For a martial artist, Japan represents an ideal, a dream, a goal.
It often happens that, at least once in a lifetime, Japan becomes a destination for those who have grown accustomed to walking across tatami mats.
So, when a few days ago we received pictures and clips of four of our young students from the Kids group practicing at an Aikikai Dojo in Sapporo, we felt a deep emotion. It helped us become more aware of the meaning of what we are experiencing.
It is rare -but not unheard of- for two families to organize a trip to the other side of the world together with their kids. It is even more remarkable to have the sensitivity to organize such an experience for them, all of them primary school students.
We cannot say -none of us can- what choices these young boys and girls will make when the time comes to live their adult lives responsibly. What we do know is that a seed has been planted, in soil where the alliance between family, school, and sports educators is doing its best to help it grow.
There are often endless -and ultimately sterile- discussions about how Aikido should be defined. Those involved in the art regularly say that it is impossible to state: “Aikido is…” or “Aikido is not…”
Well, this small yet extraordinary surprise we received just before the beginning of the new season allows us, on the contrary, to state with confidence that Aikido is the path that enables an Italian child to travel to Japan and, without knowing a single word of Japanese, understand and communicate their world with their whole being.
To be themselves, regardless of the social setting.
When this perspective is understood -or even simply perceived- by the family and educational system surrounding the child, something extraordinary happens. An extraordinary process that unfolds day after day and helps shape the adult they will become.
For the grown-up children who have become, like us, responsible for groups and courses, there remains the responsibility of understanding that our destination must -not may, but must- become the starting point for those who place their trust in us.
Good transmission requires continuous learning, and a constant search for educational tools so that those who come after us can go deeper and farther than those who came before them.
This is the deep meaning of tradition. Without it, past experiences are reduced to a museum of forms with incomprehensible captions.
For those who are students -as, after all, we ourselves remain students- examples like this call upon something deep within us.
In our practice, can our inner child still emerge? Can it still communicate without speaking, play without seeking artificially manufactured entertainment?
We are at the beginning of a new season.
We will dedicate it to seeking and pointing towards the essence of what a discipline truly is.
Something that does not fear comparison with the thousand activities adults fill their days with and use to fill their children’s calendars.
Because, quite simply, discipline is a tool that provides order, vision, and meaning.
Exactly that extraordinary process that takes place -even amid the chaos of a life that is never simple, neither for a child nor for an adult- when we have the courage to remain on the path traced by a discipline.
Have a wonderful year of practice, everyone.
Disclaimer: Picture by Artem Podrez from Pexels