Jackson and I have trained together in Aikido for nearly 25 years. After New Year’s Day practice, we reminisced about our participation in various Aikido Seminars, when the late Mizukami Sensei taught us. I taught Jackson, too. We’re both Godan (5th degree black belt). Now, Jackson teaches me. He’s greater than me. In the bigger picture, that was the purpose of training together. Nothing but mad love and respect to Jackson.
When we attended seminars, Sensei reminded us, “Do what the Sensei does, not what I do.” We religiously followed Sensei’s instructions. At seminars, we followed what that Sensei did. We followed what the students in the Dojo did.
Invariably, in Aikido seminars, I stared in utter disbelief. “WTF? That technique wasn’t going to work. That wasn’t going to work for real.” Mizukami Sensei taught us to match up with the attack, in awase. Move the attacker and throw. It’s one time. Often in seminars, I couldn’t give a true attack for the technique. The technique seemed fake. A fucking waste of time. Still, following Mizukami Sensei’s instructions, I did what was instructed.
In a lot of Aikido seminars, techniques devolved into exercises in choreography. The Aikido technique relied entirely upon the attacker’s acumen in taking falls for the nage, the one executing the technique. There was no kokyu (breath), no ki (feeling) in the technique. At least for me, the training appeared inauthentic. That technique wasn’t going to work when it’s on.Hell no.
After the seminar, when I saw Mizukami Sensei in Aikido class, he’d ask, “So Jon, what did you learn?” I complained, “A lot of the techniques are not going to work on the street.” He smiled, “Show me.” I showed him.
Sensei didn’t make the technique nor the other Sensei wrong. He said, “You have to wait it out. When he (the attacker) is committed, move in. Move his head.” When I move the attacker’s head, I move his mind. When I move his mind, I can move his body. The body follows the mind. Mizukami Sensei 101.
Sensei demonstrated how to make that bogus technique actually work. It’s gotta work or else what’s the point? Sensei was never about pride, about ego. Sensei’s First Principle: Make it work.
After Aikido tests at the Dojo, Sensei told the Yudansha (black belts) that the techniques didn’t have to be perfect. He wanted students to throw with kokyu (breath), with ki (inner strength). They had to make the technique work. It’s one time. Sensei could care less what it looked like. In the end, the attacker was on the Aikido mat.
When students performed the Aikido techniques poorly, that was on us. As instructors, we were accountable, including Mizukami Sensei. We all had to become better teachers. Just train.
In the bigger picture, it doesn’t matter how many Aikido techniques I know or how good I make them look. Mizukami Sensei said, “Make it work.” I made the technique work for me. Looking good was irrelevant. The technique had to work for any attack, regardless of strength and speed. I had to make the technique work. I had to make myself work, too.
Yet sometimes in life, I obsess over looking good. No, I don’t mean looking pretty or attractive, which is definitely not one of my strengths. By looking good, I mean doing something for recognition, for acclaim, for show, to prove myself. Sound familiar? Just asking.
Whether I define new Satellite System requirements, go on a Match dotcom date, or execute iriminage (clothesline technique to the head) on the 250-pound man coming to punch me out, it’s gotta work. Mizukami Sensei said, “It doesn’t have to look pretty. Make it work.” I make it work. Who cares what it looks like? I make my life work, too.
I continually reinvent the greater-than versions of myself. I have nothing to prove. It’s not like I have to get somewhere. When I prevail, I move on. When I fail, I learn from my failure and move on, too. Life is the possibility of what’s next, not what was.
In the bigger picture, I always have something to work on, something to give up. I work on becoming the greater man, the greater person. It’s not about looking good. That’s from Mizukami Sensei. Amen.
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