Footwork, footwork, footwork

 

Do you have trouble making the techniques work?  Improve your footwork.

Do you want to make the techniques smoother?  Improve your footwork.

When someone does the technique on you, does it hurt?  Improve your footwork.

Do you want to make your technique stronger?  Improve your footwork.

Do you want to speed up the technique?  Improve your footwork.

Do you want to slow down the technique?  Improve your footwork.

Do you want to improve your timing and spacing?  Improve your footwork.

Do you want to build your confidence?  Improve your footwork.

Overall, do you want to become better at Aikido?  Improve your footwork.

I guess what I am saying is that it's all in the footwork.

Does Aikido work?

I am often asked about how the techniques in Aikido work and if they would be effective.  My answer is always the same, "Of course the techniques are effective and they do work."  I saw a video the other day and thought I might share it with you.  Irimi style throws where you are entering in can be very effective.  In this video you can see what happens when the police officer (nage) moves in on an in-coming person.  Note how the person is easily taken down with ease and how little force was used.  This is what irimi-nage would look like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxF1x33S0oE

The Way is the same all over

I am very interested in the Way.  The Way is the path that one follows in life as they perfect their craft.  However, I am not just interested in the Way of Aikido, but any Way that people follow and dedicate their lives to.  I love hearing or talking to people who are passionate about what they do.  I wish there was some type of show where famous or well known martial artists (or anyone who follows the Way for that matter) could be interviewed and they would talk frankly about their Way.  Unfortunately there isn't anything like that right now that I know of. The closest thing to that is a podcast/radio show called The Treatment on KCRW.  In The Treatment, host Elvis Mitchell interviews influential people in the entertainment industry, but this isn't your normal Q & A format where the person just comes on and plugs their current films or projects.  Somehow Elvis Mitchell gets them to talk in depth about themselves but also about the Way of their craft and it is eerily similar to what we go through following the Way of martial arts.  They have the same trials and tribulations as we do.

In the Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi says that to master the Way of swordsmanship is to master all Ways.  To better understand our own process or journey as martial artists, it is sometimes easier to look at it from another or different perspective.  There is a Buddhist saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."  What this means is that when we are open and willing, everything and every person can be our teacher.  I have learned something from every one of the programs I have listened to on The Treatment even when I didn't like the person being interviewed or wasn't interested in the topic.

The Treatment is broadcast live on Wednesday afternoons at 2:30 PM on KCRW and is also available for free download via podcast on itunes.  If you are interested, please follow this link. http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/the-treatment

Zangetsu’s rules to live by

Zangetsu’s rules to live by. Living in the world yet not forming attachments to the dust of the world is the way of the true zen student.

When witnessing a good action of another, encourage yourself to follow his example. Hearing of the mistaken action of another, advise yourself not to emulate it.

Even though alone in dark room, be as if you were facing a noble guest. Express your feelings, but become no more expressive than your true nature.

Poverty is your treasure. Never exchange it for an easy life.

A person may appear as a fool and yet not be one. He may only be guarding his wisdom carefully.

Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline and do not drop from heaven of themselves as does the rain or snow.

Modesty is the foundation of all virtues. Let your neighbors discover you before you make yourself known to them.

A noble heart never forces itself forward. Its words are as rare gems, seldom displayed and of great value.

To a sincere student, everyday is a fortunate day. Time passes but he never lags behind. Neither glory nor shame can move him.

Censure yourself, never another. Do not discuss right and wrong.

Some things, though right, were considered wrong for generations. Since the value of righteousness may be recognized after centuries, there is no need to crave an immediate appreciation.

Live with cause and leave the results to the great laws of the universe. Pass each day in peaceful contemplation.

Zangetsu was a Chinese zen priest who lived during the Tang dynasty.  Zangetsu's name in kanji 残月means moon visible in the morning.

Source: Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps.

Is greatness a function of nature or nurture?

