The language and practices of Koichi Tohei: Reconstructing Omote and Ura

One of my longest standing essays was exploring the history in Aikido of the use of the terms, "Omote" and "Ura."  These are the terms used to distinguish between the two basic variations of most techniques in Aikikai and other organizations.  There appears to be a definite timeline. 

Blogger had the essay revert to it's original uncorrected crappiness, and I took the opportunity to rewrite and expand on the ideas of the initial post.

 Language should be a tool for communication between teachers, students and systems.  Language should be a platform for growth.  Instead, language in Aikido appears to be more about loyalty to a specific teacher.

Koichi Tohei was the head instructor of Aikikai Hombu from 1953 to 1974.  He was a prolific writer, and by all accounts a skilled practitioner and teacher.  He was the greatest single influence on the world of Aikido, especially from a North American standpoint.  I would prefer I could go forward with a discussion of his use of Irimi and Tenkan, and leave it at that.  Unfortunately, his admittedly innovative and revolutionary teaching method is actually a small part of his legacy on this art.  Wikipedia has good articles on the man and his art.  Stanley Pranin has a very good interview on his blog.

 

I always find out things I didn't expect when I do some research into Aikido.  For example, Shodokan Aikido is not the only style that has competitions:  Taigi is a Ki Aikido form of performance competition, graded like figure skating or synchronized swimming.  There are 30 Taigi, and they seem to take some inspiration from the Kito Ryu, Shodokan Aikido, or Judo kata.  Here is a link to Taigi #1 as an example.  The techniques in the Taigi are recognizable Aikido techniques, but the names of the techniques are different.  Suenaka Sensei in his book, Aikido Complete, identifies the name changes as something that happened as part of the 1970s schism - perhaps a deliberate effort by Tohei to distance himself from Aikikai and Kisshomaru Doshu.

Tohei's approach to training was fundamentally different from previous systems but it was very regimented. Tohei used the terms Irimi (entering) and Tenkan (turning) to differentiate two main variations on techniques, and this terminology is still used in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (Ki Society) and most of their offshoots like Wadokai Aikido and Aikido Associations of America. Ikkyo Irimi and Tenkan do equate with Ikkyo Omote and Ura, and Shihonage Irimi and Tenkan are the same as Shihonage Omote and Ura. I don't know what Tohei would call any of the additional variations. Techniques like Jujinage Tenkan are still not Ura to my understanding.  It is possible to do Tenkan Ikkyo Omote in Aikikai.

Other language changes seem to date back to Tohei's tenure.  Instead of names that refer back to  Daito Ryu techniques (ie Nikajo, Sankajo, Yonkajo) with variations distinguished by variation 1, variation 2, etc (Shioda Sensei), or rudimentary literal descriptions (Kote Mawashi, Kote Hineri, Tekubi Osae - Tomiki Sensei) the names become more familiar.  Nikyo, Sankyo, and Yonkyo come into use and become principles.  Irimi becomes a concept in and of itself that lectures and poems get written about; so does Tenkan.  These changes carried over to Aikikai.

I was told to refer to Kokyunage instead of Iriminage; Sokumen Iriminage became Sayunage.  These changes seem unique to Tohei's lineage.  I never adopted these for myself, nor are they in use with Aikikai.

In Tohei's 1974 letter to the Aikido world where he breaks from Aikikai, he writes that he "put down Yoshinkan."  He appeared to have considered himself in competition with Shioda Sensei.  Shioda used the Daito Ryu derived names (ie Ikkajo) while Tohei was the head instructor when new names (ie Ikkkyo) came into use.  This served to further separate Aikido from Daito Ryu and Aikikai from Yoshinkan.  It also ignored Tomiki Sensei's language, and any words possibly derived from Judo (ie Nage came into use, instead of Tori).  Tohei himself had never been a student of Daito Ryu like Shioda and Tomiki had been, and like Kisshomaru Doshu also started to train in Aikido after Morihei Ueshiba had separated from Daito Ryu.  Under Tohei, Aikikai became something separate, distinct, and apart.

