Categorie archief: Teachings

Before writing about the nature of ‘budo,’ I should first write about the difference between ‘budo’ and ‘sport.’ This is because even the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology does not properly differentiate between the two.

If we were to properly delve into the nature of ‘sport’ we ought to begin with Baron de Coubertin, who is known as the father of the modern Olympic movement, although to do his works justice would require far more paper than I have at my disposal. So, please allow me to briefly summarise the differences between ‘sport’ and ‘budo’ instead.

There are three essential elements to ‘sport.’

Firstly, the purpose of sport is to compete in order to determine a ‘winner’ and a ‘loser.’ This is why the purpose of athletes who compete at the Olympic Games, which are considered to be the global pinnacle of sporting achievement, is to get a ‘gold medal.’ In other words, it is to ‘win.’

Secondly, in order to ‘win,’ there must be ‘rules.’ If there were no rules, we would end up with fights to the death, such as those fought between slaves in the ancient roman coliseums.

Thirdly, there must be umpires to enforce the ‘rules.’

An activity must fulfil these three elements to be a ‘sport.’

So, what about ‘budo’?

Budo does not include any of these three elements. Naturally everyone wants to win, but that is not the end goal of budo. I’m sure that you have read phrases such as “I will strike a blow, even if it costs me my life” and “at least I will take him with me” in novels etc. about duels between warriors (bushi).

Also, did you know that duels (to the death) between bushi began the moment the time of the duel was decided? This is why once the time of the famous duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro on Ganryu Island was decided, Miyamoto Musashi immediately went into hiding. Many bushi were assassinated in the period between the duel being announced and the date on which it was to occur.

I’m sure this would be difficult to understand for modern people who have been brainwashed into the sporting mindset. Also, Musashi arrived at Ganryu Island three or four hours after the time the duel was scheduled to commence in order to unnerve his opponent. On the other hand, at the duel at Ichijoji Sagarimatsu, in spite of it being a duel, several hundred bushi planned to conceal themselves with bows and muskets to ambush Musashi, but he arrived a few hours early and slayed his opponent with a single cut before fleeing.

Dr Todo Akiyasu, who is a Chinese linguistic scholar, says that the character “武” (the ‘bu’ in budo) is a combination of ‘戈’ (halberd) and ‘止’ (which nowadays means ‘stop,’ but in ancient times referred to legs). Thus, the character ‘武’ originally meant to ‘hold your halberd (weapon) and keep going.’ Apparently the modern interpretation of ‘stopping the halberd (weapon)’ originated with the medieval Chinese Confucian scholar Zuo.

The essence of bujutsu is ‘don’t withdraw, don’t retreat, and don’t hesitate,’ or in other words, ‘courage.’ In a modern context, it is fair to interpret this to mean ‘no matter what difficult circumstances you are faced with, don’t stop, and keep persevering.’

There is one important aspect to learning the techniques of budo. That is ‘kata.’ By practicing ‘kata’ thousands or even millions of times, we can get rid of the bad habits our bodies have developed since we were born, and return to our true selves.

Tsukahara Bokuden, Kamiizumi Isenokami, Ito Ittosai, Yagyu Sekishusai and many others fought on hundreds of battlefields against hoards of enemies, and also fought in tens of duels against other swordsmen, but never sustained even the slightest scratch. This is because, unlike modern training, which involves competition, they just repeatedly practiced ‘kata’ tens of thousands of times.

By repeatedly practicing ‘kata,’ we can train our ‘ki.’ Repeatedly practicing kata also helps to sharpen our ‘intuition.’ Then, we are able to judge an opponent’s power without fighting. This is something that I have experienced, myself, so I am absolutely confident that it is correct. I will tell you about the time I had such an experience

I was walking through the city at lunch time, and I was approached by a middle-aged man. As we approached each other, our eyes met, and I thought ‘he knows what he’s doing!’ He must have thought the same thing about me. We both kept walking without pausing, maintaining our maai while passing each other as though slowly drawing a circle on the ground. At that time, I felt a trickle of cold sweat down my back. The headquarters of a certain school of karate was nearby, and I think the man was the shihan of that dojo.

The ‘kata’ of Aikido Yuishinkai is what we used to call ‘aiki taiso.’ Both I and the instructors in Tokyo practice this kata at least twice each morning and each night. In this way, we train our bodies to perform correct aikido movements, so that we can send our ‘ki’ to our opponents and harmonise with them.

