Category Archives: Rei

…In the measure that we are human, should we not wish to live in a world which loves and values its children? In order to build a society based on mutual respect, what would you think of bringing back to the light that etiquette that some have wanted to discard like an old, useless piece of furniture but which nevertheless is part of the  common heritage of all humanity.

Let us consider the simple fact of placing your shoes carefully [in the shoe-rack]…

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Tamura Shihan:  No. In fact, it is I, myself, who am indirectly and unintentionally responsible for the fact that no longer does everyone wear the hakama right from the start. Back when I was an uchideshi, I was also charged with teaching [aikido] at various universities. But in the years after the war, more so than today, the students were often impoverished. Because of that, some of them were unable to train; so for this reason I asked Kisshomaru Sensei if it might be possible for them not to buy a hakama until their second year of training…”

– – – Tamura Nobuyoshi Shihan, interview in Dragon magazine, cited in Le Kinomichi: Le chef-d’oeuvre de Maitre Masamichi Noro by Bernard Hevin, p.130

The character REI is made up of two elements: shimesu and yutaka.

SHIMESU: the divine spirit come down to inhabit the altar

YUTAKA:  the mountain and the wooden offering-vase containing food:  two ears of rice, and the container over-flowing with food: – abundance.

These two elements combined give the idea of an altar abundantly provided with food-offerings, before which one waits for the descent of the divine…

… matsuri  =  CELEBRATION .

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

– – –  Tamura Nobuyoshi Shihan,  Aikido, étiquette et transmission  p. 34