Today's Schedule:

5:15-6:15pm. Aikido. Mark Ty

6:30-7:30pm. Aikido. Kensho Furuya

Happy Birthday to Mark Ty - October 4, 2006

Monthly Dues:

It is still a problem collecting monthly dues each month. So many do not pay on time and many are not paying at all. It creates a hardship on the Dojo and a hardship on me to worry how to pay the monthly bills. Traditionally, they are not looked upon as "fees for services rendered," but are called, "gessha." Gessha means "monthly token of thanks." Without receiving this token of thanks from each student, in my own mind, I feel like my efforts are unappreciated and simply, "no thank you."

Nowadays, the teacher has little respect as a teacher, it often seems, and is often treated like a waiter or busboy, only existing to service the customer. It is not as in days of old when education, learning, teachers, and the art itself was given great respect. It is through this quest for learning and respect for education, that a great and dynamic process of learning-teaching was created and passed on from one generation to the next.

Unless the teacher creates a "business" where the "customer is king," as we are typically accustomed to in this society, it is hard to get anywhere at all as far as a dojo is concerned. Unless the teacher smoozes each student to make him purrr, or pat him on top of the head to make him smile, it is hard to make a go of it. How can a teacher teach when most of his energy goes to placating the customer - er, student? As they seek out today, a teacher is a businessman and the students are only customers.

Of course, today, this attitude that Aikido is an art and not a business is considered high handed and the many think, "What is wrong with making money out of Aikido?" "What is wrong with Aikido is a business?" Like many martial arts which have made the cross-over into big business today, we have sacrificed "quality" for "compromise." And we find that we make more money as we focus on numbers of students and in the process of giving everyone what they want - as a big enterprise or well stocked supermarket must do - we must necessarily reduce the art to its lowest common denominator. As a result, we have removed the keen edge from the sword and we have pulled the "heart" out of the art.

When the practice is too easy, the teacher loses his credential to teach in the manner of a discipline which seeks the highest a man can achieve in his Life. When the training is too hard, the students run away for lack of committment, loyalty and thier obsession with instant gratitude.

Of course, I am blessed that there are many, many excellent students in the Dojo. However, most students do not realize the terrific magnitude of the daily work involved to keep the dojo running smoothly. We always come to the Dojo each day and think, "Oh, everything is so beautiful!" - Beautiful takes a great deal of time and effort. . . . .

I think Life is much easier if we see Aikido as a business. Focusing on money - anyone and everyone can understand this. Presenting a "traditional art" in this day and age is an "idea" which is much harder for most to grasp so there are always problems in understanding. Why is the monthly dues merely a "token of gratitude," and not "payment for services rendered?" Is this too subtle to understand?