Random thoughts on O Sensei's Rules/Guidelines for practice, #1

I had been training for several years before I bought my first copy of O Sensei's Budo. There was a one page list of called Precautions for Training that I had not seen before. Later on, I found the same list of six items in Kisshomaru Doshu's Aikido, this time called Rules for Practice.  It's the term I became most familiar with, so I'll be referring to the Rules from here on even though Precautions might be the better translation.  Eventually I started to think of Guidelines.

The dojo where I train now has a third version of the Rules from an Aikikai Hombu newsletter with similar items worded differently.  The current Doshu has published a fourth version. I don't see the Rules getting much attention, and every copy I find seems to have the second Doshu's name closely associated with it.  Budo itself was written very soon after the split between Morihei Ueshiba and his Daito Ryu teacher, but well before any of the fractures in Aikido itself developed, and before the name Aikido was even coined.

The Rules were of limited benefit for me to give to beginners for practice.  It's not a "no chewing gum in class" kind of list.  It didn't touch on any of the long list of things like who sat where, or how to wear a gi, or when to bow, or how to hold a weapon.  While Budo itself makes extensive mention of swords, spears, tanto, and firearms - weapons are not discussed in the Rules.

I am unilingual and therefore divorced from the Japanese source material.  I did what I do when I read the Five Rings or the Yi Jing - I put all the different translations together rather than just picking the one translation that I like the best.  I like to think it gives me a chance of catching nuances and deeper understanding.  For example, when comparing the translations below, some talk about killing with a "blow," something that English speakers associate with striking or atemi.  Two versions explicitly say we practice lethal techniques (much more general term).  With the one translation, the implication is that Aikido can be safely practiced just by omitting the strikes.  When I teach an Aikido version of O Goshi, I have to make the point to the class that this isn't true as some Nage get really low to the ground as they don't want to give Uke a hard fall.  This is how to break Uke's neck or skull by slamming it into the ground.

For all that I knew of the Rules for years, I had a little epiphany the other night.  These aren't so much rules as a description, a definition of Aikido.  I'm tentatively breaking up the six Rules into separate entries.  This one deals with the first item, which discusses Aikido's lethality.  As this is one of six, this is not the only reason to train nor the only defining feature of aikido.  I don't just train for combat myself.

"The original intent of bujutsu was to kill an enemy with one blow; since all techniques can be lethal, observe the instructor's directions and do not engage in contests of strength."  Budo

 

"One blow in Aikido is capable of killing an opponent.  In practice, obey your instructor, and do not make the practice period a time for needless testing of strength."  Aikido

 

"As Aikido is practice by using techniques which are capable of inflicting fatal injuries, practitioners should always heed what their instructor says, and should never participate in contests of strength."  From the 1997 issue of "The Aikido" by Aikido world headquarters in Tokyo.  Volume 34, #4.  Really, from the walls of the men's change room at our dojo.

 

"Aikido techniques can be instantly lethal so it is essential to observe the instructor's directions at all times and not engage in contests of strength." Best Aikido: The Fundamentals (Thanks to Peter Goldsbury for pointing out this fourth source to me.)

 

While not in keeping with our warm fuzzies, it is a historically valid question to ask a senior student.  Do you know how to kill someone with Aikido?  Or at least hurt them?  Do we know at least enough about how to hurt each other, to keep each other safe in practice?  There is some online talk that Aikido is not capable of inflicting injury, or that there is something special about Aikido movements like Shihonage that make them harmless but this is not what is written here.  

The rule states to obey the teachers (In Aikido, Kisshomaru Doshu expounds on the first Rule with a brief dissertation on the importance of obedience and never goes further into discussing lethal options) and implies this is for safety, but do teachers automatically know how to injure or kill people with Aikido?  Many groups don't teach this.  I have known some teachers who are almost proudly uninformed.  If the teacher is uninformed, then the safety margin created by obedience is not a guarantee.  

