Saito Sensei's Easter seminar, 1997

Saito Sensei back in Sydney teaching Aikido seminars, 5 months after major cancer operation!

The March Easter break this year saw another 4 day intensive Aikido seminar with the world renowned exponent of O-Sensei’s Aikido, Morihiro Saito Sensei, 9th Dan, from Iwama in Japan.

Warmly welcomed by Sydney hosts Saburo Takayasu Sensei, 6th Dan Shihan and senior instructors of the Takemusu Aiki Association in Sydney, Saito Sensei was back in Sydney teaching intensive Aikdo seminars, despite the fact that last year he underwent major surgery for throat cancer. With over 170 keen students from the eastern side of Australia, particularly the large and welcome contingent from Mick Field Sensei’s dojo in Melbourne, and several New Zealand dojo, the 1997 Easter Aikido Gasshuku again proved to be an enjoyable success. It gave many of the older students the rare opportunity to meet old friends from distant shores, while allowing many of the beginners to meet practitioners from other dojo and make new friends. There were no injuries or any incidents, the seminar ran so smoothly that many of us who helped organise the proceedings were left wondering what we had forgotten, and the general feeling of excitement and goodwill that pervaded the whole seminar was noticed and appreciated by everyone.

Once again the Willoughby Leisure Centre was shown to be the perfect choice for such a seminar, providing huge mat space and excellent facilities such as sauna, spa and swimming pools which were well used by the participants to soothe tired bodies and re-energise the budding martial spirits. A major theme of the seminar was the development of smooth and flowing advanced Aikido technique from slow and strong basic training. Sensei gave an interesting explanation of how certain techniques could build upon other more basic techniques, and stressed that without such training in kihon, more complicated and advanced techniques simply were not physically possible. Alongside that explanation ran a clear demonstration of the development of Aikido techniques and their relationship to each other. This systemisation has been clearly shown in Saito Sensei’s new series of books on Aikido called “Takemusu Aikido”, and the seminar closely followed the system as laid out in those books.

One of the points that Sensei made clear was that what we are learning in Aikido is not just hundreds of techniques, but rather we train in these hundreds of techniques in order to develop a sense of Aiki, the ability to receive and redirect an attacking force without the need to clash and injure by using force of our own. This makes Aikido unique and powerful. It is impossible to remember all the hundreds of techniques in a self-defense situation or to have time to remember which technique we need to deal with a particular attack. But by understanding the relationships between all these many and varied techniques, we are learning the principle of Aiki, and developing a solid and instantaneous connection of our limbs to our hips and ultimately the ground. We should then be able to naturally and automatically sense the correct movement needed to deal with an oncoming attack, and perform it without thought. This is the meaning of “Takemusu Aiki”, that there are no mistakes in Aikido, just an endless series of possibilities, to which there are always new techniques available.

This time a sense of urgency was transmitted through Saito Sensei’s demonstrations and explanations. Sensei has a strong wish to preserve the Aikido techniques in the same way that they were taught by the Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei, his teacher of over 20 years. He was keen to pass on this teaching to his senior instructors in Australia, and frequently talked about the need for correct teaching. His focus was on practicing the basics of Aikido strongly and slowly, and in having us all learning correctly and precisely in order to transmit the true art of Aikido to future generations of instructors. He stressed that kihon, “basics” should never change, as they were universally based on simple and practical laws of body movements and partner-to-partner relationships, and that only with a solid understanding of kihon could we ever hope to progress to the higher and more complicated methods of training such as the flowing, varied, applied and reversal techniques. He asked that we also use O-Sensei’s kuden, “oral teachings” to remind us of the basic important messages which were O-Sensei’s directives for training. The kuden represent details of training and techniques given to us verbally, and they also cannot be changed. In this way, by accurately following the legacy of the Founder, who left the world in 1969, we can pass on the true meaning of Aikido so that it does not stray from the path that he intended it to follow.

Sensei was disappointed that some organisations around the world are starting to discount the weapons component of Aikido training as left by O-Sensei, especially the concept of riai, the theory of the interconnectedness of sword, staff and empty hand training in Aikido, due to an inherent lack of understanding of the basics. Riai, a major cornerstone of Aikido philosophy, also played a large part in the seminar. Sensei often gave enlightening demonstrations on how hand techniques were derived from sword or staff techniques, and stressed that the inherent physical power of Aikido was largely supplemented through correct daily training of the sword. Weapons training also keeps one’s empty hand training honest, when training in hand techniques only, it leaves the possibility for bad habits to develop, habits which can quickly be corrected by an understanding of sword and staff movements. Saito Sensei was adamant that exclusion of weapons from regular training would lead Aikido into becoming weak and useless.

Sensei also gave interesting explanations of the differences between “dojo Aikido” and “demonstration Aikido”, and asked us not to confuse the two. Public demonstrations were always performed to impress an audience of people who wanted to see new and amazing techniques, partly to show off and partly to gain more students. However, dojo Aikido should be strong, slow and vigorous. He stated that Aikido is not about showing off your technique to impress others, especially beginners, as it does not show a humble and respectful attitude and can also be the cause of injury while training. When training with partners we are “borrowing” the use of another body in order for us to learn, so we must treat our partners with respect and not have a competitive attitude. Sensei told us that true Aikido will be passed onto those who deserved it, and only with an open mind and a humble attitude could we hope to learn anything of value. On the subject of learning, Sensei believes the founder of Aikido’s true message can only be passed on via physical experience of the techniques performed, which means we need to be training in the techniques rather than learning by demonstration and explanation alone. Even though Aikido techniques are simple and logical physical movements based upon laws of physics and body mechanics, the results of some Aikido techniques can appear amazing, magical and unbelievable. For this reason the ability to perform them, let alone understand or believe them requires direct experience. Explanation and demonstration are only secondary. For example, the concept of Ki can really only be understood by direct experience of it’s effect, such as in kokyu, or abdominal breath power techniques. Grabbing the arm of an instructor and being thrown in kokyu will teach you much more about ki than lengthy explanations or demonstrations ever will.

Also of interest was the chance for the yudansha to have the opportunity to talk with Saito Sensei over dinner, and ask questions that normally don’t get asked in the dojo. Sensei was very approachable and he spoke with a very humble and down to earth manner, although he did like to tell the odd story and make a few jokes. He touched on such subjects as what it was like to train in the old days with O-Sensei, stories of “interesting” visits to his dojo, as well as his concerns about the future of Aikido. This may have been the last opportunity for us to see Saito Sensei in Australia, and the occasion was well appreciated by all who attended. The seminar program will continue however, with the probability that Sensei’s son, Hitohiro, will be visiting Melbourne in 1998 to hold a seminar hosted by Mick Field Sensei.