My Master, Remembering Morihiro Saito Sensei
I was instructed in Aikido by the Founder and Morihiro Saito sensei, and for twenty years from the age of 22 in particular, I learned many things from Saito sensei. In addition to aikido, I learned farm work, gardening, forestry, rudimentary building work, drinking manners, how to make sake-snacks, how to treat guests and so on. I have so many memories that I could not count them, so I’m not sure where to even start, but as an introduction to describe how the situation was at that time I have used my previously contributed article “Recollecting the Teachings of Osensei”.
At the time of initiation
The year 1958, (in which I entered the dojo) and 1969, (when I became an uchi deshi) were very different from the present situation in the aikido world. In those days in 1958, the neighbourhood of the Aiki Shrine Fuzoku Dojo (the present day Ibaraki Branch Dojo) was almost uninhabited, there were no streetlights and amidst the thick Japanese chestnut oak forest, one needed courage just to get there to train. The founder’s residence was of frugal appearance, comprising of the dojo (at that time 24 tatami mats in size) connected by a corridor to a four-and-a-half tatami living room with a four-and-a-half tatami sleeping area. Mr Nishiuchi, who was staying as an uchi deshi and Morihiro Saito Sensei and his wife, who already lived in the present house, took care of the Founder and his wife. I was a first year junior high school student and I trained amongst my adult seniors from seven until eight at night. In the summertime, the tatami mats would get damp on the floor so we would stack them in the corner and train on the floorboards. Of course I have painful memories of how we would lose the skin on our knees and the wounds would fester, but it taught us how to take ukemi like a rubber ball, which gave us confidence to be able to do them anywhere. It was the kind of place in which many of the sempai (seniors) were self-supporting farmers and since mechanisation was not as advanced as at present, everything was produced by human labour. It was as though every day was for the forging of the body and the body was naturally conditioned. Furthermore, Saito sensei had previously studied karate before beginning aikido and influenced us to make makiwara (rice-straw striking posts) at home to strengthen our fists, forearms and so on, and to toughen against yokomen strikes we were struck with the bokken which would forge our bare arms. I think it was the kind of dojo that must have felt severe to people who came to train from other dojos. I got my shodan after two years and the number on my certificate is 723 so I think that the total number of people in the aikido world was still not very high.
as Uchideshi
From the summer of 1955 to 1964, Saito Sensei was teaching in Hombu Dojo at a rate of once a week and so I was taken along with him to the wooden Hombu Dojo. On the return journey we would train at Mr Takeda’s dojo in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture and I would have anpan (red bean paste-filled bread) bought for me in the train while Sensei would drink sake with relish. Even now, that memory of 52 years ago still comes freshly to mind.
In 1964 I entered Nihon University’s Aikido Club and received instruction from both Mitsunari Kanai Sensei and Sadateru Arikawa Sensei , then in the September of 1969 , I made a request to Saito Sensei and spent about two years and six months as an uchi deshi at the Ibaraki Dojo . At this time Saito Sensei was 41 years old and working for the national railway. His eldest daughter Motomi was in the second year of senior high school while his eldest son Hitohiro was in the sixth year of elementary school. The grass in the grounds around the dojo had grown higher than men and so around summertime, I was able to enjoy the cool night air naked after leaving my bath. The main uchi deshi work was cutting the grass and even when Sensei came back from night duty and the pair of us cut the grass together, it was a day-long job that left us completely black with sweat and dirt, and it was a bitter fight with the wasps and grass-burns. The grounds were vast (about 2.5 hectares ) so no sooner did we get half cleared when the other side started to look unattended again; it was on endless task. When training finished we would often drink kasutori shochu (moonshine made from sake lees – Matsumidori brand), whiskey (Suntory Red brand) and so on in the dojo’s cafeteria. Sensei excelled at cooking- which was of professional level and he liked to make gyoza (Chinese dumplings), katsuo tataki (smoked bonito fish), koi no arai (crisp raw carp), game-fowl sashimi (gamefowl that had lost the battle), handmade soba noodles, udon noodles, boiled tripe… many people ate Sensei’s homemade food with gusto.
Saito Sensei began training under the founder in 1946, which is the year I was born. Thereafter, for the next 23 years, the Saito couple served the founder and his wife. After the founder passed away it took a few years for Sensei to decide to pass on aikido mastered through shugyo (ascetic training) for posterity. Even on this impressive mission, I don’t think it meant he could avoid financial problems. Even when he had given up his work on the national railways and did aikido as a special occupation, it looked like life would have been difficult for some time. He often spoke of how he could not give good instruction by relying on the monthly fees of the students. His wife also grew her own vegetables through farm work and ran a “Yakitori” (grilled chicken) restaurant in the evenings to support the family and even Sensei would make boxes for yokan (sweet bean jelly) and so on as a side job during the day.