I used to be huge professional basketball fan and being from LA I especially loved the Lakers.  When I watched basketball I used to hate Lebron James.  I thought there was just so much hype behind him and I was sure he was going to flame out like the many others that were touted as highly as him.  It actually never happened and he as become one of the greatest players to ever play the game.  But, what makes him so good?  He has great stats of course and his physical prowess and incredible athleticism at 6' 8" 280 lbs is legendary.  However the secret to what might make him so good in addition to his physical ability and work ethic is his mind. I recently read a couple of articles about his ability to recall past events and his ability to learn new information.  Apparently Lebron James has a eidetic memory.  An eidetic memory means that he can recall memories without the use of any aids or mnemonic devices in just a few moments.  Supposedly he can remember plays and outcomes of not only his own games but almost any game he has watched over his lifetime.  The article I read stated that he learned the entire new offense in just two days and not only did he learn his position, but he learned every other player's position too.  Incredible!

I think Sensei was like that too.  He could do that with Aikido techniques and compare and contrast teacher styles.  Sensei could turn off and turn on different styles and teachers of Aikido with the greatest of ease.  He could also do that with swords that would see in person or in books or magazines.  A fairly well traveled story that I tell is of the two of us going to a lady's house to appraise her husband's sword collection and Sensei did the appraisal without the use of a book.  I remember him explaining each sword in great depth and even commenting on which one's might be fake.  The lady was appalled at the idea that a few of her dead husband's swords might be fake and brought out all of the paperwork.  Sure enough, Sensei was spot on.  I was in awe.  He told me to go to the car and fetch a couple of reference books he brought.  He then showed us the reasons why he thought they might be fake by pointing out the inconsistencies compared to the dictionary of signatures.  Later I asked him if he had seen the swords before, which he replied, "No."  I asked him how he knew they were fakes.  He said, "I have carefully looked over every signature in this book as well as spent thousands of hours studying the sword.  You have to study."  Then I got lost on the way home and Sensei berated me about not paying attention and being unprepared.

Is having an eidetic memory nature or nurture?  I actually asked Sensei if he had a photographic memory and he said, "No, I just study hard."  In my personal opinion I think that the answer is both.  Every person has a certain level of talent or nature but that nature needs to be nurtured with hard work.  Lebron James may have been born with these gifts, but what makes him great is what he does with them.  Regardless of what or how much you have, you still have to put in the work.  Study hard!

Life is like an elevator.

Life is like an elevator.  Once you get on it is all about choice.  We can choose to go up or down as well as we can choose where to get off or just as easily ride it to the top.  We had no choice in the matter of getting on the elevator just as we had no choice in being born.  But, we do get to choose where we want to go and how far we want to take it.  It just takes patience and perseverance to keep riding to the top.

Change

"It's not that some have willpower and some do not. It's that some are ready to change and others are not" - James Gordon, MD Sensei used to say, "There is no time left."  As comfortable or as safe as that couch may seem, it is turning you into a potato and you don't even know it.  Before we know it, time has passed us by and our best years have been spent idly sitting on the sidelines.  The hardest part about change is taking that first step.  That first step will set off a shock wave and, once you get going, just ride the momentum from that tsunami you created by just getting off your butt.  Change is inevitable, but what we change into is our choice.  Growth requires action!

Please let go of whatever it is that you are holding on to and just come to class and train.

Master the form first

If I could give any advice to any Aikidoist from beginner to expert, I would say master the technical form of Aikido first.  Forget about flashy sexy techniques and just focus on the nuts and bolts of kihon-waza or basic techniques like ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo and yonkyo.  From these four techniques springs all others and if you master them then you can master any of the other techniques in Aikido.  This is not my revelation but Sensei's frequent admonishment to us.  Below is a video that I watch on a regular basis to help remind me of the right form of the movement.  Everyone needs a refresher now and then regardless of how long you have been doing Aikido. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP_jt8WRRsA

Great book by a great Aikido teacher

Suganuma Shihan's book titled Be Lively, Right Here, Right Now just came out in English.  It is a collection of his calligraphy, famous quotes and explanations on how to not only live but conduct yourself as a human being.  It is really a great book.  Suganuma Shihan is one of the foremost experts on Aikido and his Aikido is beautiful yet powerful (see below).   Suganuma Shihan and Sensei have been friends since Sensei's time at Hombu in 1969. The link below from Amazon shows it out of print but I just got mine from there. You can cut and paste the link below to purchase Suganuma Shihan's book.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1X4yawKWbJXCGRYGuXT-Xf--b-hFt6HjYZ86He9t1IJA/viewform

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtwY3uAMixI

Do you suburi hyakkai?