The founder of aikido, Ueshiba Morihei sensei said “aikido is love.” When facing an opponent, first shine your ‘spirit,’ which is behind your heart, towards your opponent’s chest. We do not use the word ‘enemy.’ We say ‘opponent’ (aite). We blend with our opponent, and the light of our spirit brings them into harmony. Billions of years ago, a single life form arose in the ocean. It divided and evolved to form all life on earth, including us. Therefore, we are all descended from a common ancestor. If your opponent makes a wrong decision, use the power of your ki to correct their course. I think that is the role of budo in the modern age. ‘Words’ are mere symbols. By silently and sincerely practicing ‘kata,’ you can develop “the power to move mountains and the ki to encompass the world” and “silence like thunder.”

This is the role of budo in the modern age.

Translated by Robin Boyd

A new tendency to call martial arts and other types of physical activities which imply pair work “sports” has appeared recently.

And I was asked recently: “What kind of sport  is Aikido?”

It is necessary to explain clearly the difference between the terms of “sport” and “martial art” (Budo).

First of all, the term “sport” implies three conditions which should be followed.

First, the main aim is to win.

Let’s say an aim to take part in the Olympic Games is to get a medal.

Second, to win or to lose is judged on the basis of strict rules.

So, even a victory can be considered a defeat if it is won by breaking the rules.

Third, to follow these strict rules impartial and unbiassed judges are needed.

All these three conditions are necessary for any kinds of any sports where there is a competetion against an opponent. Moreover, if these conditions are not followed, such activity cannot be called “sport”.

Recently the Ministry of Education and Science of Japan has declared that martial arts such as judo and kendo should be taught at preliminary and secondary schools in order to cultivate the basics of etiquette in schoolboys and schoolgirls.

However, if to speak only about the task to teach etiquette, an impression could be made that children who play basketball or football behave themselves much more politely than other children.

Judo and kendo are being taught as “martial arts”. But don’t they (as they are today) correspond to the three mentioned above criteria of sports?

I have heard that in judo a double leg takedown called morote-gari is prohibited nowadays.

In kendo cut strikes on the carotid artery are prohibited.

It turns out that there are rules, which means that we deal with sports.

What is “a martial art” then?

None of the listed above conditions can be applied to the martial arts.

Appoximately 500 years ago when the Warring States period (the Sengoku period) was coming to an end, Zen master Takuan Soho wrote his work The Unfettered Mind (Fudochi Shinmyo Roku) for Yagyu Munenori Tajima-no-kami who was an instructor for the Tokugawa shogunate those days. Takuan also attached to his work the writings under the title Chronicles of the Sword of Taia (Taia-Ki) in which he wrote: “In the end a man is called a strategist irrespective of whether he starts fighting or not and irrespective of his strength or weakness”.

In other words a man becomes a warrior not due to his victories or his physical power.

It means that Budo is the search for an answer for the question: “What must a man do and what kind of a person must he be to live as a man should live?”

That is the meaning of martial arts.

This high and spiritual teaching already existed during the Warring States period when the blood was washed away with another blood.

And today in the modern constitutional state where any gun or any manslaughter is prohibited, while speaking about Japanese sword shouldn’t we think about the meaning of “Budo”?

In Aikido Yuishinkai we tend to do true Budo the aim of which is to perfect ourselves as human beings and to understand why the energy of our Universe (which is called in Japan “kami”) gave us birth.

A lot of billions of years ago on one island in the primeval ocean the first oxygen molecula was released from cyanides; it took several tens of millions of years for that ocean to be filled with oxygen and then, some millions of years later, there was a life born in that ocean and the evolution which led to the appearance of living creatures existing today began. Isn’t that the manifestation of Heaven’s will created by kami (because in Japan Heaven (天, ama) means the same as神 (kami))?

The words “Heaven’s will” (天の意, ama-no i) in Japanese can be read as ai (天意) which is consonant to the word “love” (愛) and the same concept can be called as “spiritual will” (意の霊, i-no ti) which is consonant to the word “life” (命) .

One life due to the cells devision turned into two lives, into yin and yang, into male and female and gave birth to us.

All these are kami’s will and the ancestor is one.

Which means that we all are brothers and sisters.

We all are one family.

So do we need to fight against each other?