Saito Sensei's guidance
From around 1965 to 1966 the number of people coming for shugyo from overseas gradually increased. In October 1974, Sensei and I went to San Francisco for the first time at the invitation of Mr Bill Witt who had established a dojo there. In those days a visa was needed and we had to get inoculated against smallpox. The exchange rate was one dollar to three hundred and sixty yen in an era when exchanging one month’s wages would only have come to around one hundred dollars so buying souvenirs was tough. It was a time when even the mayor of Iwama hadn’t experienced international travel so in countryside custom, Sensei’s send-off parties were always held the night before, and on his day of departure he was hung over in the lavatory on the train and didn’t sit in his seat. In the August of 1976 I was chosen to be his assistant for two tours, first in San Francisco and Los Angeles and then in Hawaii.
Even within Japan, Sensei was invited to give seminars and demonstrations which he actively attended whenever he could and I think that became his time to devote to examining the aikido received from the founder. In the September of 1973 the first scroll “Ken, Jo, Taijutsu no Riai” was published. When the founder explained aikido he was holding the wooden sword or staff and Saito Sensei also taught that the basics of taijutsu come from the principles of the sword. I certainly think that if one does not practice the sword, one cannot understand the “hito-e-mi” that the founder was teaching. The ken and jo of aikido are also different from the ken of kendo and the jo of jodo. Something we can be thankful for is being taught with Osensei’s oral teachings:
“The urawaza of ikkyo is a little push, a little twist then push circularly”
“For the urawaza of nikyo, grab your opponent’s wrist firmly and with your other hand cut your opponent’s wrist down as with a sword”
“For sankyo, you must line up with your opponent, attach the taken hand to your chest and use atemi to rotate in front”
“Gokyo is like a big wave”
“For kotegaeshi, take it as low as you can and when turning back, keep your stomach above your opponent’s head”
“For shihonage, throwing is done by keeping both of your hands attached to your head until the balance of your opponent’s structure is broken.”
“For yokomen-uchi shihonage, flow with a feeling of cutting and dropping down.”
“For the urawaza of katate-dori shihonage, while opening out, do it so as to take hold of your opponent’s wrist while making the cutting sweep to the rear.”
“In hanmi handachi katate-dori shihonage the hand which advances with the knee comes in front of the forehead”
“In iriminage, the hand which took the back of the collar is drawn to one’s breast.”
“One’s foot in katate-dori kaiten-nage enters so as to form a triangle.”
“For shomen-uchi koshinage, advance your own foot between your opponent’s feet and with a feeling of pointing your hand to the summit of a pillar, apply your pelvis to your opponent’s underbelly making your bodies into a figure of a cross.”
“The way of taking the hands for juji-nage is to avoid trickery and take using the feet”
… all of which enable us to understand the essential points of the techniques. One gift of Saito sensei’s instruction is that even now we can take out the techniques as if they were organised like books in a library. We can feel sensei’s greatness anew.
Kindness and bravery
Shortly after I got married there was even a case when Saito Sensei and his wife came to my house at around half four in the morning and while we were sleeping they ploughed the fields and sowed sweet-corn seeds for us. Most of the garden trees at our house were also given to us from Sensei and when I look at the growth of them now I can strongly feel the passage of time.
One time there was a phone call from a sushi shop (Sensei’s friend’s) in the neighbouring town, asking, “could you do something ? We can’t do business due to some ruffians behaving violently.” Sensei rode over on a motorcycle and soon reached an agreement while we uchi deshi were able to have a lot of precious sushi and sake. In those days this kind of thing was a daily occurrence in an era when if one drank sake, it was normal that there would be fights. In those days the word of the sempai (seniors) was “Smoke does not rise where there are no sparks so where there are none, kindle the sparks yourself,” and those who wanted to test their ability would go where there would be sparks and if there were no sparks, they would make their own. I think it was the good old days when one could enjoy testing one’s ability. It got so that the proprietors of the drinking houses would drop the noren (shop curtains) and shut up shop as soon as they saw the faces of Saito Sensei, Isoyama Sensei et al.
Another thing from twenty-three years ago was my plan to hold Sensei’s 60th birthday seminar and celebrations in Hawaii with the help of Mr Donald Moriyama (Aikido 7th dan of Pearl City). Many Sensei’s students attended from all over the world and we were able to do it magnificently. I cannot forget sensei’s face, laughing with joy at the time.
Gratitude
Sensei’s character was such that he couldn’t keep things inside and his tempter often struck like lightning. However, afterwards it would be as if nothing had happened. Sensei thought especially about the future of aikido, his children and grandchildren and acted with consideration for what to do for the best, what was safe, and what was not wasteful. In order to make his own funeral easy, Sensei had previously gotten rid of the garden pond and made a traditional dry garden as well as reducing the number of garden trees and ten days before he passed away he had his gravestone built and Nyukonshiki (Buddhist last rites). He was a sensei who was really good at preparation. His lower body became paralysed due to cancer entering his spinal cord but even when Sensei became aware that the cancer was terminal, he battled the illness until the end and even in his pain he made those around him laugh with his characteristic humour. His condition worsened and for about three and a half months before he passed away. Sensei was able to say his farewells to various people and he was also able to attend Taisai on the 29th April in a wheelchair and his dignity was preserved until the end… It really was splendid. I am deeply thankful for the instruction I received up until this point.
