Throwback Thursday - Watching the Back
Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on July 22, 2004.
Senaka wo miru: Watching the back
In English, we have a saying, "Watch your back!" which means to be careful of betrayal. In Japanese, we have a similar saying, “Watching the back," but the meaning is very different.
We often say, "They grew up watching their father's back." Or "They trained watching their teacher's back."
What this means is that the child was raised always by their father's side, not really saying anything, but quietly sitting there and watching his every move. Or, the student was always there by their teacher's side - or rather, sitting quietly behind him and watching his every move, always there.
In the early days, this is how we trained - quietly, always by our teacher’s side - not, "in their face" as we like to be today. Today, most students want to be "in the face" of the teacher and I think maybe some people like this.
Maybe I am of the old school, but just to have a student there - it is always such a comfort to me. . . and it is these students I think of the most.
It is not necessary to be in the teacher's face, I think, it is not necessary to be the "difficult" student either. Ultimately, focus on your practice and enjoy the practice. Whether it appears to be or not, the teacher is always there for you.
Many years ago, there was a teacher I followed all over Japan because I loved his Aikido so much and tried so hard to capture it. Yet, as much as I was there, he never paid much attention to me. Thus, I had to practice nusumi keiko (盗み稽古) or “steal” the technique because he wouldn’t teach me directly. As a matter of fact, I thought that he didn't even notice me or perhaps he didn't like me or thought I didn't have the talent to follow him. I didn't know anything at all. Many years later, I was surprised to find out that he had remembered me and knew all about me and had noticed how much I tried to “steal" his Aikido. I was so surprised. In those days, I think teachers were very subtle about the way they taught. Most of the time, such silly students like me, didn't even know what was going on. I wish students today could understand such wonderful and mysterious methods of teaching and learning between the sensei and the student.