About Koichi Tohei, Sensei (1/1920 to 5/2011)

Published August 17, 2012  ·  All posts on Aug 17

Koichi Tohei (藤平光一, Tōhei Kōichi) (born January 1920, died May 2011) was a 10th Dan aikidoka and founder of the Ki Society and its style of aikido, officially Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (literally “aikido with mind and body unified”), but commonly known as Ki-Aikido.

Our friends over at the Bryn Mawr dojo of Kinokawa Aikido have an article providing a survey of the basic information about Sensei Tohei.

Unfortunately, I never saw Sensei Tohei in person. Today, the closest one can get is any of the myriad of videos which remain. One can find a great deal on YouTube. However, a much better place to go is to Aikido Journal (AJ). If you’re an aikidoka, you should go over to AJ immediately and join. There is an enormous amount of information available in general, and about Sensei Tohei in particular.

In particular from AJ, you can find books, DVDs and ebooks for download that are specifically about, or written by, Sensei Tohei. Log into the members site and search for ‘koichi tohei’. You’ll find interviews of Sensei Tohei conducted by Stanley Pranin, details of Sensei Tohei’s split from the Aikikai (including his resignation letter), and much more.

As for Kinokawa’s relation to Sensei Tohei, remembering his soft and flowing style is something to which we continuously pay attention. Sensei Wirth provides some more details related to Kinokawa’s history:

The grace and power I witnessed in those first few hours at the Dojo drew me into the way of Aikido.

In those early days we spoke little and trained very hard. There were only a few students who endured for long.

Maruyama Sensei was a student of Koichi Tohei Sensei and O’Sensei. By 1971, two years after O’Sensei’s death, divisions of viewpoint regarding who was to lead Aikido and how it was to be conveyed and directed lead to a split between Tohei and Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the Founder’s son. Maruyama Sensei aligned himself with Sensei Tohei, and so it was that our practice in the 1970’s reflected both the early style and training of O’Sensei as preserved and conveyed by Aikikai and the flowing late life Aikido of O’Sensei presented by Tohei.

~ Sensei Wirth, from ‘A History of Kinokawa ryu Aikido’

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My writing on Aikido

Published August 15, 2012  ·  All posts on Aug 15

Since 1998 I have been continuously and vigorously studying and practicing a martial art called Aikido. Over the years my responsibilities have gradually increased to the point where I am now straight-up teaching Aikido. I was having a terrific time exploring Aikido while trailing in the footsteps of many senior people. I’m now surprised to find that a bunch of people have appeared behind me asking questions.

What is this I don’t even…

I am currently teaching at the Kinokawa Aikido LV dojo, and I study under Sensei Michael Wirth at Main Line Budo.

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What’s with the funny twitter handle?

Published August 8, 2012  ·  All posts on Aug 8

cc1315_twittercc1315 was my InterNIC handle.

What’s an Internic handle?

Back in the mid-90s, there was only one place to register a domain name. (See Network Solutions.) To register a domain, or to make changes, one sent a specially formatted email message to a special email address at Network Solutions. On the receiving side, a program would read the message and follow the instructions. To verify the request was valid, the program checked the message for a valid InterNic handle.

To obtain a handle one would register with the Internic by sending a formatted email message containing your name, address, and other contact information. The InterNic software would then create a globally unique handle in response. Some program back in 1994 saw my initials and added 1315 — cc1315.

I never managed to figure out the source of the 1315. If memory serves, the handles were always two initials and three or four digits. So my best guess has always been that the digits were the local time-of-day when my registration was received.

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You must do the thing you think you cannot

Published August 5, 2012  ·  All posts on Aug 5  ·  

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

slip:4a267.

Pennsytucky

Published July 18, 2012  ·  All posts on Jul 18  ·  

wait wat? pennsytucky. i’m at a concert, and there’s a guy with tobasco in a hip holster. whisky tango foxtrot?!

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Muth

Published July 15, 2012  ·  All posts on Jul 15  ·  

@dmuth “a tale of Georgetown intrigue and eccentricity. And murder.” Doug? I thought you were in Philly ;)

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Atmos

Published April 13, 2012  ·  All posts on Apr 13

My father and his father were both members of the International Union of Elevator Constructors. From 1940 thru 2001 they worked on literally every elevator and escalator in and around the Lehigh Valley.

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The Freecycle Network: Don’t throw usable stuff away

Published April 3, 2012  ·  All posts on Apr 3

freecycle_logoThe Freecycle Network™ is made up of thousands of groups with millions of members around the world. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by local volunteers. Membership is free.

To sign up, find your community freecycle list by searching on the Freecycle web site.

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Imanishi

Published March 27, 2012  ·  All posts on Mar 27

Brown Santa just brought me an Imanishi 8k ceramic waterstone from Lee Valley… “scary sharp”, coming up!

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Oak

Published March 23, 2012  ·  All posts on Mar 23

100 year old Oak, cut down by my father in 2009. Let’s see what was going on in 1909?

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Portnoy

Published March 4, 2012  ·  All posts on Mar 4  ·  

Retiring server after 9 years of flawless operation. RIP “Portnoy”!

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Tree

Published February 28, 2012  ·  All posts on Feb 28

Storm damage and dead wood trimmed; Tree’s in decline, but looking good for Spring.

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BookMooch: free, used-book swapping

Published February 17, 2012  ·  All posts on Feb 17  ·  

http://www.bookmooch.com/

BookMooch.com is a huge (as in: 100,000’s of books), free, book swapping site. Why buy a new book when you can save one from the landfill?

It’s free to join and create your account. You start out by posting up some books which you are willing to give away. If someone would like one of your books, they request to “mooch” it from you. If you accept the mooch, you simply ship it to them paying the postage. In return you get a bookmooch “point”.

If you see a book you want, you can request to mooch it. (If the owner accepts, they ship it to you and they pay the postage.) Each mooch costs you one point. You earn points when someone mooches a book from you; you get 1 point for within-the-U.S. mooches, and 3 points if you’re willing to ship internationally. You also get 1/10 of a point for each book you list in your moochable inventory.

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