Member Resources for students of Aikido Multnomah Aikikai in Portland Oregon.
Dojo News blog articles now hosted on http://www.multnomahaikikai.com/dojo-news
In this video from 1988 Chiba sensei offers instruction on suwari waza shomenuchi ikkyo.
Here is Chiba Sensei again in 2011 demonstrating suwari waza shomenuchi ikkyo. As he slows down to show the initial contact, note that both hands make contact together at uke's elbow:
link to view on Youtube:: https://youtu.be/tgOYPIPOn30
Phillip Vargas Sensei demonstrates suwari waza shomenuchi ikkyo and clearly shows the placement of hands together at uke's elbow. Note how his entrance is compact, elbows down and close to his body. Which knee moves in as he performs the cut down?
link to view on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YazjeLAOKgw
Why we do the opening footwork the way we do for shihonage omote (from katatedori gyaku hanmi).
Note Chiba Sensei is attentive to where he steps relative to uke's foot. Note his use of the shikaku angle in taking uke's balance.
In this video Chiba Sensei relays a story about how the Shihonage technique of O'Sensei evolved after an encounter with a Judoka at a seminar. Video shared by aikipath on YouTube.
Recorded 2008. Uke in this video is Robert Savoca Sensei.
If you have trouble seeing the embedded video you can watch it on YouTube via this link: https://youtu.be/eC_Uctj1CyE
There is a tradition in the Japanese martial arts of training intensively for a period of time in the coldest part of the winter (winter keiko).
What’s “intensive” about the January “Winter Intensive?”
At the dojo, we like to cultivate a sense of training seasons throughout the year. Winter Intensive is a time to focus in on a training theme, experiment with a teaching approach or try out a new class on the schedule. This year we are poised for all three.
The theme this January is proficiency with the 5th and 4th kyu curriculum. This month, teachers will focus classes on the techniques found on the 5th and 4th kyu Birankai test guidelines. We are working together to give you a focused experience of these techniques week by week. One of our goals is to cover all the techniques on the 5th and 4th kyu curriculum over the course of the month. Attend classes consistently in January and you will have the opportunity to build your confidence with performing these techniques well. At the end of the month we will conduct kyu testing.
If you are not yet 5th kyu, we encourage you to bring your mettle to training this month and set a goal to test at the end of the month. If you are 5th kyu and already preparing for 4th kyu, train diligently 3-4 times per week and you will be ready to test at the end of the month. You can do it! We will equip you. Sign up for either Jan 31 or Feb 1 and make the commitment to test on that date.
If you are currently above 4th kyu, then this is your chance to take your art to the next level by infusing familiar forms with a whole new level of centeredness, connectedness, wholeness, liveliness and openness (Chiba Sensei’s five pillars of training). Work the forms, embody the principles.
Bokken and Jo training will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm, respectively. The relationship between body arts and weapons work is germane to our art. In January we will focus on the fundamental weapons forms as outlined on the kyu guidelines.
This January we’re also trying out new, added practice sessions:
Wednesdays, 12:30pm, Greg Corbin will host a practice session with a focus on test preparation help.
Wednesdays, 7:30pm, Oliva Sensei will lead zazen sitting practice.
Saturdays, 11:45am, Van Amburgh Sensei will host a practice session where you can bring test prep questions, get feedback on your technique and practice your ukemi.
Will the new practices sessions continue past January? It will largely depend upon the level of member support and enthusiasm through January. On reflection, in a previous year we tried out a new monday evening class during winter intensive - it was well received and we’ve continued the class as a regular part of our weekly schedule. Similarly, last January we tried out a new 12:30pm class and it too has continued with enthusiastic support. Your participation shapes our future class schedule.
This January we have several special events lined up for you.
Special events in January:
Jan. 2, Mon, first class of the new year. Resolve to Train!
Jan. 3, Tue, Overview for the month’s intensive (First Tuesday open to all levels this month, all members encouraged to attend)
Jan. 4, Wed, 4:30pm: Fold a Crane for the New Year (public event for adults and children - concurrent with children’s class)
Jan. 8, Sunday, 1pm-4pm, intensive training session
Jan. 10, Tue, Kagami Biraki
Jan. 31, Tue Kyu tests part 1 Feb 1, Wed, Kyu tests part 2 Dojo party (date to be announced) Note: Children's program has special practice sessions scheduled on Sundays in January 10:30am- noon.
