A memorial celebration in honor of the Founder and of Ueshiba Kisshomaru

On April 26th the 37th anniversary for the passing of Osensei was marked with the �gOsensei and Kisshomaru Doshu Shinobu-kai�h at the Hombu Dojo. It has been a tradition at Hombu Dojo to cancel the last evening class and instead show movies of the founder on this day. As it is 37 years since the founder passed away, and also already seven years since Kisshomaru Doshu passed away, there are less and less of the aikido population that have had the chance to see them alive. And even less people have had the opportunity to train with them. Thus the showing of movies is a precious opportunity to get a tiny glimpse of how these people actually were. There were also a lot of people who had showed up to watch the movies and pay their respect. On Wednesday, April 26, 2006, I attended the annual film festival held in memory of Osensei�fs passing for the first time since I began training at hombu dojo three years ago. Osensei passed away on April 26, 1969 at 86 years of age, and the responsibility of carrying on the art was then passed on to his son, Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the second doshu of aikido. Kisshomaru doshu passed away in 1999, and since that time the annual memorial film festival has also included footage of his aikido demonstrations. After the 5:30 class, several hombu dojo instructors came to the third floor dojo to prepare for the event. By seven o�fclock the dojo was full, and a screen was set up in front of the shomen. Sugawara sensei acted as the M.C. and introduced doshu for the opening remarks. Doshu spoke about his grandfather�fs passing and briefly reflected on Osensei�fs presence in the dojo almost 40 years ago. He then spoke of his father, Kisshomaru doshu, and explained that the annual film festival while traditionally held on the anniversary of Osensei�fs passing has included footage of Kisshomaru doshu to honor him and his many contributions to aikido as well. The footage spanned over thirty years of aikido history, beginning with coverage of Osensei in the mid-1940s and wrapping with the professional documentary made by the Japanese Ministry of Education in the 70s of hombu dojo. The latter included extensive demonstrations by Kisshomaru doshu, and I enjoyed watching some of my favorite hombu instructors taking ukemi. Although I had seen footage of Osensei before, the films shown at the memorial film festival were new to me. The most striking difference between Osensei�fs aikido in the 40s and the aikido that is currently practiced at hombu would have to be the difference in the dynamics of the art as a whole. Osensei�fs demonstrations even the demonstrations that we saw in the second film made later in his life were incredibly fluid and graceful without much regard for technical clarity. Osensei�fs Budo was sheer effective, dynamic power. The footage of Kisshomaru doshu showed slightly more clarity in technique, but the dynamics of Osensei�fs aikido were still visible. I could see the evolution of aikido by comparing my current instructors and their peers (as well as my own peers) with what I saw on screen. Aikido is a relatively new style of Budo, and while watching Osensei and Kisshomaru doshu, I thought that aikidoists all over the world are lucky to live in a time when modern technology ,film in this case, can be used to accurately document not only current practitioners and teachers of the art, but the founder and his son as well. For me, the annual film festival serves two purposes: to honor Osensei and what he created, and to remind us of our aikido roots. I�fm looking forward to watching and studying these demonstrations again next year. John Presley North Carolina, USA