The Teacher-Student Relationship
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winter / spring, 2018 Newsletter / Aikido Institute Davis Awase Awase is the newsletter of the The Teacher-Student Aikido Institute of Davis, a dojo where you can learn the arts of Aikido and Tai Chi. Relationship The Awase newsletter is published twice yearly in Winter and Summer. By Hoa Newens Sensei Please visit our website at AikidoDavis.com I recently took a group of twelve Aikido students http://www.aikidodavis.com/ for information on from our dojo on a brief visit to Japan. We membership and class times. trained in a class led by the Sandai Doshu, Ueshiba Moriteru, at the Aikido Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, and in classes led by Inagaki Shigemi Shihan, at the Ibaraki Branch Dojo (formerly known as the Iwama Dojo or O Sensei’s Dojo). The first teacher is the leader of our martial art tradition, the second is the leader of our lineage in this martial art. My purpose was to restore a vibrant lifeline to our roots and maintain the strength of this connection for the continuing benefit of our students. In the decade and a half that followed Saito Morihiro Sensei’s passing in 2002, the division and confusion in our Aikido community that resulted from his absence was not conducive to healthy relations with our roots. Though we, his senior students in the Takemusu Aikido Association (TAA), maintained the minimum communication with Hombu Dojo for administrative purposes, our physical relations with the dojos in Japan came to a halt. The number of students who visited and trained at Hombu Dojo and the Ibaraki Dojo plummeted. However, during this hiatus we refocused our effort in strengthening the infrastructure of the TAA, building such things as ranking requirements, instructor certification program, online ranking database, financial system and policies, and strategic planning. Aikido Institute Davis 638 Cantrill Drive, Suite B, Davis, CA 95616 530-297-1215 www.aikidodavis.com January 2018 Awase Winter / Spring, 2018 Now that this structural consolidation is nearing hierarchy is chronological seniority. For completion, and that the dust from the change in example, someone with more time in rank would leadership has mostly settled, our TAA be sempai with respect to another person with leadership is reviving effort to restore the bridge lesser time in rank, who would then be the to Japan. Our firm belief is that training in kohai. This placement is necessarily relative, Japan, especially under O Sensei’s direct since most often, one is sempai to someone and students and at O Sensei’s Dojo in Ibaraki kohai to someone else. provides an essential ingredient for growth to the The sempai-kohai relationship is a covenant serious Aikido students and, more importantly a among individuals who interact with each other key to the proper transmission of Aikido. in a cohesive group, especially one centered on a This latter point is often the least understood, so knowledge system. This covenant establishes an I will explain it in the balance of this essay. ordering among the participants to facilitate the flow of knowledge. The master-apprentice On a typical Aikido journey to Japan, the relationship is an example of this sempai-kohai average Aikido student from the U.S. can expect system. Certain trades and crafts in the world, two forms of experiential enrichment. The first such as baker, clock smith, metal work, musical one is the direct result of exposure to the instrument maker, etc. still rely on an Japanese culture and all of its social apprenticeship system for skill transmission. accoutrements. This in itself is a wonderful experience that challenges the viewpoint of Hierarchies can also be observed in many first-time visitors to an oriental society. organizations such as in the military, academia Concepts and social values such as public and the clergy. The purpose of these institutional behavior versus private feelings (Tatemae vs. hierarchies is mainly to organize their activities Honne), indomitable spirit (Fukutsu no Seishin), for the accomplishment of organizational goals. moral obligation (Giri), harmony (Wa), etc. and In this essay we focus our discussion on the the social traditions and mores resulting from types of hierarchies that facilitate the such values are manifested as exemplary social transmission of traditional artistic skill and order and high standards of hospitality that knowledge, and therefore will not refer to the produce a soul-satisfying experience during a institutional hierarchies. trip to Japan. Aikido is transmitted through a hierarchical The second form of enrichment is the system. Skills in the art can only be transmitted application and refinement of these social values by direct personal interaction between student in the Budo environment, especially with regard and teacher in accordance with a defined code of to etiquette (Rei). I have examined this concept conduct. The