by André Cognard Shihan
“Aikido,” as the founder, Morihei Ueshiba O’Sensei, used to say, “belongs to no-one. It is a Way that serves the people of the whole world. ” These words, that I here pass on to you, come to me from Kobayashi Hirokazu Sensei, my teacher, who is his direct student.
One time, during a visit to Egypt with Kobayashi Sensei, the latter, marvelling at the Great Pyramid of Giza, said to me, as we arrived at the Upper Hall and were standing alone there: “If O’Sensei were here, he would immediately have started to chant a norito.” Then he started to do so, himself. His chant, which he had directed towards the seven stelae, even though he was not aware of the layout of the place, began to resonate throughout the pyramid, and it seemed as though hundreds of voices were responding – below, above, and all around us. Once we had left the pyramid, Sensei spoke: he told me that O’Sensei had often spoken to him about Egypt, and had always emphasized the importance of these places, saying that there were real roots here. He had said to Kobayashi Sensei: “If I cannot go there myself, you must go, and I will be there, with you, and I will see it with your eyes.”
I tell you this story because it marked a change in my practice and in my life. As he told me this, Kobayashi Sensei seemed tremendously moved, and then, shortly after, he taught me an [aiki-]taiso technique that I had never seen before. I tell you this, also, because O’Sensei himself always used to insist on the fact that aikido, right from its creation, was not Japanese, but universal. The founder indicated that his budo was, above all, an art that brings people together. He made quite clear the apolitical and non-confessional character of his art when he taught it to all levels of Japanese society, then in Asia, and, finally, when he sent students to Europe.
He had united religions and nationalities in the same love. And he demonstrated that way that Kobayashi Sensei still teaches us: the way of tolerance, and of a love that is spiritual: which is to say: above appearances.
– – – reported by André Cognard Shihan (So-Shihan of Aikido Kobayashi Ryu and designated successor to Hirokazu Kobayashi Shihan) in L’esprit des arts martiaux, pp. 43-5