Berichte

Mörfelden-Walldorf September 2024

with Shichirotani Shihan

Seminar with Shichirotani Sensei

On September 28th and 29th, a course with Shichirotani Sensei from Ayabe (JP) took place in the large TGS sports hall in Mörfelden-Walldorf. This was made possible by the connections that Thorsten Reck, the head of the Shindojo Amorbach, has with this direct student of O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba.
Shichirotani Sensei (*1943 in Tanabe) started Aikido at the age of 18 and received direct personal instruction from O-Sensei from 1962 to 1969. In his explanations, he often referred to the founder of Aikido and emphasized that he actually performed the techniques in the way shown.
Shichirotani Sensei had brought 4 high graded students from Japan with him, who showed and explained the exercises and techniques in more detail individually to the participants in direct contact.
The Japanese aikidoka were extremely friendly and nice and did not shy away from acting as uke for participants in order to convey everything to them as well as possible.

Saturday's Group Photo

Tea ceremony

The course began early on Saturday afternoon. One of the Japanese aikidoka who had travelled with us is a master of tea ceremonies and offered the waiting aikidoka the opportunity to drink matcha tea ceremonially in small groups before the training began.
He prepared the delicious tea and explained the ceremony. There was the usual small sweet and the tea was served in really exquisite bowls.
This was a good introduction to the seminar.

Introduction

At the beginning of the seminar, Shichirotani Sensei introduced himself. He mentioned, among other things, that Ueshiba Morihei had opened his first dojo in Ayabe at the request of Onisaburo Deguchi. He sees himself in this tradition. He has been practicing Aikido for 63 years. The spiritual center of Oomote (formerly Omotokyo) is located in Ayabe. The ideas for a peaceful coexistence of all people inspired Ueshiba Morihei at the time and form an essential basis for Aikido.
Shichirotani Sensei spoke Japanese and was translated into English when necessary and partly into German.
The training then began with traditional stretching, Kenkotaiso and Aikitaiso.

Concepts

The approximately 120 participants on the tatami came from different styles. Most were members of the German Aikido Federation (DAB). Some came from Takemusu Aikido. Master Shichirotani had a long friendship with its founder Morihei Saito. A few participants came from Ki no Kenkyukai. There were no problems in the collaboration between the different styles.
The special thing that Shichirotani Sensei emphasized at this seminar was musubi and relaxation. In order to understand this, it was extremely important that his assistants made the details tangible to the participants through physical contact.
These concepts became clear especially in exercises and techniques from a static posture. For example, Uke grabs with both hands (ryotemochi) and really wants to control Nage. This gives Nage the opportunity to establish a connection (musubi). With very precise movements and a precise change in form, Nage now exploits the connection. Since he/she acts in a completely relaxed manner, this usually has a very surprising effect on Uke. He is thrown off track or off balance (kuzushi) and can no longer coordinate himself. Nage can then makes him fall or put him on the ground without any effort and without any force.
The geometry and functionality of the body are used very precisely, which could almost only be conveyed through the instructions of the assistants. On the other hand, those who reproduced their well-known techniques as usual did not get to enjoy the experience of this highly interesting type of interaction.

Procedure

Shichirotani Sensei usually showed up to three different techniques in a row, also with different Uke. He then had them practice for about 20 minutes. His assistants and he himself walked over the mats and explained them to the participants personally. This way everyone had enough time to try out the movements and work on them.

Demonstration

On Sunday, Shichirotani Sensei gave a demonstration of 40 or 50 techniques in one go. Even filming and photography were allowed. The seminar's organizer will publish examples on YouTube.
This example here comes from the video clips of "Training in Japan" that have been published on YouTube by Bushido Amorbach. Shichirotani Sensei explains what not to do in a "tsuki - irimi nage" situation in order to avoid unrealistic reactions. Even if the execution in the video seems a bit violent, in reality the attacker is brought to the ground very smoothly with very precise physical contact.

Photos with the master

Afterwards there was even the opportunity to have a picture taken with the master himself in smaller or larger groups, as a photographic souvenir of this special seminar.
The picture shows the participants from Trebur and Balerna.

Closure

The seminar ended on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps an official thank you speech from the organizer would have been an even more worthy ending. All participants, including the high grades and even the master and his assistants then helped to dismantle the almost 600 m² of mats.
The seminar was a very interesting and educational experience. Many thanks to the master and also to the organizer and the many helpers in the organization.

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