Reviews of Three Aikido Camps

Santa Cruz Aikido Summer Retreat

Santa Cruz Summer Retreat 2000
Sponsored by North Bay Aikido
By Jesse Burgess*

This past July, North Bay Aikido was honored to welcome Anno Motomichi sensei for his third in a series of visits to Santa Cruz.

Anno sensei began his practice of aikido in 1954. He studied with O Sensei during the last fifteen years of O Sensei's life. Anno sensei is Chief Instructor of Matsubara Dojo in Kumano City, Japan and a senior instructor at Aikido Kumano Juku (Nikitsuchi Michio, Chief Instructor). Anno sensei has held the rank of eighth dan since 1978.

During his visit Anno sensei taught at the Santa Cruz Summer Retreat with sensei Mary Heiny and Linda Holiday, as well as giving several classes in the Bay Area and a weekend seminar at North Bay Aikido.

Anno sensei's aikido is marked by an impeccable posture, precise footwork, long flowing leads, and inviting upturned palms. Like others of O Sensei's direct students, Anno sensei urged us to adopt a natural feeling in our practice. It should be noted that our understanding of Anno sensei's teaching was immeasurably helped by sensei Linda Holiday and Mary Heiny's perceptive translations.

It is evident that Anno sensei has a rich spiritual life. He has a joyful curiosity, which evokes the same quality in students at the seminars. Participants commented that while taking ukemi from Anno sensei, they felt their incentive to be an excited interest in "what would happen next." Anno sensei emphasizes a pleasurable feeling in technique while at the same time generating a kind of "bigness" both in form and in spirit. One uke said that he felt the part of his mind that was afraid give way to the part of his mind that was generous.

Classes were aerobic and spirited and at the same time allowed for a real study of the principals and techniques being taught. Anno sensei supported this atmosphere both in his willingness to train with each of us and in the degree to which he made himself available to questions.

Non-Japanese speaking students quickly picked out his frequent use of the word "kokoro" - heart/mind - and his emphasis on opening and purifying the heart. One student asked how one should go about pursuing aikido as a spiritual practice. After some consideration, Sensei's response was, "I believe one should 'fall in love' with the words of O Sensei." He said that everything necessary for the development of a spiritual life is present in O Sensei's teachings. The student pursued the question and asked how he might approach a particular technique, such as ikkyo or kotegaishi, from a spiritual perspective. Anno sensei's answer was that he should take a particular teaching of O'Sensei - perhaps "Masagatsu agatsu" ("True victory is victory over oneself") - and hold it firmly in mind while training. He said it is "without a doubt" that there is a treasure within each technique, and that training with aikido principals in mind will reveal the teaching of a particular technique.

Anno sensei urged us to "train ceaselessly." At one point he told us a story about the many times his friends would finish work and invite him to come and socialize with them. Over and over he would respond that he was going to practice at the dojo. Now, so many years later, his friends tell him that they wish they too had gone to the dojo. Sensei told us that he is happy that he continued to train over the years and wishes for us, too, to experience the joy of continued or ceaseless training.

At another point a student asked about eliminating openings or gaps in her training. It seems that the Japanese word for "opening" used in phrasing the question - "suki"-means "that which is incomplete." Anno sensei responded to this meaning of suki, incompleteness, by again telling the student to train as much as she can, and that "at the point of exhaustion we begin to have the heart-opening which 'completes' us."

An older student wondering about continued practice for herself asked sensei how he had kept training as he aged. In his musical, enthusiastic voice, he told her to "feel that each day is important, each day is worthy of making the full effort. The trick is neither to overextend yourself nor to be lazy, but to give your all each day."

On his first visit to Santa Cruz, Anno sensei began training by expressing his happiness to be with us and his intention to "empty himself completely" so as to fill himself with our spirits and our aikido. He invited us, too, to empty ourselves over and over so as to allow ourselves to be filled with aiki. This intention was expressed many times during his following visits. At one point, when asked about his thoughts about a particular kokyo exercise he responded, "I am filled with desires. For me, the out-breath is more important than the in-breath because it empties us and allows us to receive the universe's teachings."

A number of students asked Sensei about the relationship between uke and nage, commenting on the pleasurable sensations they experienced while taking ukemi from him. One woman asked about nage's goal. Anno sensei explained that nage's job is to complete uke's mission. During technical instruction, Anno sensei would often advise nage to look outward, to open our gaze to the universe. Asked where uke should look, he said, "The place to put your vision is in the heart of nage." He continued, "This is very important. Sometimes it is hard to know where to look when the technique is unfamiliar or difficult, but my experience in taking ukemi from O Sensei was that looking into O Sensei's heart was looking into the heart of the technique."