Interview series with O-sensei's students:

Learned from O-sensei's hands: Romance with Aikido

Suginami Aikikai, Kato Shihan

From Hiden, April, 2007.

Part 2

Interviewer:

Who influenced your Aikido the most?

Kato Shihan:

The number one influence on me was O-sensei. His way of moving was definitive. I also learned a lot on my own. Strangely, I only remember the things that I worked on the hardest myself, but not what other senior teachers taught me. What is good about Aikido is that nobody forces you to learn a particular way. Therefore, you can cultivate your own ability to see and your own sense of knowing what works and what doesn’t. That's why you can find all types of people and personalities in this tradition. In the early days, people who weren’t familiar with Aikido training might have gotten the impression that we were each doing totally different techniques.

Interviewer:

Each person had a different *intuitive approach to Aikido then, didn’t they?

Kato Shihan:

Each person’s intuitive approach to Aikido is different. Everyone, including me, had a strong personality. (Smile). I wonder if it was very hard for Kichijyomaru sensei to deal with all of us. Everyone was doing a different thing. (Smile). But that was the way for Aikido to grow. If one person decides, "this is Aikido," that sets a narrow band for the value system of Aikido. I think Aikido's strength is that it can encompass a wide variety of people.Necessity of Gyo (subtitle)

Interviewer:

You have changed your style over time, haven't you?

Kato Shihan:

In my thirties, I injured my hip. I realized then that I was doing something wrong.

Interviewer:

What changed about your style?

Kato Shihan:

I changed how I used the lower half of my body. Until then, I depended on my flexibility. But that was not all of it. At the same time, I realized that "Aikido is not for a technique for fighting or taking people down." I changed my style, but it was very difficult to do. I didn't have any clue what to do.

Interviewer:

Do you mean that you have totally changed your style?

Kato Shihan:

Very different. Change your perception. Some people can change it very quickly, but it took a lot of time for me.

Interviewer:

Do you mean that you were depending on your stamina only?

Kato Shihan:

That's right. If I depended only on my stamina, I was not smooth enough. If something happened quickly, I would have been beaten without a doubt.

Interviewer:

What was your theory about movement at that time?

Kato Shihan:

I used my lower body. That's no different, but how to use it, with a sense of balance between stillness and movement, psychological balance, and to be inclusive of my consciousness and so on... is different from my old approach. I could move very quickly from the beginning. My movements were dynamic, not coming from my muscles. But O-sensei told me, " No dynamism, but soul." Those words flew in one ear and out the other because I was not clever enough. (Smile)

intuitive approach = kansei

(Translation: Takanari Tajiri & Zara Haimo)