Sensei-Deshi (Teacher-Student) in a previous writing (“First Rei, Then Waza”, relationship is built around a strict code of Aikido Insights, 2005) and will discuss only the conduct that is described below, and represents a Rei between Sempai and Kohai in this essay. subset of the more general sempai-kohai relationship. The terms Sempai and Kohai simply mean Senior and Junior, respectively. We will In the classical view of the Orient, learning (or continue to use this Japanese terminology to teaching) an art is a holistic process that engages preserve congruency with the context of the all facets of life, physical, mental and often essay. spiritual. For example, the training for a traditional Taiko drummer or a Balinese The sempai-kohai relationship essentially gamelan player may involve exercises to limber creates, and builds on, a hierarchy of human up and strengthen the body, abstinence and positions with defined roles. Generally, the restrictions in lifestyle, as well as meditation determinant of a person’s position in this 2 January 2018 Awase Winter / Spring, 2018 practices. At the advanced level, every problem. A typical Eastern upbringing may turn interaction between teacher and student is a a person into a very compliant student, always teachable moment. submitting to authority and unable to discriminate and take the initiative for change. In the sensei-deshi code of conduct, the implicit Over the long run, this type of submission agreement is that, the deshi, in his sincere desire reinforces belief in the status quo and may lead to learn the art, is setting aside his ego and to dogmatism, which shuts the door to learning. opening himself completely to the sensei to receive and follow instructions in whatever Therefore, a student must tread a very delicate form. The sensei, on the other hand, pledges to path, balancing between total openness and trust hold the student’s growth at heart, and exhausts on one side, and intellectual discrimination and her resources in guiding the student along his curiosity on the other side. The ability to go back chosen path while honoring the student’s trust in and forth along this spectrum of behavior during her ability and integrity as a teacher. a learning interaction is crucial for the assimilation of the lesson. Rare is the student The student must open all the gates and the who possesses this fluidity. The most chance of teacher must control and guide the delivery of success inures to those who have rooting in both knowledge through those gates so that the East and West, such as a person born in the East student makes progress without being harmed. and raised in the West, or vice versa. For The concept is simple, but the system is fragile, students born and raised in the same culture, it and though very effective, is vulnerable to becomes imperative for them to soak as much of failure when either party fails to perform their the other cultural values as possible. Such is the side of the agreement. case for most Aikidoka born and raised in the On the student’s side, a failure may result from a West. Immersion in essential oriental traditions refusal to pull down all the barriers due to lack would help immensely to understand and endure of trust in the teacher, specifically trust that the certain rigorous aspects of Aikido practice. For teacher truly possesses the skill that she purports Aikidoka born and raised in the East, it is vital to have, or trust that the teacher will protect the for them to be exposed to the inquisitive and student from any harm during training. We progressive values of the West so that they can elaborate on these barriers below. constantly keep their art alive and free of The most formidable barrier is the student’s own unnecessary intransigence. ego. If not temporarily checked, this ego will I’ll open a bracket here to note that, thus far I screen all incoming bits of information have made the distinction between East and according to its own criteria, assign judgmental West mainly for simplicity. The real distinction values, and block certain items that are not should be between a modern society that is congruent with its existing database. In this way, centered around the freedom of individuals it inhibits new perception, and hence learning. striving for dominance over a dualistic world For example, thoughts similar to these might through accelerated development of the course through the student’s mind: “I don’t see intellectual mind; and a more traditional society what’s in it for me?”, “That wasn’t what Saito that is centered on community and emphasizes Sensei taught” or “This technique wouldn’t work classic human values based on emotions. in the streets”, etc. These thoughts are barriers Nowadays, examples of these two types of that thwart further reception from the teacher. societies are scattered all over the globe in the This is not to say that a tame ego is healthy for five continents, not just in the East or West.