"Tachi waza
1. Shoumen

Migi arui wa hidari te nite uchi komi no koto.
Tegatana o motte (arui wa kobushi) teki o utsujutsu, tenchi no iki to jubun no iki to wa onaji mono de aru hazu dakara dosa mo inyou gacchi no waza o tegatana ni oyoboshite uchikomu."

This is the first part taken from page 5 (see picture below) of Budo Renshu written by Morihei Ueshiba Sensei and is an instruction on how to attack. I will now explain what it means.

"Tenchi no iki" is the breath of nature and "jubun no iki" is your own breath. However "tenchi no iki" and "jubun no iki" are actually the same thing because we are all a part of nature.

In Japanese, "iki" means 'breath' but in this sentence Ueshiba Sensei wants to convey that humans have the same origin as nature. We must therefore look next at how nature was created. There are of course many theories about the origins of nature and the Universe and probably Ueshiba Sensei's theory was influenced by Deguchi Onisaburo of the Omotokyo religion. Deguchi Onisaburo said that out of the void a point appeared and this point was surrounded by spirit and matter. Spirit and matter are the perfect opposites of each other. These two opposing parts are yin and yang. When these two parts joined, space and nature were born. Thus; according to this thinking; when two opposing parts join, new power is created. So, for example, with the union of a man and a woman, great power is created and a new life is formed.

To create power when attacking in shoumen uchi, spirit and body must join. That is to say, when attacking you must concentrate your spirit on your tegatana. The attacking movement must include spirit. This is very simple but very, very important. So from now on, when attacking in shoumen uchi, please try to remember this. It may be difficult at first, but please keep trying.

The dedication page from Budo Renshu; signed by Morihei Ueshiba Sensei as 'Moritaka Ueshiba', the name he took at that time. The date in the top left; March 1934; indicates the date on which the book was given to his uchi deshi, Moriyuki Imai.

An original photo of the young Ueshiba Sensei, glued into the book.

The cover of Budo Renshu.

Next month, I will explain how to do 'kamae of the spirit' and not just 'kamae of the body'.

Welcome to my new English blog!

I often travel to other countries to teach Aikido and, increasingly, students from all around the world are coming to study Aikido here in Japan. This shows that Aikido has become truly international and that the ultimate goal of Aikido - peace between people of all nations and cultures - is getting closer. Through this blog, I hope to be able to communicate with aikidoka from all around the world.

Next, I would like to congratulate James Fish from Fairbanks, Alaska on passing his shodan test. I first met James at the 2005 Gasshku-by-the-Sea in California and the following year he came out and spent a week training at Ryu Dojo. He also tested for ikkyu then. Last week, James was in Urayasu for the second time - this time to test for his black belt. He tested on Saturday 20th in front of about 25 Ryu Dojo members. That night we held a farewell party for James and I was happy to announce that he had passed.

James has gone back to Fairbanks, where he has already started a Yoshinkan Aikido club and where he now hopes to establish his own dojo. While he was here, James asked me to name his dojo for him. This was a difficult question so I asked James what kind of name he wished for his dojo. He told me that, according to the Chinese Horoscope, he was born in the Year of the Dragon and so I decided on Shoryukan, which means House of the Ascending Dragon. Everyone at Ryu Dojo wishes James the best of luck and we hope to see him here again soon.


From next month, I will be posting the first monthly instalment of the English translation of a 6-part series I have been writing for a Japanese magazine called Hiden. This series is based on my own training from a book I was given by the son of one of Ueshiba Morihei Sensei's uchi deshi, who trained with him before World War II. The book is called Budo Renshu and was written by O-Sensei in 1934. Shioda Sensei began studying Aikido with Ueshiba Sensei in 1933 and so the book contains illustrations and explanations of the techniques that Shioda Sensei would have learned from Ueshiba Sensei.

I hope that everyone will find this series interesting and helpful to their Aikido training!