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“[O’Sensei] never really talked too much. He was very private, very busy. The only time we really talked was when he was relaxing, or while we were eating. Usually when he traveled, he never talked too much. You couldn’t really go up to him and engage him in conversation, not from your side. If he asked you to come sit with him and talk, that’s when you talked. Otherwise, in our travels, he would spend his free time resting or sleeping.”

There are stories of O’Sensei, particularly in the early days of aikido, putting his attendants to the test; for example, changing his mind about boarding a train at the last possible moment, sending his valets scrambling to retrieve his bags and arrange new transportation. However, Suenaka never experienced any of this:

“It might be true that in the old days O’Sensei did that, but he wasn’t like that while I was [in Japan]. He never really tested us or tried to fool us like that. He might have done that before, playfully, or maybe just decided to change his mind for whatever reason, but it was all pretty straightforward when we were with him. He was a real serious guy.”