Shugyo -the importance of training

[kojiro]

I would like to take a moment to write a bit about Shugyo. When translated shugyo can mean the pursuit of knowledge, to study or to train. However, in the Aikido world it usually takes on the meaning of the later. To train. O'sensei used to say the most important part of Aikido is found in the training. If you want to be a good Aikidoka(Aikido Student), like the cliche', "it is not in the destination, but in the road traveled", your answer will be found in the training, or Shugyo.

Many students think that they will learn Aikido faster if they just ask the teacher question after question each time they come to the smallest roadblock in their training. This actually will hamper their learning in the long run (not to mention the Japanese social faux pas). For example a student came up to me and asked a question about a technique. Years later he asked me about the same technique but got frustrated because he thought the new answer that I gave him contradicted what I said the last time he was having trouble with the technique. So he exclaims in his frustration, "But last time you said ...!" Unfortunately what I told him could not have been as lasting or as true of an answer as if he would have found himself through training. I could only answer his question in the context of what he was asking, so I gave him his answer. He was focusing on the short-term understanding of the technique and cheated himself out of a deeper understanding of what he was practicing. When he grew in his Aikido, his understanding of the technique was hampered because of what he thought was correct. He clung to what I had said as unchanging law. This is one reason why asking questions to your teacher is somewhat useless. The teacher knows what you need to learn at the deepest level of Aikido. He doesn't want you to satisfy your immediate curiosity by answering the little question- even though it seems massive at the time to you. It is like when you go to school. The teacher shows you what to study, but does not show you the exact questions that are on the test. If you were to ask what the questions on the test will be, you would just remember the test answers and not remember all you were supposed to study. If you study what the teacher told you to, you would pass the test without knowing the questions beforehand, and, you would remember your new found knowledge much longer than if you had just studied the test answers. Not only that, but you would have a deeper understanding of WHY they were the correct answers. Every question I asked of my teachers, I eventually answered myself again, but to a fuller level, one that not only helped me understand the technique, but learning more of Aikido as a whole. Shugyo is the key to help you unlock the mysteries of Aikido.