ma-ai is too short. This shows lack of respect towards the partner and invites him to attack.
Entering the dojo, each person bows from standing, towards the side (shomen) were the altar is. A salute is properly done to the master, to the elder practitioners and to the others. When we leave we have to excuse ourselves. The recognition of the relationships between the elder practitioners and the young ones (senpai – kohai) is essential for the etiquette in the dojo. In the beginning of the lesson, the master and also the students, sitting formally (seiza) on their knees, bow towards the main side of the dojo, clapping their hands two times and bow again. In some cases, when the dojo is situated inside a Shinto sanctuary, everybody bows two times, claps his/her hands two times and then bows one more time. The three bowings symbolize the three fundaments: spirit, mind and body. The clapping of the hands is a symbol for the unity of the nature’s dynamic forces. Between other things, frees the mind from stasis. When the hands are united, the physical part (right hand) and the spiritual part (left hand) of our constitution, unite. In Buddhism the gesture is named gassho and is often accompanied by bowings; in Christianity is the form of praying. In Aikido, like also in Shinto, is known as Musubi, bounding together yin and yang.
Each movement in Aikido is a praying, a method to unite own volition with the universal volition. About this, the Founder, Ueshiba Morihei, said: “Aikido begins ritually and ends ritually”.
The Aikido Master, Yamaguchi Seigo, had already his eight degree black belt when I first met him. Ten years later, little before leaving Japan, I attended one of his seminars for the black belts (kuro obo kai). In that occasion, he gave to each student a brochure, from which introduction, I extracted the following fragments:
“At fifty years old, I begin to receive again the true difficulty of Aikido. Truly, this is necessary in order to maintain always alive the mind of the beginner. Only repeating with enthusiasm the things you learned, you will not be able in any way to obtain a real progress. It is true that, the old masters, like they are quoted, said that we have to train through continuously repetition but they did not refer only to the mechanical repetition. They said that we do not have only to be pleased with extirpating the bad habits. We have also to eradicate the good habits. Those bad, either in technique or life, are easily recognized by everybody. Even when they seem always to accompany us, they are relatively easy to correct.
When we become conscious of these one, they cause us relatively few problems. Comparing to these ones, presumably, for sure, our good habits are well defined attributes and represent real virtues. Their bad effect is rarely understood. It has no importance how good with think we are, we rather remain conscious that we are immature and imperfect! We should receive and critic with a feeling of modesty and without hard feelings. Concentrating to become strong and, in the same time, to maintain the mind of the beginner, is not at all a simple thing. Being strong and firm, without any toughness or rigidity, is the state of the true positive spirit, which accepts everything and, in the same time, does never lose the consciousness of its true existence”.
The deepness of these words makes clear the true spirit of Aikido. The beginner’s mind is innocent or little convinced. It means to know ourselves; to eliminate the doubts regarding the sense of or own existence. Ueshiba sensei said once:
“Exactly like you, I am also on the path of my own practice”.
At the same time, another time he said:
“Without me Aikido does not exist”.
Such an apparent contradiction can also be found in the words of the legendary Japanese swordsman, Musashi Miyamoto. He claimed he had no masters but said that anything is his master. The truth and the contradiction are inseparable.
Ueshiba sensei’s words:
“Takemusu aiki is the mind which makes stop all the different intellectual approaching. Is not about a passive or conceptual effort. The way of the Japanese warrior is the way of Gods. It is a manifestation of the divine creating work which gives life to the sky and earth. It is a manifestation of the God Izanagi and the Goddess Izanami, the ancestors of the humanity. The way takemusu aiki is to learn the law and order of the universe, the work of cosmos, directly from the divine consciousness of kannagara”.
There is no place, in the Aikido practice, for conceptualization and opinions: no kind of perfection, nothing right or wrong, only the reality of the experience. We cannot pretend to understand something but only if we effectively do that thing. Such an attitude stands at the basic of many traditional things of the Japanese society. It is very well expressed by this Zen koan: “When you meet in the street a Zen master, you cannot speak or stand in front of him quietly. What are you going to do then?”. The answer should have, more or less, this spirit: “Do not confront him neither with words nor with silence: punch him!”. In other words, you have to destroy Buddha; and this can be done only becoming yourselves a Buddha. In Aikido practice, the conflict and the confrontation against the ego are substituted by intuition and wisdom. To quote O-sensei:
“When the practitioner becomes fulfilled mentally and spiritually it is said that, “Hara ga dekite iru” – hara perfected itself”. In that moment there is no possibility of the irrationality as a way of resolving the difficulties. Through the Aikido practice life becomes a joy and deeply intuitive. We reach the point to appreciate the continuous process of self-development and we learn to see the immediate searching’s madness of the gratification or instantaneously success.
Each of us is the individual centre of the universe, we are the ones who create our own lives and each of us is responsible for any condition that we are in. If by some reason we are unhappy, we have to change ourselves. In Mahayana Buddhism, this decision of changing is named belief. This is the type of belief which comes only from experience and is total acceptance of our true nature, exactly how we are. In the esoteric Buddhism, this attitude of changing is named “the wisdom which cultivates the will to practice compassion”.
Friday, 3rd of April 2009
Keiko
The term Keiko (literally, to think in the ancient manner) means to perceive the way, directly and intuitively. Which is impossible for us before we free ourselves from the competitive mind and we do not overpass the idea of manipulating the others.
(Extract from “The spiritual fundaments of the way of harmony” by William Gleason.)
In the Japanese traditional sword schools, students were not permitted to fight anyone from outside their own dojo or school, before they received a competence degree. This served, in part, to avoid the impression the school was an inferior quality one but also to ensure the progresses of the students would not have been stopped by external pressures or competition.
The great goals of Aikido forbid this practice and, even the mentality of competing. A competitive mind creates obstacles in the subtle process of the accord. The competition requires rules to ensure the safety of the practitioners and, in this way, destroys a higher reality based on complete consciousness. Budo will never be able to become a form of sport. The proper respect also includes the consciousness of all the possibilities opened to your opponent in the moment when you attack. You have to be relaxed but, totally conscious, abandoning the physical rigidity and also the idea of success or failure.
In Zen practice, the absolute base of reality is perceived as “letting the body and mind fall”. A Zen monk was in front of the old Master Joshu and said: “If there is nothing in my mind, what do I have to do?”. Joshu answered: “Throw it!”. Letting “fall” your defensive attitude, relaxing your shoulders. Is also a mental fact. It is possible to have a flexible body but, confronting others, to become stiff or react irrationally. Letting “fall” the mental and physical resistance is one and the same thing and, this can not happen but only if we have a deep confidence in ourselves.
Step-by-step discovering a new type of inner strength makes possible getting rid of the old protective mechanisms of the ego. The capacity of remaining calm in a threatening situation requires spiritual strength, shortage of ego and reconciliation with our own nature.
Thursday, 2nd of April 2009
Ki
I present to you a translation of the first two chapters from Master Koichi Tohei’s “The book of Ki”, appeared in French edition at the Guy Tredaniei publishing house. I strongly recommend you buying this book. Also, here it is a link to an interesting site where, among others, some ki development techniques are presented:
http://www.bodymindandmodem.com/KiEx/KiEx.html
1. What is the Ki?
To extend the Ki
Let’s make a list with everything necessary for life: food, shelter, clothes, water, air. I did not forget anything? Yes, the Ki – something so fundamental that is often forgotten.
One man walks towards the sea, bends and takes a little water in his hands. “It is my water” he says. In a certain sense he is right, of course. The water is, temporary, his. Either he lets it leak between his fingers on the sand or it will evaporate, condensate and integrate into a cloud and fall as rain, “his water” will still return in the ocean.
The same is happening also with our lives. We circle a little piece from the Ki of the universe with our body and say: “It is me”. The Ki that gives us life is only a little piece from the Ki of the universe, the same as the water taken by our man belongs to the ocean.
Though, differently by the new represented for the passerby, bending to take salt water, receiving the vital strength is constant and spontaneous. Our personal Ki, inseparable from the Ki of the universe, is in constant relationship with this one. Is the essence of life: a mutual flux and tide between our Ki and the one of the universe. When the flux is strong and does not meet obstacles, we are healthy; when the flux temporary breaks, we become unconscious. When the flux stops completely and irreversible, we die.
A strong parallelism can be established with an automobile battery. In the same way a battery remains charged when the car frequently circulates, the Ki consumed by us during daily activities is replaced by the Ki of the universe. Starting a car abandoned for a long period of time has the same result like when we do not develop our Ki – a dead battery.
Periodically, of course, a battery has to be recharged. The same thing is also valid for our own Ki. This complete renewing of the Ki takes place during deep sleep, the only moment when the most part of people are capable to truly relax. The Ki of the universe is received by the brain during times of deep relaxation, when the signals of the electrical waves continuously sent by the brain, become regulate.
It is the reason for which, even nine or ten hours of restless sleep represent a little utility for feeling rested, when five or six hours are enough if they are calmed and without problems. Sleep is the fundamental necessity of life. A man who has a strong Ki, can survive ten or twenty days without food but five days without sleep are enough to kill him. In Japanese, the word for this is kishi, death through shortage of Ki. During the history, a way proved to break the resistance of a prisoner, was to force him staying awake for long periods of time. Three days without sleep are normally enough to pull out the statement for the worst criminal.
