With the cameras off, we headed out to get something to eat. Every night, after we wrapped shooting, we went out for dinner often on our way to the next day’s location. The cameraman, Tamura San, suggested yakiniku, a form of Japanese grilled meat. At a yakiniku restaurant, the table has a built-in grill. The server brings platters of raw, bite-size pieces of different types of meat. We chose beef sirloin, pork belly, and beef tongue. This form of dining where guests share their time together not only eating but also cooking their food allows for a more personal kind of socialization. It was during many of these types of meals that the crew and I would engage in more intimate conversations. We barely discussed work at dinner, meaning anything related to shooting the show. Instead, we ate, drank and had light fun conversations.
Dinner at the yakiniku restaurant happened about halfway through the week-long shoot. We were leaving Aichi and on our way to Yamanashi. There was so much we have already done, and I couldn’t possibly imagine what else was in the cards for the next half of the trip. The director, Nakamura San, asked me during dinner:
“What else would you like to do in Japan?” he asked in Japanese. I waited for Eisuke, the interpreter to translate. When Eisuke translated the question, he also made sure to clarify that Nakamura San was not asking what else I would like to do in Japan during this week (they had already established the itinerary and I didn’t have much to say about what we did or not). Instead, the question was more like what else would you want to do in Japan if I ever had the chance to come back?
“Oh, I see,” I said. “I would love to visit the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Shinjuku.”
They all nodded signaling they knew what I was talking about. It turns out the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Shinjuku is a pretty well-known place in Tokyo.
“How come you want to visit it?”, Nakamura San asked.
“Well,” I began to explain realizing that I never really thought genuinely about why was it important to me to train at Hombu Dojo. “I’ve been training in Aikido for 23 years, and this is the headquarter dojo for my style of Aikido. The founder’s grandson, the doshu, is the head instructor, so there is a special connection to my Aikido legacy and history.”
“I’ve been there,” Tamura San said.
“Oh really?” I said surprised. I didn’t think he trained in Aikido. “What were you doing there?”
Tamura San raised his hands to his face and pretended he was holding a camera. “Filming,” he said. “For a show.”
“Oh, that’s cool. What did you think of the place?”
“Crowded,” Tamura San said. “Lots of people. Lots of foreigners.”
“Yeah, I bet. For many Aikidoka the Hombu Dojo is a special place, almost like a quest. Everyone I know hopes to make the journey to Hombu Dojo one day.”
The story of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo begins in 1931 when the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, moved to Tokyo from Ayabe to establish a full-time dojo dedicated to the practice of Aikido in what today is known as Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku. However, things were a bit different during this era. Ueshiba’s art was not yet known as Aikido, but Aiki-jujutsu and later Aiki-budo. The dojo was also not called Hombu Dojo but the Kobukan Dojo, and it was a wooden structure of about 80 tatami mats. Ueshiba, and his son Kisshomaru trained and taught at the Kobukan full time. Classes ran in the mornings and evenings, and training was intense and severe. The dojo also served as the home to the Ueshina family and uchi-deshi (live-in students).
During World War II, the founder retreated to Iwama in Ibaraki Prefecture. As the war intensified, the Kobukan stopped operations altogether and became a shelter for refugees who lost their homes because of frequent bombings. Kisshomaru stayed in Tokyo during the height of the war and risked his life many times trying to save the dojo from burning due to blasts. Because of his bravery, the Kobukan was the only structure in the neighborhood not destroyed during the bombing of Tokyo.
After the war, Kisshomaru joined his father in Iwama, and the Kobukan remained a shelter for refugees. He returned in 1948 to re-open the Kobukan and begin training once more. Growth after the war was slow and painful as Japan was trying to rebuild itself after the war. Kisshomaru’s effort eventually paid off, and in 1948 the government approved the formation of the Aikikai Foundation. The dojo was now to be known as the Aikido Hombu Dojo of the Aikikai Foundation.
By 1965 the dojo had grown immensely. Classes were running five times a day, seven days a week. In 1967, Kisshomaru tore down the old wooden dojo and built a three-story modern concrete building. Three years later, in 1969, the founder passed away, and Kisshomaru became the head of the Aikikai Foundation and became known as the Nidai Doshu of Aikido. It was around this time that my late Aikido teacher, Fumio Toyoda Shihan, joined Hombu dojo as an uchi-deshi and direct student of Kisshomaru Ueshiba.
While the dojo’s structure has changed very little in the last 50 years, the Aikikai Hombu Dojo is a significant entity in Shinjuku and the largest Aikido dojo under the Aikikai umbrella. Over 500 members train daily at the Hombu Dojo, and many more are visitors who come to train for the day. Kisshomaru’s son, Moriteru, took over as doshu and became the head of the Hombu Dojo after his father’s death in 1999. Today, high ranked full-time instructors teach many of the classes at the Hombu Dojo as well as Ueshiba Moriteru and his son Mitsuteru. The Aikikai Hombu Dojo is a mecca for many Aikidoka around the world. It is the place where all Aikido lineages were born in one way or another, as it was once the home dojo of the founder.
“Good, good,” said Nakamura San. “I hope you come back to Japan and practice there.”
“Yeah I know, definitely,” I said. Little did Nakamura San know that I brought my gi (practice uniform) with me and I was already planning a way to sneak out and make my way to Wakamatsu-cho. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off.
Blibiography:
Erard,Gauillaume –History of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. September 9, 2016.