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It Had to Be Felt #59: Matsuoka Haruo: "A Commitment to Breaking Through Barriers"
It Had to Be Felt #59: Matsuoka Haruo: "A Commitment to Breaking Through Barriers"
by It Had To Be Felt
05-31-2017
It Had to Be Felt #59: Matsuoka Haruo: "A Commitment to Breaking Through Barriers"

Introduction

I began my aikido training in April 1991. I walked into Tenshin Dojo in Los Angeles California to observe a class. It was the first time I'd seen aikido in person and I was fortunate enough to watch Matsuoka Haruo sensei teach. I left in complete awe of his technique, as well as the sincerity and spirit of everyone on the mat. After that introduction to the art of aikido, I became his student and continued on as his direct disciple for over 25 years.

Ukemi was taken very seriously at the dojo under Matsuoka's guidance. He was Steven Seagal sensei's top student and primary uke. Those who were around during Matsuoka's days with Seagal know that he developed his legendary ukemi skills through trial by fire.

I had a recent conversation with Jeff Imada, a kali master and world-class action choreographer. Jeff has done stunts and action choreography for over 400 films and TV shows. He told me a story of one of his early encounters with Matsuoka sensei back in the 1990s. Jeff was designing action sequences for Marked for Death. Some of the stuntmen hired for the film complained to Jeff that Seagal was bringing in "his own stunt people" for the action scenes. As professionally-trained stuntmen, they felt they were the best qualified to produce compelling on-screen action. As soon as they saw Seagal iriminage Matsuoka, then throw him ballistically through the air into a jewelry case, the stuntmen looked at each other and collectively told Jeff they were "totally fine" not executing those stunts. I've seen videos of Matsuoka sensei taking ukemi for Seagal's full power throws on hard floors (no tatami) and come out the other side uninjured.

Most of Matsuoka's senior students felt inspired and compelled to keep upping their ukemi game. I was no different. I first had the opportunity to take ukemi from Matsuoka as a young brown belt, which I consider my first exposure to feeling his aikido.

Phase 1: The Blade Flurry, 1991-2004

Over this 13-year period, Matsuoka's aikido became increasingly fast and efficient. Sometimes even scary. He moved like lightning. He used speed and angles to out-position and throw. Matsuoka was at Tenshin Dojo Osaka in the 1970s when an elaborate system of hand movements, parries, deflections, and atemi were developed. He refined this system over the years and was able to employ it impressively.

Attacking him often felt like walking into a blade flurry. I needed total presence and focus to leave a demonstration without suffering injury. Although serious injuries were rare, you wouldn't leave unscathed if you were slow or lost focus for even a brief second.

During this period, Matsuoka used ukemi as a way to cultivate the resolve and determination of his students. When demonstrating techniques in class, he would often throw us to the point of exhaustion. When I first began taking ukemi for Sensei, I asked one of my senpai "So, when he's throwing you, do you just keep going until you can't stand up anymore?" My senpai replied, "No. You keep going until he's done."

That was a paradigm shift for me. It allowed me to break through a number of my psychological barriers. One time, Sensei threw me with kokyunage until my legs felt so numb I was sure I couldn't stand up. He just looked at me, waiting for me to attack again. I was certain I couldn't get up, but trusted that he knew my limits better than I did. So I got up. And attacked. And attacked again. My limit was much higher than I thought, but without Matsuoka sensei's attunement and guidance, I would have never known this to be the case.

As an uke, Sensei always kept me on my toes. He might be narrating details of a technique and showing the movement in slow motion. Then, without warning he'd dial it up to 100% speed and power. Every time I was called up for ukemi, I was afraid and never lost sight of the imminent danger posed by this incredible speed and power.

Despite that dynamic, I only ever experienced profound compassion and control from Sensei. He forged me through hard ukemi, but he always cared deeply for his ukes and never hurt anyone with a display of ego. After taking his ukemi, I'd leave the dojo with heightened senses. I felt sharp as a razor walking out of the dojo and experienced an almost euphoric awareness for hours afterwards. It was an experience unlike any other and I have countless golden memories from this time.

Matsuoka sensei parted ways with Seagal in 1998 and later became a direct disciple of Abe Seiseki sensei, who was one of the founder's closest students in the later years of his life (and also O-Sensei's calligraphy teacher).

