Aikido in Japan and the Way Less Traveled

Author: W.T. Gillespie
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780615950143
Category : Aikido
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Book Description
As the sign in the martial arts school changing room in Los Angeles read, "Not even a million dollars can buy back one minute of your life." W.T. Gillespie resigned from a developing professional career as a trial attorney in Los Angeles, leaving too his position as an assistant instructor in his home aikido dojo (training place), and cast aside all the enviable benefits and considerable comforts of life in Southern California to move to Tokyo for a year of intensive study of martial arts at the Aikikai World Headquarters. Set against the calendar of annual events at the Aikikai World Headquarters Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, Aikido in Japan and The Way Less Traveled is a martial arts adventure in Japan and beyond to South East Asia, Korea and even The People's Republic of China. It's is a fantastic journey of self-discovery and personal development that continues to unfold - a path that is open and accessible to anyone who merely chooses The Way less travelled. What's your adventure? As the Japanese say, "doing is a mistake; not doing is a big mistake." Go forward! Find your Way! With the right mind, the whole world can become your dojo, all things are learning and every moment an adventure.

The Traveler

Author: William Gillespie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Book Description
William T. Gillespie, the author of the book "Aikido in Japan and The Way Less Traveled", is the only "Japan-trained" Aikido instructor residing in China. As the sign in his first Aikido Dojo in Los Angeles read, "Not even a million dollars can buy back one minute of your life". This is why W.T. Gillespie resigned from a professional career as a trial attorney in Los Angeles, also leaving his position as an assistant instructor in Furuya sensei's dojo. He cast aside all the enviable benefits and considerable comforts of life in Southern California to move to Tokyo to devote himself to intensively study Aikido at the Aikikai World Headquarters. Currently a 6th Dan Aikikai, his martial arts adventures in Japan and beyond to South East Asia, Korea and even The People's Republic of China became a fantastic journey of self-discovery and personal development that continues to unfold. As the Japanese say, "Doing is a mistake; not doing is a bigger mistake". Go forward! Find your Way! With the right mind, the whole world can become your dojo, all things are learning and every moment an adventure. Contents: About WT Gillespie. Intro. California. Good Old Days Stories. Japan. The Training Culture at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. Furuya Sensei's Helping Hand. Asa-keiko, the Morning Class. Juggling with Life in Tokyo. Living With O-sensei's Legacy in Japan. The True Greatness of Kisshomaru Ueshiba. The Yin/Yang of the Grading System in Aikidō. Searching for Aikidō Applied. The Aiki-body. Being an Aikidō Pioneer in China

Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Meiji Japan

Author: Denis Gainty
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135069905
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
In 1895, the newly formed Greater Japan Martial Virtue Association (Dainippon Butokukai) held its first annual Martial Virtue Festival (butokusai) in the ancient capital of Kyoto. The Festival marked the arrival of a new iteration of modern Japan, as the Butokukai’s efforts to define and popularise Japanese martial arts became an important medium through which the bodies of millions of Japanese citizens would experience, draw on, and even shape the Japanese nation and state. This book shows how the notion and practice of Japanese martial arts in the late Meiji period brought Japanese bodies, Japanese nationalisms, and the Japanese state into sustained contact and dynamic engagement with one another. Using a range of disciplinary approaches, Denis Gainty shows how the metaphor of a national body and the cultural and historical meanings of martial arts were celebrated and appropriated by modern Japanese at all levels of society, allowing them to participate powerfully in shaping the modern Japanese nation and state. While recent works have cast modern Japanese and their bodies as subject to state domination and elite control, this book argues that having a body – being a body, and through that body experiencing and shaping social, political, and even cosmic realities – is an important and underexamined aspect of the late Meiji period. Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Meiji Japan is an important contribution to debates in Japanese and Asian social sciences, theories of the body and its role in modern historiography, and related questions of power and agency by suggesting a new and dramatic role for human bodies in the shaping of modern states and societies. As such, it will be valuable to students and scholars of Japanese studies, Japanese history, modern nations and nationalisms, and sport and leisure studies, as well as those interested in the body more broadly.

The Art of Peace

Author: Morihei Ueshiba
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834845199
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Book Description
The inspirational teachings in this collection show that the real way of the warrior is based on compassion, wisdom, fearlessness, and love of nature. The teachings are drawn from the talks and writings of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the popular Japanese martial art of Aikido, a mind-body discipline he called the "Art of Peace," which offers a nonviolent way to victory in the face of conflict. Ueshiba believed that Aikido principles could be applied to all the challenges we face in life—in personal and business relationships, and in our interactions with society. This is an expanded version of the original miniature edition that appeared in the Shambhala Pocket Classics series. It features a new introduction by John Stevens, recently translated doka, didactic "poems of the Way," and Ueshiba's own calligraphy.

The Way of Aikido

Author: George Leonard
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780452279728
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
“This book is a warmhearted handshake, a graceful and practical invitation to enter and blend with the ahhh of the world. It is as natural and wise an introduction to the spirit of the martial arts as you can find on paper.”—Jack Kornfield, bestselling author of A Path with Heart In his bestselling Mastery, renowned spiritual and martial arts teacher George Leonard taught hundreds of thousands of people how to use Zen philosophy to reach mastery in any field. Now, he brings together his extraordinary knowledge and experience into a book that translates the principles of aikido directly into our everyday lives. Aikido is more philosophy and meditation than a technique or a series of purely physical maneuvers. Leonard shares the secrets of this remarkable Eastern philosophy, which is the basis for the most radical and demanding of all martial arts. Through mind-body exercises inspired by aikido yet designed for non-practitioners, he demonstrates the fundamental understanding behind aikido and shows how it can be applied to help set us on the path to composure, self-sufficiency, and spiritual centeredness. Combining illuminating personal anecdotes with practical advice, this award-winning author describes the ways in which aikido can help turn life’s unanticipated blows into gifts and transform discord into harmony, anxiety and pain into vital energy. Exhilarating, enlightening, and filled with unique wisdom, The Way of Aikido is an inspiring lesson in balance, confidence, and power. “The Way of Aikido does no less than open the door to the universe and invite you through to become one with it, to become balanced, powerful, energetic, alert, and present.”—Susan Trott, author of The Holy Man and Crane Spreads Wings