When I trained with a Ki Society break away group I would be told Irimi and Tenkan were just the original way of saying Omote or Ura. This wasn't quite true. Tenkan and Irimi are Nage-Centric terms, describing the movement of the Nage. Like the Aiki Taiso, the movement is not a piece of a larger whole with a partner, but rather done in isolation. No relationship is implied. It is possible to Irimi in front or behind, or Tenkan in front or behind while turning away or turning towards Uke. It's possible to Tenkan with no one else there; it is not possible to be Omote by myself using the Aikikai definition. Omote is usually defined as being in front and direct, Ura is behind and turning. A relationship is part of the definition of Omote and Ura. Still, Irimi and Tenkan were the terms used at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo shortly after O Sensei's death.

 

Tohei was a product of multiple teachers.  A Judo student in his youth, he was studying Zen and Misogi at the Ichikukai Dojo during his teens prior to meeting O Sensei.  Tohei had a history of a severe illness in his youth that led to his studying health methodologies.  He was introduced to O Sensei when he was 19 years old in 1940.  He arrived three years after Kisshomaru Ueshiba had started to study with his father, about 8 years after Shioda had started to train, and about 4 years after Kenji Tomiki had relocated to Manchuria.  He was drafted into the Japanese military in 1942, and received his 5th Dan from O Sensei after starting his military service.  During the time he was a student of O Sensei, he was also attending school.  He was deployed in China from 1944 until 1946.  O Sensei had relocated to Iwama in 1942.

In the late 1940s, Tohei became a follower of Tenpu Nakamura.  Koichi Tohei's system of Aikido uses Nakamura's name for Nakamura's Yoga derived art, Shin Shin Toitsu Do.  Tohei named his art Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido.  While a martial artist in his own right and a former Japanese Intelligence officer, Nakamura wanted to create and disseminate a Yogic Art that would help practitioners improve their physical and mental health.  Tohei appears to have drawn great inspiration from Nakamura, possibly more than he drew from Morihei Ueshiba.

 

With his training in Judo, Zen, Misogi, and Yoga along with his military training, Tohei did progress quickly.  He had a vision of Aikido being an art that everyone could practice and benefit from.  This is possibly the departure from martial oriented Aikido - both Tohei and Nakamura had a focus on health practices and a history of personal serious illnesses.  In the post war environment, this was an ideal image of Aikido to promote.  In 1953, Tohei started to travel to Hawaii and eventually the mainland USA.  He became a serviceable English speaker and a famous author, and encouraged the creation of many dojos abroad.  In the period from February to October 1953, Tohei stated that he established dojos in each of the Hawaiian Islands.  He would travel to 18 different states in the next 20 years.

In 1955, in part as a response to Yoshinkan's success, Tohei was asked to take on the duties of Head Instructor at Hombu Aikikai.  Tohei oversaw a sad transitional period in the history of the dojo.  Immediately after the war, the main dojo was a place where all of the teachers of the now separate organizations used to be able to come and teach.  In Tohei's tenure, this changed and dedicated longtime students found themselves isolated, locked out, or forced to make a choice.  Shioda and Tomiki are two examples of senior instructors who (?)chose to distance themselves/ (?)were distanced (?) from the Hombu during the period Tohei was in charge.

Tohei's second legacy was in the works.  Lines were being drawn.  From Stanley Pranin's own account of 1969, a few months after O Sensei's death:  (the whole article here.)

"...there was a clear division in the dojo already at that time. When Tohei Sensei would teach on Fridays it was a different set of people who would show up at the dojo. Conversely, few of those who trained during the week would come for Tohei Sensei’s classes. There were deshi in the dojo who were considered under the tutelage of Doshu and those under Tohei Sensei. Everyone knew that there were strong divergences of opinion on teaching methodology and the stage for the split that was to take place in 1974 had already been set...