Phase 2: The Transition, 2004-2007

It was in the 2002-2004 time period that Matsuoka's rate of change began to plateau. He was at the height of his capabilities with the techniques and movement system he'd embraced for the past 30 years.

Seeking ways to break through to the next level, he began experimenting with the things he'd felt and learned from Abe sensei. We would sometimes practice Abe sensei's techniques and kokyu exercises. They were challenging in a very different way and much more static than the type of movements we had come to know and expect.

Matsuoka also met Kono Yoshinori sensei around this time. An old student of Yamaguchi Seigo sensei, Kono left the Aikikai to pursue more generalized budo research and invest focus into building an understanding of internal power generation and movement efficiency.

Inspired by these influences, Matsuoka's aikido went through a metamorphosis. Taking ukemi from him during this phase was a very different experience. With a commitment to breaking through barriers, he experimented and struggled with new methods and movements. His aikido felt different. Sometimes there would be an explosion of power. Other times it was disjointed. As uke, I felt a rapid, though inconsistent evolution. He could always fall back on his old movement patterns, but rarely did. Never provoked by ego, he insisted on putting himself in situations that forced him to fail so he could learn. We all knew he could still unleash the blade flurry at will, but he didn't. He knew it would slow his path to finding a new way.

Phase 3: The Aiki Engine, 2007-Present
"Aiki: a principle that allows a practitioner to negate an opponent's power on contact through application of internal dynamics or Ki energy to affect technique." (Wikipedia)
By 2007, Matsuoka's new aikido had taken form. He'd transformed into something entirely different. He still has the same portfolio of movements but now moves more slowly (generally) and more simply. Instead of relying on speed and timing, he uses subtle positioning and movement efficiency to create advantage.

He moves without sending a signal. He used to move so quickly you couldn't react in time to counter. Now he moves more slowly, almost casually, but you simply cannot react in time because he betrays no tells in his movements. It feels like a master magician performed a sleight-of-hand trick that you just can't figure out.

Sensei can now can project tremendous power into a single point. He can sledgehammer me on contact. His kuzushi can be so sudden and disruptive it almost knocks the wind out of me at times. If he puts full intent behind a shihonage or nikyo, I know it will devastate my body frame.

He can move through my resistance freely. From his perspective, his movements are light and effortless. As uke, when I grab him as hard as I can, it's nearly always impossible for me to resist his movement. Sometimes it feels like trying to stop an industrial robot on a factory floor. All you feel is smooth, seamless movement that has consistent power at a level a human just can't challenge. Other times, I feel like someone has opened a trap door under my feet and I just can't find anything against which to resist.

The tone and atmosphere of his demonstrations and instruction are much different now, as well. He generally teaches slowly in classes, choosing to focus on movement quality. Ukes are not often pushed to their physical limits, but instead pushed to learn by feeling and experiencing his movement principles in action. Sensei will still turn up the intensity, but usually he does so outside of class demonstrations in a more private setting.

He now spends a significant portion of his time seeking and learning from other martial arts masters, many of whom are outside the aikido world. He learns from from Kono Yoshinori, Yamaki Kenji (former kyokyushin karate world champion), and Dan Inosanto (Bruce Lee's top student and successor.) Getting input from world class masters in different disciplines gives him a radically different perspective on the martial arts that allows him to continue to evolve and transform his aikido.

I'm not sure what the next phase of his development will be, but I'm excited to experience it as an uke, seek a deeper understanding of his aikido, and find more effective ways to help transmit his discoveries to our students.

For those inclined to post, please re-read the introductory column before doing so. The rules for contributors, in short:
  • Only people who have actually taken ukemi the teacher who is the subject of this thread, may post
  • Simply post your direct experience of taking ukemi. This can include the nature of your relationship with them, as ukemi is more than merely taking falls.
  • Do not engage in back-and-forth with other posters, disputing their experience, or trying to prove why yours is more real. Just post your own experience. Trust your readers to take in each writer's account on its own merits.
  • If, for any reason, you find something to praise or condemn in anyone's description or wish to amplify your insights and perceptions, do so elsewhere. Start a thread about that subject in the appropriate section of Aikiweb.
  • Follow-up posts should be substantive, striving to equal the depth of the original essay. Simply agreeing with the writer, or a brief comment that, yes, the teacher in question was really powerful or had a wonderful shihonage or the like, are not congruent with the purpose of this archive.
Josh Gold (4th dan), is Assistant Chief Instructor and co-founder of Ikazuchi Dojo.

