Kei Izawa
Secretary General of the IAF
Kei Izawa during our conversation in Kiev
((Transcript Alice Stephan/AJ – Greifswald/D))
AikidoJournal: Do you remember when you began with aikido? Why you began with aikido so many years ago?
Kei Izawa: A long time ago I was not interested in any Martial Art. I was brought up in South America. I liked football, I liked swimming … I liked many things, but Martial Art to me … I didn’t have a concept. So it wasn’t part of my interest and in 1969 after I entered into university a gentleman, a friend of my father, who was in the Japanese self defence force – he was a pilot – visited my father and we met. He was younger than my father. He was still in active duty. We met, we talked and he asked me if I did any Martial Art. I said No and that I wasn’t interested. And he said: “How about if I take you to one. Would you like to come and see?” So I went to Aikido Hombu dojo. He took me to Hombu dojo and I observed one class. And how silly of me I thought: “Wow, this is very easy. Maybe I can do it.” So I underestimated how difficult aikido was. Once in, I didn’t know which leg to put forward, which hand to use and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable, because I couldn’t even control my body movements. So that was the revelation for me and I thought: “Wow, this is an interesting Art.” I wasn’t thinking “Martial” in those days, but the body coordination was very interesting for me. That’s how it started. So I didn’t see some movies and I was influenced … Nothing like that. I didn’t even see fighting movies …
That wasn’t my interest.
AJ: An in ’69 …?
K. I.: ’69 was a difficult time. The student movements … A lot of radical student movements …
AJ: Even in Japan?
K. I.: Yes. The entry exam for the University of Tokyo was cancelled due to a student revolt the year that I took the test. So that was a major shock for me. Very difficult times and I entered into Keio University which is a very prestigious university in Japan, but the same thing. The campus was totally in a student revolt and the leftist students occupied the campus, so I joined a group of students to remove the radical students, because I didn’t want them to take the liberty of studying. It was okay for them to not study, but it wasn’t okay that they would stop me from studying. They wanted to destroy the Bourgeoisie University.
AJ: Revolution! (both laughing) And you met aikido in the Hombu dojo?
K. I.: Yes.
AJ: Directly? Not in university?
K. I.: In University I was doing Nippon Kempo. And we were a group of students wanting to introduce some balance, so we trained to fight there. Aikido for me had nothing to do with fighting. Aikido for me was more physical awareness and mental awareness. So I didn’t connect aikido with fighting. Nippon Kempo is for me for full contact with protective gear and hit each other.
AJ: And Budo?
K. I.: Yeah about Budo … The main class for me was with Kisshomaru Doshu early in the morning, but I also took classes from Osawa Shihan, the father. I enjoyed Saturday classes of Sasaki Masando Shihan, but I took the evening classes of Koichi Kohei Sensei and Arikawa Sensei, Yamaguchi Sensei, and some others. I took classes from many of them. But I didn’t register in them the concept of budo. I was still learning to get awareness of my own body and probably I’m a late bloomer, slow evolution in that aspect. I enjoyed, naturally Kisshomaru Doshu class but also for example Osawa Shihan class, Sasaki Shihan class and Tohei Senseis class. All of them separately because I could see the different interpretations that they had, but I wasn’t connecting with the concept of a Samurai tradition. I never read the book of Five Ring. For me it wasn’t connected there yet.
AJ: When you went to America and why?
