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| Exclusive
Interview with Cath Davis Sensei |
| This
month MI Magazine talks with Cath
Davies Shidoin of the United Kingdom
Aikikai. In this exclusive interview
Cath Davies Shidoin talks about
her early days in Aikido, competition
Aikido and her personal development
plus much more… |
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| MI:
Can I begin by asking your Rank? |
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| Cath
Davis Sensei: I am 5th Dan so Hombu and
a Shidoin of the United Kingdom Aikikai. |
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| MI:
How did you become interested in Aikido? |
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| Cath
Davis Sensei:
I began aikido when I was 13 years old.
At that time I sang in a church choir and
the aikido class met in the church hall after
choir practice finished. I used to see them
bowing, and doing breakfalls and something
about it caught my imagination. I seem to
remember that I had to nag my mother a bit
to let me start. I can still remember my first
night - being taught how to breakfall and
really loving it. I immediately asked my instructor,
David Bushell, where I could buy a keikogi
and he advised me to wait a few weeks to see
if I was really sure that I wanted to continue.
24 years on and the rest, as they say, is
history...... |
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| MI:
Which people influenced you most during your
earlier days? |
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| Cath
Davis Sensei:
I
consider myself very fortunate to have
started aikido with Bushell Sensei:
he had a great attitude (in many ways
no "attitude"....) to aikido
and so I grew up thinking that everyone
would be like him. Over the years I've
found this not to be true, of course,
but many of the lessons I learned from
Bushell Sensei have remained with me. |
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I
have trained with Peter Brady for
20 years and so, of course, he has
also influenced me greatly. In fact,
I can see now that it is only because
I had such a good grounding in aikido
from Pete that I have been able to
pursue a change of direction in my
aikido since 1999.
In
terms of technical influence, both
directly and through my sempai, Chiba
Shihan was the biggest influence on
my aikido until I met Endo Shihan
in 1999 - more of that later!
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| MI:
Have you noticed much change in Aikido since
your days as a beginner? |
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Cath
Davis Sensei:
Yes,
definitely. Obviously, I have changed and
developed over the years but there has,
I think, also been a global shift. When
I started, although we took ukemi it was
really just about falling and, if I'm honest,
the bigger, louder and flashier the fall
was the better. Chiba Shihan's aikido is
very positive and dynamic and this naturally
influenced the students at that time. There
seemed to be a "I'm a big tough martial
artist who can take anything. You should
also be able to take anything and so I'm
going to slam you through the mat as hard
as I can" attitude. In recent years,
through Chiba Shihan, we have developed
a more sophisticated understanding of ukemi.
As my sempai have matured and developed
they have led the way in bringing about
a change in emphasis. Many of them retain
their partialness for positive technique
but it is tempered by greater technical
ability and, of course, the benefit of 30
or 40 years experience!
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| MI:
Why do you think Aikido is not as popular
as say Karate or Judo? |
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| Cath
Davis Sensei:
There
are several reasons, I think.
Traditional aikido is still a
"do" - (way) - it is
not a sport. I was teaching on
a joint judo, karate and aikido
course recently and the judo instructor
said 2 things that stuck in my
mind:
·
"the worst thing that happened
to judo is that it became a
sport"
·
"the most important thing
is to get them down".
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| Aikido
does not always fit people's [stereotyped]
idea of what a martial art should
be: there is etiquette to be followed
- "why??" and there
is no competition - "so how
do you know it works??"
Aikido
seems to be harder to learn
than other arts: it is less
formulaic. Thanks to the second
Doshu, Ueshiba Kisshomaru, aikido
does now have more of a structure
than when
| O
Sensei was alive. I read
an interview with Terry
Dobson in which he said
that he felt O Sensei wasn't
interested in whether you
were learning what he was
teaching: he was there developing
aikido and so taught whatever
he was working on at the
time. Friends who study
other arts say things to
me like "we are working
on the syllabus" and
"because I'm only 5th
kyu, I never do any techniques
that aren't on the 5th kyu
syllabus". Whilst it
is possible to teach in
a systematic, syllabus orientatedway,
my |
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guess is that most of us don't
- I certainly don't! I think it
is important to teach principles
along side "kata" (form).
This may appear to be a bit random
but aikido is something you assimilate
over a number of years with pieces
of the jigsaw falling into place
at different times - times that
are personal and relevant to each
student. This approach may not
suit everyone: if we're going
on a journey we like to plan it
out - know where we're starting
from and know where we'll end
up; know the time we can expect
to reach key milestones along
the way, against which we can
judge how far we are from the
destination. With aikido, possibly
the only bit we know is the starting
point and often, having started
the journey, we realise that the
starting point wasn't where we
thought it was either!! |
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| MI:
What do you think about introducing some form
of competition into Aikido? |
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| Cath
Davis Sensei: You
can probably tell from my answer above
that I'm not in favour of it. Once winning
becomes the goal it changes, by necessity,
the focus and the reasons for training.
The word aikido is made up of 3 kanji:
"ai" - to meet, join, harmonise
etc; "ki" - energy (for want
of a better word) and "do"
- way or path. So, aikido could be translated
(and this is my favourite) as "the
way of harmonising with |
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| energy".