For ten or fifteen years sleeping drugs have been in vogue. These drugs’ effect is the anesthesia of the brain. In this state, similar to death, the Ki of the universe can not provide for the personal Ki and the familiar signs of utilizing these drugs are: vitality shortage, depression and, finally, a precarious health. Evidently, these effects are not due to a corporal fatigue; the drugged body is usually like a cloth. No, these are the inexorable signs to an insufficiency of fresh Ki.
Let’s come back to our comparison to a battery: the new Ki flows in your body, as far as you develop your own Ki. The better you extend your Ki, he more efficient this “recharging moment” will become, making you capable to recover the physical and mental strength, with only a short nocturnal sleep.
If you want to live joyful and vigorously, you have first to learn develop your Ki, the last from the four fundamental principles to unify the spirit and the body.
Reduce infinitely
What is the universal Ki?
Watch the sky. The sun shines. In which state was it before shining? If we ask ourselves like this about all the things in the universe, inside an unending spiral of the questions, we approach something that it is nothing and, that still exists.
What were you before your birth? A fetus inside mother’s uterus. But before this? An union between paternal sperm with a maternal egg cell, of course. But before this? Your parents had neither sperm, nor egg cell, before they reach the puberty. Where wee you then?
The human being, like all the creatures or any other object, appears from “almost nothing”, from the invisible substance from which the universe is formed. It is the Ki. The Christians name it “God”. The Buddhists name it “Buddha” and the adherents of Soka Gakkai name it “ohonzan”. These are the names given in different languages and cultures in the same manner in which we say “te” in Japanese, to what in English is called “hand”. In the beginning, the absolute universe was one. Two forces appeared and the relative world was born. We have the tendency to think that the relative world, which we see and hear around us, is the only one, forgetting about the absolute world, which is behind it. The absolute quantity of Ki in the universe is constant an in permanent circulation. In the Buddhist teachings it is said: “Nothing is born, nothing is annihilated. Nothing is dirty, nothing is immaculate. Nothing is growing. Nothing is receding”.
In 1974, for six weeks, I have conducted a seminar, during the summer session of Fullerton College, in California. The school created a new course named “The development of the Ki”. “The development of the Ki” is a bridge between psychology, which takes thought exclusively of spirit, and physical education, which takes care exclusively of the body. Finally, the body and the spirit are one – there is no difference between them. The spirit is the body delimited, the body is the spirit not delimited. It is without sense to consider them as two different things.
I have tried during several years to introduce The Unification of the Spirit and Body in the academic environment. No college from Japan listened to me. But in USA, the University from Hawaii and the Lewis and Clark College, paid me attention and the Fullerton College went so far that started a new course. More than three hundred persons participated in my first seminar – doctors, jurists, teachers and students. Doctors Gunther and Geaorge Bread from South Dakota University’s psychology department and doctor and Mrs. Melvin from Pennsylvania University’s physics and music departments also participated. In the audience were also Doctor Steve Simon (philosophy) and Doctor Lau San Tsai (psychology) from Fullerton College. Doctor Tsai fostered together one dog, one cat and one mouse and the experiment was the subject of an article in Life Magazine. It ironically commented the incapacity of the human beings to live together, while dogs and cats can do it. It was proposed for the Nobel Prize.
I was leading the development of Ki’s courses and the Aikido classes in the big gymnasium of the school and, every day, at lunch time, I was organizing reunions to answer questions, even though, obviously, I have never tried to teach classes for the academic teachers. One day, Doctor Melvin asked me: “Sound and light can be mathematically expressed? Is it possible to do the same with the Ki? Has anybody done this?”.
I knew from the way he asked that he was considering the Ki in terms of vibrations per second and that he missed its fundamental nature. Thus I decided to explain him using the only possible mathematical terms: “Yes” I said, “it is possible”. “Indeed, someone gave already a mathematical explanation of the Ki”.
“Oh” said Doctor Melvin, “who?”.
“Me” I answered smiling. Everybody laughed.
The teacher continued, seriously: Then, can you give a mathematical explanation of the Ki?”.
“Of course. The fundamental entity in mathematics is the digit 1, isn’t it?”.
Doctor Melvin agreed.
“The universe is one. Human is one. A stone is one. All of these can be represented with the digit 1.”. I lifted a finger. “This is one. If I reduce it to a half, what will remain will still be one. If I will reduce it to half infinitely, will it ever become zero?”.
“No” the teacher said.
“It does not become zero. If it is one, half always exists. The Ki is the infinitely multitude of these infinitely small particles.”.
Everybody applauded. It was not what Doctor Melvin expected, but it surely was a mathematical explanation.
It is the subject of a very difficult passage from an old Buddhist text, Hanya Shingyo. Expressed in words, the idea is very difficult to be caught but, expressed in this mathematical form, can be understood even by a child.
Mrs. Melvin, the music teacher, endowed with a good intuition, was satisfied. Her husband though, was perplexed: “It is very difficult”, he commented, “to calculate an infinitely multitude”. Everybody smiled.
The positive using of the spirit
The Ki is the fundamental unity of the universe. Is the infinitely multitude of the infinitely small particles. Each thing is, in last instance, composed from Ki. If you follow this concept so far as the deepness of the human consciousness, you will understand the universal spirit that governs the whole creation, loving and protecting the life. The understanding of the universal spirit is fundamental in order to achieve a spirit of peace and unity with the nature.
Today, the human species, in its abandon from the principles and concepts of the relative world, is on its way to miscarry. Its only hope is to manage to perceive the absolute world which is behind the relative one, to understand the principle of Ki.
Everything has, as origin, the Ki of the universe. The interaction of two opposite forces created the relative world we are also living in. These forces are named Yin and Yang, in the Far East, positive and negative in the West. Edison said that universe is made from electricity. He was speaking about what it is the basic of electricity which supplies our domestic installations – the Ki of the universe. In the same way in which nothing can not emanate from nothing, it is false to say that the electricity is “produced” by generators. This power exists all the time. We call it “electricity” when is captured by a generating group, in a form that we may perceive with the five sense.
The electricity is composed by the negative force and the positive force. The same is also the personal Ki. The Ki of the universe is a whole, without component parts. But, the Ki gets, through the human brain, either a positive character or a negative character. The wall’s side exposed to the light is bright; the other side is dark. The two parts, of course, constitute the “real” wall. It can not be said that one part of the wall is more authentic than the other. It is correct to say that God is synonym with love. It is justifiable to say that the universe is merciless. Everything depends on our point of view. If you want to live a pleasant, vigorous and healthy life, you have to watch the bright side. If you are attracted by sadness and suffering, you watch the dark side. If you want to go south than you go south. You will not reach there continuing to go north. You can spend your life crying or smiling. It is up to you. If you want to watch the positive side of things, you have to believe that, the way of the universe is a way of love. You have to use your spirit in a positive way and to develop your Ki. If, on the other hand, you want to watch the negative side of life, the way is in front of you: believe that the source of life is merciless, use your spirit in a negative way, lament and create obstacles for the Ki.
If you want to strengthen your Ki, the physical power and resistance and to manage in your life’s undertakings, you have to force yourselves in becoming one with the Ki of the universe.
A charge of fresh Ki enters in your body when you increase your Ki. But is necessary to use your spirit in a positive way and increase your Ki. It is essential to coordinate your spirit and body in order to become one with the Ki of the universe. The unification of the spirit and body is the fundament of an edifice, the root of a tree. A skyscraper can be built only on firm foundations. A tall oak with many branches, is only a poetic idea if it does not also have strong roots. The modern man miscarries because he tries to produce flowers before his roots are developed. If you want to live a vigorous life, you have first to force yourselves to unify your spirit and body.
2. The four fundamental principles to reunite the spirit and the body
The majority of the people, without examining to much the subject, consider the iceberg being the scrap of ice which flows on the ocean’s surface. Because they cannot see, they forget about the 85% percent which are bellow. In the same way, many people measure the power of a man after his physical strength. Because they can not see it, they forget about the more enormous power of the spirit.
But, the same as an iceberg is formed from visible and invisible elements, the real power of the man is that of the spirit and the body. Only when we unify our spirit and body, we can use our true power, the power of the Ki.
An old Japanese story speaks of a thin woman whose house was on fire. Because the fire was extending, she took an enormous chest having inside everything precious for the family and took outside the house. After the fire was extinguished he tried to take the chest back in house but she was not able to move it. Almost everybody heard about things like this. During the fire, the old woman was capable to coordinate her spirit and body and to use her true power. But after the danger, the coordination between the spirit and the body disappeared and the weakness of the old age reappeared.
Even if they drink impure water, the soldiers on the battle field have no digestive problem. More than once, during the Second World War, on the battle fields in China, I ate rice which was washed in the river’s water, without any kind of intestinal problems.
If people do things like this in normal circumstances, they become sick very quickly.
The marathon runners, when they approach the end line, are close to unify the spirit and body, because they develop their Ki. But, once the race is finished they stop developing their Ki. The spirit and the body separate so completely, that often they can not even stand. Everybody recognizes the enormous difference which is between the separation of the spirit and the body and the coordination of the spirit and the body.
