A Message from Yamada Sensei

Spring has come finally, or should I say summer has arrived too soon for some regions.

Just like every springtime, our bulletin board is full of seminar posters but, unlike the old days, there are so many different faces on the posters. This makes me so happy to see so many Shidoin and Shihan so busy. This means that aikido practitioners have a chance to experience different styles, though I don't like to use the word "style". It's good experience and you need to study under different teachers, but I don't like to see people trying to copy the teachers they like the most. I like people to have their own personality and show their personality. You might think you look as good as the teachers you respect do when you copy them exactly. But most of the time to others it looks so funny. Everybody has a different figure, skill and ability. There's nothing wrong with that. Would you act and dress like Elvis Presley because you wanted to be attractive to girls like Elvis was? No way. When I was young I liked Perry Como and I wanted to sing like him, with the gentle charm he had in Come To Me My Melancholy Baby. Then, as I got older I learned to be like Frank Sinatra. Then I realized that I didn't have blue eyes. No Ava Gardener for me. However, when I have too much scotch, I can sing like Bing Crosby.

Well, enough is enough, I hope you enjoy the good weather and all the seminars.

See you all at summer camp,

Yoshimitsu Yamada