How to do real Aikido

Zen story:One evening the monk Shichiri Kojun was in his room reciting sutras when a thief broke in demanding money.  Shichiri said, "Do not disturb me.  There is money in that box" and continued to chant.  The thief took the money and was about to leave when Shichiri called out, "You should say 'thank you' when you receive a gift."  The thief bowed and thanked him.

Days later the thief was caught burglarizing another house and confessed to a string of robberies including the one to Shichiri.  The authorities brought him to Shichiri who promptly said, "This man is no thief.  I gave him some money and he said, 'thank you.'''

The thief was so impressed that when he was released from prison he became Shichiri Kojun's disciple. 

This Zen story illustrates why the Aikido techniques are structured the way they are.  As martial artists, we could destroy our enemies, but in learning we come to understand the ignorance of man.  Because they are ignorant they deserve compassion and not destruction.  We could hurt them but in the process we would only be hurting ourselves just as others are as when they try and hurt us.

Recently I read an article about a guy who doesn't study Aikido but applied the principles to his would be mugger.   Julio Diaz was held up at knife point by a young man in the subway who demanded his wallet.  Julio gave him his wallet but then as the teen turned to walk away he offered him his coat saying, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."  This gesture of kindness threw the teen for a loop and he asked him, "Why are you doing this?"  Julio replied, "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome."  He then took the teenager to dinner but when the bill came he said, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."  The teen gave back the wallet.  Julio paid for dinner and gave the teen $20 but in return for the knife which the teen freely gave up.

Julio Diaz and the Shichiri Kojun saw the bigger picture with their would-be assailants.  The bigger picture is that every person is suffering.  The Dalai Lama said, "If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them."  O Sensei understood this and thus created Aikido.  To harm others is to harm ourselves.  When we realize this then we can see the suffering of others and hopefully realize the suffering within ourselves.  If we can give ourselves compassion then we can give others compassion too and perhaps make the world a better place.

You can listen or read Julio Diaz's full story here: http://www.npr.org/2008/03/28/89164759/a-victim-treats-his-mugger-right

How fast is fast?

I recently watched  this video of two high level kendo practitioners (kendoka) who's match was filmed with a high speed camera.  The high speed camera enabled the TV program to analyze their reaction times.  I was completely blown by the speed of their reaction times.  One of the kendoka named Susumu Takanabe is said to be the fastest at hitting the men or helmet with a forward strike was measured at 0.10 seconds.  To put this into perspective, elite level fighters and baseball players are said to have an average reaction time of 0.30 seconds. How does one train for speed like that?  Master the form first.  Once the form is mastered, speed and power come second.  Hopefully, most of the incorrect movements or nuances have been ironed out along the road to mastering the form.  This enables the practitioner to be more economical with their movements and thus put power and speed into the right places in order to be successful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4SHWXQBVL4

Kata training

The age old argument against kata training has started to rear its head lately.  Kata training is basically a series of predetermined movements that are practiced over and over en route to mastery.  Some believe this to be too rigid which takes the fluidity and spontaneity out of one's ability to deal with unexpected events such as in a "real" fight. I can see the argument and this can be true.  However, how is one expected to gain skill if one does not practice something predetermined?  Someone naturally gifted or athletically inclined may be able to fell their opponent without prior training but the rest of us might not be so successful.  People without some type of prior prowess need training in order to be successful.  I believe this to be true in any endeavor.  What would are children be like if we left them to their own devices?

In Japanese training the stages of a student's learning is referred to as shu ha ri.  Shu (守) means to follow or obey, ha (破) means to break and ri (離) means to detach or transcend.

The shu stage is where the student struggles to learn how to follow en route to mastering the form.  The form itself isn't that hard to master but most of struggles come as a result of our egos.  Remember the ego exists to protect us and keeps us safe.  This stage is characterized by repetition after repetition as we put these moves into our muscle memory.

The kanji for ha translates as break and many believe it means to break from tradition.  For me, ha means to break the form down and discover its many nuances.  A student masters the form in the shu stage and then deepens their understanding in the ha stage.  True mastery is not knowing what to throwaway but knowing what not to throwaway.   True understanding comes by breaking the movement down into its smallest parts.

Once understanding is acquired the student finds liberation or ri.  Here we see mastery at its finest that is characterized like with all art with a sense of spontaneity and fluidity that at the same time has form but no form at all.

So a kata can be good or bad.  It depends on where we are in our practice and where we strive to be.  If one stays too long in the shu or ha that is not good but it's just as bad if we move forward too soon.  The real thing, I posit, that the kata is developing is self-confidence.  If we have confidence then we can meet life's challenges with a sense of calmness, composure and spontaneity.  After all, isn't that what we are trying to learn anyways?

“Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity" - Seneca

In the martial arts and in sports there is a certain degree of luck involved with being successful.   Generally speaking the most deserving or talented teams or people should win, but that isn't always the case.  Last night's Super Bowl game showed that in order to win one must be good as well as lucky. Most of us were a little befuddled why Seattle's Pete Carroll didn't use Marshawn Lynch who is arguably the NFL's best running back when they were 2nd and goal with 26 seconds left.  Now I am not an avid football fan and I couldn't even name all the teams in the league but even I thought they should have went with Lynch in that moment.  From what I have read millions of people did so too.  So was that the right call?  In that moment no, but in hindsight and as a martial artist I say yes.

Look at that moment from a bigger picture standpoint.  Vox.com’s Matthew Yglesias explains it here:

An incomplete pass stops the game clock. An unsuccessful run does not. A timeout also stops the clock, and Seattle only had one timeout left. So if the Seahawks had run on second down and failed to get a touchdown, they would have had to call timeout.

Now, it's third down, and they have no timeouts left. So if they run on third and fail, the game is over. But if they pass on third and fail, the clock will stop, and they can run another play. So they basically have to pass on third, and the New England defense knows they have to pass.

By contrast, if you throw on second down and fail, the clock stops. Now it's third down, and you still have your time out. That means you could run on third, fail, and use the timeout to stop the clock and run another play on fourth down. That means New England has to defend against both the pass and the run, which puts Seattle in a more advantageous strategic position than they would be had they run and failed.

As a martial artist I have to think in terms of the bigger picture.  The martial arts are about strategy.  We develop skills and strategies to out maneuver our opponents.  Strategy is a series of "What if" contingencies that we base our training upon.  Hopefully we are lucky enough to strategize correctly and come out successful or as Seneca said, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."  One can only prepare so much and the rest is left to god, the universe or whatever.  Perhaps that is why many samurai were historically very superstitious.  Some days it just pays to be lucky or as Baseball player Lefty Gomez said, "I'd rather be lucky than good."

Seven Samurai Showing tonight

LACMA screening, Jan. 29, 7:30 pm, "Seven Samurai" directed by Akira Kurosawa Seven Samurai (1954, 207 min, black and white, 35 mm)

Thursday, January 29, 2015, 7:30 pm at the Bing Theater in the LACMA

Screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni and Shinobu Hashimoto; directed by Akira Kurosawa; with Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Daisuke Kato, Isao Kimura, Minoru Chiaki, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Inaba

The film will be followed by a Q&A between film critic Elvis Mitchell and Robert Singer, Japanese art curator of the LACMA.

Presented in collaboration with the exhibitionSamurai: Japanese Armour from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection, Akira Kurosawa's 1954 action-adventure epic's sphere of influence is exhaustingly wide-ranging.

Its admirers range from George Lucas to Peter Jackson, from Neill Blomkamp to Takeshi "Beat" Kitano.

One even wonders if Stan Lee took a little of the abrasion that abounds in this sixteenth century-set story of masterless samurai hired by a farming village to protect them from outlaws and cycled it into the Marvel Comic superteam.

The samurai are led by Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), who, throughout the story, flips his own mystique about on a regular basis.

Epic and dense, Kurosawa's film lays out the action in clear and robust terms -we always know exactly what's going on and what's at stake.

$7 for LACMA members, students with valid ID and seniors (62+); $10 for the general public.

LIve in the moment

Why is stance so important

The stance in Aikido is called hanmi (半身).  Hanmi translates as "half body" as you can see from the picture.  The type of hanmi depends on the style of Aikido one studies.  The shoulders and hips can be square or one can be drawn back.  This limits the amount of exposure to your vital areas.  Generally speaking, the front foot is straight while the back foot is either straight or turned out, but again it depends on the style of Aikido or martial arts one does.  The front knee is almost always bent and the back leg is almost always straight. The stance in Aikido has a two fold rationale.  First, the stance is the foundation by which power and movement are generated.  How one stands and how the hips and feet are placed generally indicate how movement and thus power will be generated.  Secondly, the stance is the basis for one's defense.  In the past, the stance was used to hide the vital areas which housed major blood vessels, organs or weak spots.

Just about every teacher of Japanese traditional art's can be heard rebuking their students with, "Do it from the lower body."  The stance is said to be an expression of one's experience level.  Beginners traditionally take a more closed stance which enables them to "hide" their openings while masters tend to take a more open stance "creating" their openings.  Thus, we can see why the stance is considered the "foundation" of the art.

