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We were expecting big things from the long-awaited visit of Etsuji Horii Shihan, 7th Dan, chief manager of the All Japan Aikido Federation and a former instructor at the world hombu (headquarters) dojo of the Aikikai Foundation for 10 years. Horii Sensei’s Aikido Kobe Sanda Dojo, which he established in 1996, has over 200 members and when not teaching there, Horii travels the world teaching aikido.
He accepted an invitation to visit Australia and run a seminar after meeting Darius in New Zealand. Horii Sensei was a guest instructor at Auckland Aikikai’s 40th anniversary seminar, and Darius, who heads a full-time aikido dojo in Newcastle, attended along with six of his students. This was his second trip to Australia, he explained, after coming out in 1988 as uke (demonstration partner who plays the attacker’s role) to Doshu (grandson of aikido’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba), with whom he did an exhibition at the Opera House in Sydney, and also at Expo ’88 in Brisbane.
After training one night, Horii Sensei was standing outside under the night sky with Waka Sensei, and they wanted to know how to find the Southern Cross. Darius obliged.
On the mat, Sensei was impressed with Darius’ ukemi, and wanted to know who his instructor was. The answer was Chiba Sensei.
It was under Chiba Sensei during a year-long stint as his uchi-deshi (a Japanese term for a live-in student who trains under and assists a sensei on a full-time basis) in the USA that Darius and I developed our ukemi style and an understanding of what is required of an otomo.
Sitting in seiza position around a low table out the back of his San Diego dojo after classes, Chiba Sensei would sometimes regale us with tales of when he was otomo to O’Sensei Ueshiba, revealing how he would be ready to fend off an attack from O’Sensei at any time, to the point where he would never really sit down or relax, so that he would be ready to rise quickly in defence.
So, with that image etched in our minds, and as ambassadors not only to our parent organisation, the Australasian Aikikai, but as former uchi-deshi to Chiba Sensei, we took our roles as hosts, and Darius’ role as otomo, very seriously. The fact that Horii Sensei was the first Japanese shihan we’d ever hosted only upped the ante. We wanted to make sure that he went home having had a good time, feeling like he was well-looked after, and with positive reports to pass on to the likes of Chiba Sensei and those at Aikikai hombu.
The students of Saku Shin Kan dojo rallied behind us, helping to organise a two-day seminar at Newcastle University and readying the dojo for Horii Sensei’s visit.
Striking a balance between keeping numbers down to ensure a good training experience with space to open up, and also to welcome all those people keen to participate, we attracted aikidoka from six different aikido organisations and from across the eastern seaboard of Australia.
Many of those who attended do not ordinarily cross state — or aikido-style — borders, so it was a real achievement to bring them together in an open and tangible demonstration of our commitment to furthering the harmonious development of aikido in Australia: “Sweat, not politics,’’ as Horii Sensei put it.
The other task we had was to ready our home for Horii Sensei’s arrival, above and beyond what is ordinarily achieved in a household usually made up of two small children (a seven-month-old boy and a three-year-old girl), a dog and us, the parents. The children, the dog and the mummy had to be moved to the grandparents’ home, and anything Darius might need for himself, which he might not have time to arrange while looking after Sensei, had to be organised ahead of time.
As per tradition, Darius would be at Horii Sensei’s side, available when needed but otherwise unobtrusive, for every waking hour during the next six days, as well as overseeing the running of the seminar and associated activities. He would need to be there to carry bags, open doors, fill Sensei’s glass, provide his meals, answer questions, take ukemi, provide clean gis and towels, empty ashtrays and keep the entertainment flowing, while allowing time for rest. Thankfully, Horii Sensei turned out to be a very likeable gentleman with very good English.
He conducted his first class at Saku Shin Kan dojo on the night of his arrival, and it was well-attended. During that class, and the weekend seminar, his instruction was very clear, logical and concise; a little bit like coming home in its similarity to Chiba Sensei’s style of aikido, but also firmly rooted in the hombu dojo’s Aikikai style. Taking ukemi for him was a bit of a revelation for me after a long break from aikido following the birth of my son. He was strong and powerful, with perfect go-no-sen timing — staying a fraction of a second ahead of an attack so that it is never fully realised, yet not before the attacker is fully committed.
Equally, it was wonderful to watch Darius take ukemi for him, to see him on the sharp end once again, as he was when I first met him and we trained under Australasian Aikikai president Colin Hackett Sensei, 5th Dan, at Central Coast Aikido. Eager, present, athletic, almost a little bit too quick and cat-like in his ability to land on his feet.
We had done our best to prepare our students by conducting some classes in which little, if anything, was said, to help them see what was being shown rather than relying on being told what to do. They were impressed by Horii Sensei’s obvious power, which he kept largely under wraps, using a minimum amount of force to effect his techniques.
