Arizona Aikido Celebrates 40 Years
by Al Krever
Photograph by Giorgio Mariani
Ed. Note: On the weekend of February 22 - 24, 2008, Arizona Aikido celebrated its 40th anniversary, as it continues to fulfill its mission of providing aikido instruction to the greater Phoenix area. The highlight was a seminar conducted by Mitsugi Saotome shihan
Arizona Aikido claims a rich and colorful history, one that has been influenced by several teachers and styles as circumstances have changed over the years. The dojo building itself, opened in 1987 and still housing the school today, stands as a testimonial to the cooperative spirit of its leaders and members.
Depending upon how you look at it, forty years can be a really long time. After all, forty years ago people were still wearing beads and tie-dyed clothes. This was 1968, remember, and that era known as the "'60s" was in full swing. An argument can be made that the '60s was just '67 and most of '68, but that's beside the point. Those who were there … and can remember it … know what I mean. Aikido was still on the outer fringes of martial arts in the USA with very few active dojo. Tom Haines, now dojo President, was a student in college in Arizona and I was in college in Boston.
Our founder, John Mamoru Takagi, having arrived from Honolulu, was a shodan teaching Aikido at a local Phoenix YMCA, where Tsuneji Sakakibara Sensei was also there providing instruction in Kodokan Judo. Sakakibara Sensei became the first active member of Arizona Aikido in 1968. Tom Haines joined in 1973 and I in 1974. When Takagi Sensei's life was tragically cut short in 1984, at the age of forty-four, he was posthumously awarded the rank of godan by Fumio Toyoda Sensei, with whom he had co-founded the Aikido Association of America. Takagi Sensei was, among other things, a dedicated Aikidoka, organizing and attended seminars as often as possible.
He was also a serious partier and would have enjoyed immensely the celebration at dojo member Wayne Stingley's house on Saturday night. Many of the Arizona Aikido family attended, including Takagi Sensei's daughter, Taiko (we knew her as Karyn), whom many of us had not seen since she was a baby. Now a grown woman and a practicing architect, she still remembers the parties and the fun we had around the old dojo on First Street. She even remembered Tom's old VW Rabbit which most of us, including Tom, would rather forget.
There was a sumptuous buffet and a large keg of sake. Saotome Sensei honored us by breaking open the taruzake in an abbreviated Kagamibiraki ceremony. We spent the evening reminiscing and enjoying two birthday cakes, one for Saotome Sensei and one for Sakakibara Sensei. As far as I know and can recall everyone went home happy. We all made it to the mat on Sunday.
The seminar itself was remarkable. Of course Saotome Sensei, by his own admission, doesn't teach "ikyo, nikkyo, sankyo, yonkyo, gokyo, rokyo, Tokyo or (with an appropriate gesture) Pinocchio". If asked to nail it down I think Saotome Sensei would say that he teaches about life, honor, courage, ethics, and all of those things that seem to be missing from the teachings of so many of our modern martial arts. This year's 40th anniversary seminar was an example of such teaching.
Aikido students and instructors from as far away as Germany and Russia were kind enough to join us; and many of our AZ Aikido colleagues who had moved to other parts of the country, some opening their own dojo, were in attendance. Saotome Sensei was in high spirits and rare form. He showed many variations of techniques both with and without weapons. Among his uke were Jun Akiyama, Jim Alvarez, Josh Drachman, Dan Messisco, all remarkable teachers as well. But as I implied, Sensei's teaching was not really about waza … it was about courage. I believe he summed it up this way: "You are all superheros. Masters of your own universe. You must decide to be!"
Forty years ago, it took courage for a poor shodan from Honolulu to found a dojo in Phoenix. It takes courage to keep a dojo going for forty years, through adversity and tragic death. It takes courage to keep at a martial art for most of your life, as have Sakakibara Sensei, Haines Sensei, and so many of Arizona Aikido's family. It takes courage to do Aikido techniques properly. It takes courage to live.
If he were here watching his former, clumsy, eager, and now older students and seeing the 100 or so Aikidoka training on some of the same mats that he tossed us around on back in the day, and having known him personally, I am sure John Mamoru Takagi Sensei would have been smiling. "Hey good brudda! Suckem'up ... den we go Kau-Kau!"