The new year is an excellent time to renew our commitment to training, look in the mirror (kagami), break our old habits (biraki) and resolve to improve ourselves. We invite you and challenge you to step up your training, focus in on a defined set of techniques and hone them.
Sincerely, Aki Fleshler, Suzane Van Amburgh, Jon Paul Oliva and Sean Sheedy
Congratulations to Dan Reid who passed his shodan test over the weekend of December 2-4, 2016; the Northwest Regional Seminar held at Multnomah Aikikai. Part of the requirements for his test included a written essay. This essay is published with his permission below.
Shodan Essay
The warm June air inside the university gym was thick with sweat, so the
announcement that Chiba Sensei’s weapons class would be held outside was a welcome
treat. We were in the thick of 2007 Summer Camp, and we all filed eagerly into the fresh
air with bokken in hand. After a vigorous session of suburi and kirigaeshi among the
broadleaf trees, we sat in seiza on the cool grass and Chiba Sensei gave a lecture. During
his talk he said that whenever he trains in any form, he asks himself three simple
questions that have stayed with me ever since:
“Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing?”
These questions may seem innocuous on the surface, but when I begin to parse their
implications they reveal hidden depths of meaning. The effort to internalize them and
keep them at the forefront of my mind has been a core element of my Aikido and Zazen
practice for nearly a decade.
The first question is the most straightforward and accessible, but the answer to
“Where am I?” is not a street address or set of coordinates. Instead, the answer presents
itself when I open all my senses completely to my surroundings. I try to widen and soften
my field of vision in all directions, open my ears to small and distant sounds, smell and
taste the air around me, feel the light breeze drying the damp spots in my gi, feel the
smooth oak of my bokken, feel gravity pulling my body downward and pressing my feet
into the earth. The sensation of gravity, which is actually a relativistic distortion of space-
time, opens the door to perceiving existence in all four spatial dimensions of “where.”
The second question, “Who am I?”, seems to be the most deceptive of the three to
Westerners. The answer is not my name; it can perhaps be best understood through other
questions. How do I see myself when I’m not looking in a mirror? What does my inner
voice sound like? What do I feel like inside my skin? Eventually, I begin to understand
that this is not actually separate from the first question. This realization feels similar to
the Hindu maxim “that art thou,” which reminds us that the outer universe we perceive is
not different from our inner universe. The spatial boundary of my skin is a convenient
external reference for my individual identity, but it is permeable and temporary. There is
a constant exchange across the boundary of air, food, water, waste, sweat, light, thought,
and speech. Continuous streams of cosmic rays and neutrinos from the far corners of our
galaxy zip through my body without slowing down or noticing that I’m here. After my
consciousness dissipates in death, my body will likewise disperse into the local
ecosystem. Ultimately, “I” am a finite occurrence in time; understanding the second
question effectively extends the first into the temporal dimension.
Finally, “What am I doing?” can be considered an intersection of the first two
questions. When I do something, the “who” of the second question projects agency to
affect or alter the “where” of the first. This “doing” includes but is not limited to what we
perceive as direct action; it is uke’s committed strike, but it is also nage’s receiving and
blending with the energy of that strike. The interaction between partners in Aikido
training reveals the fuzziness of the boundary between self and other. When uke and nage
both fully commit to a technique, we become like a binary star system, each orbiting a
geometric point in space between us that is our common center of gravity. In the martial
tension of each encounter, the center of the technique can move anywhere within or
between our bodies depending on our ma’ai, momentum, balance and weight distribution,
points of contact, and intentions. When we can perceive the center’s movement, the
possibilities for reversals, kaeshiwaza, and freestyle practice begin to present themselves,
until the distinction between nage and uke is simply one of convenience.
Of course, I am by no means a master of any sort, and a visceral understanding of
these ideas is difficult to maintain in my daily life and practice. Indeed, they often elude
me altogether. However, these three simple questions have been enormously valuable to
me as I remember and return to them again and again. I will always be grateful to Chiba
Sensei for giving us this gift in that lecture on the grass. Daniel Reid, November 2016
Dan Reid has contributed an article to Dojo News previously. Enjoy his September article "The River of Aikido": http://multnomahaikikai.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-river-of-aikido-by-dan-reid.html
6. You can support the and carry on the work that Chiba Sensei dedicated his life to. Here's how to make a donation to the Endowment Fund or the Birankai Scholarship Program:
Reflections on the 2015 Birankai North America Aikido Summer Camp
by Jon-Paul Oliva, Sandan
Author’s note: As a bit of background, beyond the technical instruction at camp, the commemoration of Chiba Sensei’s life and particularly the devotion and commitment shown by his Kenshusei and lifelong students was very moving to me. In this devotion I recognized the special nature of the teacher-student relationship, and the opportunity that relationship provides us with; to study ourselves through our training. It strikes me that this is one of the great gifts of Aikido and that we all owe a great debt to Chiba Sensei as someone who gave a great deal of his life to make the study of ourselves through Aikido possible.
