Sensei John Johnson 5th kyu (about age13)
The Path I Traveled
My journey in Aikido began rather unceremoniously, at about the age of ten. I was walking home from school one afternoon when I was attacked and smeared with lipstick by one of the roving gangs in our southern California town. What made this attack so difficult to deal with, outside of my young age – was the gender of my attackers…they were girls!
After learning of the attack, my father immediately enrolled me in the closest self-defense class that was available. Lloyd Eugene Combs had recently opened just such a school in our own neighborhood. This (strange new) school was the American School of Aikido, the first commercial Aikido dojo in the Southern California town of Lawndale.
http://www.seikeikan.com/ushistory.php
I was (excited) to begin my new classes. Although Combs Sensei was very strict, he did not teach us the Japanese names for the techniques. He believed that since we were American it was proper for us to use English. He taught the young children Judo, and I studied the art until I was old enough to move into the beginner’s adult Aikido class. I still remember studying for my 5th kyu test – and failing it! Despite any setbacks, I persisted, and improved. As my passion for the art increased, so did my level of involvement with the school. My parents had to pay for my first two years, but soon I became very active in demonstrations and began teaching the warm-up exercises to the older students in order to pay my dues. We had three classes a day for six days a week - and I don’t remember missing even one. I was very excited when I was able to move into the adult advanced class.
My journey took an unexpected turn when I reached the 10th grade. My parents went through a separation, and Mom and I were to move from Southern California to Maryland. I was crushed by thoughts of having to leave the school. Combs Sensei had also sold the school earlier to one of his advanced students, Tom Corizine. That summer while Mom went to Maryland to find us a place to stay I was given the opportunity to live with Sensei Tom Corizine and his family and study with him. It was a tremendous blessing!
I finished High school in Maryland and ended up studying Karate for a short period because I could not find any Aikido classes. That soon changed when Nelson Ying, a student of Yamada Sensei, started a class at Harford Community College. To my surprise he was the same rank I was - he was 2nd kyu! I was shocked because I had always been told that I could not teach unless I was at least Shodan. I studied with Nelson for one semester and then went to New York Aikikai and took my 2nd kyu test with Sensei Yamada - and passed. I continued to study with Nelson until he moved back to N.Y. I took over responsibility for the classes and instructed for the next 15 years. The classes became accredited after the first 2 years. The Accredited College classes are still going on today under my student James Shell (Baltimore Aikikai). James assumed responsibility for the classes when I moved to Florida.
While in Maryland I studied with Yamada Sensei and Kanai Sensei every chance I got. I fondly remember those weekends at New York Aikikai. I would practice and attend all the classes I could, spend each night sleeping on the mats, and drive home to Maryland in time for Monday.
My journey soon took another unexpected turn when Takeguchi Sensei (http://www.capitalaikikai.org/) moved to Maryland. Yamada Sensei advised me to study with Takeguchi Sensei as well as with him. It was another tremendous blessing! Takeguchi Sensei has played a major role in my study of Aikido as has Yamada Sensei and Kanai Sensei.
I was promoted to Shodan in 1975, Nidan 1980, Sandan 1984, Yodan 1988, and Godan 1994, all by Yamada Sensei and Kanai Sensei.
I have been privileged to study with so many Sensei’s in my lifetime it is hard to list them all, here are a few and not in any order;
Masahio M. Nakazono, Tohei, Akira , Arikawa, Sadateru, Chiba, T. Kazuo, Kurita, Yutaka, Sugano, Seiichi, Shibata, Ichiro, Michio Hikitsuchi, Ikeda, Hiroshi, Satome, Mitsugi, Sylvain, Paul, Tamura, Nobuyoshi, Osawa,Kisaburo, Osawa,Hayato, Ueshiba, Morieteru (grandson of O Sensei), and Ueshiba, Kisshomaru (son of O Sensei).
Just a note about Yamada Sensei, I once asked him about practicing with instructors not in our federation. His reply was for me to study with whomever I wanted to - but not to take rank from them, in order to remain his student. WOW! How great is that?
All the time I have been studing Aikido I had the words of Uyeshiba, from his book listed below in my mind, I think the book has helped me to find JESUS along with the practice of Aikido. Espicially the passage listed below.
From the book Aikido by Kisshomaru Uyeshiba,
under the direction of Morihei Uyeshiba, in the section
MEMOIR OF THE MASTER
“When anybody asks if my Aiki budo principles are taken from religion, I say,”No.” My true budo principles enlighten religion and lead them to completion."
Sensei John Johnson 2007 (age 62) retired DCSA from the State of Florida.
About 6 years ago I called myself a Christian (never having read the Bible and only attending church on holidays) I was under the belief that GOD had some sort of a scale that HE used to weigh our good and bad, and depending on which side had the most in it, would determine where I would end up, either in Heaven for the good or hell for the bad. I started going to a local Church to get to know my neighbors. I heard the WORD and received JESUS, and have never looked back. I now have a home in heaven and a relationship with the FATHER. I now devote my time to the LORD through the study of the Bible & Aikido.