We just had a great memorial class for Kawahara-sensei. I wanted to offer a few personal thoughts on the significance of such classes.
In Japanese religion, they believe that the spirits of the departed remain accessible to those left behind. When you have a memorial, they are present, observing and supporting the event.
Even if you don’t believe in such things, a memorial seminar is an important opportunity to try to understand and honour the tremendous impact that teachers like Kawahara-sensei have had on us.
My relationship with Sensei has continued to evolve, even though he passed away in 2011. I keep thinking about him and coming to new perceptions of what he taught and the way he taught. He is still teaching me.
His character had a huge impact on me and left a profound and treasured imprint. And I pass this on to my students, usually without mentioning it. They feel Sensei’s influence, even though they never met him, even if they don’t know the source of these techniques and ideas.
Those ideas have flowed through many people – starting with O-sensei, then through Tanaka Bansen-sensei, then through Kawahara-sensei, then through his many direct students and from them to the current generation of aikidoka.
During the memorial, I had a sense that Sensei was present in some way, even if it was in my subconscious, in memory. It was a chance to feel grateful again for what he taught and what he meant to me and so many others.