Suburi hyakkai refers 100 practice cuts with a sword.  Usually suburi hyakkai is done as a routine  either at end the day or start of the day.  Famous swordsmen like Nakayama Hakudo and Tiger Mori Torao supposedly did 1000 suburi every morning.  Sensei told us that Tiger Mori was so engrossed with doing his 1000 suburi every morning that his family knew never to bother him until he finished.  Despite all their accolades and fame, swordsman like Tiger Mori or Nakayama Hakudo did their suburi religiously because they were all chasing this idea of perfection.  They were never satisfied no matter how good they got or how many awards they received.  They knew that in order to perfect themselves they need a vehicle to not only gauge their state but to perfect it as well.  That method was the sword cut.

Supposedly one's sword cut is the representation of one's inner state.  If the cut is a reflection of one's inner state then what we are really talking about is one's inner mind or, more generically, the subconscious.  I am sure most do it either at the start or end of the day as a matter of convenience, but what they probably didn't know is that doing it at that time is the best time or way to access one's subconscious.  Sleeping is done at the subconscious level and doing suburi before bed allows your cut to sink into your subconscious.  Doing it right when we wake up allows us to access our subconsciousness.  Either way it gives us the feedback as to our inner state of mind.

A serious swordsman knows that the one true opponent lies not outside of himself, but lies within.  The outer work we do on ourselves pales in comparison to the work we do on our inner selves.  The sword cut is then a symbolic gesture where the opponent we are really cutting down is ourselves.  Therefore a serious swordsman has to do at least 100 suburi everyday.

Aikido is like a fine bottle of wine

To truly appreciate the depth and scope of any martial art takes about 10-15 years of regular training.  Think about Malcolm Gladwell's assertion in his book Outliers that to become an expert in any field of endeavor takes about 10,000 hours of participation.  If you did the math it would average out to about 2.7 hours a day for 10 years.  So I guess that is about right.  Sadly, most never can commit or persevere to make it 10 years or even 15 or 20. Aikido like most martial arts can be compared to a bottle of fine wine that costs $1,000,000.00.  Unless you are a connoisseur or a sommelier you probably cannot appreciate that bottle of wine's depth, characters or nuances.  You'd have to spend a lot of time taking classes, reading books and drinking at lot wine to get to a place where you could appreciate even a moderately expensive bottle of wine.  The martial arts are no different.

In order to get to place where you can truly appreciate the depth, character and nuances of any martial art takes hours upon hours of practice and that is why Miyamoto Musashi said, "It takes 1,000 days to forge the spirit and 10,000 days to polish it."  Please study hard and don't give up.

This Road

Kono michi yayuku hito nashi ni aki no kure -Basho

This road! with no one going - autumn evening

(translation by Robert Aitken)

Here is one of my favorite haiku poems by Basho.  Here Basho deftly explains the Way in poetic prose.

Practice makes permanent

The teachers at this school can be somewhat demanding at times and some might even be a bit overbearing when it comes to how the techniques are being learned.  This can be difficult for some students to endure, but it might be useful to understand the impetus.  You see our teacher was a very harsh disciplinarian despite what you may have seen of him on TV or what you might read that he wrote.  Sensei prescribed to an age old theory that is actually surfacing today in modern athletic training: perfect pays and sloppy stays, practice makes permanent. The theory is that whatever we do we should do it as perfectly as we can because whether it is perfect or sloppy it will become habit.  As we all know, bad habits are easy to get into but hard to get out of and good habits are hard to get into and easy to fall out of.  So this is where the instructors' constant reinforcement comes into play.  They are trying their best to stem the tide of the student's bad habit before they set in.  This can seem callous, cold-hearted or unkind, but it is quite the opposite.  Sensei used to tell us all the time, "If I didn't care, I would say nothing."  So their constant berating and criticism is really compassion.  Compassion?  Yes, compassion.  Telling you when you are wrong is the highest form of compassion because you hear what you need and not what you want.  One of my students once told me something very significant about child rearing.  He said, "You say yes out of fear and not out of love."  The instructors criticism is no different and the burden falls on the instructors or teachers to be the bad guys.

So when you are getting criticized or corrected please remember that this hurts the teachers just as much as it hurts the student when they have to scold them, but they do it for the student's benefit because they want them to get good.

