BIRANKAIEUROPENEWSLETTER M U S U B I Issue 3

I think that my pride in my ‘battlescars’ was somewhat misplaced, andshowed my ignorance more than any-thing else. However, the judge wasindeed correct. In any sport or activity,there is naturally risk. In the martialarts, by the sheer nature of the activi-ty, this is even more the case. We are,after all, considering an activity whichhistorically concerned the maiming oreven death of other human beings.

Why do injuries happen?Lao Tzu: ‘Delusions in the mind,

resistance in the body.’1Over time, I have noted several

causes of injuries in our training.The most obvious example of con-

flict is collision: literally, two or morebodies coming into contact in anuncontrolled way. Here, the basiccause is lack of spatial awareness.

Another common conflict in the dojo(particularly in the early stages of

In the mid-1980s, I wasasked to

appear in theCrown Court asan expert wit-ness becausean Aikido stu-dent had been injured during training.When asked by the prosecution if Ihad ever sustained any injuries duringmy time training in Aikido, I said, ‘Yes’.‘Could you tell us of some of yourinjuries?’ With a certain pride, I beganto recount a long list, starting from myfeet and working my way up to myhead! I felt the courtroom, alreadysilent, becoming more attentive. Thejudge leaned over and looked downat me, and said, ‘And you do this forpleasure?’ In his summing-up, aftera two-day court case, the judge said,‘It’s not unlike cricket. There’s a certainrisk involved, and it’s difficult to knowwhether a foul ball was delivered.’

Now, years later, reflecting on this,

CONTENTS1 Banish Fear

2 Editorial

4 Anterior Knee Pain

BIRANKAI EUROPE NEWSLETTERBIRANKAI EUROPE NEWSLETTER

MM UU SS UU BB IIMM UU SS UU BB IIIssue 3Issue 3 July 2011July 2011

Deadlinefor January 2012 issue:1 December 2011

continued on page 3

7 Spatial Awareness andUnderstanding

8 Fear, Caution andPerservance

15 ʻA Man Standing on aRainbowʼ

9 Injuries: A Path forGrowth

21 Warwick Aikido ClubFund-raising Course

14 Aikido and Zen

Shihan Chris Mooney

Chiba Sensei and Maciej Tomaszewski (uke), Polish Summer School, Wroclaw, Aug 2010

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Banish Fear and Eliminate Oneof the Causes of InjuriesShihan Chris Mooney explains

1 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

22 Promotions

Chiba Sensei and Paul Robinson(uke), Coventry, Oct 08

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11 Some Reflections

�� BEBE MUSUBIMUSUBI July 2011 July 2011

BIRANKAI EUROPE

Technical DirectorShihan TK Chiba 8th Dan

European Birankai ShihankaiNorberto Chiesa 6th Dan, Birankai

FranceGabriel Valibouze 6th Dan, Birankai

France MIke Flynn 6th Dan, British

BirankaiTony Cassells 6th Dan, British

Birankai Chris Mooney 6th Dan, British

BirankaiDee Chen 6th Dan, British BirankaiDaniel Brunner 6th Dan, Birankai

Switzerland Patrick Barthélémy 6th Dan,

Birankai France

Member CountriesBirankai AustriaBirankai FranceBirankai GermanyHellenic Birankai Birankai IsraelBirankai PolandBirankai PortugalBirankai SwitzerlandBritish Birankai

BE Musubi is published twicea year in January and July.English edition available onwww.britishbirankai.com andthe French edition onwww.birankai.eu/shiun_fr.html

Individual article reflects theauthor’s own views. All submis-sions may be edited due to spaceconstraints and should be sent tothe Editor or Assistant Editor orSub Editor.

Editor: Dee [email protected] Editor: Suzanne

Brunner [email protected] Editor: Chris Howlin

[email protected] Consultant: Franco Chen

© Copyright 2011All rights reserved. Reproduction is prohibited without expresswritten permission.

Editorial

Ask anyone who engages in a physical activity - sport ormartial arts - and it is quite likely that not only will you hearabout his/her achievements but also the injuries sustained

while doing an activity much loved.This issue explores ways in which to avoid injuries by being

aware of the signposts and what mental attitude to adopt to helpin aiding the healing process.

Andrew Stones met Shihan Mick Holloway while they wereboth students at the British School of Osteopathy (BSO) inLondon. Andrew who was the most senior and dedicated studentat the dojo shares with us his fond memories of ShihanHolloway. I have often heard Shihan Holloway speaking veryproudly and highly of the commitment shown by Andrew in hispractice.

When Shihan Holloway passed away in July 2003 ChibaSensei wrote that ‘Losing Mick Holloway for me is not simplylosing one of my dearest disciple who had been with me for over35 years. It means also losing a witness to the development ofAikido and its history in Great Britain from the time of the cradleto full maturity…’

This summer Chiba Sensei will be conducting a Memorial classfor Shihan Holloway on Saturday 6 August 2011 at I Shin Juku,Central Aikikai, Burton-on-Trent (details from [email protected])following the Birankai Europe Summer School in Worcester,England.

It is hoped that BE Musubi is seen not only as a vehicle forexchanging views relating to our study of Aikido but also as ahistorical document which charts the course and reflect importantevents in the life of the various organisations/dojos in BirankaiEurope.

We also very much welcome articles from students who havetravelled abroad to enhance their study in not only Aikido butalso relevant or closely allied arts with similar metaphysical roots.

Photographs give an added touch to the presentation of thenewsletter and with the ready availability of digital cameras wewould encourage members to send us relevant photos. Pleaseadd the title of each photo (which includes name of subject,venue and date) and also the name of the photographer (animportant person to credit!).

Please do not hesitate to send us any suggestions for BEMusubi - we are keen to produce a publication for your informa-tion which you will find useful and valuable. ☯

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training) is poor methodology, forexample being strong/heavy or light atthe wrong times. Ideally, one shouldbe stable when throwing and lightwhen taking ukemi; the opposite situa-tion is a recipe for injury. Anotherexample is confusion between kihonwaza and ki-no-nagare.

More deeply, fear is a commoncause of injury; ironically, the fear ofinjury itself makes injury more likely.For the beginner, it may be fear ofrolling; for the senior, it may be fear ofkiri-otoshi. With consistent right effortsin our training, we learn to let go of ourfears and a need to control, and placemore trust in a response that is not justabout the conscious mind.

Actually, many of these examplesbring us back to the quality of theteacher-student relationship. Within theteacher-student relationship, many ofthese challenges are confronted andpassed through.

At times, in the dojo or in the widerworld, we may indeed want to be else-where. We are ungrounded in what ishappening around us. Maybe it isbecause our reality is unacceptable,or difficult to relate to. We need tobe more grounded to discover oursecurity and inner trust.

Injuries indicate a need for direct andimmediate change in behaviour, as themind is using an extreme situation toexpress itself, often involving an actualstopping of the direction we are goingin. The conflict may have been unfold-ing over a period of time. Usually, thepart of the body damaged by the injuryis already weakened in some way: theinjury just brings the weakness to thesurface for us to see. The unconsciousneed for change, for completereassessment, is so great that it isdramatic. For students who continuallyget injured (the accident-prone), thissituation arises through a conflictedrelationship with reality, an inability tobe fully present and aware of the worldas it presents itself.

Chiba Sensei has expressed similarviews, saying, ‘In my opinion, sustain-ing injuries during training is largelya result of the practitioner handling hisor her body in a fragmented manner,reacting with only a particular or limitedportion of the body, instead ofresponding or deflecting with the wholebody as a unified whole.’2

Finally, sadly, it cannot be ignoredthat another potential cause of injuryis malice. This possibility is somethingto which teachers especially must bevery attentive: we are charged withtransmitting the Art without malice,and not permitting cruelty to grow inourselves or our students.

How to recover from injuries?Of course, there are many practical

aspects to the treatment of an injury:some injuries require rest, some ice orheat, some may need surgery. Almostalways, the injured part must bestrengthened and conditioned to pre-vent a subsequent injury. These arethe practicalities: how does one goabout this process?

In my opinion, the solution to aninjury is to study it. In my experience,my injuries have been great teachers.As the Zen teachings put it, make yourbody one great inquiry: with all your364 bones and 84,000 pores, listen.Listen. This is the fastest and mosteffective way to recover. If we do so,then our injuries become an opportuni-ty to learn from the body’s magnificentintelligence.

Preventing injuries?Unfortunately, injuries can never be

entirely prevented. Accidents will hap-pen from time to time. Nevertheless,through consistent physical condition-ing (strength and suppleness) andpsychological conditioning (aware-ness), the occurrence of injuries andtheir severity can be minimised, thehealing (learning) process can beactivated and the body can be giventhe opportunity to rejuvenate. ☯

Shihan Chris Mooney 6th DanEi Mei Kan, Central Aikikai British Birankai

July 2011 July 2011 BE MUSUBI BE MUSUBI 3333

Banish Fear . . .continued from page 1

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Shihan Chris Mooney, Warwick Aikido Club Fund-raising Course, March 2011

2 Chiba Sensei, The Study and Refinement ofMartial Awareness

For students whocontinually getinjured (the accident-prone), this situationarises through a con-flicted relationshipwith reality, an inabil-ity to be fully presentand aware of theworld as it presentsitself.

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4444 BE MUSUBIBE MUSUBI July 2011July 2011

Aikido practitioners are at risk ofknee problems (although Ibelieve that the risk is less than

for football or basketball!). This canhave a major impact on our trainingbecause it interferes with suwariwazatraining and deep knee bends. In myexperience however, many of theseinjuries fall into the group of ‘Anteriorknee pain’ which in general is quiteeasily treated or, even better,prevented.

