Today's Schedule:

5:15-6:15pm Aikido. Rey Espino

6:30-7:30pm Jo-Long staff. Kensho Furuya

Old Memories:

Here in the Yahoo group is another photo of Akira Tohei Sensei. We are both at the dining table relaxing and chatting in his home. From the decorations behind Tohei Sensei, it appears to be during the Boy's Day Festival, which means this photo must have been taken in or around the month of May.

Akira Tohei Sensei moved to Chicago in the 70's just after O'Sensei passed away in 1969 and Tohei Koichi split away from Hombu Dojo in 1972 to start his own Ki Society teaching his new Shinshin Toitsu Aikido.

He was introduced to the Chicago dojo by Isao Takahashi Sensei who was the senior instructor in Los Angeles at the time. Takahashi Sensei was formerly the head of the Los Angeles Aiki Kai but was ousted and forced to leave. He started a small dojo in Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles at the Chuo Gakuen Japanese Language School on Mott Street. I used to serve as his assistant there. At the time, he went back and forth to Chicago once a month to teach but I think the travelling was a bit too much for him at his age. When Akira Tohei Sensei decided to leave Japan, Takahashi Sensei arranged to have him become the Chief Instructor at the Chicago dojo. Shortly after this, Takahashi Sensei passed away. He was a great teacher in my mind and a very kind and refined gentleman whom I will never forget and I always feel badly that he had such a hard time in Aikido here.

Now that I recall, shortly after I first started Aikido, the teacher left the school and Takahashi Sensei took over. However, there were only one or two students at the time and considering the travel time from home and the job of setting up and taking down all of the tatami before and after class, Takahashi decided to close the dojo. I begged him to keep the dojo open and promised to set up and take down the tatami by myself and keep the dojo clean and in order and all he had to do was come and teach. We made a deal and Takahashi Sensei continued to teach at the school. I think I was about 11 or 12 years old at the time. Because of this, I could continue to practice, every saturday I set up 40 mats by myself and developed good strength in my arms.

At this time, Tohei Koichi used to come to teach on the West Coast about once a year. There was great rivalry among local teachers at this time vying for power because Tohei was not here all of the time, only going back and forth from Japan, and leaving a "power vacuum" in Los Angeles. I was very young at this time, and didn't have much idea what was going on, I only remember that I was very sad many times and vowed to stay away from all of the politics and commotion and devote myself to practice.

I got ready to go to train at Hombu Dojo in 1968 but I received a fellowship to Harvard and everyone thought it best that I attend Harvard and postpone my trip to Japan. My fellowship was for four years at Harvard but I made a deal with my parents that I would attend Harvard for only one year and go to Japan the following year in 1969. Regretably, O'Sensei passed away one month before I was able to meet him and it was O'Sensei who gave me permission to train. Luckily, for some unknown reason, I was still accepted to stay at Hombu and train by 2nd Doshu, so I always owe 2nd Doshu my life for this.

I had to return home because of the death of my grandfather, but I had permission to return to Hombu Dojo immediately by Ohsawa Kisaburo Sensei who took great care of me while I was training. Unfortunately, Tohei Koichi, who was the most senior instructor at Hombu Dojo at the time, stopped my return to Hombu and asked me to stay in Los Angeles and help with the development of Aikido here. I did not know that his real intention was for me to help with his split away from Hombu and to start his new group. Of course, I refused to join his group and stayed with Hombu Dojo. This was a very difficult time for me. With Tohei's split, it became so hard to freely visit any dojo for training and there was so much suffering and hard feelings everywhere. Reluctantly, in order to have a place to practice, I started my own dojo in 1974. I really did not want to do this because I liked travelling and training all over the country and there were many more places I wanted to visit and practice. But, I decided to tie myself down with a dojo, this was a hard decision for me to make. However, at the time, I was taking gymnastics to improve my ukemi and the instructor there was asking me to teach in his gym, so I agreed to start classes. Shortly after, we moved from the small Silverlake community to Hollywood to a bigger more permanent place but I didn't like this location at all and it was a big struggle to continue here. In 1984, I moved to our present location in Little Tokyo so we could have a place of our own with Aikido 7 days a week. . . . . Here I am today!

Sorry, I am so nostalgic today. . . . .