Why so few people unify them? Because, although they consider this impressive or important, they think the unification of the spirit and the body is over their capacities. The spirit has no color, form or limits. The body is substantial and finite. Unifying things so different seems impossible, especially in the daily life. Anguishes and problems appear from everywhere in order to stop touching this goal. “Buddha and Jesus were capable of doing it”, says the normal person, “but not me”.
But, the unification of the spirit and the body is not at all difficult. It seems that way because people think about spirit and body in completely different terms. But both have, as origin, the Ki of the universe and they are, definitively, one and the same. Why it should be so difficult to unify that which, in a fundamental manner, is the same?
Calming the spirit
A watery body, in his natural state, is without undulations. Put a little bit of water inside a stable recipient and it will remain calm. If you think about tides and storms, you will have the crazy idea hat the normal state of the water is with undulations and then you will put your hand inside to calm it, what it has to happen.
The water becomes agitated, exactly the opposite of what you wish.
What is the spirit? The brain constantly emits electromagnetic vibrations – we usually name them “brain waves”. These waves are sent as long as the brain is alive. If you live from the premise that your spirit is agitated, the waves cannot become regulate and you will strive for nothing to calm them. The order given to the brain to calm it self, also produces waves. If you think you are completely calm, this thought also creates waves. You can not unify your spirit and body – becoming one with the Ki of the universe – if you continuously disturb the brain waves with thoughts.
First, you have to think that the fundamental state of the spirit is calmness. Think about a wave. Half calm it. Continue indefinitely this process and the wave will become indefinitely calm. But it will not become zero. The Ki of the universe resides in infinite, never touching zero. If you stop the movement of the wave at zero, it will loose its dynamism. It becomes zero. It is the calmness of death. The living calmness is infinitely dynamic and contains an infinitely power. The calmness of death is without vital strength and it does not contain power. They are completely different. You have to keep your spirit on the path of the little infinite. It is the calmness. Is the unification of the spirit and the body.
But, speaking is easy. What it matters is how to do it. The modern time does not lend to the zazen practice in the mountains, for ten or twenty years. The discipline of the spirit and body which cannot be applied in your daily life, is pointless. Through a life of experiences and metaphysic trainings, I managed to establish four fundamental principles, which, I feel it, have to make anyone capable of unifying his spirit and body in daily life.
Dojo’s schedule
Between 22.04.2009 – 04.05.2009 I will not be able to be present at the dojo, so, the trainings will be led by Master G. The schedule remains unchanged, except the day 24.04.2009 when there will be no practice because the dojo is not available..
Tuesday, 14th of April 2009
The seminar in Sovata, 10th – 12th of April 2009
I just came back from the seminar in Sovata, organized by our friend Florin (dojo-cho in Reghin and Targu-Mures), where I had a very good time. The organization was extraordinary and I want to thank Florin again for his really remarkable efforts and the participation was the same. Probably – I do not have yet the exact data – there wee around 140 Aikido practitioners, children and adults. Adding also the children’s escorts, the deployment of forces was impressive.
Both daily practices were inspired by Dorin Marchis sensei, who knew how to drive us and make us give our most on the tatami, thus the ones present felt the enthusiasm and pleasure of the practice. There was also an examination session where we had the pleasure to see only well prepared people, both technically and physically. Congratulations for Ciprian (sandan, Pitesti), Laura, Oana and Marius (nidan, Cluj), Bogan (shodan, Cluj) and Nicu (shodan, Pitesti).
There are also regrets because the seminar ended quickly but we wait with impatience next occasion to meet all in May, in Cluj, to practice under the leading of Master Fukakusa Motohiro (nanadan, Japan).
Tuesday, 7th of April 2009
The spirit of the Dojo
The Dojo (the place for practicing the Way) exists as a fix ambient for practice and for the manifestation of the attitudes previously described. Either standing or sitting in the formal position (seiza), only in this sacred place, the student experiences a great peace, a sense of unity with the nature and with all those who already made the way of personal development. When the practice (keiko) started, we are absorbed by the living study of the Aikido’s movements and everything else is forgotten. Practicing the spontaneously manifestation of the Aikido’s principles, we experience our own natural existential state. In the end of practice we feel reinvigorated and refreshed.
(Extract from “The spiritual fundaments of the way of harmony” by William Gleason.)
The Aikido dojo exists today thanks to the efforts of those who have created and protected the Way since the antiquity. In modern times this spirit was relit thanks to the spiritual genius, dedication and enlightenment of Morihei Ueshiba sensei. The Dojo is not a sport hall or a place for the exhibition of the ego. It is a space which solicits sincerity, respect and humility – essential qualities for the safety and progress of each student.
For the goal of not making errors on the Way, the students have to be trusty to the obligations regarding themselves, regarding their colleagues, instructor, dojo and Aikido itself. In the times of O-sensei, the internal students (uci-deshi) took care of the dojo and the master’s needs, day and night. Their way of life was always in front of the master’s eyes. But today, the time spent inside the dojo represents few hours per day. In this agitated times it is necessary a serious implication in practice.
Aikido can not be practiced from a conceptual perspective. We use the real resistance of a partner to study the resolution of conflicts. In Aikido, like in Zen, even the sudden intuitions can be useful to us, though they can not ensure a permanent ability or a deep understanding and the experience teaches us to do not attach ourselves to them; they represent only the crest of the development’s wave.
More important is the daily implication which builds the body and mind. Aikido’s objective is not an unexpected revelation but constantly leaving starting from hara: to experience everything in our life with our full body and mind and to manifest the joy and wonder of the natural existential state. It is not a walk-through searching for an individual and illusory salvation. Aikido is a spiritual Way which demands years to exert and manifest itself, not only in technique but in our whole being. The constant practice is necessary in order for our spirit and understanding of Aikido to be able to grow inside us. The external observatories of Aikido are often surprised to see students practicing seriously, even if just in a friendly manner. An excessive chatter on the tatami is not acceptable. The words are not taboo but they do not have to interrupt the isshin-den-shin, the intuitive and direct transmission between the teacher and the students.
The tradition of the Orient is usually not only verbal but the words have their weight as guiding lines for the students. The verbal explanations can never communicate the effective experience (“The way you can speak about is not a correct one.”), but, for the westerners used to detailed explanations, the non-verbal teaching might seem unacceptable. Even in Japan, very few persons still manage today to follow an exclusively non-verbal path.
The direct transmission is possible only when the student receives constantly a personal attention from the teacher. In other words, it is difficult to teach Aikido for big groups. The verbal teachings, even if not completely understood by the student in that moment, bring in his mind the realization of the basic principles. This leads us to the use of the apparently paradoxical questions (koan) in Zen practice. Either in Zen, or Aikido, the realization of the meaning behind the words depends on the continuity in practice and meditation.
In Aikido there are many precious “key” experiences: the examples include “ashi mimi” (the ear of your own foot), “ashi moto” (in the forehead of your own foot), “koshi ga suwaru” (being well implanted in the earth), “chikara wo nuku” (to loose your own rigidity). These are very short explanations and, immediately transmitted, help the student understanding the correct working manner. Even the direct transmission is often made easier by a well chosen word or phrase which makes the student to go through the solution of a difficult problem. Even trying to understand the teachings of the ancient masters helps the students to go deeper to their own experiences.
The verbal teachings provide a fundament of comparing for the validation of own experiences. We can also tell this using the Buddhist saying of Hee-Jin Kim: “Despite the inherent fragility of their composition, the words are bricks of the supreme truth”. Speaking and turning onto outside in order to help the others, it is realized the ki of fire, which is balanced with the inner development, the ki of water. We should become like the Shinto deity Omotaru no Kami which constantly radiates spiritual energy to others, but remaining full and complete inside us.
The ceremonial aspect serves in dominating the arrogance. If we are excessively trustful or arrogant, we will be easily defeated. Aikido requires that you receive the attack of our opponent and unite with it in such a way to do not have weak points that can be attacked; and also, when is necessary, to be able to roll without problems. This is the art of Ukemi. You have to receive the attack of your partner with an open defense but impenetrable. Calm a sensitive consciousness, devoid by arrogance and aggressiveness, is developed through the observation of the opportune etiquette. Bowing correctly, for example, it helps not only to eliminate the attachment to the close centralism of the ego, but it will teach you also the correct distance and the calculation of times (“ma-ai”), developing precaution and discernment. We should not bow too much when the ma-ai is too short. This shows lack of respect towards the partner and invites him to attack.
Entering the dojo, each person bows from standing, towards the side (shomen) were the altar is. A salute is properly done to the master, to the elder practitioners and to the others. When we leave we have to excuse ourselves. The recognition of the relationships between the elder practitioners and the young ones (senpai – kohai) is essential for the etiquette in the dojo. In the beginning of the lesson, the master and also the students, sitting formally (seiza) on their knees, bow towards the main side of the dojo, clapping their hands two times and bow again. In some cases, when the dojo is situated inside a Shinto sanctuary, everybody bows two times, claps his/her hands two times and then bows one more time. The three bowings symbolize the three fundaments: spirit, mind and body. The clapping of the hands is a symbol for the unity of the nature’s dynamic forces. Between other things, frees the mind from stasis. When the hands are united, the physical part (right hand) and the spiritual part (left hand) of our constitution, unite. In Buddhism the gesture is named gassho and is often accompanied by bowings; in Christianity is the form of praying. In Aikido, like also in Shinto, is known as Musubi, bounding together yin and yang.
