Am studiat aikido cu mai multi sensei, insa maestrul Masatake Fujita, 8 dan aikido aikikai, a fost mentorul care a definit modul in care eu inteleg aikido azi, atat din punct de vedere filozofic cat si ca practica in dojo !
Am fost timp de aprox. 8 ani la multe seminarii conduse de Sensei Masatake Fujita si am avut norocul sa particip si la cateva lectii teoretice. Odata chiar am avut privilegiul de a discuta fata in fata despre subiecte care ma framantau.
Toate cele 3 grade yudansha, de la shodan pana la gradul actual - sandan, mi-au fost acordate de dumnealui.
Pentru cei care vor sa cunoasca mai multe despre aceasta personalitate remarcabila din istoria Aikido-ului am extras de pe Aikido Journal un interviu cu maestrul Masatake Fujita realizat de Stanley Pranin in martie 2000.
Interview with Masatake Fujita
by Stanley PraninAikido Journal #120 (2000)
Masatake Fujita, 8th dan Aikikai
shihan, was born April 21, 1937 in Shinkyo (present-day Changchun) in
Japanese-occupied Manchuria. He repatriated to Sapporo, Hokkaido in 1948. Fujita
enrolled in Takushoku University in 1956. He entered Aikikai Hombu Dojo in
November of the same year. After graduation, Fujita was employed for seven
years at the Shin Seikatsu Undo Kyokai (New Lifestyles & Athletics
Association). In 1967, he joined the office staff of the Aikikai. Aikido 8th
dan.
AJ:
I understand your father learned aikido from Ueshiba Sensei in Manchuria.
At
the All-Japan Demonstration, c. 1990
Masatake Fujita : Yes, he was originally a
judo man and he continued to practice judo during his work posting in
Manchuria. There was a group called the Manchuria Budo Society (Manshu Budokai)
whose members got together to practice not only judo, but kendo, sumo and other
arts as well. My father was one of those involved in running this group and so
he knew quite a few of the people practicing other martial arts. It was through
that connection that he learned aikido when Morihei Ueshiba was invited to
Manchuria. He trained with people like Kenji Tomiki (1900-1979), who was a
professor at Manchuria’s Kenkoku University, and sumo wrestler Saburo Wakuta
(1903-1989, also known as Tenryu, a well-known wrestler who began learning
aikido after being impressed by the techniques of Morihei Ueshiba).
In those days, aikido practitioners
tended to be people with considerable experience in other martial arts, and
often a personal introduction was required as well. Most of them were already
quite strong in judo or kendo or whatever art they had studied.
AJ:
What kind of work was your father doing in Manchuria?
Masatake Fujita : He was with the Concordia
Society (Kyowakai), an organization established to do a kind of
“behind-the-scenes” government work. The [Guandong] army was very strong in
Manchuria. The government was comprised of Chinese at the very top, in the
ministerial and other high-ranking positions, and Japanese in the positions
below those. Within this arrangement, the government, the army, and the
Concordia Society served to balance one another. For example, if the army
detained a Chinese national for some reason, my father would step in to offer
the person assistance and support. In other words, these three acted as a
triangular set of counterbalances to one another, and within that my father’s
position gave him at least enough authority, for example, to be able to lodge
complaints against the army.
*Kyowakai, formally the Manchu
Teikoku Kyowakai (Manchuria Imperial Concordia Society), a political
organization avoiding the character of a political party and avoiding the aim
of securing political power, functioning as a background organization
complementing the foreground activities of the government, striving toward the
achievement of the ideal of “nation building” (kenkoku) and the creation of a
more moral world.
AJ:
I understand that you yourself were born in Manchuria.
Masatake Fujita : Yes, in 1937 in a place
called Shinkyo that today is the city of Changchun. My father was from Sapporo
in Hokkaido and went directly to Manchuria from there. He stayed there for a
total of ten years before finally returning to Japan to be repatriated. It was
a difficult situation there in those days; if even one mistake had been made I
easily might have wound up left behind as an orphan. I can speak Chinese now,
but that’s only because I studied it in university later; as a boy in Manchuria
I went to a school where only Japanese was spoken. Unfortunately, even though I
did eventually learn Chinese, poor relations between China and Japan prevented
me from putting it to use in my career. Still, I’m pretty confident in my
Chinese, and in fact just the other day in a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles
I was asked by the woman running it if I was Chinese or Japanese! My English is
another story, though; my Chinese comes out okay, but the English always seems
to be holding itself back and trying to hide!
AJ:
Did you ever go back after the war to visit Shinkyo where you were born?
Masatake Fujita : No, I’ve never had a chance
to go back there. I’d like to but I just don’t have the time. Since the war
I’ve only been to China once, actually, as part of a group representing
Japanese martial arts on a tour organized by the Nippon Budokan. We went to
Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai, but the tour didn’t give us a chance to swing by
Changchun.
AJ:
You started practicing aikido after returning to Japan?
Masatake Fujita : Yes, after I went to Tokyo
to enter university. Before that I was in Sapporo. I’d always been pretty
physically active and used to do things like skiing, ice skating, and swimming.
When I left for Tokyo my father told me to call on Ueshiba Sensei. He didn’t
tell me I should go practice aikido, he just wanted me to convey his greetings.
I arrived in April, which is when the new school year begins in Japan, but as
it turned out I needed one more person besides my father to introduce me before
I would be able to see O-Sensei. Consequently, it wasn’t until November of that
year that I was finally able to meet O-Sensei and convey my father’s greetings.
I remember it was a rather cold November day. I introduced myself as the son of
Mr. Fujita and apologized for having delayed so long in coming. Until then I’d
never really considered taking up aikido myself, and from what my father had
told me I imagined it to be something like judo.