... I was called to a room on the second floor of the dojo late in August. Present were Tohei Sensei, Mr. Tamura and myself. I was told clearly that I was considered to be a student of Tohei student and as such was mistaken to have trained with other teachers during my stay in Japan. Tohei Sensei also criticized the Founder’s teaching methodology and said in no uncertain terms that I should focus my efforts on his ki approach to aikido. I was 24 years old at the time and emotionally unprepared to deal with such a confrontation. Totally deflated, I left the dojo almost in trance and wondered seriously how I could continue my aikido training having heard such words about the Founder from his top student."

 

While Tohei would say the split was over his Ki Aikido, Aikikai has no problem with Ki nor do other Aikido systems.  The use of imagery combined with structure is not even a rare concept in other martial arts.  

This anecdote from Stanley Pranin hints at something much more basic to me.  Sitting in an office in the Hombu Dojo and openly trashing the Founder and all of the Founder's other students teaching in the Hombu Dojo who were Tohei's colleagues, openly reprimanding a visitor for attending classes taught by anyone else In The Same School, overseeing and insisting on a sharp and poisonous division between students of the same school; these things are far less forgivable.  How would you react to hear a colleague openly insulting your abilities and the abilities of a beloved superior?  Or, your own father?  This was five years before the separation of Tohei from the Aikikai, and O Sensei had only been dead for a matter of weeks!  None of the Tohei lineage exercises are more problematic than this to me.  How could any organization move forward with this at the helm?

Tohei is often credited with creating the Aiki Taiso.  This was, according to Okimura Sensei, developed with Morihei Ueshiba.  This is why Okimura Sensei continues to use Aiki Taiso in his own dojo while being affiliated with the IAF and not with Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido.  The Four Principles are what Tohei specifically claimed patent to, but the idea of relaxation ("song"), or the One Point (Dantien), "Sink the Chi to the Dantien"/Weight Underside are staples of Chinese Internal Arts.  Extend Ki was only unique to a post war Caucasian audience.  Aiki Taiso solo empty hand practices bear more than a passing resemblance to some Qigong practices.  Aikido as a solo practice was a new idea.

 

Tohei would write about how an enlightened practitioner was less than an enlightened teacher who could impart the enlightenment to others.  I remember reading it for the first time and thinking Tohei considered himself better than Ueshiba O Sensei.  Apparently, this is true - he did.  I have heard people who were there say that they followed Tohei because "His waza was the best."  I don't know how the comparison to other teachers could even be made, given that even attending other Hombu teachers' classes was a punishable offence in Tohei's eyes.  

My own limited experience with this one Tohei lineage group left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  I could respect the method and enjoy the practice.  The defining feature of the organization was excruciating awareness of a situation that happened when I was four years old.  Vitriolic lectures were common, and students were encouraged to take umbrage for things that they had not been alive to see.  I do not think (I sincerely hope) this is not how Ki Society Dojos are, but most of the Tohei Lineage people I have talked to have an awareness of history that most Aikikai students are cheerfully, blissfully unaware of and not concerned about.  

 

Koichi Tohei reaped what he sowed - after openly encouraging students to forget the martial virtue of loyalty as he had done, and asking them to disregard/discard O Sensei and an entire generation of their Sempai, his own new organization continued to fracture as others broke away from him in turn.  Out of the 17 notable students mentioned in the Tohei Wiki article, 9 of those students would then break away from Tohei to become independent or rejoin Aikikai. Some of those organizations have had their own internal schisms in turn.

Tohei's ultimatum to American students that they follow him alone or never teach as he taught continues to have lasting effects.  Aikido became internationally political and fractured under his watch.  His rapid creation and dispersal of schools meant some people were made teachers who had little supervision and a short period of Aikido instruction. This lead to wide ranging interpretations and practices, as well as modified techniques.  Many high ranking Aikido people in the USA first started with Tohei.  He was their introduction to Aikido, and his methods were the only methods these people had learned when the ultimatum was delivered.  Being asked to forgoe these methods, some teachers had little else to draw upon.  Following Tohei Sensei's death, exercises like Ikkyo Undo and Funakogi Undo are back on the USAF test curriculuum.