For the sake of simplification wecould separate knee pains into:

a) pain above, immediately behind orjust below the knee cap (Anterior knee pain)

b) pain at the sides of the knee c) pain behind the knee d) pain deep inside the knee. I will briefly summarize all of these

types but bear in mind that this isa gross simplification for the use ofteachers and Aikido students as refer-ence. It is always better to seek advicefrom someone with expertise in thisfield. In particular, injuries which leadquickly to a lot of swelling, pain fittingthe ‘deep knee pain’ category men-tioned later and persistent pain shouldall be assessed by an expert. Also,you have to consider that pain canoften be referred from elsewhere (thehip, the hamstrings or thigh muscles oranother part of the knee).

Pain in the front of the knee -In my experience, the most common

type of knee pain to occur as a resultof Aikido training (as opposed to aninjury caused off the mat and simpleaggravated by training) is anteriorknee pain. This can be divided intopain just above or behind the knee capand pain just below the knee cap.Pain just above or behind the

knee cap is usually described asbeing more superficial – just under theskin or just under the knee cap. Thereis often tenderness where the thighmuscle attaches to the top of the kneecap. Occasionally there is tendernessunder the knee cap when you press itbut sometimes there is no tendernessat all. This is usually caused by chon-dro-malacia patella. This is a conditionthat occurs when anybody builds mus-cle strength in the thighs with exercis-

es where the knee is always bent. It iscommon in athletes and particularlycommon in Aikidoka because we donot want the knees to be locked. Tounderstand why it happens we have totake a look at the anatomy of the thighmuscle.

The thigh muscle is divided into 3parts, the outer part, the middle partand the inner part. Most of the poweris generated in the large outer andmiddle parts and the inner part (seevastus medialis on diagram) and isonly used to lock the knee when it iscompletely straight and stiff (not some-thing we do in Aikido!). If the outer andmiddle parts become stronger withoutdeveloping the inner part the knee capgets pulled off to the side every timeyou tense your thigh muscles. Thismeans the knee cap comes out of itsnormal track andbegins to rub againstthe front of the kneejoint. Slowly overtime this causesinflammation andwith time can dam-age the cartilage atthe back of the kneecap.

The pain comeson slowly or mayhappen suddenlyafter a lot of deepknee bends (at sem-inars etc). Often the

sufferer will describe a grating sensa-tion on bending the knee which youcan feel if you gently place the palm ofyour hand on the knee cap while it isbeing bent. Also the pain classically isworse when going down stairs. Eventhough this is the most common kneeinjury caused by Aikido it is also themost easily treated or better still pre-vented. If this is your problem, all youhave to do is ‘straight leg raises’. Thisentails clenching your thigh musclevery tight to lock your knee then raiseyour foot up and down in the air about20 cm or write your name in the airinstead. Do this at least twice a day foras long as you can and then do theother leg as well so you don’t get lop-sided. The drawback is that you haveto keep this up for a long time to seethe results (maybe a few weeks) but

Matt Teale exploresAnterior Knee Pain – An easily treatable/preventable Aikido injury

Area of pain in upperanterior knee pain

Articular cartilage

Tendon ofthigh muscle

Patella

Area of pain inlower anteriorknee pain

it’s worth it and most importantly, youcan’t do yourself any harm. For peoplewith good leg strength it is possible toget faster results by using weights onyour ankles. I personally find doingisometric exercise (exercising withoutmoving) by pushing my foot up againstthe underside of a low, heavy coffeetable while I’m watching TV to be lessboring and less distracting for otherswatching the TV with me. For besteffects with isometric exercises youneed to push hard (with the kneelocked) for 6 seconds at a time,repeatedly (as often as you can).I have been told that doing the isomet-ric push for more than 6 seconds ata time, doesn’t not have any addedbenefit.

I believe that this problem is so likelyto happen if you are training properlythat the teacher should do regular pre-ventative exercises. Chiba Sensei’sabdominal exercises (rocking back andforth) are good for this but ONLY if (ashe insists) the knees are kept lockedat all times. However, I’m sure that acreative teacher could think up someother ways of doing the same thing ifthe students refuse to lock their knees!Pain just below the knee cap with

tenderness either at the very lowest tipof the knee cap, on the patellar tendonor over the bony lump where the patel-lar tendon joins the shinbone is usuallycaused by bursitis. This is a conditionwhere the fluid filled sack (bursa)which is designed to reduce frictionover bones becomes inflamed afterrepeated rubbing. There is obviousswelling and heat over the tender area.The common name for this is ‘house-

maid’s knee’because it wascommon inwomen whospent hours ontheir kneespolishingfloors.Surprisingly,I have notseen this veryoften inAikidoka butwhen I have,it has mostcommonly been in people who are notused to doing a lot of suwariwaza (orare out of practice) suddenly doinga lot (seminars etc). I believe the bestprevention is to do suwariwaza prac-tice regularly. Once you’ve got itthough, it is very difficult for anAikidoka. Any friction over theinflamed, swollen bursa will aggravateit a lot. This means NO suwariwazauntil it has calmed down and alsogreat care not to bang the front of theknee against the mat while takingukemi. Treatments include anti-inflam-matory medication (by mouth +/-locally), acupuncture can be helpful ifyou find a good, holistic acupuncturistand in more severe cases, orthopedicsurgeons and sports specialists mayconsider steroid injections. Once theacute inflammation has settled it’sprobably a good idea to wear kneepads for suwariwaza practice untilyou’re sure it is completely OK. Thebest are pads which have a light,elasticated back and a padded front,so that they don’t interfere with

knee bending.

Pain at the sides of the knee - The first thing to work out here is -

where is the tenderness in relation-ship to the joint line? The joint line iswhere the round end of the thigh bonemeets the flat, table-like top of theshinbone. This is actually quite difficultto find and needs some experience. Itis a good idea to familiarize yourselfwith the anatomy before there’s aninjury. If you feel down the side of theknee from top to bottom while it isbending and straightening, you’ll findthe round end of the thigh bone whichis fixed and doesn’t move at all.Immediately beneath this is the sideof the flat end of the shinbone whichmoves freely backwards and forwardsover the thigh bone. Between thesetwo is a slight, linear dip which iswhere the cartilage that allows thebones to move easily over eachother is.

If the maximum tenderness is aboveor below the joint line (usually on themost prominent part of the bone) thenthe injury is likely to be a strain tocollateral ligaments that hold the jointtogether. The most common cause forthis is someone else falling on to theside of the knee. In this case the injurywill be on the opposite side to theimpact. If the knee is wobbly this isa serious injury and should be seen assoon as possible because the ligamentmay have broken completely. If thereis just pain and tenderness then themain treatment is rest, ice, elevationand compression (+/- arnica/acupuncture/anti-inflammatories).Minor ligament strains are similar toankle sprains in that as long as thereis immediate rest, they usually do welland you can get back to practice quite


Joint line Joint line

Area of tendernessin ligament strain

continued on page 6Suwariwaza practice, Aikido at Kolonos, May 2011

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quickly (when the pain allows you) withlittle or no long term problems. It isa good idea to wear a knee supportwhen you first get back on the matuntil you feel the injury has recovered.Major ligament injuries may need along term brace during training or evensurgery.

If the maximum tenderness is exactlyon the joint line there is a good chancethat it is an internal knee injury (seedeep knee pain).

Pain at the back of the knee - This is a bit more complicated! If the pain is in the area of the ham-

string tendons, particularly in the pointwhere the hamstrings join the bonebelow the knee crease, then the painmay be due to a hamstring strain. Inthis case you may find pain and/ortenderness higher up in the hamstringmuscle. Hamstring strains can be dealtwith as the ligament strain above – ie,rest, ice, elevation, and support (+/-arnica/acupuncture/anti-inflammato-ries) and once the initial inflammationhas died down, heat and gentlestretching as well as heating ointmentsbefore and after practice rubbed intothe muscle. However, be aware thatpain in this area (especially if it is deepto the tendons or in line with the jointcrease) may be an internal injury (seedeep knee pain).

If the pain is in between the twohamstring tendon on either side of theback of the knee, then this could be allsort of things and you should see anexpert after immediate rest, ice, com-pression and elevation (+/- arnica/

acupuncture/anti-inflammatories).Sometimes you can feel a lump

behind the knee (often close to thehamstring tendons) - this is likely tobe a Baker’s cyst. This is where thenormal capsule inside the knee jointwhich is full of lubricating fluid hasextended out. Much the same asa balloon will have an outpocketingbetween your fingers if you squeeze ithard enough. A small Baker’s cyst thatdoesn’t cause any problems is proba-bly best left alone but if it is large orinterferes with the knee function youshould see a specialist. Occasionally,a large Baker’s cyst can rupture lead-ing to intense pain and swelling in thecalf muscle. This is very distressing atthe time but shouldn’t lead to long termproblems (I’ve never seen this happenin Aikidoka!).

Deep knee pain -Pain exactly on the joint line or felt

deep inside the knee joint, especiallyif it is caused by or worsened by twist-ing is likely to be cartilage damage(meniscus etc). Another worrying signis if the joint locks. In these cases itis best to seek an expert opinion fairlyquickly. If keyhole surgery is needed,the outcome is better when it isperformed early.

Suwariwaza (this is where I mightget a bit controversial – it is all person-al opinion, not accepted medicalknowledge).

Personally, I believe that suwariwazais generally good for the knees!! Butonly if the students do it regularly. In

dojos where they do very little suwari-waza (or bunny hops) now and thenand then do loads – I think I have seenmore knee problems. In dojos wheresuwariwaza is a regular part of thetraining and people get used to itgradually, I think there are less kneeproblems.

Ukemi, taisabaki and kneeproblems

Just as a footnote, I suspect that badukemi may be the cause of knee prob-lems over time (much more so thansuwariwaza practice). I often cringewhen I see beginners repeatedly slam-ming their knee into the mat becausethey’re scared of forward rolls. I thinkthat as soon as they can, one shouldteach them to avoid any knee contactwith the mat during forward rolls.Backward ukemi is less obvious buta bigger problem because if you havethe bad habit of falling down onto yourbended knee (again causing impact) itmay not be noticed and corrected andover years can cause strain on theinner workings of the knee becausethe knee is slightly twisted at themoment of impact. It should beemphasized early on that there shouldbe no impact on any one part of theleg during backward ukemi but insteadthere should be a smooth transfer ofcontact starting at the foot, then theankle and up to the hip (just as you dowith the arm in forward rolls).

