Traditional Arts, Modern Methods

“He who wishes to study the sword, must first study his mind.”

Musashi Miyamoto

Those who practice Aikido must first learn its spirit; if the spirit of Aikido is not understood, the way will never be attained.” 

Rinjiro Shirata, 10th Dan

Any explanation of what I think Aikido is has to start with an explanation of who I am. I do not fit your typical idea of what an Aikido instructor is, nor do I possess the typical story of where they came from.

I was born an Autistic child with ADHD into a family in the housing projects of Western Sydney. My autistic, illiterate Father was prone to incredible violence and served jail time on multiple occasions. His violence and inability to deal with a neurodivergent child also meant that I grew up dealing with complex PTSD. Like I said, not your typical recipe for an Aikido teacher.

My special version of ASD means that I am not a mathematical savant, nor am I inarticulate and uncoordinated. I have all the usual recipe formulae ( hyperfocus, hypervigilance, sensory sensitivity, strong need for routine, being direct or blunt, interpreting things literally, exceptional pattern recognition, etc), but I was somehow able to turn these into qualities that helped me develop strong proprioception, kinaesthetics and interospection. I see in images and can replicate what I see through my body, and have highly developed pattern recognition and spatial awareness. My hyperfocus means I can train and train nonstop for hours within the context of a certain focus set, and my hyper vigilance means that I have well above average sense or y input receptors.

I came to aikido in 1996 after I finished my last season playing volleyball in Europe. I got off the plane and was in my first dojo ever within 2 weeks. Less than 2 years later, I was in Japan. I have many stories from that time that are irrelevant here. Upon my return in May 2000, I settled back in Sydney, but my dissatisfaction with training led me to the Gold Coast, then I shopped around dojos for a while. 12 months in an Iwama dojo, a little dabble in Yoshinkan and Tomiki. I was an aiki sponge. 

Eventually, in early 2002, I moved to Tassi,e frustrated with my training and how many people wanted to constantly change all the aikido I had learnt in Japan from the best Aikido masters I had met. I felt escaping would allow me time to unpack my Japan teachings and consolidate what I thought aikido was. I attended Tasmania Uni dojo for 2 years, it was a prewar style (Fuji Ryu) from an unknown Shihan to whom Morihei had apparently verbally bestowed on him the rank of 10th dan. I got my nidan in this style.

My life changed irrevocably that year. I found somewhere I could train 40 hours a week without interruption. I collected a group of 5 like minded individuals around me that to train vigorously, I got given an old DVD of a Rinjiro Shirata seminar he had taught in 1984 in the USA , one of my students gave me Peter Ralston’s book the principles of effortless power, I met Koretoshi Maruyama and become his student, friend, otomo, and main uke for the next 20+ years, and I met my wife.

I  will try to explain how my Autistic mind functions. I decided to start Aikido, I am not one who is going to be easily indoctrinated to one sensei and their belief. O sensei created Aikido, try to find out as much as I can about O’Sensei, his training, his ideas, read ever book ever written on aikido trying to find the pattern that connects what they all have to say, what are the similar important elements, train those as my basics, continue to watch all Shihan that knew him, continue to refine body movement based on principles, repeat ad nausium…

I watched and still watch many aikido videos, many internal arts videos, and books. I have an idea that is just an idea about what I feel O’Sensei was trying to project to us through aikido. It is based on what most great sword/budo masters from history had achieved. The highest level of no partner/ no self/ no victory/ no defeat/ no competition.

Because of my hyper focus and my pattern recognition qualities, I reject as aikido anything that doesn’t align with the common thread found in these masters’ voices. If the image in my head and the image entering my eyes don’t align, my mind rejects it instantly, and this can seem highly offensive to many who have studied aikido in an insular, dogmatic manner. (I am no longer entertaining the concept of “masking” to make myself feel more tenable to those that can’t accept what I have to say, masking causes illness and serious fatigue and mental issues for autistic people and for those preaching our art as “tolerant”, loving, and “inclusive”, this has been a MASSIVE problem, as I have come to believe Aikido practitioners are only truly inclusive of their “tribe”, those that share their ideals and their dogma, or are from their socioeconomic sphere) I have come to understand that at its highest represented level, aikido has little to do with technique, and it is the same in the highest level of kenjutsu. The techniques become a vehicle to a higher level of learning that only those willing to make the ultimate sacrifice will ascend to. Fancy words and plagiarised ideas don’t elevate anyone to the level of mastery, but they can trap and enslave the mind to the elevation of extreme mediocrity.

