Rest in Peace, Sensei

Today, January 15th, marks one year since the passing of Yamada Sensei. The date coincides with the commemoration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. As it is a national holiday, our dojo is closed. ⁠

Perhaps it is odd that we are not training on this day. But we can use it as a day to reflect on our shared and personal loss of a teacher who has had a profound impact on our lives as aikido students. ⁠⁠

One of the magical qualities that Yamada Sensei had was his ability to connect with each of us not only on the mat but individually. While he might not have recalled every student’s name, I can assure you, he knew how every student trained. Perhaps you even received a correction from him over the years or an approving look. He might have not been overly demonstrative with his affection for us - the only compliment I received from him was a whack on my butt after my shodan test - but he loved our community dearly. And that love extended beyond our New York dojo.⁠

I was recently in Australia for the Ai KiKai Australia annual summer camp. The expressions of sympathy for our loss was overwhelming and very touching. Everyone who ever met him or took a class from him was moved and inspired by him. We shared him with the aikido world and the aikido world shares our deep loss.⁠

At the camp, one of the attendees told me this personal story. He was visiting New York and only had two days to train at the dojo. He attended Sensei’s class the first evening and then after he overheard Sensei telling another instructor that he would not be in the next day because he was feeling under the weather. Disappointed, the visitor went up to Sensei and thanked him for class. Sensei asked how long he would be staying in New York and the visitor told him that he would only be able to train one more day and was sorry he would only have one class with him. Yamada Sensei then turned to the instructor he spoke with before and said, “Forget about tomorrow. I’ll be in to teach.”⁠

Rest in peace, Sensei.