Newsletter

PZ:
I am already looking forward to this event,  because the Polish group will be there  for sure.

KS:
Thank you very much. Beside the above, of course, after all those seminars and shows we will have a small party in a hotel.

PZ:
Sensei, you have many students in Japan and other countries. For example                     in the Netherlands and in Poland. They use the name „Shoryukai Nederland”             and „Shoryukai Polska”. What does the word „Shoryukai” mean and how can we find connections in it to the line of aikido you teach?

KS:
In „Shoryukai” the word „Sho” is to be written with a sign that means „right, proper”. „Ryu” means direction or school. Together they mean a circle, where the right way is taught. Of course, everybody can understand it differently because in the name of the Shosenji Temple there is also this sign, but by no means I suggest that in Shosenji there is something  to be taken as the only right way and that I try to transmit it to aikido. Coincidently in both names there is „sho” but for me this 'Sho” in Shoryukai means the depth of humanity, the center of heart and studying it is the target of my aikido. „Ryu” is the direction. The direction comparable to the flow of the river, to the blow of wind, or how a man moves. This is a fluent line, not a point. Something constantly moving. Not single drops  of rain but a stream of water that flows via particular channel. And the way our body moves. Humanity isn't also a point – it reminds a line that goes to eternity, that lasts forever. We just need the direction of our life to go through the right channel, the right way. Water flows naturally, it goes down, to the place it can. It doesn't go up. When we understand those obvious things, when we accept them and get to know them, then both aikido and our life become better. This „Sho” stands for „honesty, truth and goodness”.

When we execute an aikido technique, we invite our partner to the practice and we put emotions into it. When he responds to our invitation and comes, we lead him further. It should not recall separate points, it should be an endless line that develops and expands in the right direction. There is happening nothing that is unnatural, artificial, unjustified.

PZ:
Sensei, you often travel abroad and meet many aikidokas. Do you see any difference between trainees in Japan and the ones from the other countries, in their approach       to aikido philosophy, to the trainings and in their involvement and dedication?

KS:
When I look at my students in Shosenji – people from Japan and from abroad – I can see the dedication of the Japanese, of course, but the foreigners... there is something more. They come only for some time and – that's understandable – cannot stay too long. They have other activities or just enough money to come and stay for a while and then they have to go home. And they know their time is limited so they dedicate to their maximum to learn as much as they can.

PZ: 
As I said before, we are meeting in Poland for the sixth time. How do you see our country? What are your impressions? How would you judge the level of Polish aikidokas?

KS:
How to judge such a level? I don't like this kind of grading, because it is very hard to measure. You have to pay your attention to something else. Maybe this will sound too emphatic, but wherever I go, I feel like at home, like in my family. Everybody is my sibling, because all the aikidokas make a family. When I went to Holland and said: „We all are siblings”, Ruud (Ruud Van Ginkel, 6 dan aikido, the Technical Director of the Shoryukai Nederland) answered: „A brother? You can at most be our father or even grandfather.” But I feel like a brother anyway.

If I wasn't looking at people like at my siblings, maybe I would be able to make such cold  and calculated view and say: „these, from that country, can do ikkyo indeed, and those cannot do anything...” or „oh, this one is good at shihonage, and the other, even though yudansha, isn't...” I think it's better not to use such statements or comparisons, or definite grades.

Today something very special happened. After the training a man approached me and said that he already had to say goodbye and go home because his wife is very sick, but he wanted to come to the seminar very much and was very glad he could attend. I could see the man   was very worried about all the situation and his wife's illness, and also very grateful for the possibility of training with us. And this dedication, this engagement can be taken as almost symbolic. Afterwards we took a photo together. I hope he will get home safely and everything will be fine. The Polish are truly dedicated to the aikido training.

PZ:
I am truly glad to hear such words because I am honored to have known you for a long time and I know how important this message is.

KS: 
I often repeat that we are like siblings. Even though in the Netherlands they told me to be rather a daddy, it also certifies their cordiality and that it is not a very official meeting where I am to be a great sensei who came to teach and everybody must listen and respect and stand to attention. There is no such distance, no such anxiety. There is mutual respect and there is cordiality. And we can afford joking about „being a daddy at most”. When I say that now we become beautiful flowers, and we let butterflies sit on our petals – it sounds as if I heard: „you can be at most a wilted flower”. But I don't mind, I take that as a type of cordiality that can be seen only in family relations.