A. Sometime people identify Aikido as a perfect life Philosophy, that can be also Martial Art. At the same time, Daito-Ryu can be perfect Martial Art, which can also be life Philosophy. But I disagree with this. Let´s take a glance at complicated journey of O´Sensei Morihei Ueshiba in the development of martial art crossing through all his life. Everyone knows, that there is a huge gap between the techniques of Aikido before World War II and after. For me Aikido remains beautiful Martial art, but following its evolution (from the position of martial component), aikido more and more distancing itself from practicality of the original foundation techniques (Aiki Jujutsu, Aikibudo). Now-days Aikido gives its adepts "own vision of life" [DO]; at the same time Daito-Ryu was and remains extremely practical method of self-defense [Jutsu]. Person, who practicing Aikido, more often than not, sees uke as a class-mate without which his spiritual and technical development would be impossible. For the Daito-Ryu practitioners uke is "an adversary", who must be concurred in shortest possible time frame. Please NOTE: I don´t want to say, that during Daito-Ryu practice the friendly and cooperative atmosphere is absent. Quite contrary, during the execution of the techniques uke attacks with all seriousness and continues withstand attack in every given moment, as a result shite (tori) will work in the most adequate speed for himself and safe for himself manner! I want to stress again: during the training / classes we treat the uke´s body and safety of uke we utmost attention and respect! Which been proven by statistics : traumas and accidents during Daito-Ryu training are very rare. The next important difference between the two is: the "static character" of Daito-Ryu techniques v.s. the "dynamic character" of Aikido techniques. The above described appearance is misleading. It is driven by the fact that in Daito-Ryu in order to efficiently and quickly execute technique we making minimum amount of steps / moves and moving trajectory is close to triangle in opposite to large taisabaki of now-days Aikido. The is a saying in our School "one second, one tatami", which means that reaction to attack and defense technique must be executed in one second and in area not exceeding 2sq. meters. Another, might be most visible difference is a use of the atemi, which unfortunately almost gone in Aikido. Every our technique, the defensive as well as offensive starts with an atemi to the opponent´s body, continues then with wrist locks, projections, pins, chocking, throws, e.t.c. and ends a lot of times with finishing atemi. During all training sessions in our school there is a segment of time dedicated to studying atemi [Aikikenpo].It is one of the most important components of training, right there with kuzushi, taisabaki, and aiki... The spirit and intentions of these two Martial Arts are quite the opposite. In very simplified terms : One is having tendency to neutralize attack in a peaceful way <<Hey, you attacked me but now I will exterminate your aggression in a peaceful way without any big harm to your body>>. Other: <<Hey, you attacked me and I will defend myself with the quickest and most effective means, causing maximum damage to your body>> . [It is not that simple in a real life. The application for use of both arts in a real life situations is quite more complex. V.S.] In Kenjutsu terms, that received a spiritual and philosophical meaning, the Aikido is a "the life giving sword" (katsujinken); Daito-Ryu is a "life taking [killing] sword" (satsujinken). [These obviously just a philosophical concepts].
4. Sensei, could you offer couple of comments on Aiki principle in Daito-Ryu?
A. Sure. In Abashiri the Aiki principle was a search for method of unification, blending with the movements of the attacker / uke. Simplified example of aiki: when opponent is pushing - you move back and pull; when he is pulling - you move forward and push similar in cases with katatedori, munedori, eridori. This is why the concept of Aiki is most important for understanding Ju [in Japanese refers to pliancy and ability of body and mind to adopt to circumstances spontaneously] There is nothing mystical here, connected with a concept of spirit.
5. How difficult for you was the transition from Aikido to Daito-Ryu?
A. From the technical prospective there wasn´t much difficulties. I had a developed habit: every day, after the training sessions, write down techniques that were studied that day into my notebook (I still have this habit). When I was taught Ippondori , I wrote down "ikkyo-omote" followed by the description; when I was taught Gyaku-ude-dori, I wrote down "nikkyo-omote", followed by the description, and so on. That´s why it was easier for me to memorize a lot of techniques. The difficulty was in changing my view on-essentials of Martial Arts. I am talking now about the very decisive execution of techniques (Kimewaza). In Daito -Ryu Atemi is being used constantly, on the normal basis. When I for the first time saw , how kick being executed in idori/ suwariwaza, I couldn´t help but exclaimed :<< Wow! That´s the real Martial Art!>> I had to completely change my way of execution of the techniques, starting with my reaction time to the speed of actual execution of the technique. I´ll give you an example of typical reaction of Aikidoka to attack - first is to get out of the line of the attack with taisabaki, initial move is performed with increasing speed, at the end of the move, on exit from taisabaki, speed of the technique is constant, the whole body (same goes for the uke) moving with constant speed, all the way till the end of the technique. In the real fight it is impossible, every action and counter action of opponents are inconsistent and asymmetrical. Every action is happening in uncontrolled moment, speed is changing from zero to max and back every second, every opponent moves in his / her own manner, in their own way. That is why samurai in the ancient times were searching for the Ju [in Japanese refers to pliancy and ability of body and mind to adopt to circumstances spontaneously]. Based on the experience samurais established that this principal allows them to achieve maximum effectiveness with minimum applied energy and efforts. But at the same time it was the most complicated and difficult to learn the execution and proper implementation. This was the most difficult from what I have encountered.
6. What do you think, is it possible to combine practicing in Aikido and Daito-Ryu?
A. Absolutely. Aikidoka through the training in Daito-Ryu will better understand the techniques that he /she practicing and their roots. As I stated before, if Aikidoka would make a "step back" from the historical prospective and looked deeply into the roots of Aikido techniques, it would positively affect their techniques execution. These two arts supplement each other and complete, Both can be studied simultaneously by the true fans of Japanese Martial Arts.
