Rev. Kensho
Furuya, Aikikai 6th dan, is the chief instructor of the Aikido Center of Los Angeles and has
just celebrated his dojo's 30th anniversary. In this interview he speaks about
his training with the late Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba at the Aikido World
Headquarters Hombu Dojo in 1969. Rev. Furuya teaches both Aikido and Iaido
full time and is also ordained as a Zen priest.
Budovideos.com
conducted this interview in July of 2004.
BV: How long have you been involved with Aikido and Iaido?
I remember that I started Kendo when I was around 8 years old
and Aikido sometime soon after when I was about 10 years old or so. I do
remember that I bought my first real sword at 10 years old in order to
practice Iaido more intensely at the time. I was very enthusiastic at that
early age much to the chagrin of my parents. I have been doing martial arts
all of my life, maybe due to the influence of my grandparents very early on.
My grandfather first introduced me to Kendo through his old friend from the
old country. He was a Kendo 9th Dan and master of Itto Ryu and Muso Shinden
Ryu Iaido. Although my parents wanted me to be very much "all-American," I was
drawn more to my grandparents influence who were very proud of their samurai
heritage and lineage and loved to tell me all about Japanese culture. I think
this cultivated my strong love for martial arts. I really don't know but I do
remember when I first stepped onto the Aikido mats, I was very young nervous
and shy - but I felt deep down inside at that moment that this is what i
wanted to do for my whole life.
I remember meeting the late 2nd Doshu, Kisshomaru Ueshiba Sensei and Akira
Tohei Sensei who was his uke at the time, on their first visit to the United
States in 1962. I traveled to Hombu in 1969 to train under 2nd Doshu. Now, it
is about 47 years now. I just celebrated the 30th anniversary of my dojo this
last April which was established in 1974.
BV: What initially attracted you to these arts?
I can't remember what really attracted me - I have always been drawn to Aikido
my entire life, as well as Kendo and Iaido, and cannot remember any time when
I was not practicing Aikido and I cannot remember ever thinking of doing
anything else in my life. Although I have had the opportunity to study many
other martial arts - all has been to enhance my own Aikido practice.
BV:
For students that don’t practice the art, what would you say
are the main benefits to practicing Aikido?
There are always the usual things to say - Aikido is good physical discipline,
a great martial art and there is a deep spiritual background as well. Beyond
this, I must honestly say that I think Aikido has had its influence in every
aspect of my life. I should say that there is nothing better than a life in
Aikido - with both all the tears and disappointments and moments of great
happiness that it brings - I cannot think of having a more fulfilling and
meaningful life outside of Aikido. I also felt I had an inner calling to the
priesthood - probably from reading too much the great warriors and swordsmen
of the past who devoted their lives to their art. We were so desperate for
knowledge in those early days and pursued anything that we thought would help
our Aikido practice.. I really thought that by entering strongly into Zen, I
could understand martial arts more deeply
and that this would enhance my Aikido further. It is really hard for me to
say, it is really hard to talk about myself like this so personally. . . . .
It was my meeting with the late Aikido great, Kisaburo Ohsawa Sensei, at
Hombu that helped me to find the right path in this pursuit of both Aikido and
Zen. Ohsawa Sensei was also a student of Sawaki Kodo Roshi who I was later to
find out - also happened to be the teacher of my Zen master. He never
mentioned a word to me about pursuing Zen but somehow he let me know
everything I needed to know. I remember I was with one of the top teachers of
Aikido at Hombu observing Ohsawa Sensei's wonderful Aikido demonstration. I
turned to him and asked, "How can Ohsawa Sensei move like that?" This teacher
turned to me and siimply said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Well afterall -
Ohsawa Sensei is enlightened!" Along with Doshu's many personal instructions
to me, this was the great turning point in my life.
Later, I finally met my Zen teacher, the Bishop Kenko Yamashita, who was
also a Kendo 5th Dan under Nakayama Hakudo Sensei whose lineage I was also
following. It was in 1988, almost 20 years later, that I was ordained as a Zen
monk in the Soto-shu lineage. Many strange events such as this all connected
themselves in my life through Aikido. Still, I do not understand such
mysterious relationships and connections and how they occur and just happen as
they do to me - maybe it is just karma through Aikido. I cannot recall all of
the other things which have happened to me because of Aikido. I think it is
hard to say how much of my inner strength came from my training in Zen or from
Aikido and my pursuit to understand it. In many, many ways, Aikido can be so
fulfilling - it is almost trivial for me to try to put all of this into words
and only use this one tiny episode about my Aikido and Zen to illustrate how
such wonderful and mysterious things open up to you in your training and in
this path of discovery. I think it is up to each individual to enter this
Aikido path and achieve his own understanding and enlightenment. The first
step is to step onto the mat for practice and all at once a whole new world
will open up to you. I truly believe this.
