Young People’s Aikido in Shingu, Japan
Notes from a Pilgrimage
While in Japan we were privileged to participate in two “offering demonstrations” or hono embu. This kind of ceremonial Aikido offering appears superficially to be a demonstration with an audience, but it is not. It is done during a matsuri or traditional ceremony, in which offerings such as food or flowers are placed in front of a shrine. Then people come up in front of the shrine in pairs or small groups and do Aikido techniques, not as a performance but as an offering of their training.
At the Kumano Juku dojo in Shingu, we took part in a matsuri ceremony held to commemorate the anniversary of O-Sensei’s passing, on April 26th. (In Japan, famous people are remembered on the date of their passing, not the date of their birth.) Aikido students and teachers from Spain, France, and Switzerland were visiting the dojo at that time, in addition to our own group from California. Along with the Japanese aikidoists, we all took our turns in offering our training. Students in the children’s classes also took part in the offering.
The above photo contains Aikido’s history as well as its future. You can see the traditional offerings in front of the shirine. The shrine contains O-Sensei’s beard, as a symbol of connection with his spirit. Its doors are only open this one day of the year. The woman sitting in the background, watching the offering ceremony, is the widow of Hikitsuchi Sensei, a close personal student of O-Sensei, who served as Chief Instructor of the dojo until his passing in 2004. Surrounded by this history and tradition, the young people offer their training, carrying Aikido forward into the future.