The quality of the training surfaceis vital to prevent twisting injuries ofthe knee and ankles. If the surface istoo sticky, the foot can get stuck whilethe body turns, putting all the strainon the joints. Again, the teacher shouldemphasize early on that turninghappens on the ball of the foot andnot with the heel or the flat foot so thatthe foot can move freely and not getstuck. ☯

Matt Teale 5th DanAikido at KolonosHellenic Birankai

(After medical training in England and NewZealand, Matt Teal has been practising inAthens for 12 years in General Practiceand acupuncture for musculo-skeletalproblems. He also graduated from theInternatinal Academy of ClassicalHomeopathy in 2006 and has beenpractising homeopathy since that time.)

Anterior Knee Pain. . .continued from page 5

Matt Teale, Aikido at Kolonos, May 2011

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During myyears ofpractice

I have come toappreciate thecause and effectrelationshipbetween Lack ofMartial Awareness and resultantsustaining of injury.

While much has been written aboutMartial Awareness, in particular by ourteacher, I will not belabour to discussthis topic in any great detail outsidethe context of spatial awareness andrelation to injury.

The injuries I have observed andexperienced throughout my study aregenerally due to a lack of comprehen-sion of space or an inability to under-stand and follow the movement. Theseinjuries generally occur in threegeneral areas.

It has often amazed me how somepractitioners can be so unaware oftheir surrounding space, but ratherseems to be limited to only the areaoccupied by their own two feet. Duringwarm-up exercises and resultantukemi, many students fail to observeproper spatial discipline, which oftencan result in collisions between eachother. The most serious of these hasbeen a broken neck sustained by

a student while practising backwardsukemi when another student fell back-wards onto her. This type of situationcan be easily avoided by the observa-tion of spatial discipline and increasedawareness by the student.

During the conduct of class whilstthe students are practising and withinthe encounter, proper practice is predi-cated on a committed attack by theuke as well as a trust established byuke towards nage. These two dynam-ics go a long way toward making theencounter meaningful. Of course theimplication here is that as uke placeshis or her trust in nage that nage willcontrol the surrounding space andmove in such a manner to protect uke.How often are partners thrown on topof or close enough to strike anotherstudent? This often can exacerbate aninjury because the subjects are caughtcompletely unawares, and is by defini-tion a breakdown of martial awarenessby nage. Within the practice environ-ment, nage must always protect ukefrom harm. After all, nage creates thesituation of imbalance by taking uke’scentre, and as such establishes con-trol over uke. Nage has a responsibilitywithin this framework to protect ukefrom harm from outside influences,namely neighbouring students. Thislack of awareness of the immediate

space results in many injuries whichcould easily be prevented.

Within the encounter between eachother, uke and nage are both requiredto exercise sensitivity within the execu-tion of the technique. Nage must man-age the amount of strength and sensi-tivity based on many factors, includingthe commitment of attack, uke’s expe-rience, etc. Overapplication of strengthby nage has been the cause of manyinjuries. Uke must be able to respondproperly and blend with the executionof the technique by nage, rather thandoing what they wish. The inability ofuke to blend with nage’s execution oftechnique demonstrates a lack ofawareness that is responsible formany injuries on the mat. In my experi-ence the most typical of these situa-tions involve uke pulling away fromnage within a technique, which createsan unsustainable force on wrist, elbowor shoulder, and results in ligamentinjury to one of those joints.

I strongly believe that a greatmajority of the injuries which weexperience during our practice can beprevented by an increased martialawareness. Martial awareness can becultivated anywhere, not just in thedojo environment. However, within thedojo, I would strongly encourage allstudents to work hard on expanding

their consciousness beyondthe space that they occupy,and work toward the develop-ment of greater sensitivity oftheir spatial awareness. ☯

Shihan Mike Flynn 6th DanThistle Aikikai, ScotlandBritish BirankaiJune 2011


Spatial Awareness and Understanding betweenNage and Uke can reduce Injuries on the Mat

Polish Summer School, Wroclaw, August 2009

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Shihan Mike Flynn

Shihan Mike Flynn is convinced that


At the end ofJanuary2009, and

after nine monthsof Aikido practice,I broke my collar-bone. I couldhardly believe itwhen it happened. I thought that thatcould never happen to me, even lessso at the beginning of my practice.During my recovery it never occurredto me that I would stop, that I wouldnot return to the tatami. I was countingthe days when I would be back.About three months after the accidentI started slowly with weapons practice;it was at this moment that I began toperceive the difficulties that I wasgoing to face. Until then I had naivelythought that after the delay recom-mended by the doctor, everythingwould go on from the point whereI had left it, that once my bones werehealed the accident would be ancienthistory. The first problem was torecuperate the use of my left arm until

then immobilized for two months. Painand weak muscles handicapped me.

Frustration set in, greatly increasedwhen the doctor strongly advised meto wait three more months beforetaking up practice. When I came backto take class around the middle of JulyI was very happy, but this time fearwas with me. I had to start almost fromthe beginning and I did not take ukemifor several classes. I re-learned to fall,progressively and softly. I was alsoapprehensive about immobilizations.Fortunately my practice partners werevery careful with me.

It was at the start of this resumptionof practice that the frustration having todeal with the injury and the pain mademe very much regret the accident.

In time this subsided and I regainedconfidence in moving with my alteredbody. The fear of falling on my left sidethat I strongly felt is almost gone, but ittook me a lot of work to manage thefalls without using my other hand. Afterseveral months now, I feel that thisdifficult period is gone and that I can

continue to make progress with thehelp of the other students.

I had only a few months of practicewhen the accident occurred. WhenI was back, things were not the sameon the tatami. I learned things differ-ently as a result of the injury, I wasmore aware of my body, feeling themovements that I do, less in the mindand more in the body. I have theimpression that this helps the integra-tion of both. I also learned to be morevigilant, paying attention to myself andcounting only on myself, as well asanticipating my physical limitations;I prefer to preserve myself rather thanto push too far in effort and fatigue. ☯

Sarah Piguet 4th KyuRyu Seki Kai, LausanneBirankai CH (Switzerland)May 2011Translation: Norberto Chiesa

Injury - Fear, Caution and Self Perseverance ledSarah Piquet to Recovery

Sarah Piguet

Sheli Hagag practising Ukemi

at Shihan Chris Mooney course

A Mon Kan Dojo, Tel Aviv Aikikai March 2008

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At first it isnot an easyfeeling to

try to rememberinjuries and itappears difficultto write articleson this topic.Overall, it is an experience that onewould rather put behind.

However, if one forces oneself toreopen that closed box, to look backat it with eyes devoid of emotions,one will usually admit that there wasa positive aspect to it.

In my 25 years of Aikido, and aboutten years of Judo before that, I wasfortunate to have only two injuries asdirect consequence of practice.Ironically, both occurred exactly withChiba Sensei watching over me! Thefirst one occurred in March 1995 ata seminar in El Cerrito, at Lizzy LynnSensei’s Dojo. I was practising withBobby, one of the ‘big guys’ inCalifornia, and we usually had aspirited practice to say the least. ChibaSensei had just corrected my ukemi,since I had a tendency to collapse the

wrong leg and hence loosing the con-nection with my nage. So, I was tryingthe way that Sensei was recommend-ing but, of course, my ego preventedme from telling Bobby ‘easy, whileI am adjusting my body’. You must bejoking! On my dead body I wouldnever have told Bobby, ‘Easy with me.’That would have been as embarrass-ing as coming on to the mat naked!As a result of such an ego-drivenbehaviour, after being projected threetimes I just heard a big ‘crack’ on myshoulder, and ended up with a sepa-rated collar bone. Sensei was on meright away. It didn’t take him more thana few seconds to tell me ‘off the mat’and here I went for ice, tape, etc. Fromthat moment, a new world started forme: Learning to be diminished andweakened. I could not even drive mycar back home, as I could not shiftgear (probably the only time in my lifewhere the sports-car addict that I amwould have been happy to drive anautomatic transmission!). So, one ofmy dojo mates drove the car for meback to Alameda and I sat in thepassenger seat, learning the feeling

of having to depend on someone forsomething so simple.

This was just the beginning: the nextday I had my right arm snugly tight ina sort of armrest that would impedeany shoulder and arm movement forthe next three weeks. I could use myfingers, OK, but I could not extend myarm to grab anything, so fingers werequasi useless anyway. ‘Not too bad,’I thought, ‘at least it’s my weak arm.’(I am left-handed). I quickly learnedtwo main lessons during those first fewdays: first, I became conscious of howmany things we do with our hands ona daily basis that we are not evenaware of in normal circumstances; andsecond, I was very surprised abouthow many things I did with my righthand, as a left-handed person. Whatwe call our ‘weak hand’ is so useful,beyond our normal perception. Thiswas a doubly humbling exercise. Soafter a few days of struggling andbeing grumpy about all that I could notdo anymore, my state of mind startedto change. I surrendered to the situa-tion. I actually started to enjoy it. Thisnew-found awareness of what I couldnot do anymore created a state ofmind that, progressively, allowed meto become equally conscious of whatI could do. Being a very busy profes-sional, I was forced to slow down fora few days, and thus I began to appre-ciate every routine action in my dailylife. I was amazed both at how I couldstill grab a toothbrush, and at howimpressed I was by the mere fact ofbeing able to do it!

