Kumano Kodo & Beyond: Japan Aikido Tour, April 2012

Tuesday 10 April to Sunday 22 April 2012

Here is a little-known fact: besides being a world-class Aikido practitioner and master instructor, Takayasu Sensei is also an expert at running Aikido tours in Japan.

Saburo Takayasu Sensei, Aikido Japan Tour Expert :-)

This tour was a long time coming. The last time Sensei took a group to Japan was 2001 (I hadn’t started Aikido yet back then), and many of the senior students had been campaigning for another trip.

Talks began in 2010 and the trip was first planned for 2011, but the Tohoku earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster that happened in March of 2011 forced Sensei to postpone it by a year. Many were disappointed, but there was just no way we could have enjoyed ourselves knowing that so many people were suffering amidst the natural disaster. That made it feel all the more special when we finally touched down in 2012 and saw that Japan had recovered greatly from the calamity.

It was an ambitious itinerary. We would walk part of the ancient Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route, a UNESCO World Heritage trail that pilgrims have walked for a thousand years, and arrive at Kumano Hongu Taisha in time for its annual festival. There we would join Aikikai Hombu in the Aikido demonstration at the shrine and party with Doshu, Moriteru Ueshiba, afterwards. Along the way we would train at dojo across Japan, including Hombu in Tokyo and Iwama, the birthplace of Aikido and home of Saito Sensei, Takayasu Sensei’s teacher.

We met at Kansai Airport at noon. Some of us were already in Osaka, while others came in by train from Tokyo or flew in from elsewhere. Once everyone had gathered, we boarded a chartered bus for Musashi Ryokan at Shirahama Hot Springs, our base for the first two nights.

Check-in was smooth, and we headed straight to the beach with our bokken for our first training session. The sky was overcast, but spirits were high and it was a perfect warm-up for the trip. That night we had our welcome dinner in the ryokan’s private dining hall. The food was amazing, and the drinking was a preview of the nights to come. Sensei really knew how to kick off a tour!

We started the morning with weapons training on the beach again, wrapping up just before the rain arrived. We then wandered through Toretore Ichiba, Shirahama’s lively fish market.

Next we visited Kozanji, O-Sensei’s final resting place, to pay our respects. O-Sensei was born in Wakayama, so the visit felt especially meaningful. The wet weather suited the sombre occasion, and the grounds were beautiful even in the rain.

In the evening we had a friendly training exchange in Tanabe, at the dojo of Seiji Gomita Sensei, one of O-Sensei’s direct students. He was there to receive us, but his son, Junichi Gomita, taught the first half of the class, and Takayasu Sensei took the second. The dojo was magnificent: classic, full of atmosphere, and a very memorable place to train. We finished with a gift exchange and a group photo with our hosts. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the famous statue of O-Sensei in his finishing kokyu pose.

We began our walk on the Kumano Kodo. It would take two days to reach Kumano Hongu Taisha, so the bulk of our luggage was sent ahead to Yunominesou, where we would stay at the end of the second day, and we only had to carry a small daypack with the essentials for the night.

We set off from Takijiri-oji around 9:30am on a long day through mountains, forest trails, rivers and small villages, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom, stopping for lunch around 12:30pm. We reached Chikatsuyu at about 3:30pm. We had intended to fit in some jo training, but Sensei gave us a well-earned rest and praised the group for its relentless pace through the mountains,.. well it was either that or that Sensei simply underestimated the terrain and I would be forever blamed for telling him that the walk was going to be easy and there would be vending machines along the way (even though it was actually my wife who said all that to him).

Our accommodation sat beside the Hiki River and had its own onsen, Hisui no Yu, where we soaked our tired legs. After dinner we turned in early.

Breakfast was at 6:20am to give us a head start. Before leaving, we took a group photo under the cherry blossom tree at the minshuku and set off at 7am.

The second day offered more varied terrain: trails, mountains, villages and stretches of road, with the occasional temple and cemetery. We arrived at Kumano Hongu Taisha around 3:30pm, where a bus picked us up and took us to our lodgings at Yunominesou.

Light rain in the morning meant a slow start, and we rested before heading to Kumano Hongu Taisha around midday. Our arrival in the area was timed to coincide with the festival, at which Aikikai performs an annual Aikido demonstration at Hongu Taisha as a sacred offering to the deities.

The weather cleared after midday, as if the gods were signalling it was time to perform. Aikikai Hombu kindly invited us to demonstrate and gave us a slot. Takayasu Sensei performed a series of kumitachi, along with empty-hand jiyu-waza.