Last week: Samurai armor exhibit ends this weekend

Samurai Armor on Display at the Resnick Pavilion at LACMA October 19, 2014 – February 1, 2015

Travel back in time and discover remarkable objects that illuminate the life, culture, and pageantry of the samurai, the revered and feared warriors of Japan. The Samurai Collection of Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, one of the finest and most comprehensive collections in the world, presents a treasure trove of battle gear made for high-ranking warriors and daimyo (provincial governors) of the 14th through 19th centuries. The exhibition illustrates the evolution of samurai equipment through the centuries, featuring more than 140 objects of warrior regalia, with full suits of armor, helmets and face guards, weapons, horse trappings, and other battle gear.

During the centuries covered by the exhibition, warfare evolved from combat between small bands of equestrian archers to the clash of vast armies of infantry and cavalry equipped with swords, spears, and even matchlock guns. Arms and armor were needed in unprecedented quantities, and craftsmen responded with an astonishingly varied array of armor that was both functional and visually spectacular, a celebration of the warrior’s prowess. Even after 1615, when the Tokugawa military dictatorship brought an end to battle, samurai families continued to commission splendid arms and armor for ceremonial purposes. Because the social rank, income, and prestige of a samurai family were strictly determined by the battlefield valor of their ancestors, armor became ever more sumptuous as the embodiment of an elite warrior family’s heritage.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue with essays by some of the leading Japanese samurai armor experts.

General admission tickets go on sale now!

http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/samurai-japanese-armor-ann-and-gabriel-barbier-mueller-collection

A single sakura blooms

Saki midasu momo no naka yori hatsu-zakura - Basho

From among the peach-trees "Blooming everywhere," The first cherry blossoms. - Basho

As winter begins to fade the faces of spring begin to peak out.  In a Japan, the blooming of the sakura or cherry blossom is the signal that winter is over and the circle of life begins again.

As a symbol, the sakura is the ultimate representation of the samurai.  It is said that when the sakura flower falls it is reminiscent of a falling head and therefore a reminder that life is tenuous.  The sakura bloom is relatively short and thus reminds us that we are born, we live and we die and that we should not waste our lives.

I like the sakura because it is a flower that has beauty, strength and balance.  The sakura flower is quite stunning and they have a certain magic to them when they all bloom together.  The sakura must be a strong flower because it survives the winter and bursts into bloom even as when the winter frost still has its clutches on Japan.  The five petals looks like a human being, but they have a certain balance to them that is reminiscent of someone who has great strength and also great humility.

See the Sado Island Kodo Drummers at the LA Phil

From the LA Phil website: Exploring the limitless possibilities of the traditional Japanese drum, the taiko, Kodo is forging new directions for a vibrant living art-form. In Japanese the word "Kodo" conveys two meanings: Firstly, "heartbeat" the primal source of all rhythm. The sound of the great taiko is said to resemble a mother's heartbeat as felt in the womb, and it is no myth that babies are often lulled asleep by its thunderous vibrations. Secondly, read in a different way, the word can mean "children of the drum," a reflection of Kodo's desire to play the drums simply, with the heart of a child. Since the group’s debut at the Berlin Festival in 1981, Kodo has given over 3700 performances on all five continents, spending about a third of the year overseas, a third touring in Japan and a third rehearsing and preparing new material on Sado Island.

Kodo strives to both preserve and re-interpret traditional Japanese performing arts. Beyond this, members on tours and research trips all over the globe have brought back to Sado a kaleidoscope of world music and experiences which now exerts a strong influence on the group's performances and compositions. Collaborations with other artists and composers extend right across the musical spectrum and Kodo's lack of preconceptions about its music continues to produce startling new fusion and forms.

Tickets range from $46-112

For tickets: http://www.laphil.com/tickets/kodo/2015-02-03

Don't make more work for other people

“A person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the man doing it.” - Chinese proverb

I have a take on this proverb: "Don't make more work for other people."  This is one of those things our parents hopefully teach us at an early age.  If we don't learn this early, it is one of those little things that can make our lives just that much harder.  If we can learn it early, it will make our lives infinitely easier and we become one of those people that others want around.

The basis for these quotes is to encourage people to think about other people and the big picture.  The Dalai Lama said, “If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.”  What would the world be like if we thought about other people before we thought of ourselves?  We would pick up that piece of paper we threw at the basket but missed so that someone else wouldn't have to do it for us or we'd realize that what we do affects other people.