The second reason of my enjoymentwas that I started to appreciate thehelp that my wife was giving me,instead of being ashamed of theburden I had become. It came in aninstant: I just pictured myself at herplace, and realized that if it had beenthe contrary, I would have been veryhappy to help her. So I asked, ‘AmI a burden?’ and she replied ‘No, I amhappy to be useful to you.’ From thatmoment I became happy: I was exer-cising my willingness to receive, andthus providing to someone the oppor-


Injuries: A Path for Growth that involves theʻWillingness to ReceiveʼChristophe Peytier shares his experiences

Christophe Peytier

Christophe Peytier, BB 40th anniversary course, London, Oct 2006

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tunity to give, which in turn is creatingin that person the joy to receive, bybeing rewarded. This moment hasprofoundly altered my perception ofthe giving-receiving dynamic, andmany years later, when I started to payattention to the Kaballah, the Jewishancient wisdom, I was not surprised tosee that the basic foundation of thistradition is built upon that dynamic: thewillingness to receive is viewed as thefundamental driver of the universe. Infact, the Hebrew meaning of Kaballahis ‘reception’. We can also study thisgive-take dynamic in our Aikido prac-tice, and the more we try to refine ourperception of who ‘gives’ or ‘takes’what and when, the more subtle ourpractice can become.

Then, after that phase of joyful sur-render came another, more frustrating,phase. The ego took over again andstarted to demand to the body ‘nowyou must heal quickly’. It started toexpect progresses, improvements,became overtly ambitious, and of

course frustrated by that body thatwouldn’t heal as fast as it should. Herealso, there is a lesson to learn:patience, yet remain determined. Tonot resist, but to not give up. It is a finemix, not an obvious state of mind tobear, initially, but everyone has tolearn that. After 3 weeks, I was ableto move my arm at about 80% of itsrange of motion. After a couple moreweeks I started to come back on themat, with no problem at asking to mypartner ‘easy on me’. Lesson learned.Ego crushed. Now, I recovered so wellthat when I try to remember whichshoulder it was, I need to think aboutmy gear shift challenge so that I canrecall it was indeed the right arm. Butthe lessons learned are still in me.

The second injury happened a fewyears later, at an Iaido seminar in SanDiego. I just want to mention itbecause of my encounter with thenurse at the hospital since this is thepart I remember the best! The secondclass on Friday was getting really

packed, and since I was practising witha live blade, my movements wheregetting a bit more contracted, fearingI could cut some ears around me. Wewere practising katate-uchi, a move-ment where one has to draw and cut ina vertical motion with one hand. Mymovement was getting so narrow thatI ended up catching the sleeve of mygi, and the blade, instead of going up,went directly into my left arm, creatinga two inch-long opening. I didn’t feelmuch, and just hoped no one hadseen it, until I looked down and sawwhat appeared as a lake of bloodstrikingly red on the white canvas mat.So much for discretion. I heard Senseisaying ‘oh ho!’ and within a secondI had someone holding my armupwards. Instinctively, I wiggled myfingers and closed my fist. Feeling thatI could do that, I relaxed and thought‘should be superficial, nerves and liga-ments are intact’. A senior instructorcame to me and joked ‘If you everwondered if your katana could cut,now you know...’ OK, but nothing issuperficial with a katana, and I wasimmediately sent to the San Diegohospital, where indeed it looked likeI was going to have nine stitches puton. But the real moment that makesthe experience memorable was myconversation with the nurse: A middle-aged Mexican lady who was happy tosee a gringo that could speak Spanishand, of course, asked me the circum-stances of the accident. When Idescribed to her what happened, andthat we were training with real samuraiswords, she had this very pragmaticquestion, which for me remains a truepearl of wisdom. She asked: ‘Shouldn’tyou guys practise with plastic swordsuntil you become good?’ I would prob-ably have burst in laughter if it had notbeen for the prospect of the ninestitches to come, and in fact I seriouslyanswered her ‘yes, I think you areright, we should do that’. Now, everytime I clean my blade and I reach thekissaki, the tip that I now know inti-mately in my flesh, I cannot refrainfrom thinking about the Mexican nurse,and smile… ☯

Christophe Peytier 4th DanSanjukan - LisbonBirankai Portugal

Injuries: A Path for Growth. . .continued from page 9

Stevie Boyle practising Iai Batto-Ho, BB Weapons Course, Coventry, Oct 08

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persists can we consider it a criterionfor injury, that is, that an injury hasoccurred (and also assess the severityof this injury). It is important neverthe-less to reemphasize that even expertshave no clear-cut distinction between‘good’ and ‘bad’ pain. ‘Bad’ pain,however, is more likely to endure fora longer period.

So, the conjunction of injury withimmediate pain is complicated. Wemight find accumulative injury wherepain appears after a certain thresholdhas been crossed (eg cartilageerosion). Yet another type of damageis a result of being excited to the pointwhere the body fails to produce thatalerting sign of ‘something has gonewrong’. The consequence of this lastmechanism might last days after ithappens. We cannot move the part ofthe body that has been hurt.

I have had many opportunities tonotice how people respond to pain.Some people over-react to pain, evenwhen minor injury occurs. They mightrefrain altogether from training. Otherpeople just ‘get over it’ and carry on,as if nothing significant has takenplace. I remember all too well theperiod when I began my career asa teacher. I had broken my wrist in the

middle of a lesson and yet continuedto practise to its end. Only then didI approach the hospital for help.

In the world of martial arts in generaland in the world of Aikido in particular,those who practise week after week,year after year, need to developcertain skills. Years of physical strain,along some repeated injuries, eventu-ally take their toll. It is no surprise thatsome of the top teachers, as well aslongtime students, struggle withchronic injuries. The cost is pain, attimes excruciating pain. I suggest thatthe only way to cope with that phe-nomenon is to develop a mature andintegrated mind whose conduciveachievement is that we would be betterable to tell ‘which is which’, to allocateeach pain its true status or role.

The Acquisition of a MatureMind

Our image of our body tells us whereeach part of it is positioned, what eachpart is capable of doing. Unfortunately,seldom does this image guide us toconduct ourselves with perfect move-ment accompanied by adequate effort.One of the more common experiencesof trainees of Aikido is the gap

Injuries arepart and par-cel of inten-

sive physicalactivity. Theyare also insepa-rable from thelives of thosewho practise martial arts. When ChibaSensei refers to the Way of Aikido, hesays ‘The pursuit of the Way and itsrealization demand devotion, sacrifice,patience, courage, and understandingof the purpose of Aikido’. I believe thatelements such as devotion or sacrifice,and of course patience and courage –are all linked to injuries.

Following many years of trainingI have seen how teachers as well astheir students struggle not only withinjuries, but also with their conse-quences. There is no shortage ofinstances to recount as to how injuriesoccur. Indeed, the consequences areat times rather dire.

In this article I will try to show thecomplex relations between pain andinjury. While we tend to identify injurywith pain, there is no obvious correla-tion between the two. I therefore wishto deconstruct these relations, to showhow the physical element can uniteor be disengaged from the mind, andhow personal growth is connected toall this.

The Manifestations of PainPain has a role in the maintenance

of the body, and as such it is benefi-cial. ‘Good’ pain tells ‘you should rest’or ‘you have exhausted yourself to thelimit’. It will have a relatively shortduration. This kind of pain is a signalindicating that we should stop action,divert attention or rethink behavior. Inthis sense it is ‘good’. ‘Bad’ painmeans that injury has alreadyoccurred. We are advised to acquireproficiency that will enable us to makeproper distinction between the twotypes of pain. We badly need thisproficiency, if we are in the businessof continual physical activity.

Both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ pain can limitour movement. Only when pain

Some Reflections on Life with Injuries and HowPain can Affect our Personalityby Dr Amnon Tzechovoy

Miyamoto Sensei and Joel Bertrand (uke) BB Summer School 2010, Worcester

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Amnon Tzechovoy


between ‘seeing what the teacherdoes’, and the ability to follow theinstructions exactly. A few secondsafter the Sensei has completed ademonstration the truth unfolds, exem-plifying how difficult it is to follow evensimple instructions. The gap betweenthe image in one’s mind and the move-ments that follow represents a split, asI have just described. If the body isable to perform what the mind has justregistered, the physical will unite withthe mental so that the outcome repre-sents a psychophysical unity.

I wish to illustrate how psychophysi-cal split actually ‘works’. I once arrivedin Japan to train at the Hombu Dojo,especially with Miyamoto Sensei. Theflight took some sixteen hours, and mybody was fairly stiff. When I had finallyreached the hotel I realized that I couldstill manage to participate in a lessonwith Miyamoto Sensei, and soon setmyself to walk to the dojo. Miyamotowas very glad to see me, as anyteacher would be glad to see a studentwho made a huge effort to come, andsoon invited me to take ukemi. Senseithrew me to the floor in full gusto,as he often does, yet my body wasincapable of responding. I ignoredmy body despite its poor state. All of

a sudden I felt a sharp sensation ofpain. As I was trying to stand on mytwo feet, I could not move my shoul-der. In fact, any movement appearedto cause serious pain. I did not realizewhat had exactly happened, butassumed the injury was rather severe.

Folly can hurt as much as physicalpain. At that moment I could not avoidthinking how futile was this effort,which led me to leave my family aswell as my patients (I am a clinicalpsychologist by profession) and mystudents. It was extremely frustratingto become almost paralyzed after onlya few hours in Japan. It took me sometime to understand how I became avictim of my own mental condition ofexcitement. I have come to realize thatwhen strong ambition does not meeta correspondingly coordinated, strongbody, a harmful outcome is quite likely.However, I had failed to realize that noharm would have been caused if I hadonly waited until the following day. HadI been attentive to the body, moresensitive to its condition, I would haveavoided problems. Such prudencewould have provided me with a vitalsafeguard. In other words, we needa mature mind, something that is quitehard to attain.

Young men in particular badly needto acquire mature minds. They are atthe peak of their strength, but lack theability to match their aspirations withtheir efforts. Their superior bodily con-dition misleads them to believe that thebody is immune or almost so. This lackof judgment inevitably leads to injuries.The root of these injuries also sug-gests that body and mind are not quiteone. They might move in separateways, unable to support or ‘inform’each other. My main argument drawson this separation, to suggest thatbehind physical injuries lies apsychophysical split. This split and itscomplementary term, psychophysicalunity relate to the coexistence of mindand body.