That evening we were invited to a special gathering in honour of Doshu at Kawayu Midoriya. It was a great honour, especially as visitors from Australia, and a recognition of Takayasu Sensei’s contribution to Aikido to be one of the guests sitting at the main table. The food was wonderful and the group had a great time. Most of us weren’t fluent in Japanese, but we still managed to socialise with some of the guests and take some memorable photos.

We bid farewell to Wakayama Prefecture and made our way toward Kyoto, stopping first in Nara. We visited Todaiji, home to one of the largest Buddha statues in Japan. We also stopped at Nara Park, where the free-roaming deer, considered sacred messengers of the gods, wandered among us demanding snacks.

On arriving in Kyoto, we checked into the Dormy Inn and hurried out to meet another group we’d be training with: the Aishinkan, led by Tanimoto Sensei, at the Kyoto Butokuden. Takayasu Sensei gave a short seminar showcasing Iwama-style Aikido, followed by friendly joint training. The Butokuden is another legendary location, and it was a privilege to train there. We finished with a quick group dinner with Ogawa Sensei, one of Tanimoto Sensei’s students, whom we would meet again in 2024.

A rest day, spent visiting some of Kyoto’s most famous sights, including Kiyomizudera and Kinkakuji. In the evening the group split up for separate dinners and wandered around the city.

Sensei took the group up Mount Kurama, a spiritual place for martial artists where O-Sensei once had a small dojo. It’s also famous for the folklore in which the King of the Tengu trained the young warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a story Takayasu Sensei is particularly fond of.

We took the local train and made a short hike up to the shrine, where we spent the day. In the evening we returned to Gion for dinner with Higuchi Sensei, one of Takayasu Sensei’s contacts in Kyoto.

We left the Kansai region behind and took the Shinkansen to Tokyo, arriving around midday. After a quick lunch near Tokyo Station, we checked into our hotel, Grand Arc Hanzomon. The rest of the day was free, and everyone wandered Tokyo in their own way.

We left the hotel at 5:30am for the 6am class at Aikikai Hombu, specifically Doshu’s morning class. It was our second encounter with Doshu on the trip, and he welcomed us warmly. For many of us, myself included, it was our first time training at Hombu.

After class, Sensei was quietly called aside and escorted by Peter Bolt. When he returned some time later, he was holding his 7th Dan certificate from Doshu. Sensei explained that for high dan grades, Doshu likes to present the certificate in front of O-Sensei’s shrine in their private quarters.

After a quick breakfast, groups headed off to explore Tokyo (Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Asakusa) before we returned to Hombu for more training at 6pm.

This was a long day, a pilgrimage to Iwama to pay homage to one of the origins of Aikido. After a 7am breakfast, we took the local train and arrived a little after 11am.

Our first stop was Atagosan, a mountain of great significance to O-Sensei and Saito Sensei. At its summit stands Atago Jinja, to which O-Sensei regularly climbed to perform demonstrations and prayers. Saito Sensei continued the tradition, leading his students up as part of their training, and Takayasu Sensei followed suit with us.

Hirosawa Sensei met us at the top, gave us a short tour and led an impromptu Aikido lesson. We then headed down (he drove, we walked) for a late lunch at a local izakaya.

Around 4pm we reached the Aiki Jinja, where Sensei gave some commentary and we spent time at the shrine and O-Sensei’s statue. That evening we trained in two sessions at the Iwama Dojo, led by Inagaki Shihan and Kubota Sensei. We caught the last train out around 9pm, arriving back in Tokyo after 11pm, but not before taking some last photos at the dojo.

After the late night, this was largely a rest day. Takayasu Sensei was invited to a small private seminar by Hirosawa Sensei in Tokyo that afternoon. We didn’t train, but were permitted to observe as guests.

The one scheduled group event was the farewell dinner at 6:30pm, which Sensei organised at Gonpachi Shibuya with an all-you-can-drink package. As the drinks began arriving more and more slowly, most of us started ordering doubles! Sensei thanked everyone for coming and said he hoped we’d all enjoyed ourselves.

On the official last day, we had breakfast at the hotel and said our goodbyes. Some flew out that morning, while others stayed on in Tokyo a little longer. It was an unforgettable trip, with memories that will last a lifetime.

More photos from the trip are on our Facebook page, in two albums: Part 1 and Part 2.