Complete Aikido

Author: Roy Suenaka
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462916570
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Book Description
Master the techniques of aikido with this illustrated martial arts guide. Complete Aikido is the authoritative text on this enlightening martial art and self-defense system. This definitive aikido guide is packed with history and philosophy and offers precise descriptions with over 400 photographs illustrating the correct--and incorrect--way to execute aikido techniques. In the almost thirty years since the death of aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba O'Sensei, his many students have spread his philosophy and vision across the world, including author Roy Suenaka. Complete Aikido provides insights into the three leading styles of this Japanese martial art: the original art developed by founder Morihei Ueshiba O'Sensei, the Shin-Shin Toitsu aikido of Koichi Tohei Sensei, and the Suenaka-ha Tetsugaku-ho aikido of Roy Suenaka Sensei. Both a fascinating martial biography and a comprehensive instructional manual, this aikido book is a must for all practitioners seeking the way of harmony.

Ki and the Way of the Martial Arts

Author: Kenji Tokitsu
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1570629986
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 123

Book Description
While technical prowess and physical power are essential characteristics of a martial artist, true mastery of the art comes by cultivating one's inner strength. Here, Kenji Tokitsu—an authority on Japanese and Chinese combat arts and a respected karate teacher—shows how cultivating ki (life force) and understanding the principles of budo (the martial path of self-development) can make training in martial arts more meaningful, effective, and personally and spiritually rewarding. Tokitsu emphasizes the mental aspects of martial arts practice including: • The importance of ki development • Seme, or capturing your opponent's mind • Understanding ma, the spatial relationship in combat Studying these concepts, he explains, gives martial artists the tools to train for a lifetime and at the very highest level. Tokitsu also gives a historical and cultural survey of budo, and explains how the Western view of budo training is different than the Japanese—a perspective rarely available to Western martial artists.

The Mushin Way to Peak Performance

Author: Michael Veltri
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119285275
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
Follow your own nature to achieve clarity, power, and success The Mushin Way teaches tools and techniques to help you reach peak performance and transform your business and personal life. Regardless of what we want to achieve in business or in life, transformation can be difficult and we tend to be our own worst enemies. We hold ourselves back without even realizing what we are capable of. In this book, you'll learn how to break through the cycle of stress and setbacks to act with clarity, purpose, and direction—achieving peak performance and transformation along the way. You'll look deep inside to discover the natural leadership abilities lying dormant within you; you'll wake them up, make them stronger, and learn to draw on the strengths of those around you instead of muscling through with brute force. You'll discover how making the right choice is an empowering act, and develop the strength and confidence to stop hesitating at every crossroad. With pragmatic advice and wisdom drawn from the guiding principles of the Japanese martial art of Aikido, you'll find your inner warrior and learn that even the most challenging battles can be won—or may not even need to be fought. When you set your sights high, peak performance can feel like a constant uphill battle fraught with failures and disappointments. What if success was more like a transformational river current that carries you along to your goal? This book shows you how to come down off the hill into the refreshing waters of mindfulness to begin your journey to the top. Develop laser-like focus, even in high-stress environments Identify and develop your own innate leadership qualities Turn setbacks into opportunities and defeat into victory Achieve much more than ever before, with far less effort Eastern philosophy teaches us to work in harmony with our own nature instead of fighting ourselves every step of the way. The Mushin Way shows you just where your inner strengths lie, and how to leverage them for success.

The Martial Arts Book

Author: Laura Scandiffio
Publisher: Annick Press
ISBN: 9781550377767
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Book Description
The history and philosophy of the various martial arts and how they have evolved to today's practice.

Dance with Heaven & Earth

Author: Anna Sanner
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1477220887
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 251

Book Description
The texts in this book are inspired by the teachings of Katsuyuki Shimamoto, 8th dan, who has been a Zen priest and aikido teacher for 50 years. the title is taken from a poem that frequently graces his calligraphies: Harmonize with others Harmonize with Heaven and Earth Dance with others Dance with Heaven and Earth Humble and congenial, Katsuyuki Shimamoto is a perpetrator of aikido as a martial art of peace that seeks to create harmony. Influenced strongly by Zen, he emphasizes good posture, calm breathing, universal acceptance, simplicity, and minimalist aesthetics. These short pieces of wisdom taken from aikido and Zen help us understand that living with others is what allows us to live at all. That the right form - including posture, field of vision, and breathing - can change not only our outlook but the outcome, too. That we can neutralize any attack once we learn to accept it. That true victory is to win against our weaknesses, and fighting only serves as a stepping stone towards harmony. That with the right approach, the very life we struggle with can turn into the greatest treasure. Photographer and designer Morteza Ariana has not only given the book a beautiful look but also contributed significantly to conveying its message by adding a visual component to its expression. His breathtaking original photographs resonate with Katsuyuki Shimamoto's sense for Zen aesthetics and clarity of communication. Every text is juxtaposed with one of these images, adding another dimension to its meaning, and often alluding to the contradictory nature of Zen teachings intended to help practitioners overcome the boundaries of reason. Get ready for a book that takes you straight to the heart of the matter. Dance with Heaven & Earth!