Hiroshi Ikeda at Louisville Aikikai
February 9-11, 2001

Contributed by Jay Barnet*

Many thanks to Chief Instructor Dale Matthews sensei of Louisville Aikikai for hosting this great seminar. Attendees came from a number of states to meet up and train with Hiroshi Ikeda sensei. I returned home from this seminar with a profound sense of respect not only for Ikeda sensei's remarkable aikido but also for his gifts as a teacher. The seminar was rich in valuable instruction.

That said, perhaps it will be useful if I touch on a few aspects of the seminar that were meaningful to me.

Sensei made some practical recommendations about how to approach our training. He suggested that we train with as many partners as possible, and to avoid training with just one partner. Attacks can present themselves with infinite variation; therefore our practice should deal with as wide a variety as possible. Practice at many dojo's, including other schools.

Sensei gave us a clear message to be serious about our training and to not be lackadaisical if something doesn't work. He also used a striking analogy of "caged bird aikido" vs. "wild bird aikido" to illustrate a central theme of the seminar: students should be aware that aikido applies to real world survival issues, and not only to our experience in the structured world of the dojo.

Ikeda Sensei reminded us to keep our natural posture at all times. Don't put on some other posture because it seems more like 'martial arts'. Some postures look strong but are in fact weak. He also stated that "we are not destroyers, we are martial artists", and he noted that self defense is best served when we don't "fight" the attack, but instead use aikido to defeat the attacker.

In his selection of techniques and exercises, Sensei chose things that worked well in a limited space. Without throwing uke to the ground, we were still able to practice a wide range of basic movements and concepts. In some ways the limited space made one focus on the fundamental elements of a technique.

As far as the actual training, there were many things of value in the seminar - far, far too many to cover here. A few things that stood out (for me) and that I hope to incorporate into my training were:

1) Connect with your opponent's center as they approach.
2) The timing of initial contact is critical to what follows.
3) When entering, be aware of elbows (not just hands).
4) First make uke uncomfortable. Reduce his power below 100%, and then take his balance. You are comfortable, uke is not.
5) Create time. For beginners, the attack dictates time. As you become more familiar with aikido you learn to create time to properly complete a move.
6) Technique: take out the slack, get opponent off balance, draw opponent in with whole body, draw arm in to position for throw.
7) When throwing, follow the line to your opponent's center.
8) Beware the attitude of "Okay, I learned kotegaeshi. Teach me another technique."
9) Watch out for "hit me" aikido.

Toward the end of the last day, Sensei took a moment to encourage us to take responsibility for developing our aikido. He pointed out that (paraphrasing): Your aikido is not my aikido. It is not O Sensei's aikido. It is not Doshu's aikido. It is your aikido. If you practice your aikido, O Sensei will be happy, Doshu will be happy, and most importantly, you will be happy.

I would speak for everyone who attended the seminar and say "Thank you, and we look forward very much to next time!"

*Jay trains with senseis Tom and Mary McIntire at Nashville Aikikai in Nashville, TN. He may be reached at [email protected].