K. I.: I used to work for a governmental agency. And I received scholarship to study at Harvard Graduate School. That is 1976 and I had just received my nidan at that time and Osawa Sensei wrote a letter of introduction to Kanai Sensei in Cambridge and he said: “Since you had been practising diligintly in Hombu and I you’re going in Cambridge Massachusetts you should visit Kanai Sensei.” And that was when suddenly my eyes opened. Kanai Sensei was only 35/36 years at that time, he had been in the US for only about ten years and when he went to the US he was only 65 kilos and had to do Aikido with Americans that were 90 or 100 kilos or more. The majority of them. So when I went to his dojo in Central Square in Cambridge and I had a second degree black belt I thought that I could mingle well with the Americans and to my surprise my aikido wasn’t on a par with Kanai Senseis students. I was very shocked. In the first class Kanai Sensei did a Futari Gake/ Ninin Gake and two people grabbed my arms and one of them was not even an black belt and between the two of them – they were very big … One of them was Lou Periello, he passed away several years ago, and the other one was a bouncer of a Irish Bar, he had really huge arms and the two of them lifted me up (laughter) and put me face down. I received then an initiation. I do not think that it was instructed by Kanai Sensei, but my aikido from Japan was not effective there. And apparently many Japanese would go and quit, because the Americans wanted to tease the Japanese black belts that come. This was when Kanai Sensei was very introvert. He didn’t talk. He didn’t say anything, when that happened to me and he didn’t talk to me for about six months. We just greeted and I continued to go. And because he saw that I was continuing to go in spite of once been humiliated (laughing) to say the least, he started to open his heart. It took a long time to have a dialogue with Kanai Sensei. And after the first year of training we sometimes go with Chiba Sensei to some garage sales or antique shops looking for swords and Kanai Sensei started to tell me and started to teach me Iai. He gave me actually a Wakizashi and a Katana as a farewell gift. I had also purchased my own sword. I don’t have that many, but Kanai Sensei was the one that opened my eyes to something that many Japanese don’t have access to: the beauty of the sword and the philosophy behind that. And that is when I started to see and understand the spirit of budo and it was trough the teachings of Kanai Sensei. The attention to detail, he would look at hamon. He had a sign to his even little office that was called Tekkoan. Tekko or Tetsu is iron, Ko is kareru is when the leaves turn brown, an is a small hut. That was his place, that was where he had his swords, his tool box, his books, where he could relax, because he had an exceptional knowledge about swords. I never got to learn as much as I … well, I would say I barely touched the surface of his knowledge about swords, but I had accompanied him to the Boston museum and he explained to me the difference about the different swords and so forth. He always said that said that "iron does not lie". My kohai and dokei (friend of the path), Yasumasa Itoh, opened a dojo named Tekkojuku after Kanai Sensei's death.
I think Kanai Sensei wanted someone to talk to in Japanese, because his English was not very proficient and he asked me to become his interpreter and I accompanied him in several seminars and he liked fishing so much that sometimes he left me teaching the class so he could go for fishing. (laughing) So gradually I gained his confidence and he made me his assistant and instructor for the second class in the evening. So this was when I was studying at Harvard which was very demanding as well, but for me whatever I learned in Harvard was very intellectual, but whatever I learned from Kanai Sensei was much deeper than what I learned in Harvard. In Harvard I got a strong network of friends and things like that, but even though the Japanese government gave me scholarship to study the American systems and educations and so forth I think, I was studying about Japan in Boston. (laughing) So that was when my eyes opened a little bit about Martial Arts.
AJ: Did you stay there with Kanai?
K. I.: Kanai Sensei asked me if I could quit the job and stay with him and he said: “You can help me grow aikido here.” But at that time I had obligation to return, because I was an recipient of scholarship and I had an obligation for five years not to resign that was one of the unwritten conditions. When I returned to Japan I went to Hombu. A new man, very cocky and very aggressive, because I felt I have been reborn and I think many people thought that I became strange, out of the box … Even the current Doshu teased me. He would say "Izawa-san is such a gentleman, but when he goes on the mat he suddenly transforms". I did like big moves I learned in Cambridge under Kanai Sensei but in Hombu it was difficult because of space limitations. In Hombu, everybody does very elegant but very strong Aikido within the restrictions of space but due to my experience with Kanai Sensei, I started to enjoy Aikido with more big projections. Hombu Aikido is the foundation but suddenly I craved for more. The instructors in Hombu have that projection dynamism in their Aikido but classes seemed to be more constrained in space and limited but was a great thing to experience the Aikido of one of the last disciples of O Sensei.
I met my future wife when she was a beginner of aikido. As I mentioned to you, I was very cocky. She was in the beginners class and I went to teach and grab other black belts and throw them (both laughing) in a showing off manner. And at that time Okumura Sensei was teaching the beginners class. He didn’t say much, but I think he was more disturbed by my silly actions. (more laughters.) That’s how my wife thought that I was a big show off, but she liked me so that’s where we got there. (laughter) I’m telling the truth. (another burst of laughters) Nothing to hide. And then I was transferred to Mexico in 1982. I was very busy, because Mexico had gone into external payment default and working the government required that I work very long hours and I had to deal with seventeen Japanese banks that were in Mexico. To try understanding the policy of the Mexican government which was chaotic at that time. Mexico made the assumption that after the second oil shock in 1979 …
AJ: The first was in ’73?