Josh began his aikido training under Matsuoka Haruo sensei in 1991 and has been his direct disciple for 25 years. Under the direction of Matsuoka sensei, Josh manages dojo operations, leads the development of Ikazuchi's programs, and supports the dojo's team of instructors.

Josh also has 15 years of entrepreneurial and executive management experience. He has founded a series of start-ups and led special projects for clients such as Intel, Sony, Disney, Nissan Motors, and DreamWorks.
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Old 06-02-2017, 12:25 PM   #2
Michael Hackett
Dojo: Kenshinkan Dojo (Aikido of North County) Vista, CA
Location: Oceanside, California
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,253
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Re: It Had to Be Felt #59: Matsuoka Haruo: "A Commitment to Breaking Through Barriers"

For a number of years before I began training in aikido I had watched the old Segal movies and read about Matsuoka Sensei doing all the stunt work in the fight scenes. After reading about specific scenes, I remember watching the film again and being terribly impressed with Matsuoka Sensei's ability to handle those devastating attacks. I understood that it was all "Hollywood", but some of the falls were still obviously incredibly dangerous.

I finally moved to a community where I could start studying aikido and there were times when I saw another rerun and was even more amazed at his ability after learning a little about ukemi. I wondered if I would ever be able to do anything close to what he did in the films and on the various TV demonstrations he did with Segal Sensei.

Then in 2005 I attended Stanley Pranin's great Aiki Exp at Dominguez Hills. There were a host of incredible instructors there - many that were famous and well known, along with a number that I had never heard of before. That shouldn't have been much of a surprise because I think I was just a 6th kyu student at the time. One instructor stood out for me though.....Matsuoka Sensei would be teaching !!! I couldn't wait to attend his class.

I don't recall for sure, but there were about 25 students that bowed in for his class. At the same time there were at least five other classes being taught and students were pretty well distributed on all the mats. When Sensei bowed in the class, he stood up and began speaking to us in sort of a lecture format. He began by explaining that he had been practicing aikido for forty years and that he had decided that he didn't like his aikido at all. He said that he was trying to find new ways of performing techniques and that he wasn't going to teach a formal class, but wanted us to all join him in experimenting and trying new and different things. I hardly expected such a renowned teacher and practitioner to take such a position.

He began "not teaching" by showing a classic kihon waza technique while using just any student who was on the mat. He did not demonstrate by using one of his own students as Uke, if one of his students was even on the mat with us all. After demonstrating the classic technique, we went ahead and did what he showed us as well as each of us could based on our levels of training. After a few moments, Matsuoka Sensei then would demonstrate the same technique with variations and then direct us to try the variations he showed and any other we could develop on our own. I had no idea of what the foundation was that he was showing at the time because of my beginning student status, but now I recognize that he was playing with internal power movements.

He never called me up to take falls while demonstrating, but he did move around the mat and work with each and every one of us. I was training with a Tomiki shodan when Matsuoka Sensei joined us. We basically were working with sumi otoshi movements from katate dori attacks. Again, we were simply experimenting with various movements like he showed us and what we could find on our own. When he joined us, he watched closely and then tried the movements that he didn't show before. When I grasped his wrist, I recognized that he was moving quite slowly and smoothly and I had no sense of strength on his part. I found it almost impossible to let loose of his wrist and then found myself flat on the mat. I knew what he did, but I had no idea at all how I ended up falling to the mat. I was also surprised that the fall was light and gentle even though it might be a breakfall and might be a simpler yoko ukemi. When he threw my partner, he threw faster, but was apparently just as smooth and gentle. My partner and I were each thrown five or six times apiece and then Sensei moved on to others. I noticed at the time that he showed them at least one of the movements that my partner had developed.

I don't recall for sure, but as best I remember, Sensei only did perhaps four demonstrations and spent most of the class working with each of us. The absolute beauty of what he was doing (as I see today) was his sense of interest and invention. While he was incredibly humble in his presentation and relationship with us all, his movement and actions were very powerful, but controlled and fluid. That was the greatest hour of the Aiki Expo for me and a time and experience I will never forget. Twelve years later I'm finally starting to learn what I experienced that day, and remain grateful for that class.

Michael
"Leave the gun. Bring the cannoli."
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