Irimi

One of the most fundamental techniques in Aikido is irimi or entering. It is a basic body stance where one moves forward or to the side in response to an attack. It is essentially entering an attack and I am still trying to grasp it because it seems counter-intuitive to actually move towards someone who is attacking you. Irimi is also called blending embodying the idea that when you blend or become one with your opponent's attack you are diffusing the conflict because your opponent is left without a place to strike.

Both Shomen Uchi Irimi Nage and Katate-Dori Shiho Nage require this entering technique and they were both on my 5th kyu test that I took last month. I thought it was painfully obvious during the test that I am not sure what to do with the blend. But the 5th kyu test was unlike any other test I have taken before. It wasn't the academia model of testing that I am more used to, because it seemed to be more about lifting you up rather than beating you down. The test was really useful to me on two fronts: 1) it helped amp up my training for a short period of time and 2) it helped me become more aware of my self deprecating narratives particularly the one about being the most uncoordinated person on the planet and the slowest beginner in the history of Aikido!

I have gotten a lot out of training in Aikido over these past ten months not only because there is such a vibrant sense of community at Aikido of Santa Cruz but also because it has been a platform for me to understand my mother who makes much more sense in the context of Aikido philosophy. 

 

Being completely in the moment, relaxed, centered and aware is central to Aikido and it seems to me this was something my mom had really been working on even before she found out about Aikido. She spent two years studying awareness techniques and the sacred whirling Dervish dances with Jeanne de Salzmann who launched the Gurdjieff Foundation in New York City in 1949 and five years pursuing budo through the Gentle Way (Judo). I am sure all of that training in integrating the spirituality of certain body movements must of helped when she first came to Aikido. I bet she was a great beginner!

 

A very huge thank you to Sensei Eddie Hagihara and Sensei Adam Pilipshen from the Long Island Aikikai for saving, scanning, and sending this photo my way!

According to our friends at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Enpowerment of Women, women in urban areas are twice as likely as men to experience violence. And just a quick survey of Aikido literature written by women demonstrates that female Aikidoka may be very well aware of this fact. The short story "Hitchhiking" in Secret Histories: Stories of Courage, Risk, and Revelation is Sensei Kimberly Richardson's personal account of averting violence through reason and compassion - a great case of using Aikido without lifting a finger. In Women in Aikido there is an account of Sensei Lorraine DiAnne successfully defending herself when a drunk friend broke into her apartment and tried to assault her. Anyone who doesn't think that Aikido is a legitimate art of self defense probably needs to talk to a woman practitioner.

Part of the reason I am both paralyzed and fascinated with the concept of irimi is because I remember my mom utilizing it once to diffuse a potentially violent situation. When I was seven my mom and I moved to southern California and lived in a old motel in downtown Los Angeles. Late one night, when we were returning to our room an angry man wielding a bat blocked our path and demanded our money. My mom tried to reason with him and offered to share her money. That just seemed to make him angrier and he came at my mom swinging his bat menacingly above him. I remember being frightened the minute my mom moved towards him. I didn't understand irimi then so it didn't make sense to me why she would move towards a man who was about to hit her with a bat.  The actual confrontation lasted only a matter of seconds. The bat never connected with my mom because all of a sudden it was in her hands and then she had the guy's wrist in a painful wrist lock. She leaned down close to him and said, "I am not going to hurt you but you should know that it is unwise to attack a woman especially when her child is present. When I let you go you'll leave peacefully but we will be keeping your bat." When she finally did let go of his wrist her would-be attacker couldn't flee fast enough. Yet that incident wasn't my mom's first experience with having to use Aikido in the real world. Apparently she was also a good friend to have in a riot. (Woman Saved Cop from Riot Mob) I am sure irimi is one of those thirty year techniques I often hear about but if I could just get more comfortable with the blend I am sure the other movements would follow.

Virginia Mayhew demonstrating an aspect of irimi, Hong Kong 1967

Linda Holiday Sensei and Journey to the Heart of Aikido

These past couple of months have been an exciting time for our dojo, Aikido of Santa Cruz, because of the publication of Linda Sensei's book Journey to the Heart of Aikido.  This book documents her journey into Aikido and preserves the teachings of Sensei Motomichi Anno, a direct student of O'Sensei and heir to O'Sensei's wisdom.  Linda Sensei wrote this book out of love and gratitude for Anno Sensei's nearly sixty years of dedication to the practice of Aikido.  There are hundreds of books about Aikido that focus on techniques and the physical aspects of the art but this book is a treasure because it delves into the philosophy behind the practice whose aim is to transform the world through peace and love.