7. What were your first impressions after visit to Daitokan?
A. Those days in order to be able to enter the Dojo it was necessary to have an invitation from someone who was training there. If you also wanted to train there too and take part in training sessions, you had to have a written invitation /recommendation from respected person , who was personally known by Shihan. To my luck I did have such recommendation from my friend who was in charge of exporting an electrical equipment from Japan. When shoji (sliding Japanese doors ) of Daitokan were open in front of me for the first time I thought to myself: <>. The atmosphere of history and cloud of rigor were dominating inside. The parts of wide School curriculum were hanging on the walls inside the building: two large posters , one on each side (shimoseki and joseki) with the names of the techniques from Hiden Mokuroku, that allowed students to see and read the sequence of the techniques during the training sessions. On one of the walls also was a poster with descriptions of the Ono-ha Itto-Ryu Kenjutsu.
In the far back in the same fashion was positioned poster with Aikikenpo program. Funny story: obviously everything was written in Japanese characters, that I didn´t know how to read yet. However, because I was writing the names and sequences of the techniques into my notebook according to the Ikkajo list , during the training sessions I was able to show-off with my ability to "read hieroglyphs", precisely naming technique, that we were supposed to perform. But in reality I just new the location of the hieroglyph on the poster relatively to the actual exercise description. Point 1 - Ippondori, Point 2 - Gyaku Ude dori , something like that. My classmates were admiring the fact , that someone could learn to read in Japanese this quick. On a same side with Kamiza there stood a Shinto Altar, covered with the flag, made from the purple color cloth (color of the samurai and emperor)with embroidered on it mon of Takeda clan. On the structure supporting the altar was hanging a sheet of paper with written on it philosophical sayings, that sheet was replaced by new one every month.The cost of the 1 month course of training in 1991 was equivalent current 5 Euro!!! There was an open box in the lobby, filled with little purple bags with written on them names of all students. Everyone placed the money in these bags, and secretary collected them from there every month and noted down the payment after which the empty bags were returned to the box. Later I found out that this was traditional for all old Japanese schools (koryu). After all, it was my dream to be a member of such traditional Japanese Dojo, and it was an honor to be a student at such place. I started studying there and pretty soon felt very comfortable.
To be contined
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Des gloires du passé, oui, mais surtout des légendes de la boxe car le temps a eu beau s’écouler, ces douze hommes demeurent des références. On pourrait objecter que la boxe a eu d’autres gloires, mais à un moment, il faut faire des choix, donc renoncer, la tristesse au cœur, à évoquer tous les immenses champions qui ont fait le prestige de leur sport. L’auteur n’a pas parlé de Georges Carpentier, de Marcel Thil, ni de Marcel Cerdan... Car son but n’était pas de faire un dictionnaire de la boxe en France depuis ses débuts, mais de rendre hommage à douze hommes qui sont encore dans la mémoire des amoureux du cercle enchanté, comme on disait autrefois... Catherine Gravil a voulu montrer que l’image du boxeur qui finit mal est une fable. En effet, ces « douze » ont réussi leur vie, une fois les gants raccrochés, comme tant d’autres professionnels du ring beaucoup plus anonymes. Ainsi dans cet hommage à « ces vieilles gueules du passé » les boxeurs d’aujourd’hui ne peuvent-ils avoir leur place… Dans vingt ans, peut-être… Ces douze champions sont les derniers à avoir été de véritables, d’authentiques « vedettes » du noble art. On ne peut connaître et apprécier une discipline sans en savoir les règles et sans en connaître l’héritage. C’est pourquoi ce livre a pour vocation d’être un lien, la courroie de transmission entre l’histoire et l’actualité. En effet, si on ignore le passé, le présent ne se comprend pas, ou il se comprend très imparfaitement.
Au Palais des Sports, ou encore à la salle Wagram, il était un homme que tout le monde appréciait : un « faiseur d’ambiance » que les stars tutoyaient, un personnage hors du commun. Il aimait les boxeurs. Les boxeurs l’aimaient. Aussi connu que le loup blanc, sur les champs de course comme au bord des rings, Sydney était et demeure un personnage inoubliable autant que mythique. Aujourd’hui on ne le voit plus. Et surtout, on ne l’entend plus. Pourtant la boxe a toujours un public. Mais le fait que ce thermomètre, spontané autant que mystérieux, que fut la personnalité de Sydney dans le monde de la boxe, soit désormais devenu comme un crépuscule du passé, indique que cette boxe contemporaine des « douze », n’est malheureusement plus de ce monde.
Tant de nos grands hommes ont aimé la boxe, qu’il s’agisse d’écrivains comme Hemingway, Morand, Cendrars, Cocteau, ou d’hommes de spectacle à l’image de Belmondo, Delon, Lelouch, mais aussi de jeunes comme Cornillac ou Raphaël… L’auteur tente d’appréhender cette vérité certaine que les champions français de boxe continuent- sans doute pour longtemps- d’incarner un idéal dans lequel le sens du mot héroïsme n’est pas étranger.
L’image d’un homme qui monte sur un ring, avec pour seules armes ses gants et son courage, face à un autre homme, strictement armé de la même puissance, reste l’alpha et l’omega de tout ce qu’est la boxe. Le premier geste qui définit la virile hauteur de ce sport, c’est le dernier geste de deux boxeurs au moment du gong final. Ils tombent dans les bras l’un de l’autre. Quel autre sport en dit autant ?
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