Each movement in Aikido is a praying, a method to unite own volition with the universal volition. About this, the Founder, Ueshiba Morihei, said: “Aikido begins ritually and ends ritually”.
The Aikido Master, Yamaguchi Seigo, had already his eight degree black belt when I first met him. Ten years later, little before leaving Japan, I attended one of his seminars for the black belts (kuro obo kai). In that occasion, he gave to each student a brochure, from which introduction, I extracted the following fragments:
“At fifty years old, I begin to receive again the true difficulty of Aikido. Truly, this is necessary in order to maintain always alive the mind of the beginner. Only repeating with enthusiasm the things you learned, you will not be able in any way to obtain a real progress. It is true that, the old masters, like they are quoted, said that we have to train through continuously repetition but they did not refer only to the mechanical repetition. They said that we do not have only to be pleased with extirpating the bad habits. We have also to eradicate the good habits. Those bad, either in technique or life, are easily recognized by everybody. Even when they seem always to accompany us, they are relatively easy to correct.
When we become conscious of these one, they cause us relatively few problems. Comparing to these ones, presumably, for sure, our good habits are well defined attributes and represent real virtues. Their bad effect is rarely understood. It has no importance how good with think we are, we rather remain conscious that we are immature and imperfect! We should receive and critic with a feeling of modesty and without hard feelings. Concentrating to become strong and, in the same time, to maintain the mind of the beginner, is not at all a simple thing. Being strong and firm, without any toughness or rigidity, is the state of the true positive spirit, which accepts everything and, in the same time, does never lose the consciousness of its true existence”.
The deepness of these words makes clear the true spirit of Aikido. The beginner’s mind is innocent or little convinced. It means to know ourselves; to eliminate the doubts regarding the sense of or own existence. Ueshiba sensei said once:
“Exactly like you, I am also on the path of my own practice”.
At the same time, another time he said:
“Without me Aikido does not exist”.
Such an apparent contradiction can also be found in the words of the legendary Japanese swordsman, Musashi Miyamoto. He claimed he had no masters but said that anything is his master. The truth and the contradiction are inseparable.
Ueshiba sensei’s words:
“Takemusu aiki is the mind which makes stop all the different intellectual approaching. Is not about a passive or conceptual effort. The way of the Japanese warrior is the way of Gods. It is a manifestation of the divine creating work which gives life to the sky and earth. It is a manifestation of the God Izanagi and the Goddess Izanami, the ancestors of the humanity. The way takemusu aiki is to learn the law and order of the universe, the work of cosmos, directly from the divine consciousness of kannagara”.
There is no place, in the Aikido practice, for conceptualization and opinions: no kind of perfection, nothing right or wrong, only the reality of the experience. We cannot pretend to understand something but only if we effectively do that thing. Such an attitude stands at the basic of many traditional things of the Japanese society. It is very well expressed by this Zen koan: “When you meet in the street a Zen master, you cannot speak or stand in front of him quietly. What are you going to do then?”. The answer should have, more or less, this spirit: “Do not confront him neither with words nor with silence: punch him!”. In other words, you have to destroy Buddha; and this can be done only becoming yourselves a Buddha. In Aikido practice, the conflict and the confrontation against the ego are substituted by intuition and wisdom. To quote O-sensei:
“When the practitioner becomes fulfilled mentally and spiritually it is said that, “Hara ga dekite iru” – hara perfected itself”. In that moment there is no possibility of the irrationality as a way of resolving the difficulties. Through the Aikido practice life becomes a joy and deeply intuitive. We reach the point to appreciate the continuous process of self-development and we learn to see the immediate searching’s madness of the gratification or instantaneously success.
Each of us is the individual centre of the universe, we are the ones who create our own lives and each of us is responsible for any condition that we are in. If by some reason we are unhappy, we have to change ourselves. In Mahayana Buddhism, this decision of changing is named belief. This is the type of belief which comes only from experience and is total acceptance of our true nature, exactly how we are. In the esoteric Buddhism, this attitude of changing is named “the wisdom which cultivates the will to practice compassion”.
Friday, 3rd of April 2009
Keiko
The term Keiko (literally, to think in the ancient manner) means to perceive the way, directly and intuitively. Which is impossible for us before we free ourselves from the competitive mind and we do not overpass the idea of manipulating the others.
(Extract from “The spiritual fundaments of the way of harmony” by William Gleason.)
In the Japanese traditional sword schools, students were not permitted to fight anyone from outside their own dojo or school, before they received a competence degree. This served, in part, to avoid the impression the school was an inferior quality one but also to ensure the progresses of the students would not have been stopped by external pressures or competition.
The great goals of Aikido forbid this practice and, even the mentality of competing. A competitive mind creates obstacles in the subtle process of the accord. The competition requires rules to ensure the safety of the practitioners and, in this way, destroys a higher reality based on complete consciousness. Budo will never be able to become a form of sport. The proper respect also includes the consciousness of all the possibilities opened to your opponent in the moment when you attack. You have to be relaxed but, totally conscious, abandoning the physical rigidity and also the idea of success or failure.
In Zen practice, the absolute base of reality is perceived as “letting the body and mind fall”. A Zen monk was in front of the old Master Joshu and said: “If there is nothing in my mind, what do I have to do?”. Joshu answered: “Throw it!”. Letting “fall” your defensive attitude, relaxing your shoulders. Is also a mental fact. It is possible to have a flexible body but, confronting others, to become stiff or react irrationally. Letting “fall” the mental and physical resistance is one and the same thing and, this can not happen but only if we have a deep confidence in ourselves.
Step-by-step discovering a new type of inner strength makes possible getting rid of the old protective mechanisms of the ego. The capacity of remaining calm in a threatening situation requires spiritual strength, shortage of ego and reconciliation with our own nature.
Thursday, 2nd of April 2009
Ki
I present to you a translation of the first two chapters from Master Koichi Tohei’s “The book of Ki”, appeared in French edition at the Guy Tredaniei publishing house. I strongly recommend you buying this book. Also, here it is a link to an interesting site where, among others, some ki development techniques are presented:
http://www.bodymindandmodem.com/KiEx/KiEx.html
1. What is the Ki?
To extend the Ki
Let’s make a list with everything necessary for life: food, shelter, clothes, water, air. I did not forget anything? Yes, the Ki – something so fundamental that is often forgotten.
One man walks towards the sea, bends and takes a little water in his hands. “It is my water” he says. In a certain sense he is right, of course. The water is, temporary, his. Either he lets it leak between his fingers on the sand or it will evaporate, condensate and integrate into a cloud and fall as rain, “his water” will still return in the ocean.
The same is happening also with our lives. We circle a little piece from the Ki of the universe with our body and say: “It is me”. The Ki that gives us life is only a little piece from the Ki of the universe, the same as the water taken by our man belongs to the ocean.
Though, differently by the new represented for the passerby, bending to take salt water, receiving the vital strength is constant and spontaneous. Our personal Ki, inseparable from the Ki of the universe, is in constant relationship with this one. Is the essence of life: a mutual flux and tide between our Ki and the one of the universe. When the flux is strong and does not meet obstacles, we are healthy; when the flux temporary breaks, we become unconscious. When the flux stops completely and irreversible, we die.
A strong parallelism can be established with an automobile battery. In the same way a battery remains charged when the car frequently circulates, the Ki consumed by us during daily activities is replaced by the Ki of the universe. Starting a car abandoned for a long period of time has the same result like when we do not develop our Ki – a dead battery.
Periodically, of course, a battery has to be recharged. The same thing is also valid for our own Ki. This complete renewing of the Ki takes place during deep sleep, the only moment when the most part of people are capable to truly relax. The Ki of the universe is received by the brain during times of deep relaxation, when the signals of the electrical waves continuously sent by the brain, become regulate.
It is the reason for which, even nine or ten hours of restless sleep represent a little utility for feeling rested, when five or six hours are enough if they are calmed and without problems. Sleep is the fundamental necessity of life. A man who has a strong Ki, can survive ten or twenty days without food but five days without sleep are enough to kill him. In Japanese, the word for this is kishi, death through shortage of Ki. During the history, a way proved to break the resistance of a prisoner, was to force him staying awake for long periods of time. Three days without sleep are normally enough to pull out the statement for the worst criminal.
For ten or fifteen years sleeping drugs have been in vogue. These drugs’ effect is the anesthesia of the brain. In this state, similar to death, the Ki of the universe can not provide for the personal Ki and the familiar signs of utilizing these drugs are: vitality shortage, depression and, finally, a precarious health. Evidently, these effects are not due to a corporal fatigue; the drugged body is usually like a cloth. No, these are the inexorable signs to an insufficiency of fresh Ki.
Let’s come back to our comparison to a battery: the new Ki flows in your body, as far as you develop your own Ki. The better you extend your Ki, he more efficient this “recharging moment” will become, making you capable to recover the physical and mental strength, with only a short nocturnal sleep.
If you want to live joyful and vigorously, you have first to learn develop your Ki, the last from the four fundamental principles to unify the spirit and the body.
Reduce infinitely
What is the universal Ki?