How is the Daito Ryu Shihonage different from the Aikido Shihonage and can I communicate this to a student in clear enough terms to keep the class safe?  Daito Ryu presumably has no problems communicating what makes the movement safer or more dangerous as there is no hangup and no emotional baggage associated with the potential for injury.

While Steven Seagal has earned some criticism in recent years, his Aikido choreography in Above the Law, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice offer some valid insights regarding combat applications.  I don't object to his Aikido - there are so many other things to object to.

Shioda sensei's Dynamic Aikido also has some great insights for combat in the one chapter - a Sankyo throw projecting someone down a stair case, Nikyo with Uke getting kneed in the face, Kotegaeshi and Ikkyo both slamming Uke into the restroom wall.  Sound ideas, and a valid lesson that there is nothing different being done.

I've heard about simply avoiding violence.  I get irritated by people discussing "violence in the real world" who have sustained little more than paper cuts and eye strain.  Violence isn't real to such people, but it is still real.  Some students that I thought were divorced from violence turned out to be ex-military.  Even in health care I come across plenty of ex-military.  My wife and I had to face the reality of violence in our own home from an intruder.  One student works in a jail, another in law enforcement. I've become less critical of people who ask questions about violence. If I am going to be a teacher, maybe I should know some answers.

 

In any event, from the horse's mouth - Aikido is described as an art capable of being lethal, the implication being that martial ability is expected. Maybe this feeds into the "Looking Back to Look Forward theme I find myself thinking of lately. Martial competence has become a common criticism of Aikido today, with every association lumped together erroneously. I wonder how many people told Chiba Sensei, "Aikido doesn't work in a fight, it is too gentle?"  Lenny Sly and others are doing some modern interpretations. Kenji Tomiki was a military trainer.  Gozo Shioda and Robert Koga were law enforcement trainers.  Martial competence is part of our history.  

In search of Bansen Tanaka

I was told years ago that I was in Bansen Tanaka's lineage.  I was never told this by my own dojo or Shihan, (it was more of a shut up and train environment) but by other sources.  Until very recently, there was no information available on him.  I went looking up this man's history in part because it has now become a part of my history.

Bansen Tanaka was a Judo student before he became an Aikido student, as was Morihei Ueshiba himself.  He met Morihei Ueshiba in 1936 (some English sources say 1935), around five years after the Manchurian Incident.  Kano Jigoro would die at sea two years later, but multiple Judo students had already come to train with Morihei Ueshiba.

Bansen Tanaka's Wikipedia bio also identifies him as a student of Ueshiba's nephew, Noriyaki Inoue.  Noriaki claimed the title of co-founder of Aikido.  He had been raised in the Ueshiba home, and had been present for all of Takeda's instruction from the beginning.  Inoue was additionally a very devote Oomoto Kyo believer, and he had also been present for the meeting of Onisaburo Deguchi and Morihei Ueshiba.  He lived in the Oomoto compound with the Ueshiba family.  The second Oomoto incident in 1935 led to the arrest of several Oomoto leaders, but a police chief in Osaka was able to warn Morihei so that Morihei personally escaped arrest.  Noriaki was critical of Morihei for not sharing the same fate as the Oomoto Kyo leadership.  The Inoue family was also very wealthy and had been the main financiers of Morihei's adventures up until this point.

Tanaka built a dojo for Inoue in Osaka, and his biography states he followed the teachings of both Noriaki and Morihei until he was drafted in 1939.  The falling out of Inoue and Ueshiba worsened and the two eventually broke ties.  Tanaka is still identified as a student of both men after the event that precipitated these two innovators separating.

The name Aikido was coined in 1942, right around the time Ueshiba quit his military training posts and moved to Iwama.  Conversely, Inoue continued to teach his art as Aiki-Budo until 1956, and after a few name changes Inoue's art is now known as Shin'ei Taido.  Wikipedia makes no mention of students of Noriaki Inoue at all.  It is Bansen Tanaka's Wiki entry that connects him to Inoue; not the other way around.  Noriaki Inoue around the 1:16 mark doing a technique Kawahara taught on several occasions - that I haven't seen since.

