“I’ve seen a lot of conflicting theories and approaches for a whole range of ‘attacks’ somebody may use. It seems that there is a different counter required for every possible technique an attacker may come at us with! If this were true, it would make the area of Self Protection a very complicated field… Luckily, there ARE some smart people out there who simplify things and make them more likely to succeed under pressure.”
Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.
“In the dark recess of the Yakuza underworld, a sibling rivalry erupts into a full-blown civil war for control of a Japanese crime family.
“After the interesting seminar William Gleason Sensei, VI dan Aikikai, has given in Rome on December 13-14, 2008, he kindly accepted to have a chat with us during a Japanese lunch in the Italian capital.
This inteview was taken from notes and memories of that and preceding conversations, and after a subsequent mail exchange with Sensei to fill up remaining doubts and questions.
The interview was conducted by Marco Marini (MM) and Pasquale Robustini (PR).
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“Tohei Koichi Sensei has instructed many professional baseball players. One of them is Mr. Sadaharu Oh, who belonged to the Yomiuri Giants.
As soon as you mention the spiritual aspects of Aikido many people construct a subconscious barrier by assuming that the spiritual and martial aspects are in distinction to each other. In other words, Aikido is either “spiritual” or “martial.”
“Real combat on the streets today is different from combat on the battlefields of today, as has been discussed in my post What is Low Tech Combat? Combat on the battlefields of today involves ‘high tech’ weaponry and equipment.
“It is worth noting that the term aikidōka (合気道家) is rarely heard among native speakers of Japanese, in spite of its common use as a loanword in other countries. In the Japanese language, the suffix ka (家, -ka?), when added to the name of certain activities, indicates an expert or professional in that field. Consequently, the meaning of the term in the ears of Japanese, especially when the field is martial arts, takes on a connotation of one who is exceptionally accomplished and highly respected. Further, because of the connotation of respect, this is a term one would never use with regard to oneself, even if deserved. There is no other word in Japanese carrying the same meaning that aikidōka has acquired as a loanword, namely that of a person practicing the art, regardless of their degree of accomplishment.”
“I’ve been thinking about traditional martial arts (TMA) compared to more modern systems for a while now and a thread on a forum today has sparked the matter for me. Like many older or less young martial artists and self protection practitioners, I trod my first steps on this pathway by joining a traditional martial art. It was a long process where I began at the back of the class in tracksuit pants and a t-shirt and gradually worked my way through the formation and ranks of the class up to the front where I was often the senior student there of about 40 students.”
“Each aikidoka has their own motivations and goals to their practice. For some it may be self-defence, others may be driven by self development. It is the student’s responsibility to a large extent that they find a school and teacher which will satisfy their wants. It is good etiquette that a student conforms to the Dojo culture, and especially relevant to those coming from a different school and different background.
“This story was written almost 25 years ago. I had read a book for children about the martial arts. Its focus was the child who had been beaten finally getting strong enough and beating the bullies. What I was learning in Aikido was proving so valuable for me that I decided maybe I could share something of it. So I wrote this story.
Two days after celebrating my 80th birthday, I’m looking at photographs from the event. There’s a lot of variation in these photos; I look younger in some than in others. In a couple of them, I’m struck by habitual gestures of the hands that I tend to associate with old age. I suspect that they are gestures I’ve had for a while that now look different in an older body. I wonder, not for the first time, how other people see me. Did I detect a question in our instructor’s glance at the dojo this morning, as if he was wondering about my physical situation as I rolled back and forth on the mat during the warm-up? Or was it just me wondering about that as I ventured a bit stiffly into the first Monday morning of my 81st year? Things flowed better once the body became more flexible, and Travis seemed to stop wondering—or maybe I just stopped imagining things. We did some suwariwaza, and knee-walking on the mat went okay for me.