Towards PsychophysicalUnity

One can thus imagine the kind ofdevelopment that moulds our mind asyears go by. The process begins whenwe reside in a rather strong and ablebody. At this stage our awareness isnot as yet as developed so as to safe-guard the body, which sends signals ofpotency without limits. Of course this isall an illusion. Nevertheless, if we arelucky, injuries might not leave a lasting

impact. As we growolder, the bodygradually weakensand repeatedinjuries inflictgreater damage.Healing takes somuch longer. Beingalert, attentive toany alarming sign,is now needed –more than everbefore. However,maturity nowcomes to our aid.

At this stage sac-rifice and patience,alongside devotion,are also muchneeded. I dare saythat courage is indemand too. Itneeds courage tocontinue practisingonce we are somuch more awareof dangers. With farreaching experi-

Some Reflections on...

Amnon Tzechovoy (right) and Ian Grubb (uke), A Mon Kan, Tel Aviv, June 2009

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ence we assess our ability muchbetter. The match between ambitionand ability could now manifest itselfin perfect harmony.

My view is that, as we become older,our ability as Aikido artists reachesa much more meaningful plateau.Performance improves with time,despite the process of aging. Thisability is the outcome of long years oftraining which gradually result in closecooperation between body and mind.I am in fact describing a process thatresults in a certain type of unity, butbegins with a gap between the realability of the body and the perceptionof this ability. Realization takes time.It is a rather lengthy process. ChibaSensei once said that injuries are likemedals worn by soldiers, suggestingthat they might be a source of pride.To the best of my understandingmedals can also serve as metaphor forpersonal growth, for transformation.The pain is thus a carrier of the memo-ry of endless efforts of the traineethrough the years. Pain provides asense of physical continuity. Memoryand continuity are intertwined with ouridentity. Pain is absorbed in the body,in its sensoric memory, to becomelater a major component of our inner-most intimate self.

In the process I have portrayed here,lack of coherence between the con-sciousness and the body (psychophys-ical split) can lead to injuries. At thesame time, injuries and pain endangerour mental harmony.

The French philosopher MauriceMerleau-Ponty holds the view that thebody bridges between the inside andthe outside. There is an objectivebody, a biological entity, and then –a certain awareness of the body. Aslong as harmony between the insideand the outside persists, we pay noattention to how the body performs, asif the body were invisible. Pain createsa schism in this harmony by drawingour attention to it. The body nowneeds ‘special treatment’, it can nolonger be ignored. Yet the source ofthis vital transformation is preciselythis situation that creates the need forregaining harmony. For example: aftermany years of training with woodenswords and using the sword as partof Iai-Batto-Ho training, I began tosuffer from ‘tennis elbow’ in my twoarms. Strong pain accompanied what-ever movement I made. I was first

paralyzed, and then tried manymedications that promised healing.Gradually I learned to move withoutpain. All of a sudden I understood the‘language’ in which my body was try-ing to communicate: my technique hasimproved immensely. I gave up themore strenuous movement of thehands, and adopted softer movementsthat have eventually proved to bemuch more powerful. I still suffer fromchronic infection but the pain hasceased and the body has againbecome ‘invisible’.

I have clearly undergone a personaltransformation, through a process inwhich pain had a vital role. Pain hashad a major impact on my personality.It has caused me to give up certainrigidity. I still remember myself asbeing both mentally rigid as well asquite aggressive in my movement.Looking back at the past, I feel thatpain gave me the opportunity to deci-pher what lies behind the motivation totrain in martial art. This motivation, soI now realize, was deeply rooted ina sense of omnipotence accompaniedby denial. I have spent many years indenial, not recognizing how fragile mybody can be. I have come to recognizethat the body is not an extension of myintellect; that is has its own needs anddemands.

The psychologist Kurt Lewin coinedthe term approach-avoidance todescribe a conflict, a situation ofambivalence when a person desiresthings which contain both negative andpositive aspects. We want somethingyet fear the consequences. I trulybelieve that approach-avoidancereflects what happens to a person

training in Aikido. Such situations arenot rare at all and are found wheneverambivalence is ignored, with injuriesthat follow.

Kurt Lewin claims that the sourceof the problem is fear that createspatterns of avoidance. A session oftraining begins; the trainee is beingattacked but his body somehowresists. There is a possibility to over-come this resistance, and the outcomewill be positive (approaching). If feartakes a leading role, the body will notrespond efficiently (avoiding). Theavoidance might take two forms: it willrespond in some exaggerated manneror surrender altogether, in total denialof fear. Injuries are bound to follow,when bodily response is either out ofproportion – to the magnitude of thestimulus, or stop the motion altogether(collapse).

Final NoteO-Sensei emphasized harmony as

a crucial element in our martial art.Harmony can of course mean differentthings on different occasions.Nevertheless, I am now quite certainthat harmony is first and foremostrelated to being able to interpret realityin a very precise manner. This is notrivial thing, to gain that ability, thatprecision. O-Sensei had figured it allout at a very early stage of his career.I hope to have understood whatO-Sensei really meant uponemphasizing harmony. ☯

Amnon Tzechovoy 5th DanA Mon Kan Tel AvivBirankai Israel


Chiba Sensei once said thatinjuries are like medals worn bysoldiers, suggesting that theymight be a source of pride. Tothe best of my understandingmedals can also serve asmetaphor for personal growth,for transformation.

‘

’


The significance of Aikido as amartial art, which was a fightingart in its origin, is found within

an affirmative/negative propositionreflected in the relationship of oneselfto others — namely to live or die, or,in the ultimate situation, to kill or bekilled. However, we don’t necessarilyhave to take the original martialexpression solely as it was originallyintended; we can shift our perspectiveto more practical terms that makesense in contemporary life. After all,the relationship of oneself to otherscan be interpreted as (or replaced by)a contrast between subject and object.Similarly, in philosophical terms, to killor be killed can be represented bysubject and object as well as by affir-mative and negative. Therefore it ispossible to define the significance ofmartial arts as a way to deal with one’ssubjectivity in relation to others. Thisgives Aikido a deeply existentialcharacter that is applicable to our lifetoday.

Zen, on the other hand, is a pro-found discipline that brings abouta confrontation with one’s own truenature and humanity’s fundamentalprinciple of living, better known in

Chiba Sensei, BB Weapons Course, Coventry, Oct 2008

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kova Sansho Aikido Newsletter of the San

Diego Aikikai, was first published inApril 1983 and became the AikidoJournal of the USAF Western Regionin 1987. It was renamed Biran inSpring 2002 to reflect the creation ofBirankai International.

Excerpt from an article byChiba Sensei on ‘Aikido andZen’ in Sansho Fall 2000

Japanese as honrai no memboku,through engaging in the most direct,simple and primordial physical act ofsitting.

When Aikido, as a martial art, isdefined as a way to deal with one’ssubjectivity in relation to others, Zencan be viewed as a premise or pre-condition for martial discipline, and thisis where one can find a strong con-nection between the two. Thus Aikidocan be called ‘moving Zen’.

As martial artists we are familiarwith the term ‘martial’ and are muchaccustomed to using it frequently.However, I doubt that we really under-stand its original meaning, particularlybecause our understanding is basedon the conditions and environmentswe have created by training in a dojo.In my view, however hard and intenseour training may be, we are still veryfar from the essential concept of‘martial’ and are barely scratching thesurface... ☯

Shihan TK Chiba 8th DanSan DiegoBirankai International

Chiba Sensei on Aikidoand Zen

This gives Aikidoa deeply existen-tial character thatis applicable toour life today.

‘‘

’’

Iwas touched at seeing photos ofmy old Aikido teacher Sensei MickHolloway in the last issue of BE

Musubi. I trained with Mick intensivelyfor three years whilst I was studyingat the British School of Osteopathy(BSO) in London, where he was alsostudying in the early 80s. I was deeplyimpacted by Mick’s energy and spiritand have always felt that one day Iwould like to write down my memoriesof the man, who sadly passed awaysome years ago now. The photos inBE Musubi nudged me to put pen topaper. So here are my memories ofthe man whom Chiba Sensei oncedescribed as ‘My best student ever’.

I met Mick in 1981 when I beganattending the BSO in Suffolk Street,just around the corner from TrafalgarSquare in London. Mick was a thirdyear student at the Osteopathy schooland ran the school’s Aikido club onTuesday and Thursday evenings.Training took place in the squashcourt, with tatami snug up to the walls.White walls and a deep blue shinycanvas - it gave a striking bright ener-gy to the venue. Training was intimateand intense. There were rarely morethan half a dozen of us in attendance.Then afterwards to the college bar fora Guinness, and time to sit round andlisten to Mick’s stories of his own train-ing and path. I was captivated, andsoon began attending Tenpukan dojo

in Earl’s Court on Friday eveningswhere Mick also taught. Rather thantry and recall my memories in any kindof chronological order, I shall talk ofMick in terms of four aspects thatparticularly touched me: Aikido teach-ing, single-pointedness, visionand love.

