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Old 07-14-2009, 07:25 PM   #19
George S. Ledyard
 
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Dojo: Aikido Eastside
Location: Bellevue, WA
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,670
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Re: Aikido in the UFC

Quote:
Drew Gardner wrote: View Post
Saotome Shihan seems to find happiness through sharing his vast knowledge of Aikido,
Actually, Drew, I think that Saotome Sensei, and most of the former uchi deshi I have met, carry their Aikido as a kind of burden. Every Shihan I talked to felt a huge debt of gratitude towards the Founder and a deep responsibility to justify the trust O-Sensei bestowed on them by teaching them.

I do not think this is an easy thing. I think it has a tendency to weigh upon them, especially as they get older and start thinking about whether their legacy would seem to justify their unique fortune in being deshi to one of the great martial arts figures of the twentieth century. It's like having a super famous Dad... how do you measure up?

Sensei has been my teacher for 33 years. I have seen him on and off the mat on good days and bad days. I will tell you that I honestly think that Sensei is happiest, not when he is teaching Aikido, but when he is doing something creative, something artistic. Teaching is his way of trying to pay back the Founder. But his success or failure is dependent on us as his students. If we don't measure up, he can't feel as if he has fulfilled his own mission. That's the hard part about being a teacher... you cannot achieve anything alone. You must have willing students who will sacrifice to go the distance in order to teach. That somewhat distorts the teacher student relationship because there is something more going on than just the teacher passing on knowledge to you. Anyway, as a teacher myself, I can tell you that this is not an easy thing to have as a mission.

I was in DC for Summer Camp many years ago. We were on break between classes and I was hanging around the dojo. Saotome Sensei had this huge, beautiful piece of drift wood and was busy with his hand tools (no power tools) working away on it. Turns out he was making a table for Paul Kang Sensei, one of his seniors students. I had this flash that this was the totally authentic Sensei, the one that wasn't burdened by his mission, who worried about whether we'd screw up Aikido, whether O-Sensei would think he had been a success. Sensei was totally in the moment, creating something beautiful simply because he wanted to, not because he had to. He was completely and absolutely content. That's when I think Sensei is truly happy.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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