K. I.: Yeah, in ’73. And the second in ’79. So they expected the economy to continue rising the oil prices. So they started borrowing money from overseas, they made lots of investments and so forth, inflation started to go, but they subsidize the tortillas and bread and gasoline to the public. Soon energy crisis stabilized the price of oil and oil revenue started to decline. This put Mexico into financial crisis and had to default. The government introduced currency control in 1982. So I spent a tremendous difficult time that one year in Mexico and during that time General Motors was negotiating with Toyota Motors Corporation for giant investment in Fremont, California, so they were looking for a Japanese to enter into the team. For strange reasons they found me in Mexico and I was invited to come to Detroit to come for interviews and I kept saying No, but finally agreed to go, because situation in Mexico was so unproductive and tiring every day. So I opted to join General Motors and I moved to Detroit, Michigan. That’s one time that I didn’t have aikido. And I was part of the negotiation team with GM team flying to Toyota and then later to Suzuki Motor Company. From ’84 to ’87 there was no aikido except when I visited Kanai Sensei, some summer camps and Hombu. And then in ’87 I moved to England for a joint venture between GM and Isuzu Motor Company. And then I established a dojo, a club inside the plant in Vauxhall and I visited many dojos in England. I still have friends from those days and recently I received a letter from Liverpool from someone I taught so many years ago. That was in ‘87/’88 time frame. The teacher there had already passed away and one of the younger students is now the Dojo Cho and thanks to the internet he found me and wanted to be reconnected. So I have very nice memories of that time.
After that I was reassigned to Japan. Initially as the deputy head of the Adam Opel Office in Japan and later I became the general director in Japan. I had a very successful stint in Japan. Opel was not existent in Japan and I brought Opel to number three behind Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen among the imported brands. Before that it was number nineteen among the imports below Porsche in volume. And then I was reassigned to Rüsselsheim and I spent there only about six months. GM and the Technical Development Center in Rüsselsheim were fighting all the time with the US, because the US wanted to commonize the platforms and I was the regional sales director for General Motors Europe for commercial vehicles and SUVs, but it was such a stressful time and I said: “No, this is not for me.” I returned and decided to resign from the company, because of there was too much work stress. And as you know, General Motors kept falling until they went bankrupt in 2008. Many of my contemporaries left from GM at that time and I moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1997. In year 2000 I opened my school Tanshinjuku and continued until now. So I had been there almost eighteen years in Boulder, Colorado and throughout this time I visited Kanai Sensei on and off, while he was still alive. Kanai Sensei visited us three times in Boulder and he held two seminars here.
In 1995 when I was the general director of Opel, Kisshomaru Doshu asked me to become a council member of Aikikai Foundation and I accepted. I was Coulcil member of Aikikai Foundation until they reformed of public interest Foundation. In 2004 the current Doshu asked me to translate the biography of Osensei written by his father “A life in Aikido” that is something which took me four years to translate with the help of Mary Fuller, a Professor at MIT who was also Kanai Sensei's student. The book was published by Kodansha International. It’s now out of print, but I think they’re getting ready for the third printing. It took me a lot of time and effort to translate the biography of Osensei. Have you heard of the book?
AJ: Yes, I have read it.
K. I.: Aha. And in 2008, I was asked to help with the IAF, after Somemiya-san was getting somewhat old. Somemiya-san wanted to quit, so I was asked to be the person after him. And in 2012 I was reelected, so I am in the second term until 2016. That’s where I am at the moment.
AJ: What is Aikido for you?