Aikido, as an art, was perceived to transcend this mediocrity, to elevate the human experience and challenge the status quo. Aikido Yuishinkai, as taught by Maruyama sensei, is “making the impossible, possible.”

No narrative about Aikido can be entered into without addressing the role of uke. I have gone on record in the past saying that “the one that creates the conflict is responsible for resolving it” – this can seem as a cop out to many, or as collusion at best and unnatural at worst. Who wins and who loses in the conflict? Is it a competition at all? The moment one begins to entertain the idea of resistance is the moment aikido transcends to a sport. I won’t go into it here, and those of you that are inclined can look it up for yourself, but many of the founder’s students talk about this. The founder was extremely particular about how you received for him. Maruyama sensei has talked about this ad nauseam. 

Rolling and falling are not uke. 

The receiving body is the receiving mind/heart. It is creating an attitude within ourselves where one can absorb the teachings that are passed from the heart of the teacher through the heart of the student. Maruyama sensei has said that uke does 70-80% of the learning within an Aikido interaction. I want students to focus on developing this relationship free of fear, to delve with their heart and soul into the hidden(ura) side of training and see where this art of sacrifice and surrender can change their perception of life.

Next is the sword/technique duality. The paradox of the death giving/life giving sword, and the way to understand such a paradox. 

When I say sword most people capture in their minds a picture of steel, weapon and technical proficiency. 

While a vehicle to learning, all great kengo Sword saints – many names mentioned by sensei, (Sukahara Bokuden, Miyamoto Musashi, Yamaoka Tesshu, Itto Itasai, Kamiizumi Hidetsuna, Yagyu Munenori, Sekiun Harigaya) all sought a higher understanding of the art brought about through their hyper focus on the sword and the study of its use. 

These giants transcended the sword they studied and left behind a legacy of integration of body, mind and spirit that elevates the weapon from a tool of destruction to a tool to foster and nurture life.

I believe that the founder of Aikido had such an enlightenment as well, to create an art where the techniques become the “sword of no sword” or the sword of “no abiding mind”. He famously said, “When one does technique, they should move as if using a sword, when one has a sword, they should move as if one doesn’t have one” he also said, “Everything stems from the sword – the sword is the source”. 

I also believe that in his spiritual path, he sought not to integrate the techniques of the sword so much as to attempt to emulate what all these great kengo had found in their study of the sword, that man, sword and opponent can cease to exist. 

In its commercialisation and transition into a westernised capitalist machine, what was unmarketable was tossed aside. Syllabus and systems were created to codify an art that had previously been a study of the “way”, a teaching style freed of form, was suddenly filled with 3000 techniques and the need to memorise and regurgitate this information as way to higher levels of understanding.

Time became the defining measure of competence. 

I repudiate this methodology and the elevation of mediocrity that it creates absolutely.

I want to return to a simpler narrative. 

In creating Mujushin-Ryu, Harigaya rejected all fanciful and ostentatious movement and returned to the simple study of a singular technique. Because of this, he achieved the highest level possible in Japanese martial arts understanding ai-nuke. 

In reverence to this I teach a simplified syllabus (I can’t even call it that) that requires study of simple body movements and minimal techniques. To my way of thinking, ikkyo is the most important technique, and the one that best fits the philosophy of what I have been trying to achieve in my art. It ties absolutely with the paired sword technique of kiri-otoshi, and both are the backbone of what I teach and study.

Next are the foundation movement studies of Yuishinkai, shinbashira, t-step, moon shadow, iwa-no-mi, ki-gata and ki musubi, all kenjutsu based movement that must be integrated through taught tandokudoso – solo body training exercises that one is expected to do outside their time in the dojo. Without such exercises, understanding the founders’ art, either physically or philosophically, is an impossibility.

Last but not least is the ability or willingness to ”build an aiki body” through various strength training exercises. Maruyama sensei has been telling me for years to get students’ legs stronger. I go to the gym regularly. I recommend kettlebell training. I teach original strength training, including crawling, dynamic planking and resistance training. This is as important to your Aikido training as to your life is the air that you breathe. 

All of these things come together and bind us to a way. In this way is presented a pathway to learning which means one day we can understand, not in our minds, but in our bones, the following narrative of the founder……

There are no Forms in Aikido. No Forms, the study of intent is everything. You must not let everything be subsumed by Form. This is because you will become unable to move with subtlety. O’Sensei

“There are no techniques in Aikido; it is the study of the spirit.” O’Sensei