Category Archives: Translation

Interview, Translation

An interview with Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Isoyama, Part 2

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The new statue of O-Sensei in Iwama, and the bust in front of Iwama Station
Hiroshi Isoyama sensei was born in 1937, and started training with Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei in 1949, at the age of 12.
Isoyama sensei, together with Hiroshi Tada sensei, formed a committee for the construction of a large statue of the Founder of Aikido on the precincts of the Aiki Shrine, which was unveiled on the 8th of November 2009. Surplus material from this monument was used to make a bust of the Founder which was unveiled at the newly rebuilt Iwama Station on the 24th of July 2012.
Hiroshi Tada sensei began Aikido shortly after Isoyama sensei himself – find out how Tada sensei met Morihei Ueshiba in "Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Tada: The Day I Entered Ueshiba Dojo". There is also a very long interview with Tada sensei in Japanese that appears in a nine part English translation – here is the first part of that interview.
What you are reading now is the second part of a two part English translation of an interview with Hiroshi Isoyama sensei that first appeared in the February 2009 issue of Gekkan Hiden ("Secret Teachings Monthly"), a well known martial arts magazine in Japan. You may want to read the first part of the interview before reading this section.

Interview, Translation

An interview with Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Isoyama, Part 1

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Hiroshi Isoyama and Steven Seagal
A few weeks ago I was watching Michael Schiavello’s interview with Steven Seagal in which he named Hiroshi Isoyama (磯山博) as the Aikido instructor who has influenced him the most.Hiroshi Isoyama sensei began training in the Iwama Dojo in 1949 at the age of 12 as a direct student of the Founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. Over a long career in the martial arts, he has been Chief of Defensive Tactics for the Japan Self Defense Force Academy, and also instructed the U.S. Army in self-defense tactics. I still remember his comment about starting to teach Aikido to the military – "They didn’t believe that Aikido works – I made them believe".
His trademark Ganseki Otoshi demonstrations are always a crowd pleaser at the annual All Japan Aikido Demonstration.
This is the first part of an English translation of an interview with Hiroshi Isoyama sensei that first appeared in the February 2009 issue of Gekkan Hiden ("Secret Teachings Monthly"), a well known martial arts magazine in Japan. It was also published in a collection of interviews with students of the Founder published in Japanese as 開祖の横顔 ("Profiles of the Founder") in 2009.There was a short introduction to this work in the article "Morihei Ueshiba – Profiles of the Founder".
I previously posted an English translation of the interview with Nobuyoshi Tamura sensei from that collection in two parts (Part 1 | Part 2).

Translation

Yukiyoshi Sagawa on Bujutsu and Ki-Ryoku, Part 2

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Keisetsu Yoshimaru demonstrating Aiki-age
Keisetsu Yoshimaru (吉丸慶雪) trained under Yukiyoshi Sagawa from 1961 to 1976. Yukiyoshi Sagawa began training in Daito-ryu with his father, a student and Kyoju Dairi (licenced "Assistant Instructor" – the same license that Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba received) of Sokaku Takeda.  Sokaku Takeda actually lived with the Sagawa family for some time, and Sagawa started training with him around 1914, about a year before Morihei Ueshiba met Takeda at the Hisada Inn in Hokkaido and became his student. He was once considered to be the successor to Sokaku Takeda.Interestingly, there was once an agreement for Sagawa to become an instructor at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo around 1956, but he took exception to some remarks about Sokaku Takeda made by Morihei Ueshiba in an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun around that time and changed his mind.After Yoshimaru left Sagawa Dojo he also trained under Kinbei Sato (佐藤金兵衛), who had trained in Daito-ryu under Kakuyoshi Yamamoto (山本角義), another direct student of Sokaku Takeda.Although Keisetsu Yoshimaru remains a somewhat controversial figure in Daito-ryu, he has published a number of interesting books with quotes from Yukiyoshi Sagawa, most of which have never been translated into English before.This is the second part of a two part translation of the "Bujutsu and Ki-Ryoku" chapter of "Aikido no Ogi" (合氣道の奥義 / "The Secrets of Aikido"), which consists mainly of quotes from Yukiyoshi Sagawa, many of which recount Sagawa’s memories of Sokaku Takeda. You may wish to start with part 1 before you read this section.You may also wish to read another two part translation from "Aikido no Ogi" which contains quotes from Yukiyoshi Sagawa relevant to building the "Aiki no Rentai" (合気之錬体 / "The Conditioned Body of Aiki"): Part 1  | Part 2