K. I.: Aikido, for me this is another thing that I have come to realize that it is a sort of community like a church without having to become too dogmatic, a place to train body and mind, thinking martial without having to hurting anyone. It’s a peaceful environment where people can enjoy the time on the mat, remove the stress. I think it is something that I would like to keep to study the movement which Kanai Sensei explained to me many times. And I would like to use that to open the eyes of many people who are struggling with them at first, maybe if they don’t find enjoyment, because they haven’t found some secret keys to unlock, to enjoy Aikido even more, because mechanically … if you are in the right position and you can use the leverage, move the opponent a very natural way then suddenly Aikido becomes a tremendous joy. There are some initiatives by people close to me to help veterans with post traumatic stress syndrome in the US. I’m trying to help as well. I think Aikido has a lot of healing power for psychological problems that people may have, but I’m not only looking for people who have problems. I think it can be an added invigorating stamina builder for people that have otherswise not the energy coming off, because if you put the hakama on the back straightens up and you start enjoying the flow. So I would love that more people get to enjoy what Osensei have found: peace of mind. Yes, it is utmost important to continue to press for martialness, because if it is not martial I think we lose the core value of Aikido. Because if there is no balance between the martialness and efficient flow – if I’m open to the moves – then it becomes a dance. Then you might as well learn tango and try to perfect that, which is also very difficult – you have to capture the emotion of the partner and this and that. But I think the value for us is that it is very much like tango, but you can always put it to the measurement of how safe is my move: Is this effective to control the other person? So there’re many check-in points. I think tango has many other check-in points, too, but Aikido has the martialness as part of the criteria for that. I think that it is plenty to write. (he laughs)
AJ: When did you met your wife?
K. I.: November ’78 and we got married in July ’79, so we’re 36 years married.
AJ: Do you believe Aikido can change a person?
K. I.: I think we all have some elements and inside we all change as we age, too. So automatically when you age people don’t have the vitality for throws and throws and throws. As you age you start becoming wiser and so from the Aikido philosophy itself I think we transform. But not only that. I think if you become a good Aikidoka, you become more compassionate. Compassionate, because you need a partner to shine as well. So if you keep destroying your partners, then nobody wants to practise with you. So you have to generate a sense of mutual enjoyment. If it is only onesided enjoyment I think it is a failure. Then you can go to do Mixed Martial Arts and try to enjoy that moment of victory, but Aikido, I think, requires you to be – if you’re going to throw someone in a big throw, you’re look around and you’re trying to make sure that you’re not throwing the person into other people or against a wall, you want the technique to be effective, but you don’t want to hurt the individual. I think there is an inbuilt mechanism for psychological – let’s say – training to become more compassionate. There’re people who don’t follow the guidelines, their ego is bigger than that. They too, when they get old, they will start to realize that they can not do it, now they are afraid of falling, so if it’s not … I think it is not an eternal ego thing, I think you need to start allowing other people to do that, otherwise you’ll become very lonely in Aikido – that’s how I feel.
AJ: You said that you were asked to help the IAF, but why does the IAF exist?
K. I.: I don’t know much about the background, I have been explained it many times by Dr. Peter Goldsbury and others about the background. So I will avoid speculating why it was. I think there were some people who wanted to form some independent international groups outside of AikikaiEurope. And I think the former Doshu was very concerned and he commissioned Tada Shihan and some others to put together something that was led by Aikikai, so that it stays close to Aikikai, it doesn’t start walking on it’s own. JapanSouth AmericaFrance
With the establishment of IAF, we have been able to join IWGA and then to GAISF (now SportAccord so Aikido's presence is accepted by established world sport organizations. That is an important role of IAF. For a long time we were participating in the World Games by IWGA but in recent years they wanted us to introduce elements of competition so we decided to pull away from the World Games. Instead we joined in the new SportAccord initiative of Combat Games where we could participate doing demonstrations without compromising Aikido from O Sensei's teaching.
We have started some dialog with IWGA to join again the World Games now that we have successfully participated in the SportAccord Combat Games without any elements of competition. We are fee paying members of both IWGA and SportAccord.
IAF was for a long time a social entity gathering every four years for a IAF Convention. Next 2016, we will celebrate 40 years anniversary in Takasaki, Japan. While IAF is a member based organization, we are opening the doors to all who practice Aikido to come to the IAF Congress in Takasaki. We have to look more ways to become a more inclusive organization to all Aikido members recognized by Aikikai.
IAF's role is ever changing. The world of sports is also getting more defined and consolidated. Kisshomaru Doshu decided that it was good idea to join the world organizations and current Moriteru Doshu follows that tradition. As long as we are not asked to compromise with the teachings with O Sensei, I feel we will continue to be part of the world sport organizations.
Even, SportAccord is changing and we are getting closer to the Olympic Movement even though we will never compete. But who knows, Olympic movement is also changing. We, within IAF believe that, Aikido is unique as a body mind activity which is something that may become the trend of the future. Aikido does not have to worry about doping or betting since we do not have winners nor losers. This is very refreshing.
