Tag: aikido

El grado importa – Cinturones Negros en Aikido [Spanish Version]
Yoshimitsu Yamada en Kauai Hawaii, 1966
*This is the Spanish translation of the article “Something’s Rank – Black Belts in Aikido“, provided courtesy of Juantxo Ruiz.
¿De qué modo pensaba Jigoro Kano?
El otro día estaba leyendo una entrevista con Yoshimitsu Yamada en el sitio web de Aikido Sansuikai. Este pasaje llamó mi atención:
Bueno, el sistema de clasificación en aikido es otro dolor de cabeza. Yo personalmente no estoy de acuerdo con este sistema. Un certificado de enseñanza está bien, un cinturón negro está bien. Pero después de eso, no hay números, ni shodan, ni nidan, etc. La gente sabe quién es bueno y quién es malo. El sistema de clasificación dan crea una mente competitiva, porque la gente juzga a los demás – “oh, él es sexto dan, pero no es bueno, este tipo es mucho mejor …
Yamada ha hecho declaraciones similares antes, lo sé, pero siempre es interesante cuando la persona responsable de distribuir grados a un gran número de personas en varios países declara públicamente que él mismo se opone al sistema de clasificación.
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June 6, 2017
Cuatro Generaciones de la Familia Ueshiba [Spanish Version]
Traducción de Chris Li para Mitsuteru Ueshiba Waka-sensei
Waikiki Yacht Club, Honolulu Hawaii – Febrero de 2010
*This is the Spanish translation of the article “Four Generations of the Ueshiba Family“, provided courtesy of Juantxo Ruiz.
Aikido y el Aikikai, ¿Hacia donde se dirigen?
Mitsuteru Ueshiba (Waka-Sensei), bisnieto del fundador del Aikido Morihei Ueshiba, hizo su primera visita a Hawai en febrero de 2010.
Personalmente, he podido entrenar bajo tres generaciones de la familia Ueshiba; algunas personas en ese seminario, y muchos de mis instructores, han entrenado con los cuatro, comenzando con O-Sensei, y pasando de Kisshomaru Doshu a Moriteru Doshu, y de este a Mitsuteru Waka-Sensei .
El mismo Waka-Sensei es la primera generación de la familia Ueshiba que enseña Aikido que no ha tenido la oportunidad de conocer al Fundador.
Entre los que practican Aikido en todo el mundo hay muchas personas hoy en día que tienen rangos de Dan y que ni siquiera habían comenzado a practicar cuando Kisshomaru Doshu falleció.
Esto significa que finalmente estamos alejándonos lo suficiente del origen para ver lo que ha funcionado (y lo que no lo ha hecho) en la organización, y para ver que los lazos tradicionales que han mantenido unido al Aikido han llegado a un momento crucial de transición.
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May 22, 2017
Aikido and Me – Training with Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba
Eiichi Kuroiwa (黒岩暎一) teaching Aikido at the Rikuryo Aikikai (六稜合氣会)
One of the articles that I have enjoyed reading the most was “Mr. Kimura’s Aikido Memories” (Part 1 | Part 2). Of course, the recollections of training with Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba in 1942 were fascinating, but much of what I appreciated about it was that it presented the perspective of an ordinary person encountering the Founder.
Here is another account along those lines – an account of training with the Founder, this time in the 1960’s, from an ordinary person. This is a brief collection of memories of his time with O-Sensei by Eiichi Kuroiwa, who trained with Morihei Ueshiba in Osaka for five years from 1963 to 1968. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did!
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February 6, 2016
Mr. Kimura’s Aikido Memories, Part 2
Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba at the Noma Dojo, around 1936
In 1938 the Prime Minister of Japan was Prince Fumimaro Konoe (近衛文麿) – he was a patron of Morihei Ueshiba and served on the board of directors for Morihei Ueshiba’s pre-war Kobukai Foundation.
In 1938, when he began training with Morihei Ueshiba at the Kobukan Dojo in Tokyo, Mr. Kimura was a 19 year old Japanese exchange student from Dairen (大連 / Dalian), the Japanese occupied seaport in Northeast China. At the time the art was called “Ueshiba-ryu Aiki-jutsu”, and the students were a laundry list of influential political and military figures.
What follows is the second part of a two part English translation of his memories of that time dated June 24th 1987 which originally appeared in the tenth anniversary edition of “Aikido Kodaira” (「合気こだいら」十周年記念誌), published on October 30th 1988. You may wish to read Part 1 before reading this section.
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March 14, 2015
Mr. Kimura’s Aikido Memories, Part 1

Morihei Ueshiba’s Technical Manual “Budo” – published in 1938
1938 saw the continuation of the Japanese war in China, increased economic sanctions against Japan by the United States, and and the formation of the precursor to the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” (大東亞共榮圏), the “New Order in East Asia” (東亜新秩序). It saw the passing of the National Mobilization Law (国家総動員法) in the Japanese Diet, putting the national economy of the Empire of Japan on a war-time footing.
1938 was also the heart of the golden years of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba’s Kobukan Dojo, known as “Hell Dojo” for the severity of its training.
Mr. Kimura began training with Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei in 1938, in an art called “Ueshiba-ryu Aiki-jutsu”, at the Kobukan Dojo that had been opened in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo in 1931. What follows is the first part of a two part English translation of his memories of that time from June 24th 1987 which originally appeared in the tenth anniversary edition of “Aikido Kodaira” (「合気こだいら」十周年記念誌), published on October 30th 1988. (more…)
March 1, 2015