Aikido In Balance

In the middle here is A man who played a huge role in my personal evolution. Henry Kono passed away over the weekend at the age of 88. I met Henry in 1997 and have been in touch with him virtually every month since then whether by phone or visit in person to learn from him. My mom always referred to him as the only Sage that she ever really met. I think that this rings true for a lot of us who got to know him.

The most striking thing about Henry's knowledge was the totality and completeness of what he was doing. There was a complete understanding of this practice and interaction between uke and nage that was completely congruent with his experience with the founder of Aikido in Japan in the late 1960's. I find it very rare that a person can have such a total understanding and congruence.

From Henry I learned that real secrets of this world are hidden in plain sight. He could explain very clearly what he was doing, we would all nod our heads understanding the concept, and in utter frustration none of us would be able to do what he did. Henry spent a fair amount of time teaching us that our own minds were getting in the way of seeing the truth that was right in front of us. Many of us would have glimpses and moments of clarity, only to be followed by Henry scalding us with a "loosen up!", or " you're thinking and not watching!"

I think the most extraordinary quality of my experience with Henry was his humble nature. Henry rejected any concept of hierarchy or status. He truly felt that if two human beings could not communicate on an equal level there could be no genuine communication. From that example, the dynamic of the classes was totally different that traditional martial arts etiquette.

In one of my last conversations with Henry I was expressing my gratitude for the wonderful aikido community that we have all built out of his teaching over the years. I
noted that in all my travels I have never seen an aikido community that works so well together and loves each other. Henry just replied,"well Tyler, when the concept is balance there is nothing for everyone to fight about".

Back in June Henry Kono came to visit us in Vermont. We had a small group that practiced in the garage at Lavigne Funeral Home in Winooski Vermont, and Henry taught a Saturday morning class. Periodically I call Henry to chat about things, and one of the questions that I had left him with before the seminar was "how do I find an easy way to explain to people why we do this?". Specifically I was referring to these exercises that we have done for so many years that when viewed by an outsider don't seem to have all the martial arts mojo that everybody seems to be searching for when they join a martial art. Henry really amazed me in this class by how simply he answered this question. He told us that the difference between the one circle practice is a practice of discovering the cause of O'sensei's movement. Two circle is the study of the effect. He elaborated that when you practice working on getting your side balanced, you are working on the cause. When you practice getting the other guy down, you are practicing the effect. The ego wants to be able to get the other guy down. Working on your half is the key ;)

Gotcha!