I have found that the Way of the samurai is death.
This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.
There is nothing more to it than that.
- Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
This was a special summer camp for us all. Many longtime students, friends and kenshusei of Chiba Sensei came to honor and celebrate the life of our teacher. Through their instruction and words of commemoration this weekend, these people literally embodied Sensei’s dedication to Aikido and commitment to his students.
Even among those of us who only experienced Chiba Sensei indirectly through our teachers, or occasionally at seminars, there was an extra spark to training and commitment in running camp, created by the motive energy of Sensei’s lifelong commitment to Aikido and his students.
George Lyons Sensei taught a Dan weapons class at summer camp this year. During the class, we practiced kiriotoshi with bokken. I noticed that neither he nor his uke used a tsuba on their weapons. He remarked that at the culmination of the kiriotoshi exercise, the domination movement, that nage must hold the line and penetrate deeply with full intention into the attack of his opponent in order to successfully dominate their attack. Moving into a killing strike against all odds, nage must abandon all hope of survival in order to succeed in this encounter. His exact words were “It’s crazy”, to advance into the oncoming strike, rather than retreat from it. This is the way of Budo.
Although I only had the opportunity to train with Chiba Sensei occasionally over the years at seminars and summer camps, it was abundantly clear to me from the first time I met him that Sensei embodied the spirit of Budo and carried it forward for all of us like a lamp to show us the way. He could radiate ferocity that was palpable to anyone he approached, and he brought forth the same commitment and spirit from anyone who was lucky enough to be his student.
Through his conduct, Sensei showed us how to embrace our fear and move through it. Above that, he dedicated his life to transmitting this spirit to his students. His legacy to all of us is a system of study and a cadre of teachers that, through our own diligent practice and sincere commitment, will make his passing a less difficult endeavor for all of us who must now follow in his footsteps.
What a gift this is to all of us! Speaking personally, I struggle with fear on a daily basis. I sometimes find myself unable to move forward decisively when a situation demands it. I am often reluctant to be vulnerable with others. When I do find the strength to act without attachment to fear, I know that it is because of the great gift of Aikido that I can find the calm center within me and embrace a situation as it presents itself.
This is the great gift and responsibility Sensei has charged us with; to honor his life work by devoting ourselves to the system of study that he has laid out for us. Now, as always, it is up to us to accept this gift and continue our practice in earnest. It is my sincere hope that each of us, in the spirit of self-sacrifice, find the courage within ourselves to renew our commitment to forging the spirit of Budo within our hearts and carry it forward like a light into the world.
Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery.
Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice.
The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love.
This article and photo slide show is published on Biran Online, the Aikido Journal Of Birankai North America. Thanks to Liese Klein editor of the Journal.
Kazuo Chiba, a pioneering teacher who helped spread the Japanese martial art of Aikido across the world, died June 5, 2015 in San Diego, California. Chiba Sensei, 75, suffered from kidney cancer. He died peacefully at home surrounded by family and students.
T.K. Chiba and M. Kanai in 1954.
Born on Feb. 5, 1940, in Tokyo, Japan, Chiba Sensei showed an early interest in martial arts and began serious training in judo and karate in his teens. But he became dissatisfied with both arts and starting seeking a more comprehensive fighting system.
“A budo practitioner, I thought, should be able to respond under any circumstances, whether using sword against sword, whatever,” Chiba Sensei said in a 1995 Aikido Journal interview.
An encounter in a bookstore changed his life: “I picked up a book about Aikido. Inside there was a small photo of [Aikido founder] O-Sensei,” Chiba Sensei said. “When I saw it, I knew immediately that I had found my teacher. I knew nothing about the actual techniques of Aikido, but that didn’t seem important and I just thought to myself: ‘This is it! This looks like a man who understands my concerns.’”
Chiba Sensei went to Aikido headquarters in Tokyo and pestered O-Sensei and seniorstudents until he was accepted as a live-in trainee, at the age of 18. Over the next seven years he practiced Aikido for hours every day and traveled with the founder across Japan to demonstrate and promote the art.
In 1960, then a third-degree black belt, Chiba Sensei was dispatched to the city of Nagoya to establish one of the first branch dojos [schools] under the auspices of Aikido headquarters. In 1962, he also began teaching at the Hombu dojo, and within three years had completed his training and earned promotion to fifth-degree black belt.
In March of 1966, Chiba Sensei became one of the first teachers sent abroad from Japan to spread the fledgling art of Aikido. Wed to his wife, Mitsuko, only months before his departure, he was sent alone to England to establish the art in a period many Britons were
Chiba Sensei in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales.
still actively hostile to the Japanese. “I did not appreciate the food served by my host family – the usual fare being meat and vegetables boiled to mash, except on Fridays when we were served fried fish with salt and vinegar. I could not stop dreaming of soy sauce,” Chiba Sensei wrote in a memoir published in the Birankai Aikido journal.
Culture shock and the political complexities of Britain’s martial arts world made his first years abroad very difficult. After that bumpy start, he established a successful dojo in London and also traveled extensively to teach in Europe, helping to promote Aikido in Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Morocco, Spain and Switzerland. In 1970 he was promoted to sixth-degree black belt and awarded the title of shihan, or master instructor.
In 1975, Chiba Sensei returned to Japan to serve as secretary of the international department at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. At that time he also began studying Iaido – the art of drawing and cutting with the Japanese sword – with Takeshi Mitsuzuka, a disciple of legendary swordsman Hakudo Nakayama. He also intensified his study of Zen Buddhism and Misogi-no-kokyu-ho, a Shinto practice of purification through breathing.
Chiba Sensei and Mrs. Chiba in San Diego, 1981.
At the invitation of the United States Aikido Federation, Chiba Sensei and his family moved to San Diego in 1981 and established the San Diego Aikikai dojo. Thousands of Aikido practitioners from around the world came to study with Chiba Sensei in California and take part in live-in trainee and other teacher-preparation programs. He also established the Birankai Aikido organization, with dozens of affiliated dojos in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe.
In 2008, after 50 years in Aikido, Chiba Sensei retired from active teaching.
Chiba Sensei and his wife, Mitsuko Chiba.
Chiba Sensei is survived by his wife, Mitsuko; his children Kano and Kotetsu; his
grandchildren James Yamato, Titus Taisuke, Ryusuke, Shou, Kai and Zen, and his brother, Nobuyoshi Chiba of Japan. He will be greatly missed by his family and thousands of students and admirers across the world.
This post is from Biran Online, posting dated October 7, 2014.
L. Klein is the editor of Biran, The Aikido Journal of Birankai North America
Don't miss the seminars coming up in our own Northwest Region! Check out the seminar info page for details on upcoming seminars. -Suzane Van Amburgh
Check out the great video above put together by the Birankai Scholarship Committee. Real Birankai students talk about the benefits of seminars as a part of training and development in the art. It’s eight minutes long but full of action footage!
All of us in Birankai Aikido are working to fund seminars to raise our level of Aikido, Iaido and Zazen training through the T.K. & Mitsuko Chiba Endowment Fund. Our national goal is to raise $400,000 in four years and we are already funding seminars through the endowment.
This excellent video is worth watching in its entirety. In this post, however, I want to bring your attention to one part. Toward the end of this video, Chiba Sensei demonstrates ikkyo with Robert Savoca (now Savoca Sensei, and chief instructor of Brooklyn Aikikai).
If you notice at 3:45 into this video, the "cut-down" is shown repeatedly and Savoca demonstrates clearly the ukemi required for absorbing strong, quick force. Notice how his back leg is mobile - ready to move. The back foot comes upward and the head dips downward during the cut. His standing leg supports his movement, his hip joint allows quick smooth motion, he restores his balance the moment Sensei allows him up. He has good control of the counter balances in his body; a good example of managing balance within imbalance.
Title of the video on YouTube: Nagoya Aikikai, Special Un. lesson Chiba Sensei, 02-03 Dec. 2002, part 2
This video is hosted on the YouTube Channel of Amnon Tzechovoy
Part one is also available on his channel (catch ukemi by John Brinsley Sensei in part one). Thank you, Amnon Sensei!
