Transitioning from winter to spring, I felt like I was in a game of musical chairs, and there was an established groove from January to May. Then Memorial Day hit, and the music stopped. I was left without a seat and felt disconcerted and dumbfounded for a week. I realized that all life is changing; adapting when the music stops is what being a Tai Chi master is all about. School graduations, college kids returning home, and seasonal workers leaving are what we need to embrace.
In Aikido, we practice Chiba Sensei’s 36 Jo basics and his choreographed two-person form, Sansho. I mention it because students (myself included) always complain that the parts do not align. It almost seems disjointed.
This weekend, I realized that this disjointedness was intentional. From what I hear, Chiba Sensei was no slouch, and his intellect is well documented. For example, he makes you NOT step forward at the beginning of one of his 36 movements. This throws beginners off. It threw me off - it throws everyone off. My impulse was to step through, and while doing the form, I always felt awkward, like I tripped on a root. This is just one example of many traps that lie in wait for you.
From multiple secondhand sources, I heard that Chiba Sensei abhorred rote movements. So what better way to protect your students from a lethal pitfall than to bake smaller trips and obstacles into your curriculum? The names of specific techniques don’t always match from one section to the other; the numbers of techniques and their placement in the form don’t match either. If they did you could easily coast through the whole 36, instead, you need to take a machete and cut your path through the jungle, in other words you need to earn it.
Dunn Sensei has planted a few boobytraps of his own. On one of the walls of the Dojo, there are three paintings by a deceased and well-known painter that are easily within reach of being hit. Students beg Sensei to place plexiglass on them, but Sensei is vehemently against doing that. We need to be mindful of where we are in space and time.
Approaching my 60s, I am embracing change and feel a little ashamed that I expected life to be consistent.
