Third Aikido Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba Inaugurated
by Stanley Pranin
TOKYO - Saturday, September 25, 1999 was surely one of the aikido world's most
memorable events. I had the good fortune of being personally invited and I wanted to share
with you my impressions of the evening's events while still fresh in my mind. The occasion
was the inauguration as Third Doshu of Moriteru Ueshiba, son of former Doshu Kisshomaru
Ueshiba. As most of you know, Moriteru Sensei's father passed away on January 4 of this
year after having served in turn as aikido doshu since 1969 following the Founder's
demise.
The luxurious Keio Plaza Hotel in bustling Shinjuku, a business district of Tokyo, was the
site of the celebration. I showed up about an hour and fifteen minutes before the start of
the party hoping to be among the first arrivals. To my surprise several hundred people had
already gathered in the foyer below the banquet room. I immediately shifted into
"greeting mode!"
At practically every turn I saw old friends and acquaintances I simply had to say hello
to. It was both exhilarating and frustrating at the same time because most of the
conversations lasted from a few seconds to a couple of minutes, maximum.
About a half hour after my arrival, the early guests were invited into a
large waiting room with chairs and tables to relax prior to the commencement of the
celebration. I opted to wait outside near the entrance to monitor the arrival of the
guests since I wanted to make contact with as many people as possible. I also needed to
see several teachers from abroad for whom I had prepared photos taken at the funeral of
the Second Doshu in January.
At about 5:00 pm, the now huge crowd of well-wishers were invited to ascend the escalator
up to the fourth floor to enter the large banquet hall where the party was to be held. I
quickly entered hoping to stake out a suitable spot to stash my camera gear before the
proceedings began. This proved to be a challenging undertaking because I literally had to
push through the crowd to move about, all the while encountering friend after friend.
Imagine walking into a room the size of a football field packed with people standing in
close quarters. That was the scene inside!
Before I knew it, the announcement of the beginning of the festivities came and I found
myself a city block away from the stage with my camera and tape recorder still in my case!
This is a nightmare scenario for a journalist/cameraman and I quickly slipped into
"panic mode!" I hastily excused myself from whomever it was I was speaking to
and darted off. To get to where I wanted to be, I used the technique I had learned from
the old farm ladies in Ibaragi Prefecture for negotiating crowds of charging forward
churning my elbows back and forth while shouting in a loud whisper, "Sumimasen!
Sumimasen!" After several minutes of dodging and weaving through the downfield
opposition I finally ended up about 20 feet from the stage. I whipped out my camera and
tape recorder and hastily tried to set up a base camp. The only place I could find for my
recorder was on a table
full of food and silverware. As I was depositing my gear with a rattle on and underneath
the table, an attractive middle-aged woman whom I didn't recognize whispered
encouragingly, "Go at it, Stanley!" and I couldn't surpress a big smile. I
started standing on my tiptoes and swaying back and forth as I fired off photo after
photo. As I shifted to my left I bumped
into a tall, husky gentleman with a big grin on his face. By sheer coincidence I had
positioned myself next to Katsuyuki Kondo Sensei of Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu, my long-time
mentor and friend!
The lead-off speaker was Mr. Miyazaki of the board of directors of the
Aikido Foundation, a long-time administrator and backer of the Hombu Dojo. He was followed
by former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu who gave a rather long and amusing congratulatory
speech peppered with anecdotes of his early training years in aikido. Sadateru Arikawa
Sensei later told me the Mr. Kaifu was a member of the speech club of Waseda University
and that was why he was such a good speaker. Prime Minister Kaifu was followed by the
director of the Nippon Budokan and several political figures who offered their
congratulations. The Ambassador of Poland, Jerzy Pomianoswski, also gave an excellent
speech in English--I understood every word!--which was ably interpreted by Masaki Tani
Sensei of the Aikikai. In his talk, the ambassador outlined the history of aikido in
Eastern Europe, a topic of special interest to me as an aikido historian. He drew many
laughs as he
hinted that he was spending more time than he should doing aikido in neglect of his
official duties.
The new Doshu who had observed the proceedings while seated with his wife on the stage
then rose to read a short, prepared speech as hundreds of camera flashes popped creating a
veritable light show! This was followed by the "kampai undo" or official toast
which proved to be the most amusing moment of the evening. Usually the speaker will offer
brief words of praise
and lead everyone in a toast. However, this gentlemen forgot himself and went on for a
long time as the room filled with some 2,200 guests stood, glass in hand, in anticipation
of taking deep drink in the hot, stuffy banquet hall. This actually worked to my advantage
as people started spontaneously shouting, "Kampai! Kampai!" interrupting the
speaker as the hall erupted into laughter. Doshu smiled broadly and I used the opportunity
to catch a big grin on his face for several shots.
After the presentation of flowers and a gift to the new Doshu and his wife, people began
eating and chatting. I circulated about as best I could all the while bumping into
literally scores of friends. I was asked by several senseis to take their photos and I
have a long list of people to whom I need to send prints. I won't attempt to compile a
list of all the dignitaries from the aikido and martial arts world present that day. I
would surely leave out many key names. Suffice it to say, that it consisted of a Who's Who
in aikido. It was, however, a pleasure to run into my teacher Morihiro Saito Sensei and
his large entourage from Iwama, and Gaku Homma Sensei who had hosted us just the week
before in Denver, Colorado, a continent away! This kind of thing happens all the time in
the aikido world!
I personally felt that this event was not just about celebrating the new
Doshu's official assumption of a leadership role. It was about celebrating the global
aikido family and a reaffirmation of the roots and continuation of aikido as an
international phenomenon. There was a real solidarity that was palpable as people who had
formed bonds while training in their youths
had continued to maintain friendships throughout decades and now had begun to enter into
their twilight years. I must confess I have been a part of this process as I have been a
close-hand observer for 37 years!
* * *
Forgive the brevity of this report. There is much more I could write but now I'm out the
door to jet back to Los Angeles. I'll write again next week to report on the big Yoshinkan
event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Till then!
If you have enjoyed this report, please forward it to your aikido friends and spread the
word. Anyone wishing more to get more information about the publications and activities of
Aikido Journal may e-mail ajmag@earthlink.net for more information.
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All the principles of heaven and earth are living inside you.
Life itself is the truth, and this will never change.
Everything in heaven and earth breathes.
Breath is the thread that ties creation together.
When the myriad variations in the universal breath can be sensed,
the individual techniques of the Art of Peace are born.
- Morihei Ueshiba
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