Senshusei course

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Senshusei course(専修生コース,senshūsei-kōsu) [1] is an intensive, 11-month aikido training program conducted at Yoshinkan Aikido's honbu dojo (headquarters and main training hall) in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. [2] [3] [4] The course has received attention through Robert Twigger's controversial book, Angry White Pyjamas (1997). [4] [5]

Aikido modern Japanese martial art

Aikido[aikiꜜdoː] is a modern Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit".

YoshinkanAikido is a style of aikido that developed after World War II in the Yoshinkan Dojo of Gozo Shioda (1915–1994). Yoshinkan Aikido is often called the "hard" style of aikido because the training methods are a product of Shioda's grueling life before the war. Shioda named his dojo "Yoshinkan" after a dojo of the same name that was built by his father, a physician, who wanted to improve both physical and spiritual health. The Yoshinkan style is currently the second largest aikido organization worldwide.

<i>Dojo</i> Japanese term for formal training hall of any martial arts

A dōjō (道場) is a hall or space for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese.

Contents

Course

Course participants, themselves referred to as senshūsei, train from April 1 each year to March 1 in the following year. [3] Training takes place from 7:30 AM to 2:00 PM, five days per week, for the duration of the course. [3] The course starts from fundamentals, assuming very little about participants' initial knowledge of aikido, but a high level of physical ability is expected. [6] Participants learn from the instructors of the honbu dojo. [4] The first two months of the course are considered a trial period, [2] and it is common for participants to drop out. [2] In the year that Twigger participated, the number of foreign participants remained constant at 10 participants throughout the entire course. This is a rare occurance, most courses do have a higher drop out rate.

History

The senshusei course was originally created in 1957 by Gozo Shioda, founder of Yoshinkan Aikido, to train the Tokyo riot police. [3] [7] The course has been available to non-police candidates since the 1980s, but was developed primarily for foreign students interested in becoming instructors starting in 1991. [8] There are now two other versions of the course: a less-intensive version for participants aged 40 years or older, and a part-time version taking two years to complete. [8]

Gozo Shioda martial artist

Gozo Shioda was a Japanese master of aikido who founded the Yoshinkan style of aikido. He was one of aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba's most senior students. Shioda held the rank of 10th dan in aikido.

Riot Police Unit A type of emergency service units of Japanese Prefecutral Police Headquarters.

Riot Police Units are rapid reaction force of Prefectural police headquarters (PPH) in Japan. These units are not only riot police literally, but also a type of Emergency Service Units to maintain public-order against large civil disorder, disaster response, or other emergency situations as the key units of Japanese law enforcement for crisis management under the supervision of the Security Bureau of the National Police Agency.

Former instructors

Then-9th dan Kyoichi Inoue, shihan , stopped teaching in the senshusei course when he resigned from the Yoshinkan in March 2006 following an internal dispute, [9] later establishing his own branch, Aikido Shinwakan (合氣道親和館). [10] Following Inoue's departure, Tsutomu Chida, 8th dan, [11] and then-chief instructor of the Yoshinkan honbu-dōjō, [12] also broke away, establishing Aikido Renshinkai (合気道錬身会) in 2008, [13] thus ending his teaching in the course.

Dan (rank) Japanese mark of level

The dan (段) ranking system is used by many Japanese organizations and Korean martial arts to indicate the level of one's ability within a certain subject matter. As a ranking system, it was originally used at a go school during the Edo period. It is now also used in modern fine arts and martial arts.

Kyoichi Inoue Japanese aikidoka

Kyoichi Inoue was a 10th dan Yoshinkan aikido master. He was an uchideshi under Yoshinkan founder Gozo Shioda, in what became the Yoshinkan senshusei course. During his early years as an uchi-deshi, he was instrumental in developing the Yoshinkan's current pedagogical system along with Takashi Kushida in consultation with Gozo Shioda.

Shihan (師範) is a Japanese term that is used in many Japanese martial arts as an honorific title for expert or senior instructors. It can be translated as "master instructor".

See also

Related Research Articles

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Tsuneo Ando is an 8th dan Yoshinkan Aikido teacher. He spent 14 years as uchi deshi to Gozo Shioda, the founder of Yoshinkan Aikido. He is said to most closely resemble Shioda in terms of size; speed and style. He is highly sought after as a teacher both in Japan and all around the world for his technique and for the warmth of his personality.

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Shudokan Aikido

Shudokan Aikido is a school that teaches Yoshinkan Aikido. Established by Thamby Rajah in Seremban, Malaysia, during the early 1950s. Whilst in Japan Thamby Rajah trained with Shioda Gozo and returned to Malaysia as the first Malaysian shodan black belt in Judo and in Aikido The words "Shudokan Aikido" have sometimes been misconstrued as a separate style to Yoshinkan Aikido. Some online sources suggested incorrectly it is a derivation from Aikido and Karate. However, video and anecdotal sources suggest that Thamby Rajah has always taught a natural derivation of the techniques he learned at Yoshinkan Hombu Dojo. Thamby Rajah's technique is also influenced by extensive experience in Judo at the Kodokan, and his earlier Jujutsu training under Walter De Silva in Malaysia during the post war years. Thamby Rajah's Aikido is fundamentally the same as Yoshinkan Aikido, but is more reflective of the early days of Shioda Gozo's Aikido.

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Jacques Payet

Jacques Payet is a practitioner of Yoshinkan-style aikido. He was the longest-serving non-Japanese uchi-deshi of Yoshinkan founder Gozo Shioda and is ranked Hachidan in the Yoshinkan organization, with the honorific Shihan. He is the founder and head instructor of Mugenjuku dojo and the Mugenjuku Kenshusei program in Kyoto, Japan. He is also the originator of the well-known Senshusei Course, a translator of several important works in aikido, and a guest instructor in demand around the world.

References

  1. ↑ 養神館合気道 国際専修生コース Archived 2010-09-06 at the Wayback Machine .(in Japanese) Retrieved on August 27, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Aikido Yoshinkan: The Senshusei course – Information and application package Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved on February 28, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Goryukai Yoshinkan Aikido: Senshusei Archived 2010-03-05 at the Wayback Machine . (2007). Retrieved on February 28, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 Honeyman, J. (2009): Senshusei (June 1, 2009). Retrieved on February 28, 2010.
  5. ↑ Twigger, R. (1997): Angry White Pyjamas. London: Phoenix. ( ISBN   978-0-7538-0858-0)
  6. ↑ Twigger, R. (2008): "Foaming at the mouth." In Z. M. Jack (Ed.): Inside the ropes: Sportswriters get their game on (pp. 125–142). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska. ( ISBN   978-0-8032-5997-3)
  7. ↑ Aikido Yoshinkan: About Gozo Shioda (Yoshinkan Founder) Archived 2009-04-28 at the Wayback Machine . (c. 2009). Retrieved on February 27, 2010.
  8. 1 2 Aikido Yoshinkan: Honbu introduction Archived 2010-03-15 at the Wayback Machine . (c. 2009). Retrieved on February 27, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Hanshi INOUE KYOICHI". Aikido Renshinkai Misogikan Dojo. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  10. ↑ "合氣道親和館井上強一館長". Aikido Shinwakan. 2010-03-31. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  11. ↑ "Aikido, the Yoshinkan way". Fitness Japan. 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  12. ↑ "Multimedia > Video Clips > Tsutomu Chida Sensei". Aikiweb. 1999. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  13. ↑ "千田務最高師範". Aikido Renshinkai (NPO法人 合気道錬身会). Retrieved 2 September 2010.
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