“An important quality to posses as a teacher, any teacher, is the ability to continuously stay open and question the known. This necessarily involves taking risks, having an attitude of acceptance towards change, being open to making mistakes and holding an understanding that mistakes offer a great potential for learning. Continuous exploration and learning promotes growth in the art as well as maturation of the Human Being.
Further qualities of an Aikido teacher are having a satisfactory level of technical skill, being proficient in theory and having a practical understanding of the inner principles of the art. These are all elements to be gained through intensive training with an appropriate guide.
Finally, having the skills to facilitate these aspects and in turn guide others in their development is essential. To do this effectively it is necessary for a teacher to be able to “see” a student and understand where they are at in their development. Not just technical development, but intellectual, emotional and spiritual development as well. Then from such an understanding give appropriate guidance that is relative to the students level while maintaining a deeper and broader perspective of the art.”
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That’s quite a complement to Mr. Alexandersson’s teacher. Am not certain that such enlightenment is necessary to teach aikido. Certainly when I was starting, there were few teachers with even ten years experience. Sandans were rare. Still, a number of noted teachers, including the editor of this publication, came up at or before that time. Not all of them even had much exposure to O Sensei. Brown belts, occasionally even blue belts taught class. We trained and learned.
I think the genius of O Sensei’s aikido, at least as I learned it in California, is that it doesn’t require excellent instruction. Progress in it does require a dedicated and curious student. Frager Sensei once said, “O Sensei was like an ocean. Every student brought his cup. If you want to know O Sensei’s aikido, you have to look in everybody’s cup.” (Perhaps the liquid is like the tea in the “Kwaidan” story. There’s a spirit within…
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