In my experience, when the primary motive
is to "get them down", harmonisation
goes out of the window. What you're
left with is a fight with a winner and
a loser: aikido is not about fighting
or winning or losing. |
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| MI:
Do
you think enough is done to popularize
Aikido? |
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Cath
Davis Sensei:
This may be a little controversial,
but why do we want / need to popularise
aikido? Of course, to survive financially,
dojos need members, but to "popularise"
do we offer gimmicks to attract students?
Do we charge an exorbitant fee for
gradings, thereby giving an illusion
that it's worth something? Is the
person who's attracted to these kind
of things the kind of student that
aikido needs? True students will either
seek aikido out (or stumble across
it!) or continue on the path all their
lives.
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| MI:
Have you ever trained in Japan? |
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| Cath
Davis Sensei: Yes,
I've been twice. In 1999 I went
on a 2-week trip organised by
Yamada Shihan (New York Aikikai).
In 2004, I went to Endo Shihan's
hometown of Saku (in Nagano) to
take part in the seminar to celebrate
the 10th anniversary of Aikido
Saku Dojo. |
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MI:
If
yes, Was it how you imagined it would
be? |
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Cath
Davis Sensei: Yes,
I suppose it was. On my first trip I
had plenty of opportunity to train at
the Hombu Dojo. This was amazing and
I spent lots of time walking around
with a huge smile on my face - I was
just so happy to be
in Japan with Yamada Sensei (who organised
the trip wonderfully); I wassharing
a room with 2 American aikido students
and
having a fantastic time with them, oh,
and, of course, there was the aikido!!
One of the great things was finding
that the aikido there was pretty much
the same as I'd been practising in the
UK. It was a very affirming experience.
| It
was on this trip that I had my
aikido epiphany: I met Endo Shihan.
My aikido was turned upside (as
he was turning me upside down
so effortlessly!). On the aikido
spectrum, Chiba Shihan (my main
influence to date) was at one
end and Endo Shihan was at the
other end. I was completely blown
away by him! His technique was
so soft yet absolutely controlling;
his body was very relaxed and
I kept ending up on the |
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floor,
unable to work out how I got there and
unable to get up. I came back from that
trip with so much more than I had anticipated:
2 new friends, Mary & Karen; a desire
to travel to do aikido (I've always
been apprehensive of flying and, in
fact, my flight to Japan was my first
ever flight!) and a totally new direction
for my aikido. Not bad for a 2 week
holiday!! |
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MI:
Have
you mentally or physically noticed a change
in your Aikido from Shodan to Godan? |
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Cath
Davis Sensei: Yes,
mainly thanks to Endo Shihan.
However, even if I hadn't met
him, if there had been no mental
or physical change then I would
expect to still be Shodan!
I guess I fell into the trap that
many people fall into at Shodan:
intellectually, I knew it wasn't
the end but rather a beginning
(shodan means "beginning
step"), but I was frustrated
that I couldn't always make techniques
work. I
think I have a more |
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realistic
and honest approach now: there are
some techniques that don't suit me
and so I don't often do them; there
are some techniques that I know I
don't do well and need to practise
more; there are techniques that I
usually do well but occasionally don't
and that's OK!! Let it go, move on...
In
terms of my physical aikido, Endo Sensei's
influence has made my aikido much softer
- but still dynamic. I find it much
more interesting and challenging to
see if my aikido works when I'm not
using strength. After all, its no big
deal if you can control somebody by
strength alone, is it?
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MI:
Has
there ever been a time when you have had
to use Aikido to defend yourself or others? |
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| Cath
Davis Sensei: No,
not physically but I used to work
in hostels and night shelters
for homeless young people. I think
there were a few situations I
was able to diffuse by being able
to remain calm, focussed and centred.
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MI:
What
advice would you give to a student who
becomes frustrated?
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Cath
Davis Sensei: Don't
give up!! You only fail when you give
up. Having said that, I think it should
be acknowledged that progress in aikido,
as in any physical activity, is largely
governed by natural ability.
| Therefore,
it is important that both student
and instructor are honest about
their potential. Just because
you can swim it doesn't mean that
you'll
ever be an Olympic swimmer. The
good thing about aikido, and specifically
not having competition, is that
students of mixed abilities can
train side by side. The very gifted
student is no more or less valuable
than a student who trains diligently
but finds it difficult. |
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MI:
In
an "ideal" world, where would
you like to see Aikido in the future? |
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Fewer
schisms; smaller egos; greater tolerance. |
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Interview
with Student Scott Clark
by Paul Swainson |
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Spotlight
on Your Dojo
by Paul Swainson |
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Taukauns
Letter to Yagyu
by Paul Swainson |
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Reiki
- Healing with Love
by Annie
Livings, MICHT |
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Last
Months Martial Arts
Quiz Results
Thank
you to all those who
participated in last
months quiz. Click
here to
view the answers to
the quiz. |
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ZEN
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This wallpaper features
a"poem", plus
a view of a Zen Garden
in the Kodai Temple in
Kyoto, Japan. Click
here |
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Months Crossword Answers |
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