Watch some good Aikido

O Sensei passed away in 1969 and many of us didn't have a chance to train with him.  However, there are a few of his direct students still left and teaching around the world.  One such student is Morito Suganuma Sensei who is based out of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu in Japan.  Sensei knew Suganuma Sensei from Sensei's time in Japan in 1969.  Here they are pictured together in front of Hombu Dojo.  I don't know who the gentleman is in the middle (if you do email me).  Sensei always wanted to bring Suganuma Sensei out to our dojo but the timing never worked out.   Suganuma Sensei is very good and his Aikido is every clean and it is  what we would consider "normal" Aikido.  If you are going to watch Aikido on Youtube (which I don't suggest), please watch people like Suganuma Sensei who are experts because a majority of people who post to Youtube are not.  Suganuma Sensei put out a video and here is a link to it on Youtube.  It is almost 45 minutes long but very good. Please enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZZNdTb1S6E

Nobody's perfect

Even monkeys fall out of tress so nobody's perfect.

This is one of my favorite kotowaza or Japanese proverbs and one that I use all the time.  I usually direct it toward myself and rarely direct it towards others.  It is one of those things I use to keep myself going when I make a mistake or are a little down about something that didn't go my way.

The idea that anything or any person is perfect is a complete and utter fallacy.  I wish that perfect was attainable, but sadly it is not.  Nothing and no one is perfect.  Sorry, hopefully I didn't ruin it for you.  Perfection is a road and not a destination.  It is something we strive toward but never achieve.  As I become more of an adult or grown up (yikes!) I am starting to see a shift in myself in which I am starting to understand that perfection is a myth.  It is hard because for most of my life I have been an over, over, over achiever.  Maybe now that I have two children of my own I will be able to embrace that sometimes even monkeys fall out of trees.  Well there is always tomorrow.

From the LA Times on March 12, 2006 about our dojo.

From the LA Times on March 12, 2006 about our dojo.

Green Inches

Loft life--not a natural choice for most Southern Californians--doesn't mean surrendering to a barren concrete jungle. With a batch of pots, a patch of dirt and a lot of imagination, these urban gardeners have managed to create their own downtown oases.

Bamboo Lane

It is as much a part of his daily ritual as practicing the martial arts he teaches at the Aikido Center of Los Angeles. Every day at about 4 p.m. Kensho Furuya washes down the narrow loading dock of the 100-plus-year-old sugar warehouse that he has converted into his samurai dojo. He's also transformed the dock itself with bamboo architectural elements, river rocks and lush foliage.

When his students arrive, he says, "the leaves and stones are wet and clean, creating a sense of calm--like walking in the mountains by a stream." The garden is a physically and mentally refreshing transitional space "to welcome the guest from the outside world to the school."

Furuya's goal was to emulate Kyoto-style gardens "that bring you closer to nature." At just 6 feet wide, the connection is inevitable. Emerald ferns, spider plants, azaleas and impatiens thrive in the shadow of nandina, towering bamboo, pomegranate and Ficus benjamina. Asian ceramics and black plastic nursery pots share space with redwood planters--"humble materials," Furuya explains.

Visitors enter under a Japanese sign that announces Furuya's dojo as the Retreat of the Untalented One. Posts, crossbeams and small ornamental gates define the space. Paving stones made of concrete and pebbles create a slender walkway, bordered by polished rocks "representing a stream" and leading to a circular stone that "stands for completion," says Furuya. "It makes people more aware of their feet, and symbolizes that it is a narrow path to success."

A Los Angeles native, Furuya was an early settler in the downtown Arts District. "In 1984 it was just dirt and asphalt, and when I added this greenery residents protested, saying it didn't look downtown." Now the area is filled with small gardens. "Occasionally I will come out to putter and find people standing in the garden," Furuya says. "I wonder, 'Who is that?' Sometimes it's a Japanese person who is homesick, sometimes it is a commuter from Orange County who just wants a moment of peace."

Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/12/magazine/tm-loftgardens11

Flashback Friday

Sensei posted this to the Daily Message on January 10, 2005 I think I spend much too much time in the Dojo. When I go out - driving on the streets, grocery shopping, eating in a restaurant, I am always impressed at how impolite people can be without even thinking about it. When I ask other people, I hear the same complaint but no one does or says anything about it. We just accept it as the way people are these days. We are, as many will agree, are simply a very impolite society. As a matter of fact, being polite will only cause you to be frustrated and annoyed. So, as a result of this, we become tougher, less feeling, less sensitive people - impervious to any kind of annoyance or disturbance. As I can see, some of us turn ourselves into walking images of people in stone or wood.

We bring this into the dojo - a mentality of being impolite and uncaring as a way to be "cool." Being impolite, for many, is the emotional shield to defend themselves against the whole world. Politeness for many is a sign of weakness and vulnerability leaving one's self open to any kind and type of "attack." This disturbs me at so many levels. The emotional shield, like a crutch for a healthy person, only causes one to become weaker - it is only more mental baggage we carry around and, like a city detective, flash this "badge of disobedience" around before any human encounter as a warning, that we have the power and authority to do you damage.

When I see depictions of samurai in the movies and mass-media, they are stereo-typed as shouting, spitting, glare-eyed wild men with a decapitation fetish. No - they were, for the most part, highly educated, refined warriors, adept in the tea ceremony and poetry and many other literary arts. The rule of etiquette in Japanese culture and in the dojo was born from this Samurai culture and tradition. The rules we follow in the dojo are not simply rules to create an authoritative order or to establish a feudal social structure, Reigi Saho was a way to express, in every way, a beauty and nobility of movement and thought.

Reigi literally means "the duty and ceremony of gratitude." Saho means, "to create order (social order) and to create universal or the order of Nature." It is not simply to use a napkin or not pick your nose at the dinner table. it has quite a bit deeper and broader meaning than this.

It's shoganai

Many years ago I asked Sensei if he had ever talked with his father or grandfather about their time in the military or in combat and the bad things they must have experienced.  He said the only thing his grandfather said was, "War is war and things happen, shoganai."  This is something that has always stuck with me.  Shoganai or shikataganai are responses, but they are more of a state of mind that you utter in passing when you get some unpleasant news or when something bad happens.  They roughly translates as that there is nothing you can do so just accept it and move on.  The spirit of shoganai is what enables Japanese people to pick themselves up and move forward after something untoward happens.  I wish it was something that I could take advantage more in my own life, but I think it has to be engrained in you so that it can be automatic so that when something unpropitious happens I can just utter shoganai and move on. Maybe not dwelling upon adversity is one of the biggest differences between the Japanese and the Americans.  In Japanese traditional arts and especially in the martial arts adversity is seen as something that helps the student grow.  The teacher tries to create an environment to push the student toward change and ultimately his greater self.  It is thought that most students or young people have iji or stubbornness and resist what is good for them.  Therefore a teacher is supposed to instill in the neophyte konjo or fighting spirit, but in order to do that the teacher must create an environment for change.  This change can sometimes be unpleasant as is most change.  So adversity isn't seen as something to dwell upon, but more of something to surmount.  How do the Japanese do it?  First they say, "shoganai" and then they move on and get over whatever adversity is that they are presented with.

I remember this scroll written about in Tea life, Tea Mind that read, "Be rebuked, stand corrected and learn."  Within these sagely words we can see the root of shoganai and the fighting spirit of the Japanese people.  Please train hard.

There are three reasons why we don't or won't

There are three reasons why we don't get good at Aikido or anything else for that matter.I can't ... I won't... I don't ...

It is said that every movement begins with a thought.  Therefore how we not only speak but how we think is extremely important.  These three word contractions are the gatekeepers of success whether thought or spoken.  If we do use them as part of our everyday language then we probably won't achieve much in life let alone get good at Aikido.  If Aristotle was right when he said, "Well begun is half done,"  then we need to modify how we think as well as how we speak in order to become more successful at whatever it is we are doing.

How about trying... I can... I will... I do...

shokunin-the way of the craftsman

In Japan, a shokunin is anyone who is takes his or her art seriously no matter if it is making sushi or making a yumi or Japanese bow.  There is a technique for doing everything and there is also a way to master that technique as well.  Lots of times I post things here to help give the students a little bit better perspective on their own Aikido training.  I found this video of a Japanese master bow maker.  Please try to notice the care and detail he puts into his work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-4yUhW73vU