Obon

In my frequent travels, I've noticed how crowded the airports have been, which reminds me a bit of Tokyo. In Japan, it is now O-Bon, an old Buddhist festival in which the dead are believed to come back for a few days. It also happened to be that World War II ended around the same time of year, on August 15th.

Traditionally, O-Bon is celebrated with folk dancing, but for sure now there are also a lot of horror movies showing all over the country, in theaters and on TV. Many people are also returning to their hometowns. Regardless of what religious, ethnic, or cultural difference, I've found it a good thing to pay respect to those that have passed away. No matter what happens to them, they live in our memory.

Another huge summer event in Japan is the National High School Baseball tournament. Each prefecture (state) gets to send only one team. I used to wonder why adults want to see non-professional kids play, because baseball for me was completely a professional activity.

But now that I'm outside Japan, I can see what they were after. The kids do have many glitches in their technique, but the beauty is that they play so sincerely, both to get there and against each other. It is one of the last places where we can see the true meaning of amateur sports. They are playing for honor, for their town and whole prefecture, which will remember them for decades if they play really well.

I've tried to find the same thing in this country, and indeed there are many amateur sports played at a high level. But when I see high school football, I sense a lot of pressure from parents. Not that there is not pressure in Japanese baseball - of course everyone wants them to win. The difference, maybe, is that after every game almost, both the players and spectators all cry. On both teams and FOR both teams - winners and losers - for happiness and sadness.

I hope we can have this in Aikido, a celebration of collective accomplishment, of having made it through, and empathy for those who made such a sincere effort, but lost.

Train well, and enjoy the rest of your summer!

Sensei

As I mentioned before, my father passed two years ago. I assume there are many ways to be a good father. There is no formula.

My father's generation, the same one as my Aikido teacher, seems to not want to talk about their care and love to their own child, but instead show it. My father was born as the first son, and so was I. I don't remember him talking to me much, but rather showing me what he wanted me to be. So I had a hard time understanding him, what he meant, and what he wanted.

Almost 40 years have passed since I began practicing Aikido, and I have come into a position to be called Sensei. What I teach is called Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido. Shin Shin Toitsu can be translated as "oneness of mind and body", and Aikido has been translated by my teacher as "the way to oneness with ki".

Being in this country for so long, I have been exposed to many teaching styles, and many ways of coaching or training for sports. Occasionally, I step into my daughter's aerial acrobatics class. I am always impressed by the generosity and planning that goes into the teaching, and how creative the instructors are in presenting it.

Western teachers and coaches seem always to focus first on success, and present this to their students. Contrarily, teachers of traditional Japanese arts such as Noh, Kabuki, koto, singing, and martial arts, are known for first saying "that's wrong". There is a very famous story from a Noh player: a student asked him, "What is Noh?"

The teacher replied, "If I tell you, you are never going to understand Noh. Period."

For a long time, I struggled with what style of teaching is good for students in the US. If I want to be popular, obviously I have to be like a Western coach, and encourage my students. But as a Japanese artist, I would rather not teach the essence of the art, and simply check on what they have developed. I would rather encourage intuition, and learning of the body rather than the head. Too many ideas will block it, and the teacher's job is to tell them to knock that off.

So the student has to steal what the teacher does, day by day, moment by moment. Japanese arts rely on becoming a way of life.

"Shin shin toitsu" is a process of changing consciousness, which requires positive reinforcement, so students accept it easier on a conscious level. But again, Japanese traditional arts have to be blended into the daily activity, into the subconscious, which requires clarity and precision. In other words, it has to be called wrong when it is.

Some years ago, there was a discussion in the Aikido community over whether a Sensei is a teacher/coach or an artist. A coach encourages and inspires, but has to be there all the time, almost to the point of annoyance. An artist, on the other hand, is more like a gardener, who must pay constant attention to his plants to know when to stress his plants and when to feed them.

Shin Shin Toitsudo was founded by Tenpu Nakamura sensei, a philosopher. His thought is carried well by my teacher, Koichi Tohei Sensei. Aikido was founded by Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, who was a very traditional Japanese teacher, who taught nothing, but showed the Way. I am very glad to be able to draw on both sides - the intellectual and the intuitive. I feel very complete as a human, rather than highly specialized to one side or the other. It is sad to see some people who criticize teachers and celebrate artists, or vice versa. Both ways are dead wrong. There is no formula, just as there is none for how to be a father.

Any animal can be a father, but we human can pass something on. Something more than shelter and basic needs. I feel lucky, not because I was born as a lord of creation, but as being Sensei who can pass something to next generation and enjoy doing so.

It's June. be ready for Summer training!

`According to Wikipedia: “June is known for the large number of marriages that occur over the course of the month. June is named after Juno (Hera). Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month”

`I know this is the hardest month to get any popular spot for a big seminar like the US National. We had to compete with all the wedding planners to reserve any good candidates way in advance.

In Japan, it is same as the US; June is the busiest month for Wedding. Maybe some American influence for young Japanese couples, but also it's seasonal tradition. There are Bōshu (芒種): June 6 - Grain in ear and Geshi (夏至): June 21 - Summer solstice, middle of summer in this month.

In the other hand, *Japanese traditional calendar called June as 水無月 (minatsuki or minazuki, month of water — 水 (mizu or mi) means water, and the 無 (mu or na) character, which normally means "not", is here ateji, that is, used only for the sound "na". In this name the na is actually a possessive particle, so Minazuki means "month of water," not "month without water", and maybe it was in reference to the flooding of the rice fields. It is one of the few months that doesn't have its own national holiday which is a little less torture for travelers---The day of a national holiday day inconceivably over-crowded---the government seems reluctant to plan festivals or events as the rain could come and spoil it all.

