Known For His Powerful Techniques

Per Encyclopedia of Aikido, the late Kazuo Chiba Sensei was one of the teachers who were "known for his powerful techniques".  To many people, such characterization can be conveniently summarized into one word -- rough.

I had heard people mention Chiba Sensei many times.  Most of the accounts were horror stories about how his attackers got beaten up.  They made Sensei sound like a merciless monster.  

Finally, I got to meet the man at a seminar in Boston in 1994.

A group of us went to attend this seminar taught by Chiba Sensei, Kanai Sensei and Yamada Sensei at Emmanuel College.  I was just a gokyu.  When we got there, a class was already underway.  Chiba Sensei was teaching.  An energetic young man launched his attacks at Sensei, but he was whipped around over and over like a rag doll in the hands of Bamm-Bamm Rubble.  Basically, once he chose to engage with Sensei, he was stuck till Sensei decided that it was over.  One attack brought about multiple throws on end.  When an uke failed to keep up, Sensei would dismiss him and call another one, and another one.  After several rounds like this, Sensei uttered, "Doozo!".  And people paired up for practice.

"Which one of the many techniques are we supposed to do?" I was stupefied.  For once, I felt so fortunate that I was not good enough so that I could not be uke for the teacher's demo.  At that point, I had barely a year of practice time on my little white belt.  I was so intimidated that I decided to just watch class.  

At the edge of the mat, near the bleachers where I was sitting, were a few little kids practicing with their parents.  Chiba Sensei came over to ask the kids to train with him.  Unlike their overthinking adult counterparts, the kids just did what they normally did with this all-smiley, encouraging teacher.  Sensei made dramatic funny noises as he fell down for the kids, and the kids giggled in response.  Watching this oversized Teddy bear in front of me, I found it hard to believe he was the same severe man who just creamed up half a dozen strong young men a moment ago.

In 2002, a conference took us to San Diego, CA.  I got to visit San Diego Aikikai for the first time.  We were told that Chiba Sensei was not in and Murashige Sensei was teaching.  After practice, just as we were about to leave, Chiba Sensei came in.  He was going to teach a special weapons class for his dojo members.  Even though we could not practice, at least we could watch.  So, we stayed.

People formed a circle to do suburi (sword cutting) exercise.  After doing cuts with everybody for a while, Sensei walked off to fetch a shinai (bamboo practice sword).  When he returned, he started pacing around the students as he watched them practice.  Among the group, a newbie stuck out like a big sore thumb.  It was quite obvious that he did not know what he was doing.  He was not sure how to stand, how to hold the sword, how to cut, . . .  Basically, he was not sure how to do anything.  His hesitation and apprehension was definitely making things worse. 

Sure enough, he caught Sensei's attention.  

From behind, Sensei hit the newbie's butt with the shinai.  The smack startled the newbie.  The stress level of this already-nervous guy went through the roof.  The more he tried to do better, the worse things went.  Seemingly unsatisfied with the student's performance, Sensei went on to hit the newbie's lower back to fix his posture, hit the back of his knee to correct his stance . . .  

The young man was sweating bullets and his face was bright red.  He looked like he was ready to break down in front of everybody.  Yet, the class went on.  Silently, people continued to do the exercise that Sensei had them do.  In their eyes, however, I thought I saw sympathy.

I do not know what the other students made of what Sensei did.  Why was Sensei so fixated on this guy and had to be constantly on his case?  Was he being abusive hitting this poor guy repeatedly in class?  Was Sensei angry with him?  Or, was Sensei actually giving him special attention?  What was Sensei thinking?  What does this all mean?  

I think I can understand why many people were afraid of Chiba Sensei.  Yet, the Chiba students I know often talk about Sensei fondly and wonder why people found him so scary.  When I saw Sensei in his later years, definitely, the man had mellowed out dramatically.  He was quite loving towards some of his students.  Reportedly, he sent letters of apology to his long time students for the way he treated them in the past.  So, it was not like he was not aware of what he had done and what it had caused his students.  Even if he did not realize it at the time, he was remorseful.  For someone of his personality and position to apologize openly to his students, it was quite something.  I am not a Chiba student.  I will never understand the dynamic between them.

My teachers share very similar fundamentals with Chiba Sensei.  As such, I feel quite attuned to the logic of Chiba Sensei's Aikido.  I always enjoyed Sensei's creative ways of doing even the most basic techniques.  His movements were very crisp and clean.  Many people can only see the power that he delivered and try to mimic him with force.  What they failed to appreciate was the strong, solid basics that Sensei possessed and the keen edge that he always presented.  He did not have to muscle.  Moreover, if you happen to be in the same room with him, you, inevitably, would know because he exuded a strong presence without having to try.  

Whether or not you agree with Chiba Sensei's way of teaching, the undeniable fact is that he was one exceptional martial artist.