New practitioners of aikido today have vastly more options than those of us who began decades ago. Aikido has grown enormously as an art and many fine teachers have emerged over the years. The march forward of technology has also provided an abundance of pedagogical materials that would have been unimaginable in the past.

But there is something that newcomers have missed. They have been denied the opportunity to study directly under many of the art’s top masters of the early postwar era. I refer to names such as Founder Morihei Ueshiba, Noriaki Inoue, Koichi Tohei, Morihiro Saito, Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Kenji Tomiki, Minoru Mochizuki, Gozo Shioda, Seigo Yamaguchi, Shoji Nishio, Kisaburo Osawa, and Rinjiro Shirata to mention many of the best known figures.

At Aikido Journal, we have taken upon ourselves to partially remedy this situation by documenting and disseminating the techniques and theories of these past masters. Today’s aikidoka may not have had a chance to learn directly from these masters, but they do have access to excellent study materials such as the many books and DVDs offered through this website.

“When Sadaharu Oh, the idolized home run king of Japanese baseball, went into a slump last year, he sought the help of fellow countryman Koichi Tohei. After only a few brief lessons, Oh’s batting average improved dramatically and he began blasting balls over the outfield fence with his old consistency and flourish.”

In November 1973, Black Belt magazine published an article written by Jon Shirota titled “Ki — Separate and Indestructible.” For those interested in learning about the teaching methodology and thinking of Koichi Tohei Sensei at this point in time, this article provides an excellent introduction.

Click here to read the entire blog on Koichi Tohei Resources, an adjunct website of Aikido Journal.

How do you develop the radar-like, almost x-ray vision that some budoka have?

Are some people born lucky?

No. It is within everyone’s reach. It comes from good training process.

Some guys, especially guys, train too hard too soon. They go at it like a bull in a china shop, or as someone recently said, “An octopus on crack-cocaine.”

That’s not training but a form of insanity that will either deliver or receive injuries, or both. I worry about guys like that, since telling them verbally goes in one ear and out the other. The only way is to take them down a notch or two, but that always contains an element of danger.

To my friends and associates. I’ve just uploaded a new website that centers around Toda-ha Buko-ryu. It is in a process of continuing development, so things will change as I get more historical information, etc.

“Toda-ha Buko-ryu is a martial tradition which specializes in the use of the naginata. It’s highest teachings center around the kagitsuki naginata, a weapon with a small cross-bar, against both sword and spear.”

Ellis Amdur

Conflict is an inevitable and unavoidable aspect of human behavior. Pride can be blamed for the vast majority of these conflicts. Being an individual involved in the martial arts world for the better part of a decade, I have seen not only the most obvious and visible example of conflict in the form of sparring and competition, but the rarely seen conflict within groups and organizations in the form of differences in administrative decisions and technical applications of their art. What drives this mentality to believe a person, group, or even so far as a nation, is superior to anyone and everyone else? Why is the urge to prove this superiority so strong and prevalent in the martial arts world?

Last Friday, June 25, 2010, I gave a small demonstration on stage not only as a martial artist but as an artist. I am a conductor, and the theme of the concert program was “War and Peace” to commemorate the beginning of the Korean War exactly 60 years ago to that day. The composition I conducted was “Ein Heldenleben” by Richard Strauss which is about a hero, his adversaries, his companion, war against his enemies, victory, reflection on his life, and death.

As I always do in my concerts here in Pohang, Korea, I was giving a short lecture about Strauss before the music began. Just as I asked a rhetorical question how a war starts (either by instigating it or being attacked), I had an aikido friend sneak up on stage. To the audience as well as the orchestra members on stage, it looked as if we were having an argument right on stage which developed into a scuffle, and I did a kokyunage which made her (a sturdily-built Austrian girl) fly across the stage and land on the wooden floor with a loud thud. No mats there! She played dead for a short while. As I explained to the audience that I would take care of this matter with the mike held in my left hand, I approached her. She then suddenly grabbed me again, and I threw her off one more time.

I’d like to take you back to the Los Angeles Aikikai in 1965, to the month of August, to be exact. There was an air of excitement because Koichi Tohei Sensei–then Chief Instructor of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo–was soon scheduled to arrive in town. The dojo was bustling with activity and a large number of students were preparing themselves for kyu and dan tests in front of this great master.