BV: How do Zen and Iaido training complement your Aikido?
As much as I have a bad habit to speak too much about Zen, in practice, I an
not trying to promulgate Zen or solicit practitioners to Zen. In the Dojo.
those interested in Zen are recommended to attend Zen meditation classes at my
temple under more experience priests and the Iaido class in the Dojo is
separate from the Aikido. As much as possible I keep each class separate
without mix and matching the two. Iaido is taught as pure Iaido and Aikido is
taught as pure Aikido. For Zen, they must go to the temple and seek out pure
Zen.
As for myself, I think within the students too, it will all come together
somehow naturally and with their own understanding and enlightenment. The
teacher must plant the seed by teaching the student with a strong emphasis on
the fundamentals but it is up to the student himself how he himself grows,
matures and in what direction he takes his art. In practice, the first step is
the most important, however, - the first step to master the correct
fundamentals, so the teacher is very important in this respect. It is
important for the teacher to keep in mind his role in the student's
upbringing.
My interest in Zen came from my own inner feelings of a "calling" to the
religious life ever since as was a small child. I do not understand this
myself because there was not the strong emphasis in religion in my upbringing.
I think my interest in Zen became very strong with my meeting with the late
Kisaburo Ohsawa Sensei at Hombu and finally meeting my Zen master, the late
Bishop Kenko Yamashita. Iaido, as I have mentioned before, is something I
started when I was just a small child so it has been with me all my life as
well as my Aikido practice.
Zen and Iaido is very obviously related, philosophically and historically. The
relationship between Aikido and Zen is more distant and only in this respect
that Aikido's roots are in traditional Japanese Budo.
In my own mind, Zen, Iaido and Aikido are very compatible and for my own
personal training, I myself do not see how one can do without the other.
However, in class, I do not particularly try to emphasize this point and try
to give purity of the arts to my students.
In Aikido, as everyone knows, it is important for the movement to flow and
create a strong connection with the opponent's movement. However, in actual
practice, it is easy to get stuck or jam one's self against the opponent's
strong attack. Sometimes, we miss the timing, sometimes our spacing is off, or
we get intimidated by the opponent's power and this flowing process stops or
gets blocked. This continuous, flowing movement in Aikido seems very similar,
in my own mind, to the concept of "muju-shin" in Zen - or the idea of the
"non-residing" mind. In Zen, the idea is to allow the mind to flow freely
without residing anywhere or to get stuck or obsessed at any one point. This
Zen idea of a free moving mind which never gets stuck on anything seems quite
similar to me with Aikido's idea for flowing movement in which we can connect
or blend with the opponent's attack. As an example, in shomenuchi irimi-nage,
it is easy to get stuck against the strong overhead attack of the opponent. We
often get stuck against his arm and this prevents us from moving in (irimi)
and completing the technique. If we think in terms of Zen, in this case, the
idea is not to get "taken in" by the opponent's attack or strength, but allow
our minds' to flow freely without getting "stuck" anywhere. In another case
such as morote-dori kokyu-ho. we are often stuck against the two-handed grip
of the opponent against our own arm and it is hard to move if he is very
strong. Many times we are not stuck or stopped by his strength, we are stuck
on the "idea" of this strength or we are intimidated by his attack. The idea,
in my view, to create this flow of movement, is to refine the mind of not
getting stuck anywhere as taught in Zen.
These are simple examples of how Zen ideas can be applied into practice. In
addition, Zen has a strong precept against killing and violence - the idea
that all living, sentient beings are enlightened Buddhas cultivates a strong
sense of the inner worth of each individual and in this I see a great
connection to Aikido's idea that we are all "one family of man" as O'Sensei
often spoke about. Finally, I see the peaceful meditative state which Zen
cultivates in sitting compatible with Aikido's mental state of always being
well centered and balanced, yet maintaining the ability of moving freely and
without inhibition or jamming one's self.
In Aikido, I believe there is a strong sense of "form" (technique) but this
idea is very subtle and sophisticated in outward appearance. Actuality Aikido
is the "form of no-form." In Iaido, the form is very obvious and Iaido teaches
how correct form and technique generates proper application of power. In
addition, Iaido, like Aikido, is strongly based in timing and spacing, ma-ai,
rather than strength and collision power. In this, I feel that Iaido and
Aikido are very similar in spirit, although quite different in outward
appearance and practice.
These are just my personal views through my years of study and practice in these
arts. I don't know if they make sense to others, but I find these arts all
help me to do my job of teaching my students and encourage me to continue to
refine my understanding in practice.
BV: Thank you for sharing your ideas on training with us.
I’d like to ask you now about the various levels of Aikido training. We all
know that the basics are very important but how do you teach your students
to go beyond the basics?