The aim of Aikido Yuishinkai as of true Budo consists in learning how a man should live, to understand it through the practice of a technique (waza) and forms (kata).

The essential aim of it is Harmony. Love. Light.

Then – to achieve a state of “unshakeable myself” (jettai-ni fudo-no jibun).

For this one should learn to be aware of and to use three centers of tanden (upper, middle and lower levels).

To do this it is necessary to learn to relax completely.

Only when there is harmony and no tense it is possible to apply a true technique (art) .

The forms and techniques (arts) in our school perfect the spirit of those who practice them.

Some people watching the form of my students’ moves say different critical words but to understand the true meaning of this practice can only be possible with an open and calm mind.

To understand something one should himself try to climb the mountain peak.

So, if you have an opportunity, do this practice of harmony and ki energy together with me.

They say: “It is better to see once, then to hear hundred times; it is better to feel once, than to see hundred times; it is better to understand once, than to feel hundred times”.

I put all my soul into reitai (spiritual body) – the highest technique (art) created by me.

There is a science called ‘quantum physics’.

This science teaches that in the microcosm the object under observation definitely experiences the observer’s thoughts or that the result of the experiment depends on a scientist.

For us who made their decision to practice martial arts this is essential.

Microcosm is a world of elementary particles and waves.

The world of waves equals the world of Ki (life energy).

With the naked eye we perceive objects by means of light; however, the fact that these objects depending on the light can be greatly distorted has been already proved in physics.

Whether we see by means of light only or perceive by touching with our fingers –this makes all of us significantly different from each other.

That means that the world in which we decided: “It must be like this”, is a world created by ourselves, the world which each of us has identified by himself by seeing, feeling, hearing.

Two worlds which are the same do not exist.

So that is the essence.

When a child sees his mother, hugs her, talks to her, this is a woman-mother in front of him who gets the energy of this child’s thoughts.

When a child’s father sees his wife, hugs her and talks to her, this is a woman-wife in front of him who gets the energy of her husband’s thoughts.

That is why if a child and his father have an argument about the child’s mother, they will never come to an agreement.

The only thing that is true is that “a man exists as a living soul”.

Now let’s come back to aikido: in 1971 I was a member of Aikikai.

According to the instruction given by my teacher Tohei Koichi I was sent to Hawaii as a deputy of Sensei.

In 1952 in Hawaii Tohei Sensei introduced aikido for the first time and since then all students got accustomed to Sensei.

And there I came, a young man, completely unknown, which of course aroused everybody’s protest.

Later on I got to know that those who already had got their levels agreed behind me not to do ukemi in any way.

On the first day of classes, though I do not already remember, they say we practiced usirotori kokyunage.

The first person grabbed my body from behind.

I thought that he had pressed too hard but I was sure that he would certainly do ukemi.

Turning slightly my hips I made the throw easily.

The next one grabbed me strongly and I made the throw smiling.

And then I threw one more person and again and again, perhaps 5 or 6 people more.

It was in Honolulu Dojo.

They say that after that at the same day the instruction: “This is a true teacher! Everybody should listen to what Maruyama Sensei says!” was spread all over the dojos on the islands of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, Kauai.

When the other day I read the definition of quantum physics I thought: “So that’s what it is!” Then in Hawaii I had no doubts that my partners would do ukemi.

Those thoughts were transmitted to them and by intuition they did ukemi nevertheless.

Once a well-known samurai Miyamoto Musashi, called God of Sword, fought 60 duels and defeated all of them.

I think he defeated because he believed: “I’ll defeat”, he had no doubts and “ki” (waves) was transmitted to his opponents.

And Musashi was not the only one.

The founder of Shinkage-ryu, a school of swordmanship, Kamiizumi Nobutsuna.

The famous swordman from Kashima-Shinryu school Tsukahara Bokuden.

A lot of other swordmen who practiced hard also gained firm confidence in their victory, so that attitude of mind was transmitted to their opponents.

Based on this experience whatever country I would go to I always make my mind: “My partner will do ukemi”.

It is not me who makes the throw. It is my partner who tunes in to the wave of my thinking (ki) does ukemi.

This is a true “spirit of aiki” and “love”.

Ueshiba Sensei who stated that “Aikido is love” once told me that when he faced his partner he already saw him doing ukemi.

In the Bible Jesus Christ said: “He who believes will be saved”.

