Aikido is unique among martial arts in that it teaches calmness and creativity in the midst of aggression .... compassion and non-violent responses towards violence .... and resolution of conflicts without harming others.                             
                                                                                    Miles Kessler

Thomas        5° BB Iwama and Nishio Styles of Aikido, (35 years with 6 years in Japan)
Huffman     3° BB Iaido & Batto (30 years also with 6 years with the "Old" Masters in Japan)
                     2° BB Okinawan Karate & Kobudo (weapons) (40 years with 1 year on Okinawa)
     I have known for a long time that the main line of Aikido does not focus on truly effective techniques.  I experienced this in various seminars that some Hombu students attended while I was in Japan and some other Hombu style seminars I have trained in.   Their techniques look similar, but the results were not as consistent with lock-down efficiency.    Recently I have discovered that the headquarters dojo, the Aikikai Hombu Dojo,  deliberately changed how techniques were executed in order to spread Aikido around the world.   It worked, Aikido is around the world but the changes frustrated the founder of Aikido, perhaps causing him to develop a cancer.   One day a student asked O'Sensei about the effectiveness of the techniques.   In a fit of frustration O'Sensei told him, "The Aikido being taught here in Tokyo is for exercise.  My Aikido is for the battlefield.  If you want to learn my Aikido go to Iwama and learn from Saito."  
     He was referring to Morihiro Saito Sensei.   He was the teacher of  three of the teachers I started Aikido under.   I managed to get the Navy to send me to Japan so I could study with him as well.  I also studied with his son Hitohiro Saito for three years on the south side of Tokyo.  Then the second three years I would train with Sensei Ryuji Sawa (formerly Inagaki Sensei), when the USS Independence was in port.  After three years at Atsugi Naval Air Station, I had to change duty stations, so I went to the USS Independence which was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, about  45 miles Southeast from Tokyo.  The first year I was on it, the Independence went into dry dock for major repairs.   So for practically the whole year the ship was in port.   The next two years the Independence was away from Yokosuka for 9 months of the year.  So my last two years around Japan, I became more of a visitor when the ship came back into home port.  
     Being stationed nearer to Yokohama I also trained with Nishio Sensei on a number of nights.   My advancements came from Nishio Sensei who also advocated strong, effective, fast techniques.   I teach the Iwama Style as a basic foundation and the Nishio Style as advanced for flow and speed.   Nishio Style is more complex, so an understanding of the Iwama style basics makes it easier to comprehend.  I have been so fortunate to study the two styles of Aikido that maintain a sense of Budo (martial way) while the main line of Aikido has chosen to maintain an exercise way.  The organization is much larger and the modified techniques that do not consistently work has given Aikido a poor reputation.

1/29/21 Wednesday evening Iaido practice was good.  My students understand the Aikido Toho Iaido well so we have been going through the katas and just doing two each unless there are mistakes.  I there are mistakes we repeat those 4 times.   After we finish the 15 katas, we switch to the Toyama-Ryu katas.  Since I expect that at some point we will be actually using these katas for cutting, it is important for everyone to understand the positioning of targets for cutting.  The use of cones with short pool noodles positioned as targets makes the practice much more realistic.         

1/25/21 Good day yesterday!  Most of the time I only have one or two show up for the Sunday classes.  Yesterday I had 7 for the first class and 4 for the second class.  Wahoo with caution.  So many times I have had a bunch of people at one class and then it drops off to next to nothing.   Afterwards Keith took me to Matsuri Sushi for a 5th Dan congratulations dinner.  I don't have the certificate yet and it may take a while before it arrives because I have been informed that Japan has shut down nearly everything, including the mail, because of the China Virus flare up there.                      

