Hidden In Plain Sight
"Aikido is simple but not easy," said the late Alan Ruddock Sensei. Alan was one of the westerners who went to Japan to learn Aikido directly from O Sensei. He and my teacher, the late Kenneth Cottier Sensei were very good friends. After Cottier Sensei died, through the Hong Kong Aikido Association, we received a solicitation from Alan for stories about Cottier Sensei. It turned out, Cottier Sensei had previously handed over his personal notes pertaining to his Aikido journey. Alan was tasked with turning those loose pages and submissions from friends and students of Cottier Sensei into a book. He did a marvelous job compiling the stories and self-published it. It was through this book project, I got to know Alan. To my pleasant surprise, Alan responded when I emailed him. We wrote back and forth for months. I was so hoping to invite Alan to come from Ireland to visit and teach a seminar. He declined for health reasons. Not lo...
