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Spending years watching Japanese Aikido instructors. Completely changed how I understand aikido. So first of all, let me say for this video I'm going to be focusing mostly on Takeda Shihan Yamaguchi sensei. Some of my AKI sempai, like Seino sensei. Yasu, sensei. Numata sensei. So first of all, one of the points that I notice is that they seem to enter before the attack develops.
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Or earlier in the development of the attack. At least.
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It sometimes became unclear as to just when you're watching became unclear as to wait. Did uke initiate that, or did sensei actually initiate that?
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I'm. I'm very curious to know if anybody can relate to that.
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So this timing of entering so much earlier than
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other intermediate or low advanced people do is so subtle,
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and the position seems to solve some problems early
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and give them opportunities
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that otherwise wouldn't be available to them.
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They also seem to move less. There's so economical, so efficient with their movement. And what's interesting is that sports science research consistently shows that expert performers of whatever the art or sport is actually move less than beginners. They actually move less. They solve problems earlier with smaller adjustments. So the movements, like I said earlier, are more economical. They avoid unnecessary effort.
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The structure replaces force. So watch some videos of Yamaguchi sensei, for example.
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His posture is is impeccable. It's so good. Even when he does, he'll do this one throw where he he kind of bows. All right. Watch his back when he does that bow. Yeah, he looks down, but he's his. His back is still straight
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and his chest is expanded when he does
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This, this bowing throw.
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Leave a message in the comments if you know what I'm talking about. If you've seen that or felt that.
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Another interesting point I want to share with you, a conversation that I had with a friend of mine.
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He's been training about the same amount of time as as I have, I think I've been training about 45 years. And this friend of mine
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trained with Yamaguchi sensei from the time he was a white belt. And not just in home dojo, but in in Yamaguchi sensei's private dojo.
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And
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we were talking and he said, you know,
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with Takeda Shihan and with
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Yamaguchi Shihan
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It wasn't
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easy to get away from them.
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It wasn't like they throw you, and then they separate, and then you come with another attack. He said it was a whole conversation. And
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you couldn't just leave the conversation.
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I knew exactly what he meant because
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I experienced the same thing with Takeda Shihan. So there's this way of training
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where
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it was a conversation that you couldn't
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get out of.
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You couldn't just leave. It was it was a very, very engaged conversation.
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And that was just how it always was. Every single class,
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when Takeda sensei would come over to throw me,
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there was no break in between the throws.
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It was incredible. Zan Shin.
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But it went beyond most people's idea of what Zan Shin is and can be.
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It's very difficult to explain to people who have, always been thrown by somebody who says, like, that's the one throw.
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Now we're going to throw again,
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very, very different.
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And then I said to my friend, I said, you know, I've told this story so many times of when I went to the coffee shop with Yamaguchi sensei after class this one particular day, it was a Saturday morning, and we got to the coffee shop at 9 a.m.,
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and there was just a slight break in the conversation, maybe 15 or 20 minutes into into it, where there was a slight break.
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One of the members got up and said, thanks so much. Thanks so much for class. He had finished his coffee, said, got to go. I've got a lot of work to do. And three other people stood up immediately with him, and they left
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and I thought, oh, wow. That was like very swift, very succinct movement, you know, and I thought, oh, that was that was strange.
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They didn't stay very long. And then for, for the next three hours, I was trapped has a negative connotation. I don't mean that this was negative. It was positive, but it was amazing. I was kind of trapped in this conversation in the coffee shop where I couldn't couldn't get away. The only choice I had was either to interrupt and disengage.
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But just every time I thought, oh my gosh, I'm I've got to get going. Every time I thought, I'm, I'm just going to interrupt. There was something else very engaging that either Yamaguchi sensei would say, or he would ask a really interesting question to one of the people sitting at the table. I think there were like five of us or something.
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I can't quite remember. And anyway, now that I think back on it, I think, oh yeah, that was the same as I was taking ukemi for him.
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He would just adlib. You didn't know what technique he was going to do next. He was just moving. And it was so engaging. And it was pure zanshin
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and you couldn't get away from it physically. So the same thing happened in this coffee shop. He wasn't just talking nonstop,
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There were pauses,
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but he somehow owned
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those silences as well.
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It's extremely difficult to explain.
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this was also just the other day like this revelation like, oh, that was Zanshin in the coffee shop.
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Master. Conversationalist. Slash conversation facilitator. All right. It was amazing. So it was the same as what I'm talking about. There was no
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unnecessary effort. He wasn't flamboyant in his talking. And yet somehow we couldn't break from this conversation. And I had an English class to teach. I was a professional English teacher. And finally I thought, oh, my God, I got to get the last train out of here.
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If I leave now, I can catch the last possible train to be on time for my English class. I've got to interrupt. And so finally, again, after three hours, I began to stand up and I began to say. “Sumima...” right. Began to say “sumimasen”. And before I could stand up, before I could finish saying the words “sumimasen”.
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He said,
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more sorrow. Sorrow like my soul. You know, he had this very deep voice. For those who don't speak Japanese, that was, you know. Oh, yes. It's about time, isn't it? Let's go.
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So he kind of even saved me from being rude
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and interrupting. He interrupted my interruption.
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So in a way so that it was more or less his idea as well. Like, oh yeah, you're right. We we've been here long enough. Anyway, I thought that was so interesting
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That he maintains zanshin even in conversation. And the zanshin on the mat is just I couldn't fathom that before I went to Japan, I never experienced that.
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Another thing that I notice is the balance.
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I've never seen Takada Shihan or Yamaguchi sensei
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wobble or lose their footing
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where it didn't look like it was either,
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deliberate,
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or maybe they did wobble a little bit. Somebody bumped into them or something. But then they used it to their advantage.
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they're just improvising when something
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comes at them that they didn't expect,
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they find a way to use it to their advantage. So that was really amazing. So the posture the balance the center stays organized.
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So let's wrap it up there. But in the comment section please leave a message. First of all, if you've ever taken ukemi for Yamaguchi sensei, I would love to hear any stories that you have. And I'd love to know who you are and be connected with you. So leave a message in the comment section please. If that is you.
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But if you've experienced this and and it's has not been from Yamaguchi sensei, please leave that to please leave messages about that and let me know
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where you've felt that and when. And
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how or when you can implement this in your own training. What your plans are to try to learn from this and apply this in your own training.
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By the way, if you'd like to train with me in person, I'll be teaching some seminars in Ireland and the UK in just a couple of weeks. I'll be in Boston just one night only. July 1st and July 15th through 19th is the 30th anniversary of AKI USA, the organization that I started 30 years ago.
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That'll be in Los Angeles. I'll be the main teacher and there will be some other teachers who are from AKI and one AKI teacher who's going to be joining us is Numata sensei. He's 7th dan in Aikido. 8th dan in Iaido, friend of mine for 40 years. There are other cities that I'll be in, and I'll be taking a group to Germany in September, if you'd like any more information, just click the link below, send me a message and let's train together somewhere soon.
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Bye bye.