Aikido TeachingFirst and foremost, I recall Mick as

a wonderful Aikido teacher. For me,his Aikido was a joy to behold, and ajoy to experience. His Aikido had sucha flow to it. He would always demon-strate a technique at full speed first ofall. And Mick’s full speed was... veryfast! You could hardly see what washappening. Then afterwards he wouldbreak the technique down into compo-nent aspects and go through it slowly.I remember him telling me he alwaysliked to do it this way - full speed first,because first and foremost he wantedto communicate the feeling of the tech-nique - its spirit or energy. It was as ifhe wanted to first imprint the full powerand signature-spirit of Iriminage, forexample, into the ki-field of the dojo.Then, after that spirit had beenimpulsed, the technicalities could befilled in. Mick’s impulse was always totransmit the principles of Aikido firstand foremost. Tenkan was never just‘turn’, always the principle of harmo-nization - harmonizing with the ki ofyour partner. ‘Irimi’ not just stepping in,but entering, penetrating your partner’scentre. As we were taught by Mick,just as in the Chinese symbol of yinand yang, every irimi technique mustcontain within it a kernel of tenkan,harmonizing, otherwise it turns intopure force-against-force. Similarly anytenkan technique must have within ita quality of irimi also, otherwise itbecomes purely surrender and defeat.Mick would speak regularly of ki. ‘Suckout your opponent’s ki’ he would oftensay, ‘then enter! ...Baaat!’ Speaking ofki in this way made it very real for me,‘Extend your ki!... ex-PANSION!’ hewould always say. Many times itwas as if you could almost see the ki,and certainly feel it. Mick was the first

truly internal martial arts master I hadexperienced at close quarters. Iexperienced that literally the harderI attacked him, the easier it was forhim to throw me, and the less I couldfeel what he was doing! Here is averse I wrote about the experience ofbeing thrown by him at the time:

Attacking with vicious ferocity, I amcaught on the wind of the master’sbreath,My stance is gone; I try to focus, butgrasp at the air,Teetering for a moment; sublime indesperation,Then crashing to the ground in pain,the impact following deep into myheart…

And yet I must sit upright at the endof the session…There is no despair at seeing thecompleted circle.

I was wowed by the experience.Relax, keep your centre, extend yourki, harmonize, and enter. These wereprinciples he taught us. In speaking ofirimi and tenkan as the yang and yinof Aikido, he would also talk of howall Aikido students will have a naturaltendency to be either more irimi


ʻAikido is a Man Standing on a RainbowʼAndrew Stones Remembering Sensei Mick Holloway at the British School of Osteopathy Dojo,1981-1984


Shihan Mick Holloway, Shinmei-kan Dojo(formerly Tenpukan Dojo), London 2002

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Shihan Holloway with Chiba Sensei,London Aikikai, Chiswick c1973


orientated, or more tenkan orientated.I was more irimi, so needed to learn torelax and harmonize more. Similarlythe sword or bokken carries more thespirit of irimi, the jo more tenkan.

All students must master both.Mick was also an excellent instructor

of ukemi, breakfalls. Even KanetsukaSensei, who famously did not get onwell with Mick, none the less wouldalways acknowledge that it was Mickwho taught him how to breakfall.Backwards, forwards, 8 directions,reverse arm, forward arm, koshinageukemi, it seemed the variations wereendless. And then my favourite, anexercise I remembered from my Judodays - having several people crouchdown on the mat, and then takinga run up, leaping over them to roll onthe other side. Mick had in fact beena black belt Judo before taking upAikido, and although he no longer heldJudo in any particular high regard,Judo techniques would occasionallyfind their way into his Aikido classes.In teaching a class it was as if hewould be following a creative train ofthought, an expression of principle,which would seem to gain its ownmomentum as the class progressed.A principle would express itself in oneway, then transform itself into anotherway and yet another, and low andbehold we’d be doing a Judo tech-nique or a technique Mick hadjust created on the spot. As long as itwas done with Aiki principles, as anexpression of Aiki principles, it wasvalid. Recording these techniques in

the dojo roku (record book)afterwards was sometimes atask in itself! I also found Mickto be, in many ways, the gen-tlest of teachers. Intense, yes.Serious, yes. But alwayshumane; very human, verynormal. I always chuckle tomyself when I hear someBritish martial arts instructorsinsisting on putting on a thickJapanese accent when theyteach martial arts. Never Mick;he was always just Mick, BritishMick. Similarly, although hewas certainly one of ChibaSensei’s most dedicatedstudents, I never saw him tryand emulate Chiba Sensei. Henever put on a Chiba voice, or a Chibaposture, and curiously enough (andsomething which I always thoughtinteresting) his Aikido, to me,didn’t even look much like ChibaSensei’s. Whilst he always held hisown teacher in the highest regard asbeing, in his opinion, the finest Aikidoteacher in the world bar none, Mickalso was true to his own instinctsof how he himself wanted to expresshimself through his Aikido. He wasalso influenced by other teachers,particularly, I think, Kitaura Sensei ofSpain. Chiba Sensei used to invitemany famous Shihans to teach sum-mer schools in England during the1970s when Mick was training, so hehad gotten to be uke for many of thebig names. Most of these he dismissedto me as being nowhere near as good

as Chiba Sensei, but there were twothat I recall he never had a bad wordto say about; these were KitauraSensei of Spain, and Sekiya Sensei,Chiba Sensei’s father-in-law, the latterwhom he remembered as being deeplyspiritual. I was thrilled just recentlywhen I saw clips of Kitaura Senseidemonstrating on youtube.com. It soreminded me of Mick! - that sense ofsuper-fast speed, combined with effort-less flow, and joy.

Single-pointednessTo say that Sensei Mick Holloway

was a man of single-pointedness is anunderstatement. He was undoubtedlyone of the most single-pointed,perhaps the most single-pointedindividual I have ever met. In fact hecould be single-pointed to the point of

really appearing quite odd.I recall the British School ofOsteopathy common roomas being a miserable place;dingy, poorly decorated; no-one much went in there; butevery lunch time, there wouldbe Mick, sitting alone, eatinghis packed lunch. It was as ifhe felt that he was at theschool for a specific reason;just to study osteopathy; andhe was not interested insocializing. He was notagainst socializing, justsingle-pointed. And he couldalso be painfully serious.Chiba Sensei had spoken ofa principle which I must sayI find rather bizarre; the idea

Kitaura Sensei and John Ferris (uke), Shinmei-kan,London, Jan 1987

Chiba Sensei and Shihan Holloway (uke), London Aikikai, Chiswick, c1973

‘Aikido is a Man Standing... ’continued from page 15

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that it is frivolous to smile more thanabout once every three days. None theless, Mick seemed to take to that wayof being quite naturally. When, onoccasion, I would pass Mick in a corri-dor at the school, I would initially smileand say ‘Hi Mick’, as one would donormally. Mick however would simplylower his head, glower at me intensely,and then from the depths of his tandenemit a single syllable, ‘eh!’ as wepassed. After a while I quite got intothis, and would similarly glower backand go ‘eh!’ whenever we encounteredeach other. It felt quite good. Theglowering was not in any way aggres-sive, it was just deeply serious andaffirming.

The one time that Mick was alwayshappy to socialize was after an Aikidoclass. At these times, gathered aroundour pints of Guinness, I learnt some ofthe history of this odd and intensecharacter, and became enthralled byhis tales of hardship and endeavor.Mick had begun his martial arts careerwith Judo in the 60s and attained dangrade level without any problem.His main interest was his martial artstraining and his day job in an officepaid for this. He was successful in hisjob and held the position of office man-ager. Things started to change drasti-cally however in 1970 when he metChiba Sensei. He was immediatelydrawn to Chiba Sensei and to Aikidoand stopped his Judo to concentrate100% on Aiki. Whilst Judo had beenhis intense interest, soon Aikidobecame his whole life. The intensityand realism of Chiba Sensei’s Aikido

combined with a true sensingof Budo as a spiritual pathpropelled Mick into levels ofintensity and commitment thatare rare indeed. ‘What was itlike, when you met Aikido forthe first time?’ I asked him,‘Heaven!’ he replied. ‘For thatfirst year of training with ChibaSensei it was like I was inheaven!’ ‘And after that?’ ‘Thenext five years? Hell’ Micktrained for six years withChiba Sensei in the 1970s,until Chiba’s return to Japan.He progressed very quickly inhis first year, and soon becameChiba’s primary uke for demonstration.This was a job that few envied. ChibaSensei has been described as being‘a bit of a bruiser’ at that time, andMick was not spared the bruises.Bruises were, in fact, the least of hisworries. Chronic joint injuries, chronicexhaustion, and sheer pain becamehis constant companions. Although hedid not live with Chiba Sensei, Mickwas very much the equivalent of anUchideshi in these years. An intense,exhausting and pulverizing Aikidoclass would be followed by a longpost-training Guinness-drinking ses-sion, late into the night (and a gooduchideshi should always keep up withhis Sensei, in terms of intake-of-substances). Then, after driving ChibaSensei home, Mick would stay upeven later doing the books and Aikidosecretarial work, for which he was alsoresponsible. Then on weekends hewould drive Sensei to some far-flung

dojo, perhaps in the Midlands or theNorth, to lead a weekend course.During the journey, Mick and Chibawould chain smoke; Sensei each timelighting up two cigarettes, one for him-self and handing the other to Mick. Bythe time they arrived for training, notonly would Mick be exhausted (hisusual ongoing state), but also furtherdebilitated by lungs full of garbage.‘Didn’t you ever think of saying “nothanks” when Chiba Sensei offeredyou a cigarette?’ I asked. ‘No’ hereplied.

‘Looking back now, don’t you everfeel resentful of what Chiba Sensei putyou through?’ I asked him once. Mickthought for a moment. ‘Well, veryoccasionally, when I’m lying in bed atnight, unable to sleep because of thepain of old injuries that have still neverhealed... there’s a twinge of ‘why?’...but other than that, no. I accepted thenthat that was the way he needed toteach. And I accept it now.’

The stories were not all painful.Some were funny. ‘Did I ever tell youof the time me and Chiba Sensei gotarrested?’ he asked me once. ‘No!’I said, my ears pricking up. ‘After wewere released, Chiba Sensei said tome “That policeman tried to putSankyo on me! But I leant towards himand he fell over!” ’ I laughed, ‘Whywere you arrested?’ ‘I’ll tell youanother time’ said Mick. He never didtell me.

