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Tag: takumakai

  • Hakaru Mori on Kakete and Aiki no Jutsu

    Hakaru Mori on Kakete and Aiki no Jutsu

    Hakaru Mori

     Hakaru Mori demonstrating at the 50th Anniversary of Sokaku Takeda’s passing

     Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Takumakai (大東流合気柔術琢磨会) General Director Hakaru Mori (森恕) began studying with Takuma Hisa in 1962. Mori sensei was instrumental in founding the Takumakai organization, something which Takuma Hisa himself initially opposed, and was eventually designated as the General Director (総務長 – the same title that was held at one time by Sokaku Takeda himself) of the Takumakai by Takuma Hisa.

    This article is the English translation of an article in Japanese written by Hakaru Mori. It originally appeared in issues number 68 and 69 of the Takumakai Newsletter.

    In this article there is some mention of the “Soden”, a large collection of photographs in nine volumes collected by the students at Takuma Hisa’s Asahi Newspaper dojo depicting the techniques taught to them by both Morihei Ueshiba and Takuma Hisa.  Since this type of photography was unusual among traditional arts at the time this involved some small amount of misdirection on the part of Takuma Hisa and his students. According to Hakaru Mori (Aiki News #89, July 1989):

    I understand that Hisa Sensei would take Ueshiba Sensei or Sokaku Sensei for a bath after practice and wash their backs. During that time, his students would perform the techniques they learned that day and take photos. Today it is not very difficult to take photos, but in those days it wasn’t easy and it was only possible because of the Asahi Newspaper Company. There are more than 1,500 photos all together.

    You may also be interested in Hakaru Mori’s article “The Aiki of Tenouchi“.

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  • Hakaru Mori on the Aiki of Tenouchi

    Hakaru Mori on the Aiki of Tenouchi

    Urakami Sakae

     Urakami Sakae (浦上荣) of Heki-ryu Kyudo shows “Tenouchi”

     In the article “What is Aiki?” (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3) Sagawa-den Daito-ryu Aiki Budo instructor Masaru Takahashi discussed “Tenouchi” (手の内) and it’s relation to Aiki.

    Generally speaking, the literal meaning of Tenouchi is “the inside of the hand” (in other words, the palm of the hand)  – in Kendo it can mean the swordsman’s grip on the sword, or in Kyudo it can mean the grip of the hand on the bow. Urakami Sakae above shows the classical Tenouchi in Heki-ryu archery (you may remember that there was a tradition of Heki-ryu archery in the family of Hiroshi Tada) . In classical arts it was given such weight that it came also came to be used as a way to refer to one’s level of skill.

    This article is the English translation of an article on Tenouchi in Japanese written by Hakaru Mori, the Somucho (General Director) of the Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Takumakai (大東流合気柔術琢磨会、総務長森恕), and successor to Takumakai founder Takuma Hisa, who trained under both Morihei Ueshiba and Sokaku Takeda. It originally appeared in issue number 82 of the Takumakai Newsletter.

    While reading this article you may wish to keep the following quotations from Yukiyoshi Sagawa in mind:

    6/12/1965
    Not receiving the opponent’s power and making it so that their power will not enter into me when I attack is Aiki. This is not simply draining their power, you must also make an attachment. Aiki makes an attachment through the way that the hand is opened. Simply opening the hand is not Aiki.

    8/28/1971
    I was told by Takeda Sensei to open my hand in the way that a Morning Glory (“Asagao”) blooms, but I think that this means to open the hand while rotating slightly. I conceived of my Aiki while thinking about this kind of thing.

    12/16/1973
    Learn Aiki through Suwari-ryote-dori Age-te. This is how I learned the Aiki method of destabilization. The important Hiden (“secret transmission”) is (1) Turn the thumbs towards yourself. (2) Rotate your forearms. Because they rotate the attachment is formed. They rotate in the same way that a Mountain Rose (“Yamabuki”) opens. Putting power into each of the fingers is important.

    6/10/1973
    The Gokui (“secret”) of Aiki. The reason that an attachment is formed with Aiki is because of the rotation of the forearms.

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