I was scheduled to take my shodan test along with a number of fellow students, not only from the LA dojo, but from all over the region including quite a few from out of state. There was a palpable feeling of anticipation since many, including myself, were seeing Tohei Sensei for the first time.

Read the entire blog at our new site “Koichi Tohei Resources.”

A couple of days ago, I wrote a short article accompanied by an unusual photo that has produced a number of comments from readers. The photo taken in 2001 captured the last meeting of Koichi Tohei Sensei and Morihiro Saito Sensei, two of the luminaries of postwar aikido.

I think the photo evoked a great deal of nostalgia for an earlier era in which the few aikido organizations maintained cordial relations and members could meet freely without fear of being ostracized. Alas, these days are long passed as aikido has moved into a different phase where the various aikido organizations now have second or third generation organizational heads. Present-day leaders, I believe, are more conscious of the fact they are running businesses. Some carry out this task more efficiently than others, but that is ultimately their main aim.

I think I can safely say that few of today’s leaders are focused on the philosophy and technique of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba. Their main concern is the solidification/expansion of the organization and its smooth operation. The concepts espoused by the Founder in his old-fashioned way are considered quaint, esoteric and impractical. After all, we’re in the 21st century!

In 1980, as a callow youth (as it were) I was presumptuous enough to tackle an impossible task: To explain the unexplainable, to talk about the unknowable and to present it all in written form as a knowledgeable discourse about an art in which I was still a beginner, at least in the estimation of my instructors and superiors in the art.

This has never stopped me before, or since for that matter. Further, I need to let you know that it works. As I often counsel my students when they are struggling with a technique in class; just fake it. Pretend like you know what you are doing (talking about) and very often you will convince everyone around you, as long as you act (speak) with authority and conviction.

There exist four fine arts I have discovered during my Aikido physical training downtime, which have kept me from feeling out of the loop over the past couple years. They are Japanese sword customization, Rakuyaki pottery, woodworking, and acrylic and oil painting.

The first is indirect, but relevant nonetheless. Working with a sword maker to create and develop incredibly beautiful katana and wakizashi, has combined his creative and hands-on art with my creative mind. It has been a total joining together of my personally desired designs in custom sword crafting with his ability to create wonderful swords. I have been working with the veteran, American sword smith, David Goldberg.

Don’t look at the opponent’s eyes, or your mind will be drawn into his eyes. Don’t look at his sword, or you will be slain with his sword. Don’t look at him, or your spirit will be distracted. True budo is the cultivation of attraction with which to draw the whole opponent to you. All I have to do is keep standing this way. Morihei Ueshiba

I don’t think this can be in any way made any clearer.

A lot of good things are lost because of words. Words can reveal but they can equally conceal the intended meaning and communication.

Experience is vital but unconscious experience can also blind because of the element of fear.

Without experience, however, and real need, real emergency, the full measure of a skill cannot emerge. That’s why some try to eke it out by testing in the ring. Still, this is not really the real deal, not fully, so here too, it may or it may not evoke any measure of depth in understanding.

During my many years in Japan, one of the highlights I especially remember took place on October 29, 2001 when Morihiro Saito Sensei visited the home of Koichi Tohei Sensei after a hiatus of nearly 30 years. This meeting came about due to a request from Saito Sensei’s son, Hitohiro Sensei, who asked me to attempt to arrange the meeting because of the advanced age and health of these two aikido legends.

First, a little background. During my years of close association with Saito Sensei spanning the late 1970s through the 1990s, I often heard him mention with respect and nostalgia his “sempai,” Koichi Tohei. When Saito Sensei enrolled in the Ueshiba Dojo in 1946 at the age of 18, it was Tohei Sensei who was the standout figure at the Iwama Dojo. Everyone looked up to him, Saito Sensei being no exception. It was this early era that Saito Sensei most fondly remembered.

Their association was cut short in 1974 when Tohei Sensei resigned from the Aikikai organization. There was no particular animosity on either side because of this unfortunate event, but the normal occasions when they would meet such as demonstrations, meetings or parties no longer brought them together. Their relationship was simply one of the fallouts of the political problems that occurred at the Aikikai during those years.