There was a time when the words peace, love, or spirituality would cause my eyes to roll back into my head because such words didn't put food on the table or keep the lights on. Such concepts seemed only relevant to the privileged who didn't have to work sixty hours a week to make the rent payment. However, this book was really useful in helping me to understand that Aikido is part of the radical critique of an economic and political system that alienates us from our labor, from nature, from one another, and from the ability to realize our full human potential.  As Anno Sensei points out in his forward to Linda Sensei's book, "As cultures around the world have become increasingly materialistic, people's values have radically changed.  The spirit of harmony, love, and gratitude, essential to us as human beings, has been swept aside in the focus on material affluence, and there is a growing sense of unease and confusion.  Now more than ever, I feel there is a need to reflect on our way of life and reconnect with the fundamentals of our humanity" (pg. vii).   There are tangible political and economic ramifications to philosophies that tell you to love your neighbor or to the actions of individuals who refuse to employ violence in their fight for social equality - Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela immediately come to mind.  One of the defining principles behind O'Sensei's Aikido is respect and concern for the welfare of the attacker which is completely opposite of how we usually perceive the martial arts.  In Journey to the Heart of Aikido we learn more about Anno Sensei's life in postwar Japan and his reflections on training with O'Sensei through an examination of the spiritual principles fundamental to the practice of Aikido.

What I really liked about Journey to the Heart of Aikido is that we get a glimpse into Linda Sensei's path within Aikido.  Traveling from the US to a rural part of western Japan specifically to engage in the practice of Aikido was not an easy thing for a woman to do in 1973.  For a little historical context that is one year after the passage of Title IX prohibiting sex discrimination in education (allowing girls to participate in sports and to pursue subjects like math and science) and one year before the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that ended the discriminatory practice of US banking institutions to deny women mortgages or lines of credit simply because they lacked a male co-signer.  Needless to say there were only a handful of foreign women pursuing Aikido in Japan at that time.  After arriving at the Hombu dojo in Tokyo Linda Sensei met Mary Heiny Sensei who had been practicing Aikido for a number of years but who preferred to train in the town of Shingu which was out in the countryside in the Kumano region.  Mary Sensei was on her way there again and suggested that Linda Sensei and her travelling companions visit the Kumano Juku Dojo in Shingu.

The mountainous Kumano region of Japan is associated with Shingon or "True Word" Buddhism (a blend of both Shinto and Buddhist religious practices) founded by Kukai (AD 774-835) who was posthumously known as Kobo Daishi.  Under imperial sanction Kobo Daishi spent two years in China (AD 804-806) in search of true Buddhism.  What he found was the Tantric tradition (a set of esoteric and unconventional religious practices) that influenced both Hinduism and Buddhism.  The Tantric tradition emphasized special diagrams (mandala), special syllables (mantra) and meditation techniques that came directly from India to China where it was known as Chen-yen (Shingon in Japanese) the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit term mantra, or "True Word." Unlike previous Buddhist practices Shingon developed the Mahayana Buddhist notion that every person (i.e. men and women) could become enlightened during one's own lifetime. Upon his return to Japan Kobo Daishi established a monastery on Mt Koya which became part of a popular 1000 mile pilgrimage route encompassing 88 temples located throughout the Kumano mountains.  Many of the Shingon rites were rituals specific to healing and childbirth.  As Linda Sensei points out O-Sensei parents lived in the coastal town of Tanabe in Kumano and made the difficult pilgrimage to the Kumano Hongu Shrine to pray for the birth of their children.  Because of this O-Sensei felt a special connection to the Kumano region and requested that his students build a dojo in Shingu which he often visited.  Michio Hikitsuchi Sensei was the chief instructor and Motomichi Anno Sensei was a senior instructor at the Kumano Juku Dojo when Linda Sensei first arrived in Shingu.

What was it like to be an American woman practicing Aikido in a remote Japanese countryside?  For one thing she was often the only woman on the mat.  And they practiced everyday - sometimes multiple times a day.  That in itself is amazing.  (I am exhausted if I can just make it to class two or three times a week!)  And when you are woman there is more pressure (often self imposed) to "man up" and keep practicing.  Off the mat Linda Sensei had to always dodge the ever present question, "When are you getting married?"  Or the enviable follow up proposal of marriage which she said she deflected "as if doing a well-practiced Aikido maneuver" (pg. 19).  Being one of the few gaijin (foreigner) in town meant that she could never be anonymous while walking down the streets of Shingu.  According to Linda Sensei, "Surprisingly, despite the gender distinctions ever present in Japanese society, Hikitsuchi Sensei, Anno Sensei, and most of the other Shingu teachers treated me as a serious student when I was on the mat - which is to say, the training was equally hard for me, and equally inspiring" (pg. 20).  (That is exactly what my mother said about O'Sensei and the teachers at the Hombu dojo).

Outside of the first chapter, in true Aikido fashion, Linda Sensei takes herself out of the rest of Journey to the Heart of Aikido preferring to focus on Anno Sensei and his understanding of the spiritual philosophy of Aikido and we are all the richer because of it!

Motomichi Anno Sensei and Linda Holiday Sensei
 (from http://journeytoaikido.com/#home)