I was also interested to learn ofMick’s life and how he had found hisway to studying osteopathy. During the70s, whilst his commitment to Aikidoand his utter physical exhaustion bothsteadily increased, his performance athis work started to suffer. Many timeshe would be found sleeping at his


continued on page 18Shihan Holloway, Shinmei-kan, London, Feb 1983

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Sekiya Sensei, Shinmei-kan, London, June 1986


desk. His behaviour as office manageralso started to become a little weird.One day, he decided that all the secre-taries working under him in his officewere behaving much too frivolouslyand lackadaisically. To remedy thissituation he decided to alter every-one’s seating arrangements. Frombeing normal rows of desks, heturned all the desks and chairsaround so that each secretary wasnow facing the wall, around the edgesof the room, just like in a Rinzai zendo.There were complaints, and hesoon found himself no longer officemanager. I remember him laughing ashe described to me that whilst he wassteadily being promoted in Aikido, hewas steadily being demoted at work.His day job was not important to him atthat time; just a means to finance hisAikido training and living expenses.Chiba Sensei left for Japan in 1976leaving Mick and others to integratewhat they had been taught, and at lastget some rest. He also left MinoruKanetsuka Sensei in charge of theBritish Aikido Federation (BAF). I shallnot make any comment regarding thislatter decision, other than to recall theanalogy that Mick gave me: ‘It was likeKing Richard the Lion-Heart hadleft for the crusades, leaving PrinceJohn in command’. Suffice it to say, allwas not harmonious in the BAF at thattime. Mick, exhausted, depleted, won-dering how he was going to fit in to thenew Kanetsuka-led BAF, now foundhimself also with a bad back. One visitto an osteopath however, sorted thisout. Mick was impressed. It got himthinking. He could not, and did notwant to try to re-create a student-Sensei relationship with anyone otherthan Chiba Sensei. Chiba was hisSensei, wherever he might be in theworld. So what to do now? Try and put

more energy into salvaging his careerin his boring office job? What aboutosteopathy? There are certainly sometransferable skills Aikido-to-Osteopathy: physical sensitivity,awareness of joint ranges-of-motion,strength, balance, ki, to name but afew. How might it be to spend his daysdoing a job which he actually enjoyed,and in which he got to be his ownboss? The idea seemed attractive.He knew however that if he was to dothis, to study osteopathy, he wouldhave to do it seriously. He would haveto put in a similar commitment to thiswork as he had previously put intoAikido, and this would inevitably takehim away from Aikido for a bit, at leastwhile he was studying. There was onlyone thing for it: he needed to put theidea forwards to Chiba Sensei, andask his permission. Chiba Sensei on

hearing this idea, was unequivocal.‘You must do this!’ he told Mick. Itwas as if he perceived the path open-ing for him: the ‘do’, the ‘tao’ ofosteopathy. And so it was. And so itbecame, that Mick now had two pas-sions: Aikido and Osteopathy. And thisis where he was when I met him.

Vision: Osteopathy andAikido

‘It feels good.’ He told me one day.‘It feels right to have these two thingsnow – Aikido and Osteopathy, in mylife. It’s as if, previously, when I justhad Aikido, all I had to offer the worldwas violence. Now, I have somethingelse too.’ Of course we both knew thatAikido is not just violence, but at thesame time I knew what he meant. Theresonance, the balance, and the paral-lels between martial arts and healingarts are an ancient tradition that hasexisted in the Far East for thousandsof years. In China, your Tai Chiinstructor might well also be youracupuncturist. Mick was delightedwhen I even found a parallel in thewestern tradition – in a little bookwritten, I think, in the 17th centuryentitled ‘The Art of the Bone-Setter’.I’d bought the book as an osteopathiccurio. In the introduction the author,a famous bone-setter, tells of a journeyhe had taken late one night to visit aChiba Sensei, Shihan Holloway and his wife Mandy, Tatenhill, Aug 1987

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Chiba Sensei officiates at opening of Shihan Holloway’s Dojo, I ShIn Juku, Tatenhill,Burton-on-Trent, Aug 1987


patient. On the road he was accostedby a highwayman demanding ‘Yourmoney or your life!’ As far as I recall,the author wrote ‘…without delayI dislocated both the brigand’s shoul-ders, and sent him on his way. I thencarried on my journey to my patient,unperturbed.’ An early example of theaffinity of bone-setting and jujitsu inmerry England! I photocopied theparagraph and used it on a posterI was making for the BSO Aikido club.For Mick, the affinities of Aikido andOsteopathy ran much deeper however,than a mere similarity of joint-adjustingtechniques. There was a spiritual affin-ity as well. For example, just as Aikidohas its Tenkan and Irimi principles,Osteopathy has two fundamentalmethods to correct a joint: either byexaggerating the lesion (the magicaltechnique of taking a mal-positionedbone where it wants to go, ie out ofplace even further, before it sponta-neously corrects itself) and counteringthe lesion (forcefully putting the boneback in its place). Exaggerating andcountering are like the Tenkan andIrimi of Osteopathy. Curious.

It seemed to me as if Mick’s Aikidoand Osteopathy were starting to blend,almost becoming as one. His Aikido,the Way of Harmonizing-Energy, wasbecoming like a healing art, and hisOsteopathy becoming an embodimentof the Way-of-harmonizing energy.Occasionally in an Aikido class hewould, without thinking, tell us to‘harmonize with your patient’s ki’ ratherthan ‘harmonize with your partner’s ki’.We would all smile when he did this.Partner and patient were becoming

interchangeable for him. He was an excellent osteopath.

Even as a student his speed andaccuracy in osteopathic thrust work(the techniques where you get a popout of a joint) were spoken of with aweand admiration by his fellow students.And of course, he applied his single-mindedness to his Osteopathy withequal intensity as he had done to hisAikido. I remember distinctly, watchinghim in the BSO library at the end ofthe summer term of his final year atthe school. I was watching him closelybecause I was curious as to what hewas doing. The fourth year’s finalexams were all completed, and I knewthat he’d passed. Why wasn’t hedownstairs in the bar with his fellowgraduates celebrating? Day after dayI noticed him in that library, continuingto study as if his life depended on it.Eventually my curiosity got the betterof me. ‘Mick, what are you doing! Theexams are over! Take a break!’Without looking up from his studies hesimply replied, ‘I’ve found it.’ ‘Foundwhat?’ ‘Osteopathy’ ‘How do youmean?’ ‘Here in these files’. To cut along story short, Mick had discovered,hidden in the depths of the BSOlibrary, a whole series of dusty hand-written files written in old style copperplate by an early student at the collegein the 1930s. These files contained theessence of the original Osteopathy ofthe founder, Andrew Still, and hisdirect student John Littlejohn, whohad founded the BSO in 1917. Theoriginal Osteopathy was a differentkettle of fish from the modern version– much more holistic and whole-body

orientated, and indeed even includedan understanding of what Littlejohntermed ‘Bioplasm’, which was reallythe Osteopathic term for Ki. This wasa far cry from the modern versionwhich had become more like a simpli-fied form of physiotherapy. Mick wasnow on the trail of this originalOsteopathy. In later years his pursuitof it took him beyond the walls of theBSO, and to the doors of theMaidstone College of Osteopathywhere a certain Mr John Wernham,a thorny octogenarian who had studiedwith Littlejohn before the war, stilltaught the original version, strong andtrue. If ever there was anything resem-bling an osteopathic 10th dan, it wasMr Wernham. Mick promptly becamehis student. In later years Mick taughtOsteopathy at Mr Wernham’s college;I imagine his Osteopathy lessons werejust as inspirational as his Aikidoclasses.

Mick saw Osteopathy and Aikido asbeing different manifestations of similarprinciples, and found the two arts to beextremely mutually beneficial, as com-plementary avenues of study andpractice. It was a dream of his to oneday create a centre where the two artscould be studied, practised andexplored together, perhaps likea Chinese Chi Kung centre whereTai Chi and energy exercises arepractised alongside Chinese medicine.Aikido and Osteopathy: two ways ofharmonizing energy.

LoveO-Sensei spoke regularly of

‘The Spirit of Loving-Protection’.Certainly Sensei Mick could be fiercely


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Shihan Holloway relaxing in London, July1987

Shihan Holloway and Chris Reid (uke), Shinmei-kan, London, July 1987 continued on page 20

protective of his students. As I becamemore and more enamored by Aikido,I extended my training beyondTuesday, Thursday and Friday withMick. I explored other dojos in London,with other teachers: Ryushinkan inCamden on a Saturday morning, JohnFerris’s dojo in South East London onSaturday afternoons, and UniversityCollege on Wednesday lunchtimes.One Monday evening I visited a newdojo I’d just discovered in Richmond.The teacher there was a man namedTheophanis Andrews who had beena fellow student of Chiba Sensei withMick in the 70s. He seemed a colourfulcharacter and comported himself withsomething of a swagger. I enjoyed thesession, although I sustained a slightelbow injury from the teacher. The nextnight when training with Mick at theBSO he noticed me wincing duringShihonage practice. When he askedme what had happened and Iexplained, Mick was furious. ‘Therewas no need for him to injure you likethat! Absolutely no need!’ he said ofTheophanis. Although Mick had him-self sustained many injuries fromChiba Sensei during his own training,he did not like it when he heard of anyteachers injuring his own students, andhe himself had a policy of neverpurposefully injuring students. ‘ChibaSensei’s way was Chiba Sensei’s way’he would tell me. ‘He trained us as hedid at that time because there was noother way for him to transmit what heneeded to transmit. But for me, hereand now, I do not feel I have the rightto smash up other peoples’ bodies inthe name of Aikido practice.’

Beyond the Spirit of LovingProtection, there is of course, romanticlove, and in the spring of 1984, Mick

did me the great honor of inviting meto be best man at his wedding toMandy. Mick and Mandy had met atthe college – I think they were both inthe same clinic team, and had fallendeeply in love. This odd antisocial oldbugger and this gorgeous youngwoman; who’d have imagined it? Andwhat an honor to be invited to be bestman! I was chuffed. Before the wed-ding, myself and my girlfriend at thetime, and Mick and Mandy all went outto the pub together to celebrate. Justthe four of us. That night, Mick andMandy’s love was a joy to behold. Itwas as if they were bathed in goldenlight. Me and my girlfriend felt deeplytouched, and honoured, to be witnessto it. Me and Mick both drank ninepints of Guinness each that night. It’smy record, which I have neither beatennor matched since.