Watch the sky. The sun shines. In which state was it before shining? If we ask ourselves like this about all the things in the universe, inside an unending spiral of the questions, we approach something that it is nothing and, that still exists.
What were you before your birth? A fetus inside mother’s uterus. But before this? An union between paternal sperm with a maternal egg cell, of course. But before this? Your parents had neither sperm, nor egg cell, before they reach the puberty. Where wee you then?
The human being, like all the creatures or any other object, appears from “almost nothing”, from the invisible substance from which the universe is formed. It is the Ki. The Christians name it “God”. The Buddhists name it “Buddha” and the adherents of Soka Gakkai name it “ohonzan”. These are the names given in different languages and cultures in the same manner in which we say “te” in Japanese, to what in English is called “hand”. In the beginning, the absolute universe was one. Two forces appeared and the relative world was born. We have the tendency to think that the relative world, which we see and hear around us, is the only one, forgetting about the absolute world, which is behind it. The absolute quantity of Ki in the universe is constant an in permanent circulation. In the Buddhist teachings it is said: “Nothing is born, nothing is annihilated. Nothing is dirty, nothing is immaculate. Nothing is growing. Nothing is receding”.
In 1974, for six weeks, I have conducted a seminar, during the summer session of Fullerton College, in California. The school created a new course named “The development of the Ki”. “The development of the Ki” is a bridge between psychology, which takes thought exclusively of spirit, and physical education, which takes care exclusively of the body. Finally, the body and the spirit are one – there is no difference between them. The spirit is the body delimited, the body is the spirit not delimited. It is without sense to consider them as two different things.
I have tried during several years to introduce The Unification of the Spirit and Body in the academic environment. No college from Japan listened to me. But in USA, the University from Hawaii and the Lewis and Clark College, paid me attention and the Fullerton College went so far that started a new course. More than three hundred persons participated in my first seminar – doctors, jurists, teachers and students. Doctors Gunther and Geaorge Bread from South Dakota University’s psychology department and doctor and Mrs. Melvin from Pennsylvania University’s physics and music departments also participated. In the audience were also Doctor Steve Simon (philosophy) and Doctor Lau San Tsai (psychology) from Fullerton College. Doctor Tsai fostered together one dog, one cat and one mouse and the experiment was the subject of an article in Life Magazine. It ironically commented the incapacity of the human beings to live together, while dogs and cats can do it. It was proposed for the Nobel Prize.
I was leading the development of Ki’s courses and the Aikido classes in the big gymnasium of the school and, every day, at lunch time, I was organizing reunions to answer questions, even though, obviously, I have never tried to teach classes for the academic teachers. One day, Doctor Melvin asked me: “Sound and light can be mathematically expressed? Is it possible to do the same with the Ki? Has anybody done this?”.
I knew from the way he asked that he was considering the Ki in terms of vibrations per second and that he missed its fundamental nature. Thus I decided to explain him using the only possible mathematical terms: “Yes” I said, “it is possible”. “Indeed, someone gave already a mathematical explanation of the Ki”.
“Oh” said Doctor Melvin, “who?”.
“Me” I answered smiling. Everybody laughed.
The teacher continued, seriously: Then, can you give a mathematical explanation of the Ki?”.
“Of course. The fundamental entity in mathematics is the digit 1, isn’t it?”.
Doctor Melvin agreed.
“The universe is one. Human is one. A stone is one. All of these can be represented with the digit 1.”. I lifted a finger. “This is one. If I reduce it to a half, what will remain will still be one. If I will reduce it to half infinitely, will it ever become zero?”.
“No” the teacher said.
“It does not become zero. If it is one, half always exists. The Ki is the infinitely multitude of these infinitely small particles.”.
Everybody applauded. It was not what Doctor Melvin expected, but it surely was a mathematical explanation.
It is the subject of a very difficult passage from an old Buddhist text, Hanya Shingyo. Expressed in words, the idea is very difficult to be caught but, expressed in this mathematical form, can be understood even by a child.
Mrs. Melvin, the music teacher, endowed with a good intuition, was satisfied. Her husband though, was perplexed: “It is very difficult”, he commented, “to calculate an infinitely multitude”. Everybody smiled.
The positive using of the spirit
The Ki is the fundamental unity of the universe. Is the infinitely multitude of the infinitely small particles. Each thing is, in last instance, composed from Ki. If you follow this concept so far as the deepness of the human consciousness, you will understand the universal spirit that governs the whole creation, loving and protecting the life. The understanding of the universal spirit is fundamental in order to achieve a spirit of peace and unity with the nature.
Today, the human species, in its abandon from the principles and concepts of the relative world, is on its way to miscarry. Its only hope is to manage to perceive the absolute world which is behind the relative one, to understand the principle of Ki.
Everything has, as origin, the Ki of the universe. The interaction of two opposite forces created the relative world we are also living in. These forces are named Yin and Yang, in the Far East, positive and negative in the West. Edison said that universe is made from electricity. He was speaking about what it is the basic of electricity which supplies our domestic installations – the Ki of the universe. In the same way in which nothing can not emanate from nothing, it is false to say that the electricity is “produced” by generators. This power exists all the time. We call it “electricity” when is captured by a generating group, in a form that we may perceive with the five sense.
The electricity is composed by the negative force and the positive force. The same is also the personal Ki. The Ki of the universe is a whole, without component parts. But, the Ki gets, through the human brain, either a positive character or a negative character. The wall’s side exposed to the light is bright; the other side is dark. The two parts, of course, constitute the “real” wall. It can not be said that one part of the wall is more authentic than the other. It is correct to say that God is synonym with love. It is justifiable to say that the universe is merciless. Everything depends on our point of view. If you want to live a pleasant, vigorous and healthy life, you have to watch the bright side. If you are attracted by sadness and suffering, you watch the dark side. If you want to go south than you go south. You will not reach there continuing to go north. You can spend your life crying or smiling. It is up to you. If you want to watch the positive side of things, you have to believe that, the way of the universe is a way of love. You have to use your spirit in a positive way and to develop your Ki. If, on the other hand, you want to watch the negative side of life, the way is in front of you: believe that the source of life is merciless, use your spirit in a negative way, lament and create obstacles for the Ki.
If you want to strengthen your Ki, the physical power and resistance and to manage in your life’s undertakings, you have to force yourselves in becoming one with the Ki of the universe.
A charge of fresh Ki enters in your body when you increase your Ki. But is necessary to use your spirit in a positive way and increase your Ki. It is essential to coordinate your spirit and body in order to become one with the Ki of the universe. The unification of the spirit and body is the fundament of an edifice, the root of a tree. A skyscraper can be built only on firm foundations. A tall oak with many branches, is only a poetic idea if it does not also have strong roots. The modern man miscarries because he tries to produce flowers before his roots are developed. If you want to live a vigorous life, you have first to force yourselves to unify your spirit and body.
2. The four fundamental principles to reunite the spirit and the body
The majority of the people, without examining to much the subject, consider the iceberg being the scrap of ice which flows on the ocean’s surface. Because they cannot see, they forget about the 85% percent which are bellow. In the same way, many people measure the power of a man after his physical strength. Because they can not see it, they forget about the more enormous power of the spirit.
But, the same as an iceberg is formed from visible and invisible elements, the real power of the man is that of the spirit and the body. Only when we unify our spirit and body, we can use our true power, the power of the Ki.
An old Japanese story speaks of a thin woman whose house was on fire. Because the fire was extending, she took an enormous chest having inside everything precious for the family and took outside the house. After the fire was extinguished he tried to take the chest back in house but she was not able to move it. Almost everybody heard about things like this. During the fire, the old woman was capable to coordinate her spirit and body and to use her true power. But after the danger, the coordination between the spirit and the body disappeared and the weakness of the old age reappeared.
Even if they drink impure water, the soldiers on the battle field have no digestive problem. More than once, during the Second World War, on the battle fields in China, I ate rice which was washed in the river’s water, without any kind of intestinal problems.
If people do things like this in normal circumstances, they become sick very quickly.
The marathon runners, when they approach the end line, are close to unify the spirit and body, because they develop their Ki. But, once the race is finished they stop developing their Ki. The spirit and the body separate so completely, that often they can not even stand. Everybody recognizes the enormous difference which is between the separation of the spirit and the body and the coordination of the spirit and the body.
Why so few people unify them? Because, although they consider this impressive or important, they think the unification of the spirit and the body is over their capacities. The spirit has no color, form or limits. The body is substantial and finite. Unifying things so different seems impossible, especially in the daily life. Anguishes and problems appear from everywhere in order to stop touching this goal. “Buddha and Jesus were capable of doing it”, says the normal person, “but not me”.
But, the unification of the spirit and the body is not at all difficult. It seems that way because people think about spirit and body in completely different terms. But both have, as origin, the Ki of the universe and they are, definitively, one and the same. Why it should be so difficult to unify that which, in a fundamental manner, is the same?
Calming the spirit
A watery body, in his natural state, is without undulations. Put a little bit of water inside a stable recipient and it will remain calm. If you think about tides and storms, you will have the crazy idea hat the normal state of the water is with undulations and then you will put your hand inside to calm it, what it has to happen.
The water becomes agitated, exactly the opposite of what you wish.
