French Federation / May 2006 Contributor: La Jonquiere Branch Master Philippe Chazerand

Aosaka Sensei at the 21st Bercy Martial Arts Festival, Paris 2006

On Saturday, March 25, 2006, Bercy's 21st Martial Arts Festival was held in Paris, France. 20,000 spectators filled the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy to watch thirty demonstrations performed by over 400 martial arts experts. A special evening for France, for the festival is its largest martial arts event - not to say one of the largest worldwide - it was also a special evening for martial arts in general, as the theme of this 21st edition was: "The Return of the Samurai". Three eminent budo figures of samurai lineage were placed as the emblematic patrons of the event: Mochizuki Hiroo, founder of Yoseikan Budo, Obata Toshihiro, founder of Shinkendo, and Aosaka Hiroshi, better known among us as Aosaka Sensei, head of the World Shorinji Kempo Organization's European Office and Chief Instructor for the French federation.

For his fifth appearance in the annual festival, Aosaka Sensei was placed in the seat of honor. Official posters and flyers displayed our teacher in ancient samurai armor, a katana raised above his head in a warrior stance not without reminding those of the Nio guardians. Previous issues of "Karate Bushido", France's leading martial arts magazine and organizer of the festival, heralded the "return of the samurai" with several articles concerning Aosaka Sensei and Shorinji Kempo. The trend this year was definitely true budo.

The demonstration was a success. Aosaka Sensei, followed by 50 yudansha from all over France and even Spain, entered the great hall forming seiretsu and greeting the crowd with gassho.
As the kenshi stepped back to make space for the 60 year-old master, a first assistant broke off from the group to face him. Wearing a body protection, the assistant received a series of extremely powerful kicks to the trunk, and stood still as the master proceeded to exhibit his frightening precision and control with two kicks to the head.
Aosaka Sensei then delivered a particularly forceful ushiro-geri into the body protection, which drove his assistant to the ground.
As the latter returned to the group, a second assistant made his way to the front where the master was casually waiting to commence his expose of goho techniques. Tsubame gaeshi, chudan gaeshi, gedan gaeshi, tsuki ten ichi, suigetsu gaeshi kari ashi : beyond the sheer speed and power of the blows as suggested by the echo of the protection throughout the hall, the rhythm of the master's techniques followed by ren han ko startled the crowd.
As the second assistant sat back down, the first stepped forward again, this time to be thrown across the mat over and over again with uncanny easiness and elegance.

As usual, the grace of Aosaka Sensei's juho techniques served to better reveal their down-to-earth efficiency. The audience held their breath during the fluid nage-waza. A third assistant then stepped up for the final demonstration : following each attempt to throw or choke the master, came a devastating kyusho attack with a single finger, the audience grasping the how and why of the stealthy technique through the well-informed presenter's comments. As the crowd applauded, Aosaka Sensei motioned the kenshi to form seiretsu, and gave the count for tenchiken dai ikkei to dai rokkei.
The unity of the group, showing concentration and adamant determination, gave a taste of the philosophy of Shorinji Kempo: fraternity and cooperation working together with discipline and strength.

The event was a great opportunity for Shorinji Kempo, and thanks to Aosaka Sensei who led the demonstration, planning, preparing and performing it, it was an occasion not missed. The following issue of "Karate Bushido" commented, with regard to the master, "What a performance! What ease! What power!" An ease difficult to explain by common rationale, as the rehearsals were mainly oriented toward synchronizing the yudansha for the hokei... save with an echo of Aosaka Sensei's teachings: "Practice every day, strive to develop little by little." A spectacular demonstration, not of the periodical high of an athlete, but of Aosaka Sensei's daily practice...

 

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