Aikido of Tucson, Seminar with John Stevens sensei

Aikido as the Path of Friendship - Anno sensei's visit to Seattle

AANC Memorial Day Aikido Gashuku, Lake Tahoe, CA

Shinrikan Dojo Aikido Seminar with Keisuke Mizuno sensei

Chicago Aikikai Seminar with Kevin Choate sensei

Aikido Shobukan Dojo, Summer Intensive 2000 with M. Saotome and H. Ikeda

Aikido Yoshinkan at Sacramento, Seminar with Amos Lee Parker sensei

Motomichi Anno Sensei in Seattle: Aikido as the Path to Friendship
Contributed by Kimberly Richardson*

A direct student of Osensei, Motomichi Anno Sensei was born in 1931. He began Aikido training in 1954 and was promoted to 8th Dan in 1978. Anno Sensei is the Chief Instructor of Matsubara Dojo in Kumano City and Senior Instructor at Aikido Kumano Juku in Shingu, Japan.

Motomichi Anno Sensei visited Seattle Wa. in the spring of 2000. During Sensei's visit Linda Holiday and Mary Heiny Senseis graciously acted as translators. Below are reflections of the time spent.

In the fall of 1999 I received a phone call from Linda Holiday Sensei. Following greetings etc. Linda shared that she had invited Motomichi Anno Sensei to Santo Cruz in the spring of 2000 and then asked if I would like him to teach in Seattle during his visit. I wasn't sure I heard her right. The possibility that Anno Sensei would teach in Seattle had not entered my head. That conversation began six months of rigorous preparations on the part of Linda Holiday, Joanne Veneziano, myself and the students of Emerald City and Two Cranes Aikido dojos.

Anno Sensei arrived the evening of April 6, to 5 days of flawless weather in Seattle, Washington, which in itself is a magical phenomena. The first morning as we traveled across the city, the Olympic and Cascade mountains appeared in their bold splendor. Lake Union shimmered in the sunlight and Rainier glistened. In addition, the cherry trees were in full bloom. It was one of those stunning mornings. Anno sensei asked if we might pull over to take it in.

He honored the mountains with a bow and exuberantly reported that his heart was heavy from the beauty. "Itai, Itai. My chest is aching from the joy of the experience." He described the mountain peaks and waters as "so big, so spacious." I felt him say that here in nature is where the Divine spirit is so available to us. If we ever have any doubt of its existence, this is where we can go to for assurance that Spirit is radiant and pulsing through our cells, through our universe. The immediacy of Anno Sensei's connection to the natural world made me pause.

Anno Sensei requested that we visit the dojo before evening training so that he might acquaint himself with the space. He walked through the dojo saying "okii des ne." His reverence for the space was remarkable. Perhaps I just have not noticed before how teachers' enter a dojo space, but in this case as I sponsor my teacher, Mary Heiny Sensei's, teacher, I am noticing each detail. Sensei bowed to every image of O'sensei and fondly reported stories of O'sensei. Then we knelt down to bow in and chant the Norito. Cherry blossoms floated in the breeze. As we were leaving the dojo, he acknowledged that the spread of Aikido from Japan to America indeed was happening here in a sincere way.

Formal training began with a brown and black belt class Friday evening at Two Cranes. Sensei set a tone that invited people to train deeply. "If the technique isn't working properly, open your heart more," he advised. Half way through class he asked people to share their Aikido with him. One by one they got up. Not only did people enjoy themselves, but they came together from many dojos that evening. Affinity of intent as opposed to antagonism; likeness as opposed to difference was acknowledged in training. Heart transmission superseded styles and organizations. Honoring flowed through the air.

Emerald City Aikido Dojo's mat space stretches maybe 1000 square feet. 70 people poured in on Saturday morning. I worried that students would be discouraged, if not outright disappointed that there was no room to move, much less fall down. But as we bowed in and began practicing kokyuho I recognized that something entirely different was occurring. People were training in a spirit of exhilaration; dead serious, laughing, intently looking and sincerely engaging in making connection.