What is the spirit? The brain constantly emits electromagnetic vibrations – we usually name them “brain waves”. These waves are sent as long as the brain is alive. If you live from the premise that your spirit is agitated, the waves cannot become regulate and you will strive for nothing to calm them. The order given to the brain to calm it self, also produces waves. If you think you are completely calm, this thought also creates waves. You can not unify your spirit and body – becoming one with the Ki of the universe – if you continuously disturb the brain waves with thoughts.
First, you have to think that the fundamental state of the spirit is calmness. Think about a wave. Half calm it. Continue indefinitely this process and the wave will become indefinitely calm. But it will not become zero. The Ki of the universe resides in infinite, never touching zero. If you stop the movement of the wave at zero, it will loose its dynamism. It becomes zero. It is the calmness of death. The living calmness is infinitely dynamic and contains an infinitely power. The calmness of death is without vital strength and it does not contain power. They are completely different. You have to keep your spirit on the path of the little infinite. It is the calmness. Is the unification of the spirit and the body.
But, speaking is easy. What it matters is how to do it. The modern time does not lend to the zazen practice in the mountains, for ten or twenty years. The discipline of the spirit and body which cannot be applied in your daily life, is pointless. Through a life of experiences and metaphysic trainings, I managed to establish four fundamental principles, which, I feel it, have to make anyone capable of unifying his spirit and body in daily life.
joi, 2 februarie 2012
Hiroaki Izumi sensei
Asociatia "Aikido pentru toti" organizeaza un stagiu cu maestrul Hiroaki Izumi, 6 dan Aikikai Aikido in luna martia a anului 2012. Detalii despre stagiu la pagina de internet a acestei Asociatii : http://aiki4all.com/stagiu_izumi.html
Le multumim pentru informare si pentru invitatie prietenilor nostri si speram sa ne vedem in numar cat mai mare pe tatami, pentru o practica cat mai buna.
Le multumim pentru informare si pentru invitatie prietenilor nostri si speram sa ne vedem in numar cat mai mare pe tatami, pentru o practica cat mai buna.
Membri de onoare - Honorary members
Fundatia Romana de Aikido Aikikai, prin membrii sai, transmite si promoveaza Aikido, arta martiala creata de O Sensei Ueshiba Morihei. Aikido nu este numai o arta martiala ci si o Cale spirituala, care ii ajuta sa evolueze pe cei ce o parcurg.
Aikido nu este insa singura Cale prin care oamenii pot evolua; exista si altele, nu neaparat in domeniul artelor martiale. Cu siguranta insa exista o Cale potrivita pentru fiecare si este nevoie numai de aspiratia catre progres pentru a o cauta si a o gasi.
Pentru ca in Aikido incercam sa transmitem si valorile morale fundamentale, alaturi de tehnica, conducerea Fundatiei Romane de Aikido a decis sa acorde trei tipuri de distinctii, pentru acei oameni care, membri sau nu ai organizatiei, fac o diferenta prin ceea ce fac zi de zi.
Primul tip de distinctie, adresat numai membrilor Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai, este diploma de merit pentru intreaga activitate. Pana in prezent aceasta distinctie a fost acordata numai o singura data, lui Dan Viorel sensei, dojo-cho al Rakuten dojo.
Al doilea tip de distinctie - cea de membru de onoare al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai, se adreseaza atat practicantilor de Aikido cu merite deosebite indiferent de afilierea acestora cat si ne-practicantilor de Aikido care au merite deosebite in domeniile lor de activitate. Pana in prezent aceasta distinctie a fost acordata unui numar de sapte persoane : Fujita Masatake sensei - Aikikai Hombu Shihan, director tehnic al F.R.A.A. si mentor al organizatiei, Fukakusa Motohiro sensei - Aikikai Shihan si presedinte al Aikikai Thailanda, Yamada Jun - Aikikai Shihan si presedinte al Aikikai Malaezia, Fujii Koichi sensei - Aikikai Shihan si director tehnic al Aikikai Hokkaido, Agostino Pagano sensei - maestru al Aikikai Italia si un mare prieten al F.R.A.A., Igor Smhygin sensei - presedinte al Aikikai Ukraina si un foarte bun prieten al F.R.A.A. si maestrului Dan Puric - actor, scriitor, regizor, om de cultura si laureat al premiului anual al F.R.A.A.
Al treilea tip de distinctie este Premiul anual al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai, acordat acelor personalitati care, in domeniul lor de activitate, au rezultate deosebite si ii inspira pe cei din jurul lor si astfel contribuie in mod esential la ceea ce noi numim redesteptarea spiritului nostru national, european si universal. Aceasta distinctie a fost acordata pentru prima oara in anul 2010, maestrului Dan Puric si confera de asemenea, calitatea de membru de onoare al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai.
Toate distinctiile de mai sus sunt absolut onorifice, ele fiind acordate prin decizia conducerii F.R.A.A. si pot fi acceptate sau nu de catre cei nominalizati. Acceptarea acestor distinctii nu implica nici un fel de obligatii fata de F.R.A.A. ele fiind numai si numai dovada aprecierii noastre fata de aceste persoane, considerate deosebite de catre noi. Exista si pareri critice fata de aceasta initiativa, iar una dintre ele chiar mi se pare demna de a fi mentionata : s-a afirmat ca prin acordarea distinctiilor catre personalitati mult mai cunoscute de catre public decat Fundatia noastra, ca incercam astfel sa profitam de notorietatea acestora si, in acelasi timp subliniem lipsa de impact public a propriei noastre oragnizatii. Desi am respins aceasta idee in prima instanta, la o analiza ulterioara eram aproape de a fi de acord cu aceasta viziune. Un simplu fapt m-a impiedicat insa : impactul de care il dorim noi este cel din randul membrilor organizatiei noastre; ei sunt cei pe care dorim sa ii inspiram prin aceste personalitati, exemple in domeniile lor de activitate si / sau in practica Aikido. Daca si printre cei ce urmaresc activitatea F.R.A.A. vor fi oameni care vor aprecia ceea ce facem noi, cu atat mai bine.
Dupa aceasta lunga introducere care si-a propus sa prezinte distinctiile F.R.A.A. si filosofia care sta la baza acordarii lor, imi face mare placere sa anunt ca Premiul anual al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai pentru anul 2011 va fi acordat unei personalitati din domeniul afacerilor, cu o contributie absolut impresionanta in promovarea inteligentei romanesti, nu numai acasa ci in intreaga lume. Nu pot dezvalui numele laureatului deoarece acest privilegiu apartine site-ului F.R.A.A. insa pot spune ca aceasta distinctie va fi acordata in timpul stagiului de la Cluj ce il are ca invitat pe Kobayashi Yukimitsu sensei. Speram si intr-un speech motivational de la laureatul anului 2011.
De asemenea, imi face placere sa va informez ca in acest an Fundatia Romana de Aikido Aikikai a decis sa nominalizeze pentru distinctia de membri de onoare trei mari personalitati ale Aikido-ului, care au privilegiul a se se putea numi pionierii Aikido-ului din Romania. Iarasi nu am sa dezvalui numele acestora, insa pentru cei familiarizati cu istoria Aikido in Romania, misterul nu este deloc mare :-) Postarile vor fi gasite pe www.aikikai.ro site-ul oficial al Fundatiei. Prin aceaste distinctii, care speram ca vor fi acceptate de aceste personalitati, dorim sa transmitem mesajul nostru de apreciere a oamenilor si a muncii lor, incercam sa cladim sau sa intretinem relatii cat mai cordiale, toate in spiritul Aikido, asa cum a fost el creat de O Sensei Ueshiba Morihei.
Honorary members
The Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, through its members, transmits and promotes Aikido, the martial art created by O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. Aikido is not just a martial art, it is also a spiritual Path, which helps those who follow it to grow.
But Aikido is not the only Path to follow in order for people to grow; there are other ones too, not necessarily in the field of martial arts. Most certainly though, there is a suitable Path for everyone and there is need only for aspiration towards progress so that it can be searched and found.
Because in aikido we try to transmit the fundamental moral values together with the technique, the leadership of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation decided to award three kinds of distinctions to those people who make a difference in what they do day by day, whether they are members of this organization or not.
The first kind of distinction, addressed only to members of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, is the Diploma for Lifetime Achievement. So far, this distinction has been awarded only once, to Viorel Dan Sensei, dojo-cho of Bucharest Rakuten Dojo.
The second kind of distinction – the one of the Honorary Member of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, is awarded to Aikido practitioners who have outstanding achievements, regardless of their affiliation, as well as to those who donot practice Aikido, but have outstanding achievements in their field of activity. So far, this distinction has been awarded to seven people: Fujita Masatake Sensei - Aikikai Hombu Shihan, Technical Director of the R. A. A. F. and also Mentor of the organization, Fukakusa Motohiro Sensei - Aikikai Shihan and President of Aikikai Thailand, Yamada Jun - Aikikai Shihan and President of Aikikai Malaysia, Fujii Koichi Sensei - Aikikai Shihan and Technical Director of Aikikai Hokkaido, Agostino Pagano Sensei – Master of Aikikai Italy and a great friend of the R. A. A. F., Igor Shmygin Sensei - President of Aikikai Ukraine and a very good friend of the R. A. A. F. and Master Dan Puric - actor, writer, director, man of culture and laureate of the annual award of the R. A. A. F.
