Aikido, My Way : The Story of Kobayashi Dojos.

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Aikido, My Way.

Part 5 Unforgettable Folks Section 3 Giants Coach Hiroshi Arakawa

It was about 1955, Kisshomaru Sensei introduced me to Hiroshi Arakawa saying “this man is a famous pro baseball player – give him private lessons.” He was a player who had batted over 300 in his day for the Orions. In addition to that, he was famous for having scouted Sadaharu Oh’s talent when he was at Waseda. He passionately practiced Aikido everyday looking for he could take to baseball.

At that time, O Sensei said “would someone bring me two bokken?” I brought him two and we went to O Sensei’s 12 mat room where he gave Mr. Arakawa one of the bokken.

“Mr. Arakawa, where does the ball come from?”

From O Sensei’s martial arts perspective, the ball could come from the side or the rear.

“From the front only,” replied Mr. Arakawa, who was brandishing a bat. Then in front of my eyes, O Sensei thrust the bokken in past the bat. If the bokken had been a ball you would have been hit, he said. It was in the room and O Sensei was holding back. He was lightly brandishing the bat; the bokken was steady. “Don’t hold back,” O Sensei said and this time, Arakawa Sensei swung with a lot of power at the bokken that had hit him and struck the bokken but the bokken didn’t budge. He hit his hand and stumbled down. After that he practiced seriously until he got his first dan and wanted to introduce Aikido theory to baseball so brought along Mr. Hiraoka, Mr. Nagashima, Mr. Oh and many others to watch practice. It’s well-known that Sadaharu Oh’s one-legged batting style was developed by Mr. Arakawa. Neither Mr. Oh nor Mr. Nagashima ever practiced Aikido, but Mr. Hiraoka practiced once or twice a week in the off-season with us uchideshi. Since I didn’t have any interest in baseball, the fact that Mr. Oh and Mr. Nagashima were coming didn’t impress me much. One day after practice I got a ride in a car from Mr. Oh to Shinjuku station. I was surprised when we were surrounded by many people who recognized him.

Among my present deshi there is a woman who was a classmate of Oh’s in junior high school. At a class reunion, she was talking with Mr. Oh about Aikido, he recalled me and wrote me a short note later.

• Forward.

• Part 1 Birth in Kudan.
• Part 2 End of the war and the Black Market.
• Part 3 I Begin Judo.
• Part 4 My Mother’s Death.
• Part 5 I Begin Aikido.
• Part 6 I Enter College and Begin Aikido.

• Part 1 The Founder Morihei Ueshiba.
• Part 2 Kisshomaru Ueshiba Dojocho.
• Part 3 Koichi Tohei Shihan.
• Part 4 The Senior Instructors.
• Part 5 Unforgettable Folks.

• Part 1 Practice, Days of Tempering.
• Part 2 The Founding of the Aikido Club.
• Part 3 I Become an Aikido Pro.
• Part 4 Life in Hombu Dojo.
• Part 5 Ueshiba Sensei and Mifune Sensei.

• Part 1 The Pilgrimage to Ise Shrine.
• Part 2 Dojo Management.
• Part 3 What an Uchideshi Needs is Management Skill.
• Part 4 Kobayashi Dojos’ Test.
• Part 5 The Need for Children’s Class.
• Part 6 To Train Good Instructors Takes the Understanding and Cooperation of the Members.
• Part 7 Kobayashi Dojos Teaching Policy.
• Part 8 My Ebullient Life from Here.
• Part 9 My Family’s Cooperation in Building Kobayashi Dojo’s Future.
• Part 10 It is Worth the Sweat and Tears.