 1/19/21 About a week ago Bill of the Iaido classes brought in some low cones with about 1.25" holes in the top.  It is big enough that a 1.5" short pool noodle can be pushed into the hole to represent the location of a "wata" (target) for Batto cutting.  So I have begun using these to give a better visualization of target placing for future Batto cutting.  Up to this point I could visualize where the targets would be when I have been teaching, but it is pretty abstract for students.  This will allow them to get a much better idea of what they are doing when I teach them about the Toyama-ryu Batto.   Also I got a really nice deal on a new canvas cover for the mats.  I've had it for over a year and a half, but there were too many other things that would mess it up that I wanted to get done before we put that cover on and I was waiting for the weather to cool because it's a hot job.  More on that as it progresses.    

1/10/2021 Wonderful news today.  I have been promoted to 5th Dan, 5th Degree black belt in Aikido after 20 + years as 4th Dan.  I will need to make new business cards.  What a terrible need.  Perhaps the 20 years time-in-grade pushed my name to second in line on the list.   I had three students for both weapons and the empty hand time today.  We changed weapons and kept going.  Good Day!                     

1/1/2021  Sensei Keith has been coming to practice weapons more now.  He came to one of the Kids & Teens classes or maybe it was a Thursday evening for the free classes and found out some of the kids are getting more advanced in weapons techniques than he is.  Not so good.  So I am overjoyed to be teaching him more weapons stuff.  He is getting more and more proficient with the attack side of the 31 movement Jo kata.   I believe he learned the attack side of the 13 movement kata about a year or two ago, but without practice, it's easy to forget.  I also had a new student come in yesterday.  He has practiced a number of other martial arts, but felt that they required too much aggression to use in  a real situation.   Aikido does not need the aggressiveness to respond and he likes that philosophy better.   That's the kind of student I want to teach lots of knowledge to.  I packed his brain with Bo, Boken and Jo techniques yesterday.  It's just a beginning.                      

Nov 25th, 2020.   This was a response to the facebook post of the story of the student moving away.
Bharathi Nakkalamitte
Thats true. Thanks to Sensai for doing such a wonderful job. We are glad to be in your classes.
Bharathi is Indian.  Her husband has finished a Doctorate degree here at University of Florida and they will be moving back to India soon.  Bharathi's three daughters were aggressively progressing through the belts before the China virus hit.  They would ask me how do you do this technique, teach us that technique.  Great students!  I so wanted to have them all advanced in self defense Aikido techniques before they go back to India, but all I can teach them now are the walking staff things.   It really hurts the dojo synchronicity (the draw of more students to classes) when a group like this has to leave.  I will miss them like I miss the Herron Family as well.  Such great students moving on.  


Nov 24th, 2020.       I lost a good student yesterday because he and his mother are moving up to Memphis so they can spend more time with the husband/Dad. Excellent reason. The Father is a pilot with Fedex. The mother and son have been living with her parents here in Gainesville and commuting up to Memphis on the weekends. Not a good way to spend time apart.
     When I was 8 or 9 my Dad went back to teaching music and directing the Eastwood High School Band near Bowling Green, Ohio, after the Huffman Flower business went broke. He spent at least one summer up in Michigan working on a Masters Degree in Music. Mom would take us kids up on the weekends to see him. Dad was within one semester, 9 credit hours, of finishing but went back to horticulture. He told me years later that Fridays would come and all he could think of was being outside growing various ornamentals.
      My student's mother told me she was so grateful to me that when her son would ask a question, I would sit down with him and discuss what ever the question was about. Or when I would discuss with him various subjects that relate to Aikido, or not, and pull out various books to show him something like Anatomy or history. Or show him pictures of various techniques and explain how the physics of the technique would work. If I taught him a big new word he had never heard before, we would pull out my mother's collegiate dictionary and look up the word. It's a great dictionary with lots of pictures in the margins which create curiosity to see what the picture represents. So we would look up one word and learn five or six. She said I was like a surrogate father or grandfather or uncle and he learned so much more than just a self defense.
     I will miss them. I miss so many of my students who have to leave or quit for various reasons. It is why I love teaching Aikido and Iaido so much. So many of my students have been so grateful for what I have taught.                              

