Corfe Castle is a thousand years old. A thousand years from now, little will remain of its gutted walls:
Sometimes I wonder what Aikido will look like a thousand years from now. And then I change my mind: stone structures can crumble, but Aikido can't change, because it wasn't developed by man, it was discovered by him, brought to light, which is quite different. As a law and mode of expression of the universe, Aikido is, and it is perfect, it is equal to itself from all eternity. What can change, however, is our perception and understanding of its essence. For no method will ever be sufficient to guarantee knowledge of Aikido, without the addition of a “soul supplement”.
From this point of view, the summer camp which has just ended in England, on the Isle of Purbeck, is an example. The spirit that has blown over these few days is the very one that enables us to establish a right relationship with Aikido. For my part, I recognized in it what made the Iwama dojo such a virtuous and original place when Morihiro Saito ruled there as a patriarch: a quality of human relationships in which ego has no place, and which is akin to family spirit:
Whatever the technical merit of the teacher, it's only when the spirit is right that Aikido can be passed on, it doesn't accommodate personal ambitions and the whims that accompany them. It's not under any circumstances, nor without certain conditions, that Isis agrees to remove her veil. She's a woman, and she doesn't like to be forced; she doesn't put a price on forms without first checking that those forms are indeed the expression of a righteous heart. For there is “l'art et la manière”, both art and manner, and manner is often an obstacle on the path to Aikido. Without manner, the art is unwilling, it remains impenetrable, hermetic. The feelings we put into our research modify it.
As in any family gathering, the whole chain of generations was present at Corfe Castle. On the tatami, with chocolate cake and doughnuts, we celebrated Sophia Goodwin's twelfth birthday and sixth kyu, Sammayah Azim, a brave young practitioner, was given her first hakama, as a symbol of her true entry into the study of Aikido, and I had the pleasure of presenting Chris Ayres, whom I've known for almost twenty years, with the rank of second dan ITAF, in recognition of his work and long loyalty to the art of Morihei Ueshiba.
I was surrounded by my former and best students to date, François Chidiac (Lebanon) and Marc Vanbegin (Belgium), both 7th dan, Khalil Hajlaoui (Canada, 5th dan), Jeff Goodwin (UK, President of ITAF, 5th dan), as well as Paul Kesrouany (4th dan) and William Korbatly (4th dan). It was also a great pleasure to meet up with old friends such as Dave Dimmick (4th dan), teacher at Cardiff University Aikido Club. Missing from the party were the ITAF representatives from Georgia and Morocco, who were unfortunately unable to obtain their visas for England.
So of course we sweated on a tatami that was a little hard, and we baked under the sun of the meadow where we practiced weapons :
but we also shared fish and chips by a log fire, under a mild Dorset sky, in the garden of Maruska Goodwin, who made sure that no one was ever short of anything. It was at the very foot of this castle built by William the Conqueror - a link character if ever there was one between France and England - that we were able to turn our differences into a tool for rapprochement and union.
Aikido is not a commercial product, it's not for sale, it's a communion. It's a plant that will wither and bear no fruit if it isn't nurtured by the values of honesty and sincerity, benevolence, selflessness and generosity, dedication, recognition, respect, and thus loyalty and fidelity... patience too, it's a fraternity. When these dispositions are lacking, the cold realm of marketing and communication, of image, opens up, the Budo supermarket where everyone comes to look for techniques on a shelf, between shoes and sportswear, a sham to put it truly.
It's up to each one of us to find the way to Aikido between these two paths; I chose mine a long time ago.
Philippe Voarino, 03 September 2024