We’re not part of the Olympic Movement yet, but the Olympic charter also defines that we need to do more for the environment, female participation and other social obligations. These are new things for Aikido but it is a general social trend which can not be ignored. So the Olympic charter is suddenly making some sense to us. There’re some elements that we need to incorporate.
AJ: I asked this question, because so many people ask me if the IAF has a future or not.
K. I.: I think that when you think that the SportAccord has already provided us with a tremendous platform for exposure. You can never deny that in the internet page any crazy guys can put videos of Aikido and call it “real” Aikido or this and that.
AJ: … Traditional Aikido (laughes) …
K. I.: Right. And there’re many people place that. With enough input in Google research they can go up high in the ratings or search results. So the public in general will get confused. So it has been my personal intention to look for ways to increase the Aikikai style explained better. This is not a criticism, but Japanese unfortunately don’t tend to put enough effort in self promotion. The Japanese feel that it undermines the value. If you have true value, why do you need to self promote? But unfortunately there’re many other countries and many other people that are experts in self promotion. And I think we need to find a better way to communicate to the public that some of them are nothing more than charlatans. So people may study the videos of famous people, but if your knowledge isn’t enough you may go into these strange sites. So I thing it is vital that someone consolidates the word and I don’t think Hombu … The mentality of Hombu is not in self promotion. So IAF through many platforms really has a channels to do that. We have recently beefed up our media team led by Guillaume Erard and we are trying to get media officers from our member federations that will help us with good legitimate content. I know that people have started to see some changes in our media effort. We are still exploring but certainly with more clear direction to strengthen the Aikido content, interviews and many other activities. I am pleased to say that we are achieving this also with the participation and collaboration of Hombu. More to come.
AJ: Hombu is in the Japanese style.
K. I.: It is very Japanese. I have total respect for that, but someone has to recognize, that Hombu needs some support. And instead of saying, “Hombu doesn’t do it”, why not do it to help Hombu? That’s my philosophy. Japanese are known to love the expression "Kenjo no Bitoku" which translates something like the "Virtue of Modesty/humility" but I think we need to do more to shine with all the content we have when there is so much bad noise on the web.Japan
AJ: When in 1868 the American came to Japan and change the life of the Japanese. Now you stay again in these collective things in Japan, but you must come out, but it’s difficult I think for Japanese people.
K. I.: I think so. I think if you look at all the Hombu Shihans, technically very good, excellent diplomats, but when it comes to representing Aikiso overseas in international organizations … I think we’re not ready to do that yet. And Aikikai, I think, wants to concentrate more on instruction. But as the world level of Aikido is rising I think there is a need to look for ways to integrate more of the overseas talent. I won't go into detail here but this will be the true globalization of Aikido.
I get invited to teach here and there but don’t consider myself as world level instructor. Yes, I have my dojo and I’m instructor there, but I will do it more for goodwill. I come to share the style that I have. If people like it, that’s great, an additional aspect for people to learn. So I think the teaching should be by Hombu and, in the future, with some structure involving new generations of overseas professional instructors, and I’m a supplement. They’re the real meal and I’m just the tablet. (both laughing) Not the real meal.
AJ: Big meal, “duck meal” (both laughing) Do you want to say something special?
K. I.: I think we as a family, Aikido family … I know that people create communities and it becomes like a church that they all like being there, feel comfortable there and things like that. But I think the world is large and interaction is important. Visiting Japan and training in Japan other environments should be encouraged, because it provides a different perspective.Japan I think more people should not fixate the thought that they’re under only one Sensei and they can not be with the group next to you, because it’s a different group. I think for me that this is not the spirit of Aikido. The spirit of Aikido is that we all should feel that we can learn from each other, whoever they are, whoever their teachers are. We have to find common … We can be different, but common interests and share the positive value of Aikido and not be divided. It is difficult, because many people start disliking others. But I don’t think O sensei wanted that. O sensei attracted people from Kendo, from Judo and many other Kobudos to Aikido. So Aikido should be a magnet to bring other people. And now that Aikido is somewhat established, many people create some islands. I think my desire is that we remove those barriers, so people can freely move and train and enjoy Aikido as it should be. In Japan many of the Kenjutsu schools were developed on the basis of secrecy that you put blinders in the windows so that others would not steal from your dojo. Aikido is totally open, has to be open. And we shouldn’t hide the techniques, we shouldn’t behave like that. I think sharing is more enjoyable than hiding.
AJ: Okay, thank you very much.