My primary concern with my students is that they get a good, solid
foundation in the basics of Aikido - not anything more than this really - I
am not such a great teacher to teach them anything fancy or mysterious. I
think teaching them the fundamentals is the most important duty to my
students. Like a small seedling, it needs help to be planted in the right
soil, cared for, keeping the weeds away, etc., watered and well nourished
until a strong, healthy plant begins to sprout. Once the young plant has a
good, healthy beginning, it can grow in its own direction depending on how
it wants to capture the light of the sun, according to its own nature. Once
my students get a good foundation in the basics, both in the physical
technique and in the proper understanding of the spirit of Aikido, they will
continue to mature in their own way according to their own nature and the
unique circumstances and experiences of their own lives. I am just the
farmer who plants the seed and gives it a little water and occasionally
keeps some of the weeds away.
In martial arts, there is an instruction of the "rudder in the waves." The
rudder steers the boat and keeps it from tipping over, but it constantly needs
a slight pressure to the left and to the right according to the currents to
keep it in proper balance and on its true course. It is up to the student to
develop this sense in his training but it is also the lifelong task of the
teacher to help his student keep this "rudder" of his practice and his life on
true course as well. Although growth is much according to one's own nature,
there is also a consideration of "mindfulness" - it is not all random and
willful impulse but there is this continual "awareness" as we go along - just
as one must constantly keep his hand and eye on the rudder to keep the boat in
equilibrium and on true course.
On a more down-to-earth level, once students do well and show good skill, I
try to give them the opportunity and experience to teach other students. They
start with helping out in the children's class because this is the hardest
skill to develop. Young kids are very perceptive, open and honest so it is
very necessary for the new teacher to be equally forthright and open. If he
doesn't know what he is doing, the kids will sense it immediately. Adults are
more forgiving in this respect, I think. I believe in my own training, that
teaching is giving, not receiving. There is really no authority or prize or
prestige, - just the hard, endless and devoted work of getting the students to
practice Aikido properly.
In traditional Japanese arts, in respect to the teacher, there is the idea of
Bosatsu-gyo. This means the "training" of a Bodhisattva or "near-Buddha" -
although a rather Buddhist idea, it has filtered down into and become vitally
characteristic of many areas of the traditional Japanese arts. The
"near-Buddha" is one who about to enter the final stage of enlightenment but
takes a vow to stay behind until all other sentient beings in the world are
saved before himself. This is called Bosatsu-gyo or Buddha-training. In my own
thinking, this seems to apply very well to Aikido. A teacher is there for his
students, often the rewards are very small and many times there is only
disappointment and frustration, but, all the same, the teacher is there for
his students and puts his students ahead of his own welfare, more often than
not in real practice. I am very concerned about their welfare and like to see
my students, as they advance in Aikido, understand and appreciate how Aikido
can bring fulfillment and happiness into their own lives. Maybe this is the
only reward in teaching. . . . It is a lesson which I hope my students learn
and pass on to their students.
To advance in Aikido beyond the basics, does not simply mean to be stronger in
technique or develop one's authority, prestige or popularity but to find one's
own self which will lead himself and all others around him, at the same time,
towards a fulfilling life. I say, "all others around him" because I do not
think one can achieve happiness all by himself. I teach my students as they
advance that happiness must be shared by all - we are all happy together, not
one person is happy all by himself. In the dojo, all practice and advance
together, not one person only thinks of himself but must continually see to
the well-being of all others around himself. In the dojo, it is often the
hardest lesson to learn to get along with each and work together in harmony.
Finally, in addition to what personal development a student achieves in his
training, I would always hope that they will help to develop Aikido and maybe
help in the task of running the dojo and maintaining a high level of practice
and instruction. Nowadays, I find that many of my seniors are becoming fine
teachers - I sometimes think that they are much better than me. I am too much
of the old-school and my methods are old-fashioned and out-dated. I see my
students with younger and fresher outlooks on life and therefore can convey
themselves much more easily to the newer students. . . I like this very much.
In teaching at a higher level, I would hope my students would begin to
understand to two essential aspects to developing into a fine Aikidoist and
martial artist. First is the "free mind" - this is not the mind which is
obsessed with personal agendas or self-centeredness. This is the mind which
can move freely without inhibition and attachment in the most natural way. A
mind which does not cling to any one idea but can be open and honest in all
aspects of their lives. I often see students get stuck on an idea or notion
and then become blind to all other suggestions. This obsessive attachment is
not good in encountering the opponent or in dealing with one's own practice on
the mats.
The second is the "caring mind. " The mind which is thoughtful and caring of
others and shows compassion to others, not only in practice on the mats but in
their lives as well. I think we all like to think of ourselves as caring
people but often, without being aware of it ourselves, we can become
thoughtless. A caring mind notices everything and such caring can only come
from a mind which is totally aware and in the moment. Especially in Aikido, I
feel this "caring" mind to be an ideal we should all strive for.
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