If little by little but faithfully one moves forward on his way in which he believes, without looking back and with a sincere heart, persistently, without falling into illusions or trivial thoughts, then ahead a bright future will certainly open up.

“I am mind itself” by Koretoshi Maruyama sensei, the Founder of Aikido Yuishinkai

The motto of Aikido Yuishinkai members starts with the words “I am mind itself”. I think that you visit this page because first you simply thought that you should “visit it”.

We even unconsciously turn into action what we have been thinking about in our heart. Even a word, before it is said, at first is a thought which later becomes a word. We often say “happiness”, “unhappiness” – but all this is defined by our thought.

Many people can often say that they want money, but money can be given another name – currency (the money in circulation). In Japanese language the word “currency” is in keeping with the word “passing away”. But it is doubtful that somebody would like to pass away owning a vast fortune (millions of dollars)

In fact if we have money, we can buy what we like.

We can travel abroad.

Thus money is a means of getting joy in our heart.

However “money” does not come down to our purses, and besides you do nothing yourself.

If you make people happy, if people start feeling happy and they think: “this is worth paying” – that is enough for the money to come to you by itself.

But in this case no fraud is acceptable.

Because then if one day money comes to you it won’t last long.

Besides it is possible to incur people’s hatred. And this hatred is ten times, hundred times more dangerous than a mere mortal can imagine.

Eventually one who makes troubles for others will inevitably meet with some “disease”, some “accident” and the end of him will be sad.

I have been living in this world for 77 years and I have seen the end of such people.

We often say “destiny”, but it would be more correct to say “the cause and effect”.

There is “a cause”, therefore there is “an effect”.

And this “cause” is not only my own self but also my parents, their parents and parents of parents’ parents and so on infinitely. Their “thoughts”, i.e. “causes”, are in our genes.

But the only “cause” (seed) can not make the flower blossom, or make a fruit set.

A “connection” is needed.

For plants it is soil, water, nutrients, sunlight, for a human being – it is parents, brothers and sisters, family, relatives, friends and acquaintances, teachers, colleagues, bosses and other people around us in our daily life. Moreover, it includes an environmental area, upbringing and education, various influences which we are exposed to in our course of life.

As a result, “mind” = “thoughts” is formed; in a different way the flower begins to blossom, the fruit (life) is set.

And that is an effect.

How to treat his thoughts, what the soul is – that is essential for a human being to learn in his life.

While treating any thing it is important to have “love” and “gratitude”.

The modern Japanese character “love” (愛) was borrowed from China, but originally the concept of “love” for Japanese people was written like “the will of Heaven”. “Heaven” means “God”, that is the will of great universe that created us.

Hundreds of millions years ago from the sea of the hydrocyanic acid after Earth creation a drop of oxygen was formed which after tens of millions of years turned into the oxygen sea which in its turn brought a microscopic life to life, that microscopic life developed and then mankind appeared and now we exist.

Isn’t it “the will of Heaven”, that is love?

To feel the value of life given by God, to appreciate it – this is gratitude.

It is “the will of Heaven and gratitude” that we should refer to as the most essential in our life.

I was not the only one who was given a life by God. Everybody was given.

We are all created in God’s image.

Life is a universal energy circulating within us.

We were all given life from the same source.

The energy of the universe consists in the Supreme Power.

The Supreme Power is thoughts=mind.

That is what “I am mind itself” means.

Heaven is God.

God is in all things.

God exists being our mind, being our body, being the universal energy.

God gave us everything, and above all is “life”.

That is why we should also bestow each other “love and gratitude”.

“Let us bestow each other and prosper together!” – say these words several tens of times a day.

Joy will appear naturally.

And amazingly money will also appear in our purses.

If to say “I have no money” – the will of Heaven never comes to you.

Heaven will think: “If one has no money, then one doesn’t need it”.

To the best of your abilities you must do everything “transient” (passing) as much as possible.

If to increase its fluidity, “money”, due to this fact, will appear on its own in your purse. However money, as far as possible, should be used to make other people happy.

If to spend money only on your own satisfaction, it will only make some dealers happy but other people will never feel your good will and will never be grateful to you.

Thus if you do not get “gratitude”, your money will never come back.

To become a man who is given thanks: “he is worth the money spent”, in other words, you must become a man who has “the will of Heaven = love” within himself.

Next time I will write how to become such a man.