I’ll just say a couple more things toconclude this piece. Firstly, I’d like toapologize to Mick. I never did do aproper speech at his wedding – I justfollowed the terse mono-syllabic tradi-tion that both of us shared at that time.Sorry, Mick. Here’s my speech. 27years late. I hope it does you somesmall justice.

Mick loved Aikido with all his heart.He was a man of integrity, simplicityand honour. Not an intellectual, aninstincts-man. I’ve emphasized hisseriousness, but he could also beincredibly funny, often without realizingit. He had a knack of directly perceiv-ing the essence of a person or situa-tion, and then characterizing it perfect-ly with a voice, a mimic, or an analogy,in a way that often had me in stitches.He seemed to always be drawn to thatwhich was pure and strong, spiritualand true. Modern western culture with

its devious intricaciesand clever quick-fixsolutions seemed not toappeal to him at all.Indeed it seemed torepulse him. SometimesI felt he might have beenmore at home living inmedieval Japan ratherthan the modern West.He once took us all outon a dojo outing to thecinema to seeKurosawa’s ‘Seven

Samurai’. Afterwards he

confided to me, ‘Those farmers…those samurai… that way of life… sim-ple, true, honest… so close to myheart…’ Although his relationship withChiba Sensei might be characterizedby many westerners as being outra-geously masochistic, it was part andparcel of who he was and I do notbelieve he regretted a single minute ofit. Indeed, he once admitted to me thathe occasionally felt nostalgic for thoseyears with Chiba Sensei, despite theagony they entailed.

Perhaps there are ways to growother than through pain. However,I think so many people are seeking togrow in a half-hearted way: instead ofbeing awake to the path they havechosen, painful or otherwise, theynumb themselves and go to sleep.I believe Mick and Chiba kept them-selves as fully awake as they could intheir relationship, and went for it 100%,matching each other in will, determina-tion, and perseverance. One cannothelp but be touched by such spirit.

Beyond his relationship with ChibaSensei, Sensei Mick was of course hisown man with his own path. The yearsahead brought fatherhood, his estab-lishment of I Shin Juku dojo, his devel-oping osteopathic career and I’m surethe unfolding of many other andadventures to which I was not privy,and which others can recount.Although Mick and I went our ownseparate ways, I always held himfondly in my heart, and will forever doso. This man of Aikido, this man ofsingle-pointedness, vision, and lovewas I’m sure a great beacon for BritishBirankai for many years, and I’m sureis sorely missed, not only by his family,but by all who knew him. It is myprayer that in passing over to theworlds beyond, his soul has at lastfound that deep peace for which ityearned.

The title of this piece is a quote fromSensei Mick’s second favourite Aikidoteacher, Kitaura Sensei. This wassomething Kitaura Sensei had oncesaid to Mick, which he told me hadalways stayed with him, and touchedhim deeply, in a mysterious way:‘Aikido is a man standing on aRainbow.’ Mick, thank you so much forall you taught and shared with me, andwith everyone. I see you standing onthat rainbow now. ☯

Andrew StonesBSO students at Summer School, Lancaster 1983Andrew Stones second from right

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The Universityof WarwickAikido Club

(Gen Sen Jyuku)hosted a one-daycourse on 26March 2011. Ithad been in theworks since the start of the academicyear as we had not hosted one sinceOctober 2008, when Chiba Sensei ledthe British Birankai Autumn WeaponsCourse at the university and gave ourdojo its name.

Initially, it was a simple, straightfor-ward course. As many of the seniorstudents at the university dojo hadbarely started Aikido when the previ-ous event took place, it was a chancefor them to be host to one before leav-ing university in a few months time. Allthe invited teachers had a connectionwith the club: Chris Mooney Shihan,who is, and has been for many years,the teacher of our dojo; RichardEdmunds Sensei and Iona MooneySensei who have taken many classesat Warwick and of course, Ian GrubbSensei who started the club when hewas a student here.

However, two weeks before thecourse was due to take place, the

devastating earthquake and tsunamistruck in Japan. In light of this, thedecision was made to turn the courseinto an opportunity to raise muchneeded funds to donate towards earth-quake and tsunami relief. The invitedteachers generously donated their timeand to encourage participation, andthe course was opened to students ofall organizations. Any teachers whowanted to come and donate teachingtime were very welcome to do so.Therefore, Tony Cassells Shihan andAndy McLean Sensei of Kai Shin Kaialso took an hour’s class on the day,to the great delight of students whohad come to course expecting fourteachers, not six, including twoShihans.

The training was long and hard, butincredibly helpful, with each teacheradding emphasis on different parts ofAikido. The students ranged from 6thkyu to yudansha and it was great tosee old faces on the mats again, withthe course bringing many ex-Warwickstudents back to their first dojo afterquite some time, some of them asshodans. There was a welcome newface as well, with Dillon Mooney ateight months old adding his presenceto the course and to the group photo.

Overall, we made over £500 in profitwhich was then donated to theJapanese Red Cross, the same organ-ization that the Warwick Japan Societytook with their fundraising efforts.

In conclusion, I would like to extendmy gratitude and appreciation to all theteachers who kindly donated their timeand experience to teach at the course;to all the members of Gen Sen Jyukuwho used up every ounce of theirenergy in setting up and organizing thecourse along with the day’s training; toEddie Hodgson for his patience andhelp when the event page for thecourse on the Birankai website wentthrough seemingly endless changes todetails and the poster; to TerryMonnington, Heather Battersby andCarolyn McQuinny at Warwick Sportfor their aid and support in allowing thecourse to be held on campus. Last butnot least, I would like to thank ChrisMooney Shihan for being our teacherat Gen Sen Jyuku and all that we havelearned by being his students. ☯

Farah Dawood 4th KyuPresidentGen Sen Jyuku (Warwick Aikido)British Birankai

Farah Dawood reportsUniversity of Warwick Aikido Course raises £500 forJapan Tsunami Fund

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Farah Dawood

Shihan Etsuji Horii (Japan), 7th Dan so Hombu to join Shihan TK Chibaat Birankai Europe Aikido Summer School 2011, Worcester, England30 July - 5 August 2011

Shihan Etsuji Horii entered Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, Japan in 1985, initially as an uchideshi,then becoming a Hombu Instructor. After more than 10 years at Hombu Dojo, he movedback to his native Kansai region in 1996 to establish the Aikido Kobe Sanda Dojo. ShihanHorii has taught extensively in Asia, USA and Europe.

Summer School organised by British Birankai www.britishbirankai.com



Notice-boardNotice-boardCOUNTRYBRITISH BIRANKAI Gina Urazan Razzini, Shinmei-kan, London Aikikai,Scott Oldham, London East Aikikai,

Miroslav Brejla, Shinmei-kan, London Aikikai,

Paul Goatman 3rd Dan, Thistle Aikikai, Scotland

Alan Stevens 3rd Dan, Meishokan, Eastern AikikaiSteve Branagan 2nd Dan, Ji Myo Kan, Central AikikaiAndrew Colcough 2nd Dan, Cocks Moors Wood, Central AikikaiElizabeth McPhee 2nd Dan, SakuYou Kan, Scotland Aikikai

Mark Pickering 5th Dan, Cocks Moors Wood, Central AikikaiIan Grubb 5th Dan, Mei Jyu Kan, Central AikikaiStevie Boyle 5th Dan, SakuYou Kan, Scotland AikikaiRichard Edmunds 4th Dan, I Shin Juku, Cemtral AikikaiPaul Robinson 5th Dan, GenPu Kan, Central Aikikai

BIRANKAI FRANCELebrun Jérôme, Ann Jyou Kan, ParisPeron Ivan, Ann Jyou Kan, Paris

Patrick Barthélémy, Dai Jyo Kan, Bagnols

Mahieux Fabrice 3rd Dan, Gen Rei Kan, Uzès Moulinet Thierry 4th Dan, Dai Jyo Kan, BagnolsJean-Luc Busmey 3rd Dan, Dai Jyo Kan, Bagnols Moulinet Thierry, Dai Jyo Kan, BagnolsJean-Luc Busmey, Dai Jyo Kan, Bagnols

HELLENIC BIRANKAI Theodoros Tempos, Athens Aikido, AthensVasilis Mantis, Athens Aikido, Athens

Matt Teale, Kolonos Aikikai, Athens Jenny Flower, Athens Aikido, Athens

BIRANKAI ISRAEL Ofer Aviv, A Mon Kan Tel AvivDan Libon, A Mon Kan Tel AvivKobi Kreminze, A Mon Kan Tel Aviv

Amnon Tzechovoy, A Mon Kan Tel Aviv

BIRANKAI POLSKA (POLAND) Chyła Marcin, Wroclaw Aikikai, WroclawGryniewicz Urszula, Wroclaw Aikikai, WroclawKarbowski Michał, Wroclaw Aikikai, WroclawMateusz Szafrański, Wroclaw Aikido Club

Sarnatowicz Tomasz, Gdansk Aikido, GdanskŁukasz Łabędzki, Wroclaw Aikikai, Wroclaw

Kochaniec Jacek, Wroclaw Aikikai, Wroclaw

Dariusz Machalski 3rd Dan, Sen Nen Sugi Aiki Dojo, Wroclaw

BIRANKAI CH (SWITZERLAND)Anthamatten Beatrice, Sakura Dojo, BerneFlorent Liardet, Ryu Seki Kai, Lausanne

Sonderegg Ivo, Sakura Dojo, BernePierre Cambrosio, Ryu Seki Kai, Lausanne

Christophe Brunner, Ryu Seki Kai, Lausanne

Carl Schmitt 4th Dan, Ryu Seki Kai, Lausanne

PROMOTIONS 2010-2011PROMOTION

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