Lorraine Dianne Sensei demonstrates ryotedori tenshinage

In this video Lorranie DiAnne Sensei demonstrates ryotedori tenshinage, also known as "heaven and earth throw." Note how her initial motion effectively takes uke's balance.  As she takes the final step in, she comments "come in low!" She makes the point that many people step in without sufficiently lowering their center and their attempt to throw is ineffective.

If you have trouble viewing the embedded video you can watch it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/cm0a6ViU9l4

Shodan reflections on the questions: “Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing?”

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

Catch up on the videos, photos and great articles on Biran Online

Catch up on the videos, photos and great articles from our Birankai 2015 Summer Camp in Tacoma Washington.


My First Aikido Camp is a wonderful article by Meghan McCoy, a student from Oak Park Aikikai.

Senseis Darrell Bluhm and Frank Apodaca 2015

Article excerpt: 

For me, particularly since I’m still very new in Aikido, every class had something new to learn. Familiar techniques, such a katatedori suwariwaza ikkyo, had to be approached differently because I was practicing with someone I’d never met, and so I had to learn how to move in a way that worked with them. The weapons classes were immensely beneficial, especially Frank Apodaca Sensei’s weapons class. He emphasized cultivating “the eyes to see,” which I took as meaning not just watching and stealing the technique, but also seeing and feeling the energy with which someone moves. I once read that proper form is essential, but without technique and heart put into the form it’s all mechanical, and much of what I believe Aikido to be is lost.

Full article: http://birankai.org/blog/?p=1028

From the August 19th post, scroll down and enjoy the posts! 

There's a link to the Birankai Smugmug site with great camp photos...

Check out the wonderful videos tracing back to the first day of camp. Here's one from George Lyons Sensei's class; katatedori, ai hanmi iriminage chudan opening. Along with Lyons Sensei's movement, watch how his ukes move:

Here's a video of Neilu Naini Sensei of Clallam Aikikai in Washington, teaching an outdoor weapons class. Observe her clean execution of tsuki makiotoshi:

There's much more to see, watch and read on Biran Online.

Be sure to subscribe to Biran Online. It's the Aikido Journal of Birankai North America.

Follow your own Dojo News!  When you subscribe with your email address, you'll receive a notification in your inbox whenever a new article is posted.

-Suzane Van Amburgh, Chief Instructor, Aikido Multnomah Aikikai

Reflections on the 2015 Birankai North America Aikido Summer Camp

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. 

- O-Sensei, Morihei Ueshiba

Remembering Chiba Sensei

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.

A celebration of Sensei’s life will be held at Birankai North America 2015 Summer Camp, July 16-21 in Tacoma, Wash.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that you consider a gift for the family. Please click here for more information on donations.
L. Klein for Birankai North America

Nagoya Aikikai, 2002 part 2: Chiba Sensei, demonstrates ikkyo

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

Video not displaying above? Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07DRkWPwwQg

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!

What's your experience of taking ikkyo ukemi?

On the occasion of new dan grades - A Fleshler, 6-dan, Shihan, Birankai North America

On the Occasion of New Dan Grades
May 9, 2014

A Fleshler, 6-dan, Shihan, Birankai North America
Technical Director, Multnomah Aikikai
Portland, Oregon

It has been some years since we’ve had new shodan in our dojo. There is so much expectation and emotion associated with these promotions. They certainly are a marker of some kind in each student’s life, and in the life of the dojo. But what kind of marker?

Very often a new shodan (or nidan, or sandan) feels a mixture of pride and shame: “It’s over, I did it, but I am also completely exposed in my ignorance and incompetence.” In my view, this is completely appropriate. This is a realistic expression of one’s humility, and appreciation of the unending character of the road ahead. One should get used to not knowing, no matter how much you train. This is shoshin, beginner’s mind, the foundation of carrying oneself as a warrior.

You may have heard the metaphor of the student as a sword: at shodan, a block of metal, forged for resilience and strength; at nidan, a sharp sword, with a clear edge for cutting; at sandan, a polished, integrated weapon. The process continues for the rest of life, for the rest of training, of course.

Another metaphor: at first, the training reaches only the skin; then the muscles; then the bone; then the marrow; then a slender line of energy through the center of the bones. Again, a suggestion of a very long process, one which cannot be hurried.

Both metaphors speak to deepening integration and increasing naturalness of movement, of interaction, of perception. However, this is literally a superficial understanding, because it separates the body from the mind and spirit. What is required is the penetration of the art into one’s character, personality, and approach to life in all its challenge and complexity. Think of the Five Pillars expressed by Chiba Sensei: Centered, Whole, Open, Connected, Lively. Do you think he is talking only about the technical practice we study in our classes? Do you think you can continue to strengthen these Five Pillars in the dojo without challenging yourself to grow outside the dojo?

The end stage as described by O’Sensei is something called “Take Musu Aiki”. For now, let’s just say this means a completely natural, spontaneous, and appropriate manifestation of the art, with no imposition of will and ego, with no detachment and escaping from the reality which presents itself — so much so that the violence of a confrontation dissipates without any effort, and without any winning or losing.

O Sensei also spoke of “Standing on the Rainbow Bridge”. Simply put, your insides are connected to your outsides; the source of your being is completely connected to your manifestation. (This is a piece of a his very elaborate spirituality, but we can extract this jewel for our purpose here.)

In the face of such a vision, in the face of such a challenging road, humility is a completely appropriate emotion. There is an old Zen expression: “Before Enlightenment: Chop Wood, Carry Water; After Enlightenment: Chop Wood, Carry Water.”  Let’s begin again.

Gassho,
==AF

Pictures and report on our snowy seminar with Boyet Sensei

Didier Boyet Sensei

Multnomah Aikikai hosted Didier Boyet Shihan for an Iaido and Aikido seminar Feb. 7-9, 2014, in Portland, Ore.

An uninvited guest also arrived in Portland that weekend: a hard-hitting snowstorm that unfortunately competed with the planned weekend of training. Just getting to the dojo was a challenge – let alone training with a world-renowned sensei. The saying, “On the tatami and in life we experience conflicts, both constructed and natural,” couldn’t have been more true in this case. The city was virtually shut down.

Although Thursday evening class was cancelled, people with hearty four-wheel-drive vehicles picked up members from their homes for training on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Classes were small, allowing for an intimate “master class” training environment.

Drawing from four decades of practice, Boyet Sensei’s instruction inspired new ways of training, still being actively examined. The seminar reinforced the idea that many techniques can be utilized to exercise a training objective.
 

 One of the strongest points examined was based on exercises to move one’s body off the line while keeping the angle of incidence narrow, creating a very streamlined, hip-aligned and narrow form to avoid attack. This idea and others were prime example of the reasons we should all continue to train at seminars like this, where you can gain invaluable lessons and insight.

James Murray takes ukemi for Boyet Sensei

While progress at the seminar was incremental, it was steady and motivating. Sometimes the fastest way to make progress is slowly – the same way snow was cleared from the city streets. 

 - James Murray, Multnomah Aikikai

A small but enthusiastic turn out for our snow storm seminar!