When I was in middle and high school, I remember I had to change my thick, black school uniform to a very white, half-sleeve shirt with my school logo on my chest from June 1st. Yes, it had to be on the first day in June exactly! It was not just school students, but also all business and office workers changed their clothes to something more cooler. Everybody follows, not because a its law, but because it's the traditional social obligation and nobody pays attention to who started it or when exactly--most likely from a seasonal practicality in the beginning---Amazing sight!! Can we expect something like that in US?

Most part of June is still rainy Baiu 梅雨 monsoon season in Japan. I would suggest not going to Japan if you really don't like rain, plus its hot and very humid weather! How do you survive there if you go during this season? First, you can ask your mind to understand why it's so humid, it sounds silly, but once our mind figures out the reason it is unavoidable, our body will start to relax. It becomes “no big deal”. Some people use the “no, it's not hot” method, but such a method of denial really does not work well in the long run, and is not healthy...It's better just to feel what it is, and find something you can enjoy with your family or friends only during the season. Plus this is very good training for Aikido, teaches you how to relax better. People in old days in Japan, they figure out to enjoy the natural surroundings of this season with food and clothing, instead of controlling the natural environment, such as using an air conditioner. My technique is wearing **Yukata and drinking a cold beer with my student after good training. What is yours?

Well, for people who love rain, I suggest going to the rain forest in the Olympic National Park, near Seattle. It's much cleaner and less crowded, you can see many old trees and mosses and also some huge slugs instead of many people. You know, you can get married there also...

*Since January 1, 1873, Japan has used the Gregorian calendar, with local names for the months and mostly fixed holidays. Before 1873, a lunisolar calendar was in use, which was adapted from the Chinese calendar.[1] Japanese eras are still in use.

**Yukata (浴衣) is a Japanese summer garment.

Rain forest at the Olympic National Park, WA, USA

When Injury happend

Contrary to the purpose of Memorial Day, that weekend sees more fatal automobile accidents than any other in the year. Perhaps people are excited about the first holiday weekend of summer, and become a bit careless.

About a month ago, I injured my ankle landing on uneven ground, and last weekend I cut my palm drawing a non-marked cane sword. That caught my attention. I have been very careful with those kind of injuries, and it has been a long time since I've been hurt like this. Maybe both were caused by one, brief moment of slack attention.

According to a study of failure by *Dr. Yotaro Hatamura, there are at least 30 minor failures before a major one occurs. This means that it is possible to prevent disastrous failures by paying close attention to minor failures, and studying how they occurred. Dr. Hatamura studied major car crashes, plane crashes, and many other major accidents, and he concluded with warning that there is always a history of ignoring failure. Everyone wants a success story, and tends to put a lid on their failures.

For me, my injuries are warnings, and I'm very grateful that they have turned out to be minor problems. When unwanted things happen, there are basically two ways to deal with it. One is to deny them or complain. Some people like to see life as a series of disasters, and are very depressed about it or begin to welcome disasters. The other way is to see the reality and learn from it, and be grateful about what we can learn.

How do we learn? When we look at our mind and body, I like to see some discipline of mind. Some reasonable strictness of mind, thoughts about what should be and should not be, is a good thing. However, our body has a tendency to learn things much more easily when it is enjoying them. When we want to learn something, then, it is good to have a mind which is much more disciplined, and find a way that the body can enjoy it, rather than feel it as torture. There is no such thing as an easy out, so called “No pain, no gain”. But chronic pain just occupies us, and if we don't correct what is causing it, we can't learn much beyond how to live with our pain.

Even though certain failures may be good learning opportunities, if you struggle with the same thing too much and for too long, you won't have anything left to help anybody else. At some point you need to change what you're doing, and stop feeding the struggle. Well, if I want to concern myself only about my own well-being, I might choose to become a monk for the sake of my mind, or a medical doctor for the sake of my body. But both are too much struggle for me ;-). Maybe this is one reason I became an Aikido instructor; it helps me see the mechanism of a problem and correct it, so that I don't have to struggle too long.

*Yotaro Hatamura
Chairperson, Association for the Study of Failure
Professor, Kogakuin University
Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo
Link:http://www.shippai.org/eshippai/html/index.php?name=news317

One thought on Memorial day

Today is Memorial day, the holiday which we pay respect to men and women who serve and die for this country. It was nice sunny day, so I decided to take my family to visited the cemetery near my house which usually we take a walk with our dog. The memorial service was started 1:30 PM, but instead of attending the service , just we were sitting far and observing people and hearing the band and speeches.

While I was walking around I noticed the Japanese-American section who fought during WWII. Then I saw an older lady approached to one grave with her family and putting flowers and played together. Even though I know the history what happened to Japanese-American during the WAR, but by seeing this old lady and family at the grave yard, it made me realized the reality of WAR, tragic yet somehow heroic part of human being. She was about my mothers age, she seem has difficulty of walk, but she was smiling all the time and looked appreciative...

My father, in the other hand, was captured by Soviet Union and was sent to somewhere in Siberia as POW for three years right after WWII end. He never had talked about how it was like to me or anyone in my family, except he said all his life after that was bonus. He passed away peacefully in the middle of spring two years ago. It would be different for his family if he died in Siberia, and of course, I could not been born in this life...