Griffith Shukan News

Thursday September 20^th, 2007

CONTENTS:

1.      National Indemnity Form For Maruyama Sensei Seminar  

2.      Volunteers  Required For Cleaning Duties During Maruyama Sensei Seminar

3.       Gradings From Saturday 15^th September

4.      Radio Interview With O’Sensei  

1.      National Indemnity Form For  Maruyama Sensei Seminar 

Attached is the National seminar waiver form. This form needs to be filled out by every one attending the seminar.  It would be appreciated if it can be printed, completed and brought with you to the seminar to save time on the day.   

If  you haven’t already registered for the seminar, I would encourage you to do so.   It is a rare opportunity and a privilege to have an original student and instructor of Maruyama Sensei's caliber come to Brisbane to teach for a week. Training with a world renowned master teacher doesn't come any more convenient or cheaper than this! This year is also Maruyama sensei's Golden Anniversary (50th) of Aikido, which we will be celebrating in style at Saturday’s seminar dinner. I encourage everyone, particularly senior students and instructors to come and celebrate this with Maruyama Sensei, partners and families are welcome.

Danny James

2.      Volunteers  Required For Cleaning Duties During Maruyama Sensei Seminar

As you know the seminar is fast approaching and it's time to call for volunteers for the cleaning roster. Don't worry, it's nothing as intense as last year,
basically I need three or four people in the mornings of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (around 8:30am to 9:00am start) to vacuum the mats,
check the toilets etc.

On Friday (28th sept) morning we need people to sweep/mop the floors, lay down mats, and general cleaning to get the place ready for the Friday night
class.  I'll take as many as I can get but a minimum of 4-5 people will be required.  Again it's a 9:00am start, if it takes longer than expected, lunch (pizza) may be budgeted for out of the cleaning expenses :)

Finally a reminder that it takes longer than expected to clean up after the seminar and last year this process was left to three people to complete.  Please, after the seminar, stick around to see what needs to be done so that it's an easy experience for everyone
involved.

So, if you can help out with the cleaning duties, please email me:

charlene_willis(AT)yahoo.com or text me
on: 0408 192 746

Your help is appreciated,
Charlie

3.       Gradings From Saturday 15^th September

 A mini-grading was held last Saturday.  An unusual occurrence but as with any gradings, a great spectacle.  As usual, I had the pleasure of starting off proceedings with the aikikids.  Caleb and Amy Smith both took their places and demonstrated their progression and skill.  I was very impressed and look forward to seeing them sporting their hard-won yellow tip in the future.

The rest of the morning was a healthy combination of aikidoka from Logan, Cleveland and Nathan dojos.  Peter Allison, Reg Zinc and Nicholas Sutcliffe all graded to 7th kyu.  Sybille Rutihauser will leave us soon to head home to Switzerland with 5th kyu, while Keita Hada and Jessica Sutcliffe can now be found in their dojos wearing orange belts.

Last but not least were the dan gradings.  Brendan Wu from Cleveland dojo bowed in for his Shodan grading with lots of ukes happy to provide vigorous attack.  He then spent the next 15 minutes or so dispatching them to all corners of the mat.  He was followed by our most senior and wisest aikidoka, Jutta Dowdy, grading to Sandan.  Sandan is the last grading which includes a public demonstration of skill as they are considered to have mastered that aspect of the art, and Jutta effortlessly dealt with all attacks and attackers. 

Well done and congratulations to all those who graded.  When I was more of a beginner than I am now, invaluable advice given to me was that we only ever get to undertake a very limited number of gradings.  We should be wringing every drop of enjoyment from grading, as grading is a positive affirmation that we are improving in an activity many of us do for (amongst other things) fun.  If we prepare as we should, then we can enter a grading to enjoy the special occasion that it is.  Smile.  Enjoy it, have a good time.  It really, really helps to provide a sense of relaxation.  After all, everyone is there to help us grade well, and we’re always hardest on ourselves.  Everyone grading seems to know every mistake they make while those watching are impressed by all the things they did exceptionally well.  We are going to make mistakes after all, otherwise there’s no point continuing to learn and continuing to improve.  So plenty of reason to smile.

Steve Mitchell

4.      Radio Interview With O’Sensei

The following is an excerpt transcript from a radio interview that was done with O'Sensei shortly before he died. I encourage you to read this over and over and keep coming back to it year after year as it's meaning will change with the more Aikido you practice and the more you experience in life. When we train our Aikido we spend great efforts in mastering the physical aspects, often with diminishing returns. Changing our mind set may yield the greatest substantiated changes that manifest in our physical Aikido with the least effort.

Simon Russell

"The martial arts created so far form the foundation. These are martial arts of the physical world. The spirit of physical things is called "Haku". Haku comes from "konopaku" meaning spirit. We say, for example, "He’s great because he has physical strength". But in reality the world of physical power is not great. The world of the spirit, that is, the world of "Tamashii" must emerge. The nation of Japan is a spiritual kingdom. Physical strength alone is not enough. Strength is physical. The spirit of physical matter is called "haku". Power is created by the coming together of these two things. This is called "hakuryoku", in other words, physical power. Its life is short, but spiritual power is the opposite. All these aspects of the spiritual realm are one. Why would this old man Ueshiba say these things?

This world was made by a single creator. Human beings were created last, weren't they, in Japan? "Gonasanjoshin" represents the beginning of the human race. The vestiges can be found in Oumi-in-Shiga prefecture. I am a direct spirit descendant from the kami. I am what is called a "Wakemitama" that has separated from the kami. Religious people would call me a "Honshugojin", a spirit who works on behalf of the kami. That is who I am. I am a spiritual manifestation of body, spirit, and strength and am engaged in the process of perfecting myself. Of course I am refining what the quack doctors call the six senses. Then I proceed to this field, this immaculate place that serves as my dojo where I pursue my ascetic training. When I reach this state in performing austerities I become the spirit of Izunome-no-mitama. This produces the true power of the Japanese spirit. When this occurs, the great universe becomes my training ground, the shrine, the dojo. I merge with the great universe. The great universe and I become one. Thus, for the first time, there is life. Aikido is the shortest path to performing this kind of austerities. Through Aikido I am able to nurture the entire universe. In other words, this entire universe is the manifestation of a kami of the creator. This bright word and the business world are all manifestations of the emotions of a kami. Even though the kingdom of heaven and innumerable kami, and all of the mountains, rivers, trees and plants and the great spirit of love towards things, they are all manifestations of the movements of the form and spirit of the kami. This manifestation of emotion is expression of this form. I lead people to the establishment of the great spirit of the universal nation.

Aikido is a form of divine austerities and works. The two deities Izanami and Izanagi gave birth to Japan. In other words, Aikido represents the divine acts of misogi or the purifications that create nations and kami. This doesn't mean that we have to discard the martial arts. I have experienced all sorts of martial arts that were developed due to the vast knowledge and great skills of the masters. We must create for ourselves true Japanese budo using these earlier martial arts as the foundation. In other words, as I have just said, we must create the flower of the spirit to bloom and nurture a Japan that has meaning in our lives. This is the meaning of divine mission. Aikido's path must be to seek that which completes the divine mission. We must conduct our worldly activities filled with the ki and breath that we have received from the heaven and earth. It's the same for everyone, even in politics, and for people like you too. Everyone received the breath of heaven and earth and conducts all of their activities thanks to this. We must practice aiki in exactly this way."

Griffith Aikido Newsletter Editor

Shirin Mohebbi

Email:  shirin(AT)internode.on.net