The third kind of distinction is the Annual Award of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, given to those personalities who have outstanding achievements in their field of activity and do inspire those around them, thus contributing in an essential way to what we call the revival of our national, European and universal spirit. This distinction was awarded for the first time in 2010 to Master Dan Puric and this also conferred him the quality of Honorary Member in the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation.
All the distinctions mentioned above are absolutely honorary and they are awarded by the decision of the leadership of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation. These distinctions can be accepted or not by the nominees. The acceptance of these awards does not involve any obligations towards the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation as they are only the proof of our apreciation towards these persons we consider to be all-important. There are
critically opinions in what considers this initiative and one of them I really think it is worth beeing mentioned about: it has been said that awarding these distinctions to personalities who are better-known to the public than our foundation, we actually try to take advantage of their notoriety and, at the same time, we emphasize the lack of public impact of our own organization. Although I have rejected this idea at first, after further investigation I was almost to agree this point of view. There was this simple fact that prevented me from sharing it: the impact that we look for aims at members of our organization; they are the ones we want to be inspired by these personalities, these paradigms in their field of activity and/or in practicing Aikido. If amongst those who follow the activity of R. A. A. F. there are people who appreciate what we are doing, the better.
After this long introduction which is meant to present the distinctions awarded by the R. A. A. F. and the philosophy these awards are built upon, it makes me a great pleasure to announce that the Annual Award for 2011 is given by the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation to a business personality, with a most impressive contribution to promoting the Romanian intelligence, not only in our country, but also all around the world. I cannot reveal the laureate’s name as this privilege belongs to the website of R. A. A. F., but I can say that this distinction will be awarded during the seminary from Cluj, when Kobayashi Yukimitsu Shihan has been invited to come. We hope to hear a motivational speech from the laureate of 2011!
I am also pleased to let you know that this year the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation decided to nominate three great personalities in Aikido for the distinction of Honorary Members, as these persons have the privilege to be called pioneers in Aikido in Romania. Again, I shall not reveal their names, but for those who are familiar to the history of Aikido in Romania, there is no great mystery. The posts can be found on www.aikikai.ro, the official website of the Foundation. Through these awards, which we hope that are going to be accepted by these personalities, we wish to convey our message of appreciation to these people and their work, we try to build or maintain relations as cordial, all in the spirit of Aikido, as it has been created by O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba.
Translation by Irina Gaspar, Cluj-Napoca
Aikido nu este insa singura Cale prin care oamenii pot evolua; exista si altele, nu neaparat in domeniul artelor martiale. Cu siguranta insa exista o Cale potrivita pentru fiecare si este nevoie numai de aspiratia catre progres pentru a o cauta si a o gasi.
Pentru ca in Aikido incercam sa transmitem si valorile morale fundamentale, alaturi de tehnica, conducerea Fundatiei Romane de Aikido a decis sa acorde trei tipuri de distinctii, pentru acei oameni care, membri sau nu ai organizatiei, fac o diferenta prin ceea ce fac zi de zi.
Primul tip de distinctie, adresat numai membrilor Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai, este diploma de merit pentru intreaga activitate. Pana in prezent aceasta distinctie a fost acordata numai o singura data, lui Dan Viorel sensei, dojo-cho al Rakuten dojo.
Al doilea tip de distinctie - cea de membru de onoare al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai, se adreseaza atat practicantilor de Aikido cu merite deosebite indiferent de afilierea acestora cat si ne-practicantilor de Aikido care au merite deosebite in domeniile lor de activitate. Pana in prezent aceasta distinctie a fost acordata unui numar de sapte persoane : Fujita Masatake sensei - Aikikai Hombu Shihan, director tehnic al F.R.A.A. si mentor al organizatiei, Fukakusa Motohiro sensei - Aikikai Shihan si presedinte al Aikikai Thailanda, Yamada Jun - Aikikai Shihan si presedinte al Aikikai Malaezia, Fujii Koichi sensei - Aikikai Shihan si director tehnic al Aikikai Hokkaido, Agostino Pagano sensei - maestru al Aikikai Italia si un mare prieten al F.R.A.A., Igor Smhygin sensei - presedinte al Aikikai Ukraina si un foarte bun prieten al F.R.A.A. si maestrului Dan Puric - actor, scriitor, regizor, om de cultura si laureat al premiului anual al F.R.A.A.
Al treilea tip de distinctie este Premiul anual al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai, acordat acelor personalitati care, in domeniul lor de activitate, au rezultate deosebite si ii inspira pe cei din jurul lor si astfel contribuie in mod esential la ceea ce noi numim redesteptarea spiritului nostru national, european si universal. Aceasta distinctie a fost acordata pentru prima oara in anul 2010, maestrului Dan Puric si confera de asemenea, calitatea de membru de onoare al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai.
Toate distinctiile de mai sus sunt absolut onorifice, ele fiind acordate prin decizia conducerii F.R.A.A. si pot fi acceptate sau nu de catre cei nominalizati. Acceptarea acestor distinctii nu implica nici un fel de obligatii fata de F.R.A.A. ele fiind numai si numai dovada aprecierii noastre fata de aceste persoane, considerate deosebite de catre noi. Exista si pareri critice fata de aceasta initiativa, iar una dintre ele chiar mi se pare demna de a fi mentionata : s-a afirmat ca prin acordarea distinctiilor catre personalitati mult mai cunoscute de catre public decat Fundatia noastra, ca incercam astfel sa profitam de notorietatea acestora si, in acelasi timp subliniem lipsa de impact public a propriei noastre oragnizatii. Desi am respins aceasta idee in prima instanta, la o analiza ulterioara eram aproape de a fi de acord cu aceasta viziune. Un simplu fapt m-a impiedicat insa : impactul de care il dorim noi este cel din randul membrilor organizatiei noastre; ei sunt cei pe care dorim sa ii inspiram prin aceste personalitati, exemple in domeniile lor de activitate si / sau in practica Aikido. Daca si printre cei ce urmaresc activitatea F.R.A.A. vor fi oameni care vor aprecia ceea ce facem noi, cu atat mai bine.
Dupa aceasta lunga introducere care si-a propus sa prezinte distinctiile F.R.A.A. si filosofia care sta la baza acordarii lor, imi face mare placere sa anunt ca Premiul anual al Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai pentru anul 2011 va fi acordat unei personalitati din domeniul afacerilor, cu o contributie absolut impresionanta in promovarea inteligentei romanesti, nu numai acasa ci in intreaga lume. Nu pot dezvalui numele laureatului deoarece acest privilegiu apartine site-ului F.R.A.A. insa pot spune ca aceasta distinctie va fi acordata in timpul stagiului de la Cluj ce il are ca invitat pe Kobayashi Yukimitsu sensei. Speram si intr-un speech motivational de la laureatul anului 2011.
De asemenea, imi face placere sa va informez ca in acest an Fundatia Romana de Aikido Aikikai a decis sa nominalizeze pentru distinctia de membri de onoare trei mari personalitati ale Aikido-ului, care au privilegiul a se se putea numi pionierii Aikido-ului din Romania. Iarasi nu am sa dezvalui numele acestora, insa pentru cei familiarizati cu istoria Aikido in Romania, misterul nu este deloc mare :-) Postarile vor fi gasite pe www.aikikai.ro site-ul oficial al Fundatiei. Prin aceaste distinctii, care speram ca vor fi acceptate de aceste personalitati, dorim sa transmitem mesajul nostru de apreciere a oamenilor si a muncii lor, incercam sa cladim sau sa intretinem relatii cat mai cordiale, toate in spiritul Aikido, asa cum a fost el creat de O Sensei Ueshiba Morihei.
Honorary members
The Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, through its members, transmits and promotes Aikido, the martial art created by O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. Aikido is not just a martial art, it is also a spiritual Path, which helps those who follow it to grow.
But Aikido is not the only Path to follow in order for people to grow; there are other ones too, not necessarily in the field of martial arts. Most certainly though, there is a suitable Path for everyone and there is need only for aspiration towards progress so that it can be searched and found.
Because in aikido we try to transmit the fundamental moral values together with the technique, the leadership of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation decided to award three kinds of distinctions to those people who make a difference in what they do day by day, whether they are members of this organization or not.
The first kind of distinction, addressed only to members of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, is the Diploma for Lifetime Achievement. So far, this distinction has been awarded only once, to Viorel Dan Sensei, dojo-cho of Bucharest Rakuten Dojo.
The second kind of distinction – the one of the Honorary Member of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, is awarded to Aikido practitioners who have outstanding achievements, regardless of their affiliation, as well as to those who donot practice Aikido, but have outstanding achievements in their field of activity. So far, this distinction has been awarded to seven people: Fujita Masatake Sensei - Aikikai Hombu Shihan, Technical Director of the R. A. A. F. and also Mentor of the organization, Fukakusa Motohiro Sensei - Aikikai Shihan and President of Aikikai Thailand, Yamada Jun - Aikikai Shihan and President of Aikikai Malaysia, Fujii Koichi Sensei - Aikikai Shihan and Technical Director of Aikikai Hokkaido, Agostino Pagano Sensei – Master of Aikikai Italy and a great friend of the R. A. A. F., Igor Shmygin Sensei - President of Aikikai Ukraine and a very good friend of the R. A. A. F. and Master Dan Puric - actor, writer, director, man of culture and laureate of the annual award of the R. A. A. F.
