I am very pleased that the 43rd All Japan Aikido Demonstration, held at the Nippon Budokan, was such a great success.
Presently Aikido technique and philosophy has spread past the borders of this country. The circle of Aikido is presently recognized and enjoyed by people in over 85 countries throughout the world.
One thing that has added to the spread of Aikido is this yearly demonstration, and the growth of this event over time. The number of participants has increased. Today close to 7,000 people will participate and, including spectators, the total number of people involved will be close to 20,000. That this many people can come together to create an event is a wonderful thing, in my opinion.
This Demonstration is a chance for all participants- Aikikai Foundation, branch dojo, company clubs, student clubs and other groups- to show the results of their daily training.
This Demonstration also has another, deeper purpose. It is an opportunity for all participants to share their training and to also build a closer connection with each other.
In closing, I would like to thank all those whofs support made this event possible, beginning with the Ministry of Education and continuing with all the associated people from all the groups involved. My deepest appreciation for your heartfelt efforts on behalf of this event.
At the facility, we shuffled through the halls lined with souvenir stands selling everything from bokken and hakama to DVD's, tie clips, key chains, dish towels, senbei, and Hello Kitty cell phone dangles. Our seats were on the upper tier--not quite nosebleed but still rather far from the five clusters of mats arranged on the floor below, and I leaned forward in my seat to take a closer look at the rows of people filling the hall. "So many people gathered together just for the appreciation of Aikido. Amazing." The mere scale of the production was far beyond anything I'd ever witnessed before, and as the scheduled 12:30pm start time drew near, the general murmur of conversation seemed to hum with anticipation.
And then finally it began--official welcomes, the Japanese National Anthem, the beating of a drum, and suddenly the floor, previously empty save for the cameramen on press-passes steering their video equipment around the mats, was filled with a vast sea of white and black and navy that poured from the open doors and spread throughout the room as though by convection into five geometric clusters of neatly ordered lines.
I held my breath, digital camera poised and ready. Before the event, I admit that hadn't quite known what to expect--after all, Aikido isn't like other martial arts where practitioners memorize long series of choreographed moves that they perform on imaginary opponents. Since every technique requires the actual presence at least one partner, Aikido is, in this way, more grounded in reality. But for the purpose of a demonstration, would all the members of a particular group try to synchronize their attacks? Would each pair practice the same technique but at its own pace? Or would one senior member of each group demonstrate technique alone, using the other members for ukemi? In fact, I saw all three approaches and countless more. There was one group comprised of both adults and children that filled its entire allotted mat space (and spilled out onto the floor as well), spaced themselves into ordered rows, and simply did the rowing exercise until the beat of the drum signaled that their time was over. Other groups were so scattered and unsyncronized that members kept rolling into each other as each pair appeared to do different techniques entirely.
As the event continued, I was struck by two things in particular: (1) the diversity of different training styles represented by myriad groups assembled together and (2) the actual distance that some of these groups had traveled just for the purpose of this one-day annual occurrence. Although Tokyo and its immediate environs were well represented, it truly lived up to its name as an "all-Japan" event, since some groups had traveled all the way from the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. And as the announcer continued to introduce group after group throughout the afternoon, I tucked my camera back into my bag and leaned happily back in my seat, smiling.
"Perhaps," I thought to myself as the college clubs, then company clubs, and finally Hombu Dojo members entered, performed, and exited each after the other. Perhaps then, it was precisely this collective gathering of people across both geographic space and stylistic differences that continued to draw me toward Aikido. Everyone who trains Aikido for any significant amount of time has to, of course, hold a certain amount of interest in martial arts, but after our basic curiosity is satisfied, what is it that brings us back to the dojo day after day, month after month, year after year? Maybe it's the same feeling that drew so many people to the same hall one warm Saturday afternoon in Tokyo Ethat sense of community so easily lost in today's world of globalization, technology, and high-speed communicationsE
And then when everything was finished, and people had begun to lift the colored mats from the floor and stack them in towering piles down below, I exited the building and emerged back out onto the Tokyo sidewalk into the familiar scene of sinking sunlight accompanied by the constant hum of conversation and the rumble of passing cars. I paused at a street corner, even though the light was green, and as images from the afternoons events swam through my head, I silently resolved to somehow make the time each week to train more often. But more than just personal inspiration, I'd received from the Aikido Demonstration an opportunity to peak into the larger Aikido community in Japan, which is something I'll certainly remember.
Michelle Dunkley
Sophia University
