Sensei Christian Tissier and Hiroshi Ikeda at Aikido League of Martinique
December 8-10, 2000

Contributed by Rich Fox*

Lamentin, Martinique

The Aikido League of Martinique has five hundred members, quite impressive for a small Caribbean island. Each year, the League, under the skillful guidance of Gina Croisan sensei, invites their organizational chief instructor, Christian Tissier sensei of France, to conduct a seminar. Tissier Sensei began his study of aikido at the age of eleven in France, and at the age of eighteen went to Hombu Dojo, where he trained for seven years and received 4th dan. Now, at the age of forty-nine, he holds the rank of 7th dan. He is one of only two people licensed to award dan ranks in France, and this for a community of 60,000 aikidoka.

This year Hiroshi Ikeda sensei of Boulder Aikikai in Boulder, Colorado, was invited to join Tissier sensei for the weekend portion of the weeklong seminar. This was the first time the two teachers have appeared together, though their association began some thirty years ago when they were students in Japan at Honbu Dojo. Along with many Martinicans, the seminar was attended by aikido students from neighboring islands.

In attendance from Boulder Aikikai were Doug Smith and I. I arrived on the exotic French West Indies island a day early and met up with Ikeda sensei and Doug the next morning, which was Friday. We stayed in a beautiful resort hotel overlooking the Caribbean Sea on the south side of the island. The southern end of Martinique is dotted with small villages of whitewashed buildings, open-air restaurants, and beautiful beaches. The hotel was on a point called Diamant, named for the huge diamond shaped rock about a mile out to sea.

The seminar had been going on all week under the instruction of Tissier sensei. Ikeda sensei was scheduled to join the seminar and teach his first class on Friday evening. This left us with the better part of the day uncommitted, so we took the opportunity to tour part of the island. On the advice of Tissier Sensei, who along with his friend Natalia and senior student Marc Bachraty, were also staying at the Diamant, we headed out for the nearby area of Trois Islets in a rented car. The island roads are narrow and winding and are usually driven by the locals at high speed. Communicating with the native residents and other visitors was challenging because Martinique is a French territory and former colony, and English is not widely spoken. I speak only a little French, vaguely remembered from high school, and Doug and Sensei don't speak French at all. Nonetheless we found a good Creole restaurant and had a great lunch - whole grilled fish and baked papaya. After lunch we relaxed on a nearby beach, swimming in the turquoise water before heading back to begin the weekend's training.

Friday seminar
I estimate there were 150 people on the mat Friday night. Ikeda sensei taught the first hour, from 7-8 p.m. He began by expressing his deep appreciation and thanks to both Tissier sensei and Croisan sensei for the opportunity of participating in the seminar, and he noted that it is up to all of us to foster cooperation, harmony and friendship among different aikido organizations. During his class, Ikeda sensei focused on the many ways of breaking your partner's balance, and he demonstrated this by leading us through such techniques as kokyu-nage, ikkyo, and iriminage, among others.

Tissier sensei then taught from 8-9 p.m. If you haven't had the opportunity of training with Tissier sensei yet, I can tell you that Tissier sensei's aikido style is very crisp, precise, and quick. Likewise, his classes are energetic and fast-paced and very enjoyable. This night he demonstrated mainly ikkyo and nikkyo and iriminage. Doug and I found ourselves happily working hard on the mat, admiring the nimble ukemi of the Martinique students, with many smiles exchanged during class.

Friday night ended with a big party after the mats were taken up - lots of food, plenty of dancing, and a respectable quantity of the local brew, called Lorraine, quaffed. Leave it to the French to name a beer after a woman.

Saturday demonstration
Saturday was open until the evening, when there was to be an all-martial arts festival, at which Tissier Sensei would be giving a demonstration. We all took this day off in stride and headed out in our little Renault, exploring further the truly incredible southern Martinique, walking two breathtaking beaches on the southern coast and eating at a café right on the water.

The martial arts festival was a marvel of harmony and cooperation between various fighting styles. Represented were Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Ju-Juitsu, French Savant Boxing, Boxing, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, and Aikido. Martinique is a small island with a population of about 350,000 and the fact that so many styles are represented illustrates a French-related passion for martial arts. The martial demonstrations were punctuated by performances from members of the Martinique Circus.

The Aikido demonstration was begun by a teenage boy and girl performing a tea ceremony. Next, students from the ten Martinique aikido dojos demonstrated rolls, ukemi and various techniques. Tissier Sensei took the demonstration to its conclusion by performing open-hand, tantodori, and bokken techniques with his student Marc Bachraty serving as uke. Sensei's precise and powerful style was very impressive.

After the festival, sensei Tissier and Ikeda, Natalia, Marc, Doug, and I drove to Trois Islets for a late dinner, and on the way we also got a taste of night driving on the island: a motorcycle with no lights, speeding drivers, passing on curves, bumper-to-bumper tailgating. I almost thought I was in Boston! Yet we arrived safely and, after another excellent dinner and a little beer and wine, made our way back to the Diamant.

Sunday seminar
On Sunday morning the sun broke over the horizon in a blaze of orange. The temperature was - again - a balmy 70F. After a breakfast with exotic fresh fruit and an ocean view, we drove to the athletic club, site of the last day of the seminar. Ikeda sensei started the morning's training by continuing with more work on breaking uke's balance. He asked us to be free with our movement, to relax and let the technique flow. He stressed sending our energy "into the ground" and redirecting uke's power as his balance is taken. After the first fifteen minutes, my dogi was soaked in the humid Caribbean air, and Doug and I drank copious amounts of water. Ikeda sensei taught for one hour and then Tissier sensei taught the second hour of the class. He was speaking in French, so Doug and I had to rely on our vision to discern what he was telling us, but he emphasized keeping a low center and demonstrated precision footwork. In the French style, we changed partners only when instructed to do so, and I was fortunate enough to train with Marc for a good part of the class. He was extremely helpful, showing me where my feet were placed incorrectly (teaching by leg sweep!) and giving me pointers on some of the movements in the shomenuchi kokyunage and iriminage techniques that we worked on for most of the hour.

Farewells
Time for departure came all too soon, and we returned to Diamant to pack our belongings, sorry to leave. The entire weekend was imbued with a fine sense of joy, camaraderie and goodwill shared by all participants, including our two teachers Tissier sensei and Ikeda sensei. Many thanks to Gina Croisan sensei and the Aikido League of Martinique for organizing an inspirational seminar and for their gracious hospitality. More events such as this will help to ensure a strong, healthy, enduring aikido.

*Rich Fox, a software developer, trains at Boulder Aikikai, after moving from Aikido Shobukan Dojo in Washington, DC, where he started aikido over five years ago.