Budo and Thoughts

http://www.trussel.com/aikido/aikido1.htm Sadao Yoshioka: Aikido's 'ki' on Nature  by Stafford Kiguchi  Martial Arts Hawaii Magazine, Jan-Feb 1975, Vol. 1, No. 3 (pp 30-34)  Unite yourself in mind and spirit to become one with nature and you are experiencing the essence of Aikido. But this is actually only the basic concept and it is not all so easy. The ultimate goal of becoming one with the universe and obtaining peace of mind is fostered through strenuous physical training and meditation which demands strict mental discipline. Sensei Sadao Yoshioka, chief instructor and 6th degree black belt at the Aikido Headquarters in Honolulu has been training in the art for 20 years. He has received instruction from a host of top instructors, including senseis Yamamoto, Takahashi, Sugimoto, Kimura, and Tohei, who is 10th degree. He also trained under Kisshomaru sensei, the son of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, and Ueshiba himself. Y...

AIKIDO: The Wisdom and Teaching of Sadao Yoshioka  http://www.trussel.com/aikido/f_sens.htm The following is a direct transcription of Yoshioka-sensei's tapes. I have only added the headings, and formatted the text.  introduction, illness May 15, Friday (1981). I went to see Dr. Peroff concerning my recent operation on a lymph gland. The result was positive that I have cancer, malignant cancer, and I must get further treatment by a specialist. Because of this I decided to write a book on Aikido.In the past, many of my students have asked me to, and I hesitated, because time changes, and what a person thinks today will eventually change as time goes by and they mature and mellow. So my intention is to give the students as much information as I can at this time. meaning of Aikido First of all I'd like to go into the meaning of Aikido. Ai. What is Ai? Ai, I understand, is to harmonize, to become one, or to love. And ki is vapor, spirit, a force, invisible fo...

Yoshioka-sensei's Aikido Notebook (1981) http://www.trussel.com/aikido/f_sens2.htm The following is my transcription of a small notebook made by Yoshioka-sensei, when we had the idea of making a book, but had not yet hit upon the plan of using recordings. Some of the items have been included on the tapes, often almost verbatim, but a number of them were never recorded, or recorded in slightly different versions. As with the tape, this was not the form Yoshioka-sensei intended that these lectures be published in. We had planned to produce an edited, organized version. I am publishing this here to make Yoshioka-sensei's philosophy available to all who are interested, since an edited version is yet to be produced. The entries are in the order of his notebook. [st] Basic Information Bowing To begin Aikido, like all martial arts, we begin with humility, and end with humility " The rice plant bends as its grains develop. " 1) Bow before entering and leaving...