Here is a story that might help us relate.  Years ago, we were cleaning up for a video shoot where Sensei was going to be interview by the local news at the dojo.  One of the senior students was tasked with cleaning this raised tatami area where Sensei was going to be interviewed.  As the student wiped down the tatami he took special care to rub harder on the areas where it was dirtier.  When Sensei came down to inspect, he noticed that there were these huge white patchy spots that stood out.  Needless to say, he went off on the student and all of us.  Then we had to stay longer and pull out the tatami mats and thoroughly scrub them so that the color was uniform.  It was a Friday night and we didn't get out of there until close to 10:00 PM.

This student was just being earnest and yes the mat was "cleaner" than when he started but in his efforts he couldn't see the bigger picture which was that most likely Sensei was going to be interview from the waist up and the floor wouldn't be visible.  Therefore it only needed a light wipe down to pick up the dust, but instead we all had to pay for his error and stay longer and put in more work.

"Don't make more work for other people" can just be perfunctory politeness but it can be the thing which changes the world and all we need to do is truly think about not only the people in our immediate life but everyone around us.

Put in the work

Anything is possible if you put in enough practice.  Years ago I saw this video of Japanese kids learning to use the abacus or soroban.  The video featured a school that Japanese kids would go to in order to learn not only how to use the abacus but in a super fast way.  There was one kid who was so fast that he no longer needed to use a physical abacus anymore.  As he did the calculations his fingers moved as if he was using one.  Incredible! Everything in this world is a skill - even Aikido.  Therefore all that is necessary is that we practice Aikido over and over again in order to master it.  But, don't you have to be  athletically gifted in order to excel?  Not really.  When I was in college I remember my Motor Control and Learning professor said that the largest gains in strength come not from getting stronger or from the muscles getting larger but from learning the proper muscle recruitment or in other words from skill development.  I recently read an article in the Atlantic that supported this:

In a small study recently published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, researchers found that much of muscle strength is based on brain activity, rather than on the mass of the muscles themselves. Researchers at Ohio University’s Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute, 29 volunteers had their non-dominant arms placed in elbow-to-finger casts for four weeks. (Fifteen others acted as a cast-free control group.) Of the 29, 14 were asked to perform mental-imagery exercises five days a week, imagining themselves alternately flexing and resting their immobilized wrists for five-second intervals.

When the casts came off at the end of the four weeks, both groups had lost strength in their arms—but the group that had imagined themselves doing the arm exercises lost significantly less, measuring an average of 25 percent weaker than at the start of the study, compared to 45 percent for the group that hadn’t taken part in the mental-imagery activities.

With the above assertion and the realization that everything is a skill then anyone can learn anything - even Aikido.  All that is required is to put the work in.

Side note: This is why I always suggest people watch class when they are injured.  You can learn a lot by watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m6s-ulE6LY

We are open today

The dojo will be having classes today.

47 Ronin comes to UCLA

On February 15 one of the best versions of Chushingura or the story of the 47 Ronin will be shown at UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater. Director Kenji Mizoguchi's version is supposed to be the best.  You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_47_Ronin_%281941_film%29

The film starts at 7:00 PM and runs until 11:00 PM. You can learn more about the movie and buy tickets here: https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2015/02/15/47-ronin

Speed

How fast should we do the techniques?  The techniques should only be done as fast as one can still maintain the proper form.  If the form erodes, then the tempo of the technique is too fast. How do we speed up the technique?  If the form has been mastered, then one should increase the speed of the footwork to increase the overall speed of the technique.  It is an amateur move to increase the speed of the technique using the upper body.

How do we slow down a fast opponent?  To slow down a fast opponent use the form and the footwork together.  Actually, the faster the opponent the more commitment and thus the easier it is to do the technique but that is if the form and footwork have been mastered.

How do we speed up a slower partner?  If the person is in fact ready to be sped up then you speed them up by increasing the speed of the ukemi which makes them have to move faster.  However this should only be done with the other person's permission otherwise they will just think you are a jerk.

How do we keep from hyperventilating or getting too tired while taking ukemi or doing the techniques?  Of course, don't hold your breathe but also and, more importantly, stay calm.

How quickly should we get dressed?  Sensei told us that we should spend no more than five minutes in the dressing room.  Any more than five minutes meant that we were wasting time.

How quickly should the hakama be folded?  It should take no more than two minutes to fold a hakama.

How early should we get to the dojo before practice?  One should allot enough time to get dressed and thoroughly warm-up.  The warm-up in class is not the place we should be using to warm-up.  The in class warm-up is better suited for calming down our minds to prepare ourselves to learn.

How do you speed up the entire class?  Work on ourselves and be better team players.  We have all heard the adage, "One bad apple spoils the bunch."  Well it goes the other way too.  Our enthusiasm, hard work and good spirit is contagious.  To make everyone else better, we must first be better.

