As Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako were gracing the capital, Torbay’s Yokohama International Aikido club was preparing to welcome its own highly anticipated Japanese visitor: Technical Director Atsushi Mimuro sensei.
Mimuro sensei and his wife Cathy were in the bay for the first time, with the 7th Dan Aikido master making the 9,000 plus mile trip from Japan to take several classes across the UK, starting with a session at Torquay’s Acorn Centre, home of Yokohama International Aikido Devon.
The name ‘aikido’ can be broadly translated as ‘the way of harmonising or unifying energy’. Students are taught how to absorb the energy of their opponent’s attack and to redirect it, often through graceful, spiral movements, finishing the technique with an immobilising pin or a throw.
The dynamic partnership between ‘uke’ and ‘tori’ - the one who receives the technique and the one who applies it - is one of the elements that sets aikido apart from other martial arts.
Yokohama International Aikido Devon is run by Istvan Koloh a certified instructor who is dedicated to both Mimuro sensei himself and to following the traditon of the Aikikai Foundation. Aikikai is the original school of aikido and its current head (Doshu) is Moriteru Ueshiba, the grandson of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba.
Before the aikido session, I asked Atsushi Mimuro about his aikido philosophy and what he likes to see when he visits a dojo.
He explained how a dojo with a friendly atmosphere is very important, with senpai (older students) collaborating with kohai (younger students) for mutual improvement. “Senpai should take good uke for kohai,” he said, ‘uke’ being the person who receives the technique being practised. Senpai should avoid constantly pulling out of the practise to ‘correct’ kohai’s technique.
One of the first skills that a beginner will learn is how to fall safely (ukemi), so a dojo should also provide plenty of space for falling and rolling, with Mimuro sensei explaining that every person should ideally have the equivalent of three to four tatami (Japanese straw-based mats) to work on.
Mimuro sensei teaches aikido across the world, and I asked him how dojos in different countries compare to those in his native Japan. He revealed that there were not many differences apart from the multicultural nature of international dojos. His wife Cathy, who hails from the north of England, explained that she was usually the only international student at Mimuro sensei’s club in Yokohama.
While Yokohama International Aikido is now a global school, Mimuro sensei explained how the club’s name was born of necessity rather than design. He had wanted to keep the name simple, but ‘Yokohama Aikido Club’ had already been taken by another school. So he decided
to add the ‘International’ part. “Now my dream has become true,” he laughed, while making the serious point that an ambitious goal is always more likely to deliver results than a mediocre one.
After a pleasant late afternoon in the garden, it was time to take to the mats, and more than 20 students changed into their aikidogis to watch and learn from their honoured guest. They included two people who had travelled down from the Lancashire Aikikai dojo in Bury (the Devon club is part of Lancashire Aikikai), together with Rick Smaridge and his South Devon Aikikai and friends from Torbay Aikido.
As is common for this type of class, we would begin by sitting in the ‘seiza’ posture as Mimuro sensei demonstrated a technique with a senior student. We would then quickly find a partner to practise the technique with, alternating the roles of uki and tori. Mimuro sensei would wander around and provide invaluable gems of wisdom to help us improve. Then we would return to seiza to watch the next technique, before finding a different partner to practise with.
While this may seem daunting, everything is performed with the non-competitive spirit of aikido. Your partner is not someone to fight with and beat, but someone to cooperate with and learn from. Everyone embodies a different energy and experiencing and working with that is both fascinating and enlightening.
For anybody interested in trying out aikido, Mimuro sensei has some advice: “Choose a good sensei, and practise with a good, nice senpai,” he said. “Please enjoy aikido, and good communication is very important.”
I can personally vouch for the positive, welcoming atmosphere at Yokohama International Aikido Devon, having been a student there since January. The club trains on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays and there are various membership options to suit all budgets and circumstances. Students of all ages and genders are welcome and already represented at the club. To find out more, please visit www.aikido-devon.org
Everyone has to start somewhere, and even Mimuro sensei himself came late to the path of aikido. “When I was a young boy, I started baseball, swimming, (self taught) gymnastics and judo,” he revealed. “I never knew aikido; only the name.”
When he started university, he first intended to join a judo club, but found it difficult to find one. One of his senpai invited him to the dojo to watch him practising aikido, and he was immediately hooked. “I was 19 years old. I'm now 69, so that’s more than 50 years of continuing aikido,” he said. I asked him what he would say to his ‘kohai’ self if he could go back in time. “You will continue aikido until you die,” he laughed.
Nevertheless, aikido is not his only interest; Mimuro sensei has a fascination for antiques and as a resident of Karuizawa, he has also been drawn to the ski slopes. “Nagano Prefecture has a good ski-ing place,” he explained, “But my knees were not good, so I had surgery.”
“Every bone in his leg was cut,” explained Cathy. “The fibula, tibia, everything. They put fake bone in to straighten it.”
Atsushi Mimuro sensei is also a keen traveller, which is just as well, since the next day he would be heading north to Greater Manchester to share his knowledge through more training sessions.
Although many people take up aikido as a martial art, its underlying philosophy of peace is a refreshing antidote to the anger and conflict that we experience through social media and divisive politics. When we learn to master our own fear and anger, and start thinking of people as potential partners rather than opponents, the way to peace seems to open up. Angry and destructive energy, verbal and physical, becomes something to work with and channel rather than fight or run away from.
I asked Mimuro sensei how aikido could help reduce conflict and destructive behaviour in our neighbourhoods.
“Aikido has no borders or barriers. If we can enjoy aikido together, it makes peace,” he said. “Moriteru Doshu said that aikido is one of the tools to make the word peaceful.”
Article originally printed in the Torbay Weekly on 14th July 2024
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