Yesterday, I made a transliteration of the AikiManseido("Aikido for the Whole World") creed, so I can begin to recite it in class. It's something that was composed by the Sunadomari Sensei, the head of AikiManseido and a student of Ueshiba O'Sensei(Aikido's founder). He was Sakabe Sensei's teacher, too, for a long time until Sakabe Sensei started his own dojos. You can see the original Japanese brushed here. I'm not going to try to translate it here because I couldn't do it justice in English. But I will translate the first sentence, and that is " 'Aiki' means 'the manifestation of love.' "
I go to the 53rd anniversary demonstration of Manseido this Sunday, where I hope to see Sunadomari Sensei for the first time. I'm waiting in anticipation of this event. He's something like 81 or 82 years old. I wonder what kind of demonstration it will be...
It is dawning on me how powerful this martial art's potential is to change a person.
Total minutes early: 210
I tell of my day-to-day experiences in a funky Japanese town from my American viewpoint. This blog could also be called 'Bizarro World', 'Notes From Kyushu, a Smaller Island', or 'Teaching English in Japan: Smash Your Ego in 10 Easy Lessons."
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2 comments:
I guess it just shows what the human body can do if they look after it. I should take some of that advice myself. Have fun at the demonstration.
It is amazing what the body is capable of, especially if the mind and the body are working together on the same thing. Don't you do some skiing or something, Sirdar? I saw some pics before...
I made a mistake in this post, btw. Sunadomari Sensei didn't compose the 'Spirit of Aikido' creed--it was Morihei Ueshiba O'Sensei, Aikido's founder, who did. Sunadomari Sensei had it brushed out in calligraphy after it dawned on him the significance of the words to the art. He has all of his students recite it before practice, which now includes me.
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