Translation

Yukiyoshi Sagawa on Bujutsu and Ki-Ryoku, Part 1

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Daito-ryu scrolls given to Kinbei Sato by Kakuyoshi Yamamoto
Keisetsu Yoshimaru (吉丸慶雪) trained under Yukiyoshi Sagawa from 1961 to 1976. Yukiyoshi Sagawa started training with Sokaku Takeda around 1914, about a year before Morihei Ueshiba met Takeda at the Hisada Inn in Hokkaido. He was once considered to be the successor to Takeda Sokaku.After Yoshimaru left Sagawa Dojo he also trained under Kinbei Sato (佐藤金兵衛), who had trained in Daito-ryu under Kakuyoshi Yamamoto (山本角義), another direct student of Sokaku Takeda.Although Keisetsu Yoshimaru remains a somewhat controversial figure in Daito-ryu, he has published a number of interesting books with quotes from Yukiyoshi Sagawa, most of which have never been translated into English before.This is the first part of a two part translation of the "Bujutsu and Ki-Ryoku" chapter of "Aikido no Ogi" (合氣道の奥義 / "The Secrets of Aikido"), which consists mainly of quotes from Yukiyoshi Sagawa, many of which recount Sagawa’s memories of Sokaku Takeda.You may also wish to read another two part translation from "Aikido no Ogi" which contains quotes from Yukiyoshi Sagawa relevant to building the "Aiki no Rentai" (合気之錬体 / "The Conditioned Body of Aiki"): Part1  | Part 2)

Translation

Aiki no Rentai: The Conditioned Body of Yukiyoshi Sagawa, Part 2

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Kakuyoshi Yamamoto and Kinbei Sato
Keisetsu Yoshimaru (吉丸慶雪) trained under Yukiyoshi Sagawa from 1961 to 1976. After leaving Sagawa Dojo he also trained under Kinbei Sato (佐藤金兵衛), who had trained in Daito-ryu under Kakuyoshi Yamamoto (山本角義), another direct student of Sokaku Takeda.Kakuyoshi Yamamoto was born on March 3rd, on the 3rd year of the Taisho era (1914). Sokaku Takeda would come into the restaurant where Yamamoto was a cook, and despite an initial impression of Takeda as an evil old man, after several visits they began a conversation. "I’m a Bujutsu-ka" said Takeda, and after talking for a while he said "Come and try!", so Yamamoto started training under Sokaku Takeda in Showa year 12 (1937).In Showa year 16 (1941) Yamamoto became an uchi-deshi, and took over much of the care and feeding of Takeda, who was no longer physically able to care for himself. Takeda would apologize "Yamamoto, I’m sorry, I’m sorry", as he was carried on Yamamoto’s back. Yamamoto noticed that Takeda sensei’s abdomen was covered with small cuts. This was from a knife that he would carry in his kimono wrapped in a towel. The knife would often slip out of the towel while he was instructing, causing the small cuts – something that most students would never see. Takeda, a veteran of many violent incidents in his youth, was always armed, and would carry this knife with him at all times until his death.
Yamamoto attended Takeda as he passed away on April 25, Showa year 18 (1943), in a ryokan in Aomori. After Takeda’s death Yamamoto took two Kanji from Takeda’s formal name and changed his first name, Tomekichi, to Kakuyoshi, in order to honor his teacher Takeda Sokaku Minamoto no Masayoshi (武田惣角源正義).Kinbei Sato was born in Taisho year 14 (1925) in Fukushima. Sato studied a large number of arts under a variety of instructors, including the noted Chinese martial artist Wang Shu-jin, and Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu with Kakuyoshi Yamamoto.This is the second part of a two part translation of the summary section of "Aikido no Ogi" (合氣道の奥義 / "The Secrets of Aikido") – "Aiki no Rentai" (合気之錬体 / "The Conditioned Body of Aiki"), by Keisetsu Yoshimaru . This section contains a summary of the quotes from Yukiyoshi Sagawa relevant to the conditioning of the body necessary for Aiki.You may want to go back and read part 1 before you continue any further.