Kotodama at seminar

We recently had John Stevens Sensei at our seminar at Aikido of hilo, he went into depth about the kotodama practices and how essential they were to the practice of aikido. This was a truly great seminar and I enjoyed the information and concepts about kotodama. My Senseis at our dojo have had us do kotadama excercises so we had a little familiarity with some of the concepts. I was wondering are there any other dojos out there that practice Kotodama extensively as part of their aikido practice? There is Stevens Sensei (not sure if he has dojos under him that practice kotodama extensively) and William Gleason Sensei in Ma( who also has a Shobu Okugyo training camp for Kotadama and aikdio training), but are there other that utilize Kotodama as part of regular practice?

Jamie Yugawa wrote: he went into depth about the kotodama practices and how essential they were to the practice of aikido.

What did he say in this regard?

he spoke about how kotodama was actually part of the training of aikido. The spiritual practices that O-Sensei would do before training with the jo, bokken, and Kotodama chanting were essential to get a deeper meaning of training. I hope i worded that right lol.

Jamie Yugawa wrote: he spoke about how kotodama was actually part of the training of aikido. The spiritual practices that O-Sensei would do before training with the jo, bokken, and Kotodama chanting were essential to get a deeper meaning of training. I hope i worded that right lol.

Interesting. What did he say was the connection between kotodama and aikido?

Man i wish i could remember word for word how he explains it . I really dont want to misquote or misinterpret his ideas. His book "Essence of Aikido" and "Secrets of Aikido" are excellent for explanations of his beliefs on kotodama. I hope i am explaining it well it is that performing the Kotodama rituals to become more unified state of being and also to purify oneself to better connect with your partner. That maybe wrong but i think that is what it does.

would singing "baby got back" while doing aikido the same as doing kotodama, since it got nice sound and rhythm to it?

Phi Truong wrote: would singing "baby got back" while doing aikido the same as doing kotodama, since it got nice sound and rhythm to it?

Only if koshinage is exclusive technique performed.

Nakazono has some books on kotodama as well. Hikisuchi has a 75 part jo series that has one move for each kotodama seed sound.

See Goldsbury columns for further info that is more readable than most.

Hmm i guess that would harmonize with my hunger ! lol