Todd Fessenden, BNA President
I was all of about 19 years old when I met a very wise Nobuo Iseri Sensei. He was about 55 at the time, just about two years older than I am today.
I had joined his Ventura Community College Aikido class as I could check a box on physical education requirements and also finally get to practice a martial art, which my family could never afford to send me to. I had seen a Steven Seagal movie and expected to be poised to be breaking a few peoples elbows backwards in no time by the end of the semester. I figured I was on the winning path for sure. Instead, I found myself doing a bunch of awkward and embarrassing hip-gyrations that were somehow supposed to lead me to my intended end result. I was seriously questioning this whole decision.
However, over time, I came to realize this man had some sort of magic that I wanted to snatch. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it, but I knew I had found my teacher. He possessed some sort of wisdom of the ages, that if I could tap into, I would be snapping those elbows in no time! I eventually completed Iseri Sensei’s college class and upon a suggestion from Iseri Sensei to the whole PE class, attended a Shibata Sensei seminar at Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura. I arrived dressed in my very best sweatpants and tank top and practiced weapons with everyone, with no clue whatsoever. I remember Bill Staub Sensei telling me during a jyo class “You know, tsuki!” and I thought he was literally saying “ski” so I was making a movement with my jyo as if I was snow skiing. Ha!
Afterwards, I felt I must have embarrassed Iseri Sensei, so the honorable thing to do was to fully commit to the training and join the dojo he and Dennis Belt Sensei were opening. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was a key, pivotal moment in my life. I trained more and more regularly, and advanced through the lower kyu ranks and was eventually identified as a potential uchideshi to Iseri Sensei. When the opportunity arrived, I seized it. Iseri Sensei dropped more deep knowledge on me over the next couple of years than my twenty-something brain really could absorb, and Belt Sensei dropped more techniques on my body than I really wanted to absorb. It was all gold.
One day in one of my random conversations with Iseri Sensei after a class he told me “Your job, as uchideshi, is to surpass me.” This statement was about as mesmerizing as the whole hip-swinging and skiing stuff, and I just shrugged it off in confusion, yet again. I thought about it afterwards; “there is no way I can ever surpass him!” His level of understanding of the body, of the art, of the history, of psychology, of body movement, of dance, of geometry, of…everything. I can never, ever surpass him, ever.
But now, at the age of 53, after 34 years of training and teaching. I understand.
Your teacher has to learn everything they know the hard way, and they selflessly give that to you. This moves you down the road without having to learn all the bumps in the road yourself. Essentially you start the road at the point they travelled to. It comes in little pointers here and there, minor adjustments, hard learned lessons, dropping knowledge on you that you might not fully comprehend in the moment.
I personally do not think I surpassed my teacher. I am not sure that O’Sensei’s direct students felt they surpassed him. But they surely tried, as we continue to do. Having a great teacher is the lifeblood of true martial arts and budo. They will start you at the end of their journey, so you can move the art forward from there.
If you have a great teacher, keep working to pass them up. They want you to.
Photo credit Sherry Cash