Immediately after class we had cold beer at the ready, but there was a scrambling around in the kitchen cupboard for anything resembling an ashtray! We’d forgotten the Japanese shihans’ penchant to train hard and party hard — which often includes smoking cigarettes.
We left very quickly afterwards for a formal welcome dinner at our home, attended by Hackett Sensei, William Haynes Sensei (Dojo-cho of Makotokan Budo, Castle Hill) and senior Saku Shin Kan student Tara Jones.
Our little starter of dried squid did not do so well, given its complicated preparation, but the rustic main of miso soup with udon noodles, poached salmon, shitake mushrooms, baby spinach and snow peas was up to par and all bowls were emptied. Later, we learned that cooking is one of Horii Sensei’s hobbies and he cooked ‘Mabo tofu’ for us, which was delightful, in an Iron Chef-like cook-off at the end of the seminar.
All went according to plan and I arrived to pick Darius and Horii Sensei up from our house on Saturday morning, (after neighbours’ construction work almost blocked my exit, which would have left Sensei stranded before the start of the seminar).
It was awe-inspiring to see so many students in one place, and Sensei did not disappoint them. He started out with basic tai-sabaki (body movement and footwork) and built on that as the basic opening to various techniques. It was eye-opening to practise the same technique with yudanasha (Black-belts)of various aikido styles, to see their take on what was being shown, and how much influence different styles of ukemi had on the capacity to complete a technique as it was shown.
During the second half of the third hour, I wondered if time hadn’t stopped, as the temperature climbed towards a steamy 35 degrees or more and my relatively unconditioned body slowly passed a certain threshold it has not approached much since San Diego four years before. Lunch was a welcome, albeit busy, break. One way or another, without Darius leaving Sensei’s side and me not leaving my ‘command post’ in the change rooms, Sensei was fed, watered and ready to get back on the mat after a brief rest. For the rest of the afternoon, he focused on a mix of weapons and body ‘art’, showing how one relates to the other, how the body art is based on the weapon’s movements, followed by weapons practice outside.
At the end of the day, Sensei was keen to leave as soon as he had bowed out, so it was up to our students to shift the mats, close the seminar and prepare for the evening ahead as we saw to his needs and got him back to base to shower and rest. This was the pattern for the duration of his stay and while our departure was sometimes delayed while personal belongings were fetched and cars obtained, we did our best to ensure he was never kept waiting long.
Sensei attended a dinner at the dojo that night and it was not long after food was served that the singing began. Our students had been forewarned that Sensei was a big fan of karaoke, acapella style, and that they should have a song ready to sing on the night. Few appeared to have taken us seriously, and paid the price! Sensei is not alone, as singing is to many Japanese as dancing is to many Westerners — fun, sociable and often a feature at social gatherings! Fortunately, when it came to me, I remembered some song I sang for Chiba Sensei in the deshi quarters of his dojo. That was challenging enough, but I found it was a very different thing to stand up in my own dojo and sing not only in front of Sensei, our students and their partners, but also visitors from interstate! My voice was small, but the song was short and fortunately there was a great deal of talent in the room to pick up the slack during the evening.
Sensei himself was nothing short of incredible, singing anything from Frank Sinatra to operatic tunes with great spirit and machismo. And he accepted with good grace when more than one student recited poetry instead. There was no small amount of drinking done, and at the breakfast table the next morning when I arrived to collect him, Sensei announced with a smile that he “drank too much’’, but it didn’t show, on or off the mat.
Sensei focused on the concept of making small body movements to greatest effect — to get off the line of attack while putting yourself in a position to take control of your attacker. It was basic, as in fundamental, but not easy, such is our natural inclination to get away from an attack.
Sensei’s gentle grace impressed all those who attended. While no one could doubt his obvious power, he needed little of it to put his attacker on the ground and effect his techniques.
On Sunday night after the Iron Chef cook-off, Sensei told me something of his martial arts experience and why he found his way to aikido (at the age of 15) and stuck with it after starting out in kendo, which was offered at his school. He was fascinated, he said, by the notion in aikido of marrying budo with love, two things he saw at that time as being diametrically opposed. It’s a concept that still intrigues him today.
Horii Sensei conducted his last class on the Monday night, a small class just for senior Saku Shin Kan students, which was memorable but over too quickly, then we all sat around low tables for potluck dinner, drinking and more singing.
We thanked Horii Shihan for taking the time to visit, and we hope he wasn’t disappointed with his Aussie otomo (or our songs), and will come again.
(Darius Wingate-Pearse is the chief instructor and Dojo-cho of Saku Shin Kan dojo in Newcastle.)
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