Observe what the teaching is doing?

In traditional martial arts, it is often said that in order to get good a student must develop their "eye."  When you ask an older teacher or a teacher from an older generation what that means they usually say that you must learn how to "see" the technique.  What?  That was equally if not more allegorical.  These statements are kind of like a Zen koan in which the student has to figure it out, but you can only figure it out by experiencing it.  As a student trains more they will naturally become more adept at learning and come to the realization of what it means to develop their "eye" and eventually to learn how to "see."  These are things that every student has to overcome and will eventually have to master. Do you remember that popular children's game that was in Highlights magazine called Where's Waldo? This game was designed to teach children how to be attentive and detail oriented as they searched for Waldo.  They had to learn to disregard all the extraneous things on the page and find Waldo who is hiding in plain sight.  This ability to find what is hiding in plain sight is what it means to develop one's "eye" and learn how to "see."  This is no different than class.  The teacher demonstrates and the student observes.  However, to observe is easy to say but hard to do.

Interesting film

I saw a trailer for a documentary about Kyudo or Japanese archery called One Shot, One Life that I very much want to see.  The chapter that intrigues me the most is about Takeuchi Masakuni who is a 7th dan kyudoka who is preparing to take the 8th dan exam for the 16th time.  In the trailer alone, I was amazed by his approach to taking the test.  His perseverance and good attitude in the face of adversity is typical of a Japanese person of a generation that has long since gone by. There is something about the Japanese spirit of the people of the WWII era that is a bit lost today.  It is something that I saw in my grandparents or other Japanese who were from that era.  When faced with adversity they would just shrug with a "whatever" look on their face and say stuff like, shoganai or to do your best, gambatte means to do your best and gaman or perseverance.  These might be phrases but they are more attitudes than anything.  Whenever something untoward would happen my mother or grandparents would say, "It's shoganai" and just shrug it off, but not in an apathetic way.  They would just go back to getting it done just as Takeuchi Masakuni is doing.  It was odd to me that they would not dwell on what is happening to them or the adversity they were facing.  It was almost like they accepted it and moved on from it which completely infuriated me by the way.

I wish that I had this Japanese spirit in my own life where of instead of monku-ing (complaining), I could just mutter, "shoganai" and keep on going without allowing the burden of adversity to keep me down.  You see this indomitable Japanese spirit in the few minutes of interview with Takeuchi Masakuni in the trailer for One Shot, One Life. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh-ohspuCmE

Thank you all very much

Thank you to everyone who came to 2nd Doshu's memorial service and to Kagami Biraki this weekend.  I really appreciate everyone's attendance.  It is nice to see everyone working together to make the dojo a wonderful place to train.  

Why we are obligated to remember

Giri - the debt you can never forget. How far will you go to keep a promise or repay a debt?  What will it take for you to forgo that obligation?  Only time will tell.

This year we memorialize the passing of second Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba who passed away in 1999.  A cursory search of the internet yielded little to no announcements by individuals or dojos commemorating his passing.  I understand.  Second Doshu wasn't the guy.  He was the guy after the guy and as such is often over looked, but he wasn't just some patsy.  Second Doshu inherited a huge responsibility and just think about what it must have been like to be the person coming after O Sensei.  That must have been horrible as every person must have compared him to O Sensei.  Can you imagine that?  People probably said things like, "Well he's no O Sensei" or "O Sensei never did it that way."  Aikido could have perished under his watch but it didn't and it actually flourished.  Second Doshu was the guy who took Aikido global and without him we might not be practicing Aikido today.  So we owe him a huge debt of gratitude not only because he was Sensei's teacher but because he preserved and proliferated Aikido for us.

Sensei was a direct student of second Doshu so he was obligated to remember his teacher's passing.  I could easily get by and forgo this memorial service especially since it is so close to New Year's, but giri won't allow me to because as the teacher of this school I inherited Sensei's obligation.  I cannot relinquish Sensei's obligation because I have an obligation to Sensei.

Every person in this world owes someone something.  Giri is not something that someone reminds you of - It is something that you must never forget.  How far will you go to follow through with your obligations?  People might say that they will do this or that, but only time will tell if they're intentions are sincere.  Please help me fulfill my obligation by coming to second Doshu's memorial service.  After all isn't it your obligation too?

2nd Doshu Memorial this weekend

The ACLA will be hosting a memorial service for Nidai Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba who passed away in 1999.  Class schedule is as follows: 8:00 AM: Iaido 9:30 AM: Open Aikido 10:45 AM: Memorial service