Читать книгу Martial Arts Training in Japan. A Guide for Westerners онлайн

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My aikido sensei described the experience of spontaneous technique as being possessed by the spirit of his deceased teacher. I remember thinking, “Interesting, the sensei believes in spirit possession.” Many years later, when I experienced this sensation personally, I understood what he was talking about. However, I did not see it as literally being possessed by a spirit, for my cultural and educational background made that assumption too much of a reach. It did occur to me that aikido was literally shaped by the experience of its founder, Ueshiba Morihei Shihan, and an experience of spontaneous technique was, in a manner of speaking, an act of being possessed by the master’s art. Where else did the spontaneous technique come from? My body and mind had been molded over many years by continuous training in the basic techniques of Ueshiba Shihan’s art and when it found expression in my creative acts as an aikido teacher it was as if Ueshiba Shihan, who had become one with his art, was present in me through his art. My aikido sensei called this type of experience “the miracle of hard training.”