Summer Camp in the Rockies, July 24th - August 1st: Some Reflections

Reflections on Teachers and others

Doran Sensei has a gift for relating empty-hand techniques to weapon-wielding techniques of Aikido. He demonstrated many techniques firstly with a weapon, secondly empty-handed, and lastly empty-handed facing an oncoming attack. He easily demonstrates the origins of the familiar but often times baffling empty-handed techniques. Using his skill, he painted Aikido as a matured weapons-art. Using his words, it appeared a fully relevant spiritual art.

Several assistants followed him to camp from Redwood City, CA. I got to share room space with one of them, Karl, and as well as being a fantastic uke, he surprised me with his endless well of energy.

Ikeda Sensei seemed to be inspired in his own way this year, mostly due to, it would seem, Ushiro Sensei. Ikeda Sensei has an innate sense of human physiology and especially how timing and movement effect the body. Participating in some of Ushiro Sensei's classes and talking to him throughout the week, however, Ikeda Sensei admitted to experiencing a shift in his view on these things. It is wonderful and scary to witness one's own teacher grow. This past week, he came off as warm-hearted, humble, skilled, and still willing to open his heart and change for the benefit of the future of his art.

Ikeda Sensei used a wide variety of assistants to demonstrate in his classes. It gave many people the opportunity to directly experience his subtle touch and ability to off-balance his attacker.

Ushiro Sensei was this year's guest instructor, flown in from Osaka, Japan. His classes were composed of two main types of practices: basic forms and ki/kokyu. The forms were classical Okinawan Karate forms, as I understand it, the most basic of which was something called Sanjin. From Sanjin, he showed us various ways to test the ki(energy/breath/???) and kokyu(perhaps the movement of ki) which could be generated from each step. The ki/kokyu exercises were fascinating to some, confusing to others, and irrelevant to a few. I found myself confused and delighted most of the time.

There is another person who should be mentioned along with Ushiro Sensei--his translator Jun. Jun was able to relate Sensei's spoken words as well as a sense of his unspoken words. The interpretation was seemless enough that most people probably forgot there was a translator present. I found myself listening to Ushiro Sensei's Japanese, and upon hearing the words in English afterwards, gained an entirely different appreciation for the richness and subtlety of the Japanese language. Ushiro Sensei communicated freely and meaningfully all week long due to Jun's skill. I think he deserves praise for doing a wonderful job.

Saotome Sensei and Ushiro Sensei looked as if they were old friends how they chatted away excitedly during the week. I noticed Saotome Sensei showing Ushiro Sensei one of his books, and they seemed quite energized while discussing it.
Saotome Sensei often talked about peace in the classes I attended. I experienced his classes as something resembling theme and variations, the numerous variations being complex and original. I want to attend many more of his classes.

I'm interested to hear what your impressions were of Ushiro Sensei and the other teachers. What were your training partners like at camp?
I worked with many wonderful people: Jae-Sang(the other person I shared room space with--lucky me!--another great uke, generous and warm-hearted person, and completely passionate about Aikido), Neville, Don, Dan, Noa, Julian, Josh, (There were about 100 others, but I wanted to mention a few!!) and all those regulars from Boulder Aikikai. I learned so much from my partners--THANK YOU!!!

Please send corrections, additions and comments!