Aiki Dojo Message - Teamwork
“Teamwork makes the dream work.” - John C. Maxwell
The best dojo works together as a team. Being able to work together as a team demonstrates the level of training inside that dojo. If the teachers and students in a dojo work well as a group, then one can surmise that the level of training in that dojo is good. However, if the members of a dojo don’t work well together or there are too many “individuals,” then one could suspect that the training there as a whole is not good. Teamwork demonstrates our level of training because it is one of those things which cannot be faked. Teamwork requires, among other things, respect, communication, mutual trust, and most of all self-sacrifice. In an Aikido dojo, more so than any other type of dojo, the members have to work together as a group because Aikido relies on having a person to take ukemi. Also, the ai (合) in Aikido means “to meet” or for things to come together which seems like the definition of group. When something comes together well, we call it harmony. That is why Furuya Sensei used to say, “In a dojo, you must learn to work together in harmony.” Someone once said, “it takes a village to raise a child.” Likewise, it takes a dojo to develop a student. From cleaning the dojo to taking ukemi, none of these things can be done alone and they require a bit of self-sacrifice. A dojo is supposed to be a bushidan (武士団) or “a group of warriors that come from related or dependent families.” In this sense, we win or lose as a group. In a dojo, we are trying to learn the seven virtues of bushido: Justice (義 gi), Courage (勇 yu), Benevolence (仁 jin), Respect (禮 rei), Honesty (誠 makoto), Honor (名誉 meiyo) and Loyalty (忠義 chugi). If we look deeply into these traits, none of these things can be achieved without hard-work and self-sacrifice. Thus, the only way any of us gets anywhere is by working as a group and helping one another. The Way is hard enough, but the journey is made a little bit easier when we go as a group. Leadership guru John C. Maxwell said it best: “Teamwork makes the dream work.” A dojo is a group of people working together toward the common goal of improving themselves. Our teamwork exemplifies our true level of ability and that is why the best dojo works together as a team.
Today’s goal: What can you do to be a better dojomate?
Watch this video to better understand teamwork