When taking ukemi Sensei held my hand as if guiding me down a path. I experienced his lines as keen and expansive, available and effortlessly readable. My heart was bursting and I could not stop smiling. I could feel where I died and I could feel ki surging through my veins. He spoke of the necessity to connect from the heart. "I am not teaching technique. I am encouraging you to connect with your heart." Anno Sensei runs a deep aspect of O'sensei. Terry Dobson once said, "it's not to hear my voice, it is to touch me. When you touch me, you touch the lineage, you touch O'sensei." This was true now. Anno Sensei's message over and over: "Open your heart. Let us share friendship. Let us be one family. We are all part of a divine universe."

Anno Sensei was serious with the children. Emerald City and Two Cranes Aikido young students bowed in with Sensei and sat patiently as Linda and Sensei translated his greetings. Then warm-ups began. Sensei was deliberate and detailed in the teaching of stretches. "Extend through your heels as you lean over to touch your toes." Two step turns were broken down into the minute particulars. The percentage of weight over the forward bent leg 65%. The back leg straight. Sensei determined these children could handle a level of detail I had not thought would hold their attention. Then came techniques: kokyuho and katatedori ikkyo tenkan. Rolling practice came at the end. Sensei threw most every child both days and they rolled in delight. Then they threw him. The whole room was uplifted. Parents beamed.

He shared with the children his thoughts on failure. "The key to success is in having failure and trying again. Many failures lead to success." He went so far as to express that some times failures lead to more failures and the pathway to success comes with experiencing and moving through or working with our failures. Linda translated as Anno Sensei described a poem that had been close to O'sensei's heart. It involved the white spirit and the red spirit. The white spirit was likened to our essence- our naturalness. Our desire to be dedicated to polishing our spirit by training and continually reaching for the most genuine part of ourselves. He explained that when we are born we have a pure heart. We are unencumbered by ideas of who we might be and who we should be.

Then there is the red spirit. While our teachers and our parents try to help us succeed in cultivating our true self, things get in the way and can distract this effort. The red spirit in us is lazy. It wishes to sit back and play. It resists the practice to polish because it is hard work and this spirit doesn't want to work so hard. The red spirit is not bad, it simply needs discipline. Over time as we continue to commit to the practice of polishing, the red spirit's power over us softens. As we continue to practice the red and the white alchemize into clear spirit. Our essence experiences a quality of peace and light.

"Aikido is the path of friendship," he told the children. He offered that in that moment, the children are practicing exactly what is medicine for our troubled world. If you do not continue to practice Aikido you still can look back and recognize the quality of relationships you developed in your childhood and reflect on how deep and honest these friendships were. O'sensei said "Aikido is medicine for a sick world" and here was Anno Sensei infusing the children with a sense of their personal power and their potential to heal the planet by doing what they were doing in that moment. Extending, connecting, listening, centering and opening their hearts.

One of the children expressed that after his class with Anno Sensei, he felt different in his body. He felt a fullness, an electric charge. Another child relayed how much in the present she felt. "I wasn't behind myself, I wasn't thinking ahead. I was completely connected to myself and to Sensei. It was as if as when I reached out to grab his hand I felt a cord to his center. I was floating."

I feel blessed that members of Emerald City and Two Cranes Dojos were offered the opportunity to host Anno Sensei. I feel gratitude to Linda Holiday for making this trip possible, for her planning skills as well as her excellent translation and also to Mary Heiny, who brought her wonderful spirit, training and translation to this seminar. As well I wish to thank Joanne Veneziano, my partner in crime. At the close of training, students' expressed their deep joy with tears and laughter simultaneously.

There were many teachings. Below are just a few examples of what he shared with us.

"Aikido is natural movement. If you can walk, you can do Aikido. Raise your arm easily when someone comes towards you. Do not fight."

"Use the techniques to teach you about spirit. "

"I am in process. My understanding of this study is in progress,"

"Ma sa katsu agatsu. True victory, self victory." This is one of O'sensei's primary teachings."

"In kokyuho extend your arms from your center in the direction of uke's heart. The line is a diagonal that arises up from the earth."

"Look straight out. Do not look around. Keep your focus crisp and clean. Do not be distracted by wandering thoughts."

"Do not fix your gaze on your partner. Look out into the universe and direct your partner with your mind. If you stare at your partner you will become distracted by their agenda."

"Open your palms in irimi to offer your heart and move in deeply to the center."

"Get bigger. Extend ki out your fingertips!"

"Don't concentrate on technique, instead work on opening your heart. Aikido is a heart to heart transmission."

"Be like nature. "