Miscellaneous Thoughts on Aikido (from Kuroiwa sensei’s writings)

Another translation done on a whim. No proofreading done. I came across a phrase that stood out to me – the fruit for my labor.

Waza (from Kuroiwa sensei’s writings)

I translated this essay on a whim, and I had been holding back on putting anything here from this website (黒岩先生の合気観） but I finally realized that the author had not put any contact info, so I figured, no misuse, and it’s public domain so…
(I thought it was interesting the conceptual distinction between “form” and “shape”).

Waza (16)
Please tell us your thoughts on “technique”.

From agasan’s blog, “Not a matter of course” (05.22.07)

…

On another note, Kuroiwa sensei never uses the word, “ki” when instructing. I asked him, once, why. He gave the following answer:

“The reason a person pursuing Buddhist training does zazen is because they aren’t enlightened at the moment, right? They aren’t enlightened now but they would like to be. If you tell them, when they’re just starting out in zazen, to be enlightened, that’s unreasonable. No teacher would demand that of their students. In aikido, you hear new people being told, ‘extend/put out your ki’. If all they needed was to be told to do it, they would never need to come to practice.”

Of course. But if one continues to go to practice, will they become able to extend/put out ki? Sensei answered,

“Ki is not something you take out and put back in. Ki is something that manifests spontaneously depending on the degree of one’s training. If you practice for one year, then you will have one year’s ki. Ten years, ten year’s ki.”

From agasan’s blog, about Osawa sensei via Kuroiwa sensei (03.05.2007)

I wrote previously that the person who told Kuroiwa sensei to stop using the stick techniques was the late Osawa Kisaburo sensei. “O-sensei never taught anything like that. Therefore you must not do that while his eyes are black (i.e., while he is still alive),” Osawa sensei said, apparently.

From agasan’s blog, about having strength (04.06.2007)

It is said that in aikido one does not need to rely on physical strength. But why o why is it that O-sensei and many of his students were physically powerful? This is also something I heard from Kuroiwa sensei.

From agasan’s blog, about O-sensei (03.30.2007)

Kuroiwa sensei calls O-sensei, “Ueshiba sensei”. This is nothing strange, but I think it may be rare that someone does so within the Aikikai. (I myself suppose he does so because he was a student from before the term “O-sensei” was used.)

From agasan’s blog, about “strength” (02.17.2007)

[This entry is about what it means to be strong and how one in aikido can prove his strength, e.g., in matches against persons from other styles, which leads to consideration of the matters of rules and limitations.]

From agasan’s blog, about Kuroiwa shihan (02.02.2007)

[translations by me, without with permission (see comments on agasan's blog)]
挨拶だけではナンですので　黒岩先生のこと　その１

私が師事している黒岩洋志雄先生については、ご紹介すべきことがたくさんありますので、何回にも分けてお話しますが、初回は段位について。
[About Kuroiwa sensei - 1

There are many things I can share about my teacher, Kuroiwa Yoshio sensei. I will tell about him in separate installments, but first, about rankings.]