The third kind of distinction is the Annual Award of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, given to those personalities who have outstanding achievements in their field of activity and do inspire those around them, thus contributing in an essential way to what we call the revival of our national, European and universal spirit. This distinction was awarded for the first time in 2010 to Master Dan Puric and this also conferred him the quality of Honorary Member in the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation.
All the distinctions mentioned above are absolutely honorary and they are awarded by the decision of the leadership of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation. These distinctions can be accepted or not by the nominees. The acceptance of these awards does not involve any obligations towards the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation as they are only the proof of our apreciation towards these persons we consider to be all-important. There are
critically opinions in what considers this initiative and one of them I really think it is worth beeing mentioned about: it has been said that awarding these distinctions to personalities who are better-known to the public than our foundation, we actually try to take advantage of their notoriety and, at the same time, we emphasize the lack of public impact of our own organization. Although I have rejected this idea at first, after further investigation I was almost to agree this point of view. There was this simple fact that prevented me from sharing it: the impact that we look for aims at members of our organization; they are the ones we want to be inspired by these personalities, these paradigms in their field of activity and/or in practicing Aikido. If amongst those who follow the activity of R. A. A. F. there are people who appreciate what we are doing, the better.
After this long introduction which is meant to present the distinctions awarded by the R. A. A. F. and the philosophy these awards are built upon, it makes me a great pleasure to announce that the Annual Award for 2011 is given by the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation to a business personality, with a most impressive contribution to promoting the Romanian intelligence, not only in our country, but also all around the world. I cannot reveal the laureate’s name as this privilege belongs to the website of R. A. A. F., but I can say that this distinction will be awarded during the seminary from Cluj, when Kobayashi Yukimitsu Shihan has been invited to come. We hope to hear a motivational speech from the laureate of 2011!
I am also pleased to let you know that this year the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation decided to nominate three great personalities in Aikido for the distinction of Honorary Members, as these persons have the privilege to be called pioneers in Aikido in Romania. Again, I shall not reveal their names, but for those who are familiar to the history of Aikido in Romania, there is no great mystery. The posts can be found on www.aikikai.ro, the official website of the Foundation. Through these awards, which we hope that are going to be accepted by these personalities, we wish to convey our message of appreciation to these people and their work, we try to build or maintain relations as cordial, all in the spirit of Aikido, as it has been created by O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba.
Translation by Irina Gaspar, Cluj-Napoca
miercuri, 1 februarie 2012
Dan Ionescu sensei
Dan Ionescu sensei este primul meu profesor de Aikido. In afara acestui fapt, care este relevant pentru mine, domnia sa este un om de o mare cultura, antreprenor si nu in ultimul rand, presedintele si directorul tehnic al Federatiei Romane de Aikido.
Dan Ionescu sensei is my first Aikido teacher. Beside this fact, relevant for me, he is a man of a great culture, antrepreneur and last but not the least, the president and technical director of the Romanian Aikido Federation.
In viziunea mea, mai importante decat afilierile internationale diferite si decat formulele organizatorice, sunt obiectivele noastre comune de a promova valorile morale fundamentale si arta Aikido. Tocmai de aceea Fundatia noastra intretine relatii cordiale cu Federatia Romana de Aikido si are un acord verbal cu aceasta, care permite accesul reciproc la stagiile celor doua organizatii, in conditii identice pentru toti practicantii indiferent de afilierea acestora la o organizatie sau la alta.
In my view, our common objectives for the promotion of fundamental moral value and the art of Aikido, are more important than the different international affiliations and the different organisational formulas. Therefore our Foundation has cordial relations with the Romania Aikdo Federation and has a verbal agreement which allows to all practitioners to attend the seminars in the same conditions, indifferent of their affiliation to one of those two organisations.
Nu am sa omit nici faptul ca uneori exista si tensiuni cauzate, in opinia mea, de orgolii si neintelegeri, si de o parte si de cealalta, pentru ca eu cred cu sinceritate in posibilitatea unei bune colaborari. Am fost membru pentru o perioada de cativa ani al Federatiei Romane de Aikido, de a-l avea profesor pe Dan Ionescu sensei si de a-i cunoaste pe multi dintre elevii sai, maestri astazi si ei. Tocmai de aceea, cunoscandu-i ca practicanti si ca oameni, cred si sper ca vom reusi sa ne cunoastem si mai bine pentru a promova Aikido, asa cum O Sensei intentiona, indiferent de structura organizatorica din care am ales sa facem parte.
I will not omit the fact that sometimes thee are tensions caused in my my view, by pride and missuderstandings, due to the fact that I honestly belive in the possibility of a good co-operation. I was a member for some years of the Romanian Aikido Feration, having Dan Ionescu sensei as a teacher and I met many of his students, today masters themselves. For that, knowing them both as practitioners and human beings I belive and I hope to know each other in a better way for promoting Aikido, as O Sensei intended to, even if we choosed a different organisation.
Pentru intreaga sa activitate sportiva, presedintele Romaniei, Excelenta sa Traian Basescu, i-a acordat lui Dan Ionescu sensei Ordinul Meritul Sportiv.
For all his sport activity, the Romanian president, his Execelency Traian Basescu, granted to Dan Ionescu sensei the Sports Merit Order.
Vreau sa ii adresez si pe aceasta cale cele mai sincere felicitari !!!
I want to address him in this way, my sincere congratulations !!!
Dan Ionescu sensei is my first Aikido teacher. Beside this fact, relevant for me, he is a man of a great culture, antrepreneur and last but not the least, the president and technical director of the Romanian Aikido Federation.
In viziunea mea, mai importante decat afilierile internationale diferite si decat formulele organizatorice, sunt obiectivele noastre comune de a promova valorile morale fundamentale si arta Aikido. Tocmai de aceea Fundatia noastra intretine relatii cordiale cu Federatia Romana de Aikido si are un acord verbal cu aceasta, care permite accesul reciproc la stagiile celor doua organizatii, in conditii identice pentru toti practicantii indiferent de afilierea acestora la o organizatie sau la alta.
In my view, our common objectives for the promotion of fundamental moral value and the art of Aikido, are more important than the different international affiliations and the different organisational formulas. Therefore our Foundation has cordial relations with the Romania Aikdo Federation and has a verbal agreement which allows to all practitioners to attend the seminars in the same conditions, indifferent of their affiliation to one of those two organisations.
Nu am sa omit nici faptul ca uneori exista si tensiuni cauzate, in opinia mea, de orgolii si neintelegeri, si de o parte si de cealalta, pentru ca eu cred cu sinceritate in posibilitatea unei bune colaborari. Am fost membru pentru o perioada de cativa ani al Federatiei Romane de Aikido, de a-l avea profesor pe Dan Ionescu sensei si de a-i cunoaste pe multi dintre elevii sai, maestri astazi si ei. Tocmai de aceea, cunoscandu-i ca practicanti si ca oameni, cred si sper ca vom reusi sa ne cunoastem si mai bine pentru a promova Aikido, asa cum O Sensei intentiona, indiferent de structura organizatorica din care am ales sa facem parte.
I will not omit the fact that sometimes thee are tensions caused in my my view, by pride and missuderstandings, due to the fact that I honestly belive in the possibility of a good co-operation. I was a member for some years of the Romanian Aikido Feration, having Dan Ionescu sensei as a teacher and I met many of his students, today masters themselves. For that, knowing them both as practitioners and human beings I belive and I hope to know each other in a better way for promoting Aikido, as O Sensei intended to, even if we choosed a different organisation.
Pentru intreaga sa activitate sportiva, presedintele Romaniei, Excelenta sa Traian Basescu, i-a acordat lui Dan Ionescu sensei Ordinul Meritul Sportiv.
For all his sport activity, the Romanian president, his Execelency Traian Basescu, granted to Dan Ionescu sensei the Sports Merit Order.
Vreau sa ii adresez si pe aceasta cale cele mai sincere felicitari !!!
I want to address him in this way, my sincere congratulations !!!
Academia de arte martiale Mizuno - Piatra Neamt
De la 1 februarie 2012, Academia de arte martiale Mizuno (www.mizuno.ro) din Piatra Neamt, ce il are ca instructor pe prietenul si colegul nostru Dan Ene sensei, a decis sa se alature Fundatiei Romane de Aikido Aikikai.
Starting from February 1, 2012 Mizuno martial arts Academy (www.mizuno.ro),ledead by our friend and colleague Dan Ene sensei, decided to join the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation.
Ne face mare placere sa ii avem printre noi pe practicantii de Aikido din Piatra Neamt si le uram un calduros bun venit !
It is a great pleasure to have the Piatra Neamt Aikido practitioners amongst us and we warmly greet them !
Starting from February 1, 2012 Mizuno martial arts Academy (www.mizuno.ro),ledead by our friend and colleague Dan Ene sensei, decided to join the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation.
Ne face mare placere sa ii avem printre noi pe practicantii de Aikido din Piatra Neamt si le uram un calduros bun venit !
It is a great pleasure to have the Piatra Neamt Aikido practitioners amongst us and we warmly greet them !
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