Tanaka was a student of Ueshiba who started when the certificates handed out were for Daito Ryu under Sokaku Takeda.  Takeda and Ueshiba broke ties not long after Tanaka started - 1937.  A famous incident where Takeda showed up in Osaka to announce he would take over instruction of the Asahi news group in Osaka happened in 1936.

Gozo Shioda had been training since 1932.  Kenji Tomiki was more senior (starting in 1925), and would leave for Manchuria the same year as Tanaka started.  Kiyoshi Nakakura (Ueshiba Morihiro) was married to Morihei's eldest daughter, adopted into the family, and was expected to succeed Morihei.  The marriage ended with divorce the year following Tanaka's starting training.  

A good friend of Nakakura's was the photographer for the Noma dojo photo shoot in 1936 that would come to be Ueshiba's book, Budo.  Gozo Shioda and Kisshomaru Ueshiba would both appear as uke, though several sources say Kisshomaru only started to officially train in 1937 - after the schism of Takeda and Ueshiba.
 

(I'm not saying Tanaka played a role in any of these events.  There is so much talk about how messy Aikido politics got in the mid-1970s, and those events sound so much more straightforward!  I chose to believe it is a comment on Tanaka's determination and character to continue to train throughout this events.)

Tanaka was drafted into the army in 1939, where he served as a bodyguard.  The war ended in 1945, and Aikido was outlawed until 1949 (though famous students like Morihiro Saito and Hirokazu Kobayashi both date their start in training to 1946).  Wikipedia says Tanaka resumed his aikido training a year "after" (I think they mean a year after the war ended, not a year after he left).  I don't know how it worked out, but eventually Tanaka was asked by O Sensei to open Osaka Aikikai in 1951.  Tanaka stayed in Iwama until the dojo was opened in early 1952.  O Sensei arrived and taught in Osaka for several weeks, and made very frequent trips to Osaka.

Shioda started a dojo in 1950, gave a career changing demonstration in 1954, and didn't start his own style until 1955 officially.  Morihei Ueshiba looked to be in retirement, and Shioda was Tanaka's senior.

Hirokazu Kobayashi was a judo, kendo and karate student who relocated to Osaka in 1954.  A 1964 copy of Kisshomaru's Aikido lists two Osaka dojo, and lists Kobayashi as a Hombu Shihan - the title was not applied to Tanaka, though he was more senior.  While Kobayashi's Wikipedia makes no mention of Daito Ryu, this discussion is interesting.  Kobayashi became prominent in Europe, and is well known for a separate system of Aiki Shin Taiso or a set of solo exercises for developing Aiki that to my knowledge is not the same as Koichi Tohei's Aiki Taiso.  He is also known for inviting Tomiki Sensei to teach in Osaka and for working closely with the Shodokan aikido system after that schism had happened.  The Shodokan Aikido headquarters dojo was built in Osaka in 1967.


It's finally gotten to the point that I can go to YouTube and search for video of Bansen Tanaka.  There is an interview with Stanley Pranin (you need an Aikido Journal membership, which I can never recommend enough anyway), and Ellis Amdur's It Had To Be Felt had a meeting that seemed to show some frustrations between Tanaka and the Aikikai Hombu.  So many of the pre-war students had been closely associated with Tanaka it seems.  The one name that doesn't come up in association is Koichi Tohei, and Kisshomaru Ueshiba would have started at the same time - without Tanaka's Judo background.


I don't think I feel any better informed as to who Bansen Tanaka was, but Osaka sounds like a very rich budo environment.  I wish I had known as much of the history now as I did when I first travelled there with Kawahara sensei.  There are many questions I wish I could ask him.