Aikido of Pajaro Valley

After a great seminar....

I am posting this short story with kind permission from my old friend Whitney Hibbard. It was originally published I believe in the late 80's or early 90's in "...The Tomahawk & Long Rifle" publication of the American Mountain Men association. Tea Ceremony by Whitney S. Hibbard - Tea Ceremony, the words shook me out of my preoccupied state and I looked up over the muzzle of my long rifle at the Japanese Shihan (master teacher of martial arts). As a martial arts teacher myself, I instantly knew what he meant, and warmed with immediate understanding. I looked at him, astonished at the revelation that a few well-chosen words could trigger, yet a little inwardly embarrassed that I hadn’t made the connection long before myself. Before me stood Mitsugi Saotome Shihan, a master teacher of Aikido and long-time personal student of Aikido’s founder Morihei Ueshiba, probably the greatest martial artist ever produced by Japan. He had watched every movement I made in loading my long rifle with the eyes and fascination of a child and saw something, something marvelous, that I didn’t see. Loading your rifle is like Japanese tea ceremony, he went on to explain, an active meditation with each movement precise and in order, and done with complete focus and awareness. After watching me load and shoot twice, I gave my powder bag and rifle to Saotome Shihan, thinking that I’d need to coach him as he’d never loaded and shot a muzzle loader before. To my astonishment, he completed the task without error or need of input or correction. In later discussions, Saotome Shihan said with real excitement that he believed that muzzleloading is true American budo, or martial art, the real purpose of which is to seek personal development and character refinement, and to achieve spiritual serenity, mental tranquility, and deep self-confidence. The Kentucky long rifle should be to the American what the samurai sword is to Japanese - - one of Japan’s three sacred treasures. Treat it with reverence and use it as a tool for personal spiritual transformation. Every time you load your rifle you should be polishing your spirit. Saotome Shihan essentially challenged me to radically change my perception of and the way in which I practice muzzleloading. He challenged me to treat my long rifle as a sacred object with a spirit if its own, and the process of using it as an active meditation, realizing that in the long rifle is the soul of America. And if I consciously choose to make it so, muzzleloading can indeed be a true American martial art in which I intentionally refine and polish my own self and spirit every time I load and shoot my rifle.

A deep bow of gratitude to Frank Doran Shihan, who gave a seminar at Aikido of Santa Cruz yesterday. As always, his teaching was most generous, clear, beautifu...l, and useful, and strengthened our sense of "Aikido family." Thank you also to all the people who attended, from many dojos! (Photo by Larry Colen of ASC.) -- Linda Holiday "Aiki is not a technique to fight with or defeat an enemy. It is the way to reconcile the world and make humanity one family." --O-Sensei See more