Nov 8th, 2020.   About a week or so ago, one of my Iaido students gave me a really heart felt thank you for my teachings.  He said that the consistent intense focus in manipulating the sword straight really helps himself and the other students to focus as well and everybody improves quickly.  Sensei Keith has also thanked me in the past that these classes have been so beneficial and healing for his mind because of the  concussions and other head traumas he experienced over his years as a deputy sheriff.  We have had to go to all weapons classes because of the virus constraints and I have always maintained that practically everything we do builds neural pathways across the brain divide because you must use both sides of the brain to move and coordinate your appendages all the time.   The kids are beginning to really enjoy the classes as we get deeper and deeper into the partner practices.  When they are facing another weapon coming at them and deflecting it and responding back, things get exciting.  They recognize that this could get dangerous even though we are going slow as they learn things.  It gives them a little adrenaline pumping.   The time to think is very limited, so they must respond as taught.  Time and again I hear, "This is so cool!" and "I love this!" and "This is fun!"  I respond with, "See, I told you right from the beginning that Aikido is fun."               

We kept on the Tsuka Osai and Tekubi Osai katas during Iaido this week working on getting the angles right because the orientation of the student's body and the movement of the handle of the sword is so important to what makes the technique effective. I need to get some of the blue paint type masking tape to put down on the mat so the feet get oriented correctly because body stance and positioning is what is moving the sword handle around. Strong Nikyo technique can be executed with very little effort provided you use your body in a very unified coordinated movement. Otherwise, you may need to use much more strength or the technique may be weak or not work at all. When I got back from Japan, in 1997, I was moving and turning with very small tight hand movements and people would fly to the mat. I was even taking the Nikyo off before the full execution, yet they were so surprised by the strength, they thought I was being mean. The key is total body unification.  That was the level I practiced in Japan.       

Saturday Aug 29th, During Iaido class we analyzed the 7th Aiki Toho Iaido kata, Tekubi Osai  (wrist pin down), which is the right hand of the aggressor grabbing the end of the tsuka (sword handle) or grabbing the left wrist of the defender for empty hand attack.  The Katate Dori Nikyo Ura (take down to the rear) is pretty easy to see.   What we were analyzing was what was happening with the various positions we move the sword through as we execute the kata. There are a number of interesting effects to the aggressor's wrist and physics principles effecting the bodies that the movement presents.   Takemori Sensei would often sit beside me at the parties and he would often say, "Nishio Sensei is very clever."  He is right.  Nishio Sensei was a very clever man.  I believe Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, O'Sensei, ran a genius factory.  So many of his students became geniuses. 
                                   
8/19/20 Kids & Weapons Practice    
Wonderful morning class with Lydia (12, green belt, 6th test, nearly as tall as me, looks like she's 14 or 15) not her true name. I opened up for Kids & Teens classes about the 20th of June, but teaching only weapons classes. The kids who have been coming this summer are rather advanced and the virus has caused the curriculum to be all weapons this summer. It has been enlightening for them and after just two months practice, things are beginning to get more exciting for the them as well. The practice of weapons has a little bit of danger involved which focuses attention and requires honest (on target) aggressor moves and honest defender responses so nobody gets hurt. As we expand into partner practices with Kumi Jo and Kumi Tachi drills and partner katas, they are seeing the fundamentals of “Get-off-the-line-of-attack” and “Be Honest, also Attack-on-target-and respond-on-target”. They quickly learn that if the attack is not on target, you don't need to respond and if the response is off target, it's just worthless. This honesty in practice means they must use the fundamentals or things become dangerous very quickly even if we are going slow and stopping before anything harmful can happen. This honesty creates excitement in the whole routine. And the excitement is fun. So they are finally beginning to understand what I have told them all along, that the advanced stuff is FUN. Lydia also realized that she was becoming more relaxed and unable to think about any outside worries or stress, but must concentrate on what is immediately happening. That's focus and the relaxing allows the body to respond quicker to what is happening. That is what I have been trying to teach all along, but it does not show up till the student can handle the advanced stuff. Practically everybody quits too soon before they get to see it. Another thing Lydia realized was that she was getting tired. This is a product of the mind being stressed to remember what the movements are and how to respond. I told her that as she goes through this, she will get used to the stress and not get tired which is an increase in stamina. She will get to the point where she can just go and go and keep going and not get tired till she stops.  It's tremendously exciting and gratifying to me when I know the student has comprehended so much.


