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Brian Kagen pick: “Simple as breath,” Interview with Regis Soavi on Itsuo Tsuda

This interview contains a lot of good background on Itsuo Tsuda, Aikido and Katsugen Undo.

“Master Ueshiba practiced early in the morning, Master Tsuda as well ; I continue to practice early in the morning. That’s the first reason. The second reason is that only those who are very determined, very well motivated, come in the morning, because to be here at this time, you must get up at around 5:30 AM. In the morning we are fresher than at the end of the day and it’s easier to practice “non-doing”, at least for beginners. We are also more “involuntary” - still a bit half asleep, we are not yet entirely into our “social being” that we use during the day, to encounter others and go about our work : smile when we should, or not; say “thank you”, etc. In the morning we arrive at the dojo still clean, not very structured yet, and there is something more authentic there.”

Click here to read entire article.

The Italian version of this article contains all of the photos.

Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido.

September 26th, 2005 (add comment)

Reader Comments

Rupert Atkinson writes:

I liked his explanation of Aikido:

The term is often translated as “The Way of Harmony”, but a more appropriate definition is “The Way of Fusion of Ki”. Two people can undergo what we call fusion. They do more than simply harmonise. From Two, they become One, then Two again. Habitually in martial arts, two adversaries confront each other and only one remains. But in Aikido we have the fusion of sensitivity. In our school, he who attacks, attacks ; the other becomes one with him : he accepts and absorbs the attacker and from two creates one. He acts in such a way that the other begins to be a part of him. In this way he disarms the attack, which no longer works.