The Art of Aiki

Hayashi took what may seem to Westerner's as an insane approach to choosing the Dojo at which to study. He would walk into the Dojo and challenge the Sensei to a fight. This, of course, incensed any students present at the time and they would insist on a chance to teach the chap a lesson themselves before their beloved Sensei would reduce himself to accepting a challenge from an upstart.

This practice, some might say brave, others foolish, is actually a time honored tradition in Japanese and Okinawan cultures. It is known as Dojo Yaburi (challenge). While not practiced frequently these days, it was actually a common protocol when Hayashi was a young man. The way it worked was simple. The man that issued the challenge must first fight the lowest ranking man at the Dojo. If the challenger defeats the man then he is granted the right to fight the next lowest ranking man, and so on until the challenger is defeated or has himself defeated the Dojo's Senpai (number one student). Then and only then is he allowed to challenge the Sensei himself, but is usually given the right to choose time and place as a reward for his previous efforts.

Lo siguiente no es de mi cosecha, sino que lo he resacado de Aikidojournal y de E-Budo. Todo el mérito es de Josh Reyer y de Peter Goldsbury y yo me dedico sólo a recopilar. Ahí va:

Morihei Ueshiba tenía tres títulos: O'Sensei, Kaiso y Doshu.

O Sensei (大先生):

Realmente es sin apóstrofe, aunque nosotros estamos tan acostumbrados a ponerlo que nos resulta dificil omitirlo. El primer kanji se lee /oo/ y significa "gran". Los dos últimos ya sabemos que significan "maestro". Así pues, O Sensei sería "Gran Maestro".

O Sensei (翁先生):

Vemos que el primer kanji cambia, pero se lee igualmente /oo/. Sin embargo, éste es un prefijo que se aplica a gente mayor y respetada. Este O Sensei sería algo así como "Venerable Maestro".

Kaiso (開祖):

Literalmente "fundador". En la biografía de O Sensei escrita por su hijo Kisshomaru, éste se refiere a su padre contínuamente como "Aikido Kaiso", aunque también como "O Sensei" (de las dos maneras). Parece ser que ésta es la forma que más utilizan los japoneses para referirse a Ueshiba: Ueshiba Morihei Aikido Kaiso (植芝盛平合気道開祖).

Doshu (道主):

Significa "guardián de la Vía". El equivalente al título inglés de "Headmaster", o "maestro principal". Este título es hereditario en el Aikido, de manera que Morihei Ueshiba fue Doshu en su día como luego lo fue Kisshomaru y más tarde Moriteru. El sucesor ha sido llamado tradicionalmente Waka Sensei (若先生), literalmente "joven maestro". Como curiosidad, en otras escuelas en lugar de Doshu se emplea el término (más utilizado) de Soke (宗家).

Evidentemente el Fundador no es llamado Doshu desde que murió, ya que el título pasó a su hijo. Por lo tanto, hoy día, sólo nos quedan dos formas (tres en japonés, dependiendo de cómo se escriba) de llamarle: O Sensei y Kaiso.

¿Servirá todo esto para embrollarnos aun más?

Don't miss the chance to watch this video clip featuring Roland Hofman Sensei with U2 music!

Nice & Funy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJMhlrpfC8

January 11th we had an interesting training. People from Iwama Ryu and from Yoseikan training together can only bring extra insight for all of us...

Yes, it sure was a very short training, as it was mostly improvised and we ran out of time very fast, but it's good for a start; we'll do that more often.

Anyway, Iwama Ryu Sensei, Arturo Navarro, showed us some ken and jo suburis and the Roku no Jo kata done in 6 movements, then in 5, in 4 and in 3 movements.

Then, Yoseikan Sensei, Miguel Ibañez, performed mukae kubi shime sutemi. It's a beautiful sutemi with a very straight entry, so a big "Woooooohhhhhhh!!" was heared at the end. Big surprising movement.

After that, we all gathered for the theoric class, as we call it, in the surrounding bars and pubs. That was great as well! And fun, of course!