I received this awesome message from my friend Mike Fowler about a night with Nishio Sensei after practice.   This was Nishio Sensei's deep philosophy.
    In Tokyo, one night after class, we all went out to Nishio Sensei's favorite yakitori place for dinner. There were 5 or 6 students with us; We ordered some things and after a while Nishio Sensei looks at me and said "Michael, I'm one of the best martial artists on the planet,  if you have a question for me, you can ask it now!”  That's called “Front Street.”  It's an unusual, direct way of Japanese speaking.
    I thought about it for a second and said, “Sensei, when you practice Ken Tai Ken, What do you feel when you meet your Uke without hurting them?”
    Sensei answered me in a deep voice, "Forgiveness.” “Most people have a hard time to forgive even once. I'm an aikido man.  I must do better than that. In the Aikido techniques we practice, there are many points of reflection where we have the chance to learn forgiveness for others and ourselves, even when they want to harm us!”
    "Sensei, How many times do we need to forgive in one technique?"
    Sensei said, “At least 3 to 5 time's is good, or until they feel the sharp part of my sword, after that it gets repetitive!”
    "Sensei, What do we think about when we practice cutting with our sword?"
     "We should think that we are cutting out the bad parts of ourselves, or our character that we don't like. With every cut we go deeper. The Aikido sword cuts in the correct way for people to follow and develop good character and spirit  to become strong and to help others to do the same.” “But first, we must work on ourselves!" “I believe in myself!" He said, “1000 Sword cuts for your heart!” “10,000 sword cuts for your spirit!”
     Sensei looked at me deep in the eye's for a minute and said, "Most students would not ask this kind of question of me Michael-san.”
     I looked at the other student's at the table. We all had tears in our eye's at that moment. We all said, “Kampai Sensei!”
    I always tried to pull things out of him in this way. Thank you Nakamichi Sensei, for reminding me of that moment in time.   I feel AIKIDO is the physical expression of love and compassion.  I miss you Sensei!”
Michael fowler 5th dan Nishio sensei.
Ronin,



Saturday and Sunday Aug. 3rd & 4th 2019.
    This was a terrific weekend. Here in Gainesville, there were 14 kids & teens on the mat, with two adults. Mr. Herron was teaching along with Judith, Joy, Martin, Sandor and Simone, the most senior of the kids and teens students. They actually developed a new routine that the students feel is like another game. Wonderful! We will try that again next time.  
    Sensei Keith, his son Alex and I, along with Sensei Ian Phillips from the Aikido Orlando Dojo were up in the Fredericksburg area of Virginia at the Aikido in Fredericks Dojo for the first Nishio Style Aikido seminars East of the Mississippi since well before Nishio Sensei died in 2005. Arisue and Nakamichi Sensei's taught as a team for two seminars on two weekends, the first in New York and the second in Frederiksburg, Va.
     I trained often with these men for about 4+ years until the USS Independence got out of dry dock in late 1994. The last two years of my 6 years, I was out at sea for about 9 months of the year, so I would see them when the Independence was in port. I think Nakamichi Sensei was on 3 or 4 tours I gave my friends and I think Arisue Sensei was on at least one tour. If he didn't tour the ship, it was certainly not a slight. I loved showing everybody my ship! Nishio Sensei was on at least two tours. Nakamichi Sensei was also at my retirement ceremony on the ship.
    The seminar was terrific! I learned more in depth about so many things, Aikido, Iaido and various people I know of in Japan. Many things I have been teaching for years were again verified as authentic and correct.
    Also new friends and connections were made with these students who have retired to the eastern U.S. after serving and studying Aikido in Thailand for many years.