Photos from Karate Meets Aikido Night

Erik Matsunaga at Ravenswood Shorin-Ryu Karate Dojo has kindly posted photos on their website from the joint training session on Monday, October 6 with members of Chicago Aikido Club led by Joe Takehara Sensei.

Exchange Training with Joe Takehara and Chicago Aikido Club

Posted on October 7, 2014

Joe Takehara sensei and Chicago Aikido Club at Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo.

On October 6th, we were honored to host Joe Takehara sensei, a charter member of the old Illinois Aikido Club. IAC, founded in 1961 by a small group of Nisei professionals in Chicago Police Detective Tony Muranaka’s basement, was the first aikido dojo in the Midwestern United States. Initially learning from a book by Koichi Tohei, then Chief Instructor of Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo, the club would go on to host such luminary in-house instructors as Chester Sasaki, Francis Takahashi, Motokage Kawamukai, Isao Takahashi, Yoshihiko Hirata, Akira Tohei, and Shigeru Suzuki.

Takehara sensei demