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Zazen Biran Online Essays and Reflections on Birankai North America’s Community, Aikido, Iaido, and Zazen Scroll down to content Posts Posted on February 3, 2023 February 3, 2023 Remembering Yamada Sensei Darrell Bluhm, Founder and Chief Instructor, Siskiyou Aikikai Yamada Shihan and Chiba Shihan at 2012 Birankai North America Summer Camp Please also visit Aikido Journa l for Josh Gold’s Spring 2022 interview with Yamada Sensei. The recent passing of Yamada Sensei marks the end of an incredible era of Aikido in America. Yamada Sensei was the first of a wave of Japanese Aikido pioneer instructors to establish themselves in America. He was one of the last remaining of those pioneers and arguably the most impactful, proving to be an extraordinary ambassador for our art for nearly 60 years. I first met Yamada Sensei in 1973, while I was training with Saito Sensei in Iwama, Japan. Yamada Sensei was visiting Japan with a group of students. A stop in Iwama, O-Sensei’s long-time home and home of the Aiki Shrine, was essential. While that first encounter was brief, it’s one I still remember, largely because I found Yamada Sensei to be disarmingly charming. Over the course of the next few years, I encountered Yamada Sensei at various seminars, and was always charmed by his friendliness and openness. However, during the late 1970s, most of what I heard on the west coast regarding Yamada Sensei was resentment on the part of the local American Aikido teachers, including my own, because the organization he co-founded and headed, the United States Aikido Federation (USAF) was the only organization in the United States to be recognized by Hombu Dojo. Dan ranks could be processed only through the USAF, and all US based instructors who wanted to have their students’ ranks registered with Hombu had to be members of the USAF. (It was known as the one country, one organization” rule. Interestingly, it was Chiba Sensei, after his arrival in the US, who was instrumental in persuading Hombu Dojo to abandon that policy, and agree to recognize multiple organizations within a country.) In October 1980, Yamada Sensei brought Chiba Sensei to visit San Diego, as a possible place for Chiba Sensei to settle and establish a dojo. As it happened, I was designated to pick the two of them up at LAX and be the tour guide for the day. Yamada Sensei was thus the person who first introduced me to Chiba Sensei, for which I shall be eternally grateful. Yamada Sensei did almost all the talking during the day. Chiba Sensei didn’t speak with me until the evening, when I sat to drink with him at the bar in Hanalei Hotel, where they were both staying. The difference in personality between Yamada Sensei and Chiba Sensei was quite striking. Yamada Sensei’s warmth and friendliness put me at ease — Chiba Sensei’s quiet intensity, not so much. One thing became clear to me during that day (and was confirmed with further conversations with Chiba Sensei), without Yamada Sensei’s efforts to bring Chiba Sensei to the US, convincing both Chiba Sensei and the leadership of Hombu Dojo that it was a good idea, it would not have happened. We in Birankai owe Yamada Sensei a special debt of appreciation for his striving on behalf of our teacher and our community. Although my exposure to Yamada Sensei’s teaching was limited, there were numerous occasions where he most graciously offered me his personal support. As an early example, during the first year Chiba Sensei was in San Diego, while I was teaching a class, Yamada Sensei showed up at the dojo, by himself. He sat to observe my class. I was nidan at the time, and was extremely intimidated by Yamada Sensei’s presence, yet following the class he chose to give me only positive feedback and encouragement. The last time I saw him was at the BNA summer camp in 2016 in St John’s University in New York, his home ground. We taught classes back-to-back. I trained in his class, and he watched my class. It was 35 years later than the first time he watched me teach and I was just as intimidated and again, he offered only positive feedback. Taken at the 1994 USAF summer camp celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the New York Aikikai. Front row (L to R): Sensei – Kawahara (British Columbia, Canada), A. Tohei (Midwest, USA) Tamura (France), M. Ueshiba (WakaSensei, now Doshu, Hombu) Chiba (Western USA), Kurita (Mexico) Back row (L to R) Sensei – Kanai (East Coast USA), Shibata (Western USA), Yamada (East Coast, NY, USA), Sugano (East Coast USA, Australia) I started with the comment, Yamada Sensei’s passing marked the end of an era for Aikido in America. He, Kanai Sensei and Chiba Sensei and other Japanese Shihan have laid a foundation for the development and growth of Aikido in this country and beyond. It is now our and our students’ responsibility to apply the same passion, commitment and expertise demonstrated by our teachers, now gone, to sustain and advance our art into the future. Darrell Bluhm January 2023 Ashland OR Share this: Facebook More Twitter Tumblr Email Pinterest Posted on January 30, 2023 In Memory of Yamada Shihan – January 15, 2023 Kristina Varjan, Chief Instructor, Aikido of Kohala There are special people in our lives who never leave us even after they are gone. Yamada Sensei was one of those people. How can someone that has given so much to others ever be forgotten? He can’t and he won’t! Yamada Sensei introduced me to our amazing world of Aikido in 1975. He was generous, a great cook, a strong leader, with a great sense of humor, and a true diplomat as well. He made everyone around him feel special. Being on the mat teaching to so many, meeting new people, that was what was truly important to him. Spreading Aikido to as many people in as many places as possible was his mission in life. It seemed like he never tired, but he did. He was human. He came to teach a seminar in Hawaii at our dojo (Kohala Aikikai) in 2003. I saw him outside the dojo preparing for the seminar and asked him if he was ok. He said: I’m nervous. I still get nervous after all these years. Like it’s the first time that I am getting on the mat to teach!” It seemed to me like he was once again embracing the concept of SHOSHIN”, beginners mind, every time he taught a class or seminar. I think many of us have felt the powerfulness and the freshness of his dynamic teaching in each class stressing the basics, even if it’s Ikkyo again and again. Get everything you can from your Senseis, talk to them, and stay in touch with them. Their commitment and vast experience are invaluable. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Ms Yamada, Mika, Risa and Tatsuya for sharing Sensei with us all. And when your Sensei says ROLLS”, throw out a few on the mat! Some of you will know what I mean… Gassho, Kristina Varjan Share this: Facebook More Twitter Tumblr Email Pinterest Posted on October 29, 2022 A Tool For Your Path Archie Champion, Birankai Senior Council Member and Chief Instructor, Central Coast Aikikai People too often undervalue the benefit of martial arts practice and its ability to transform one’s life. To have good health, power and energy at any age is a blessing. Being healthy is a virtue that every individual should strive for to the best of their ability. The muscles of the body are naturally designed a to be challenged by bearing weight, and being lengthened and contracted. The bones are designed to bear weight, to continue to grow, to replenish themselves and to remain strong. It is the body owner’s responsibility to know these things and to engage in practice designed to fulfill these functions that has been handed down from the ancestors. People suffer from many health issues that decrease quality of life and lead to premature death, which can be changed through Aikido practice. Having practiced Aikido almost every day for 44 years, I don’t consider myself old or close to the end of the road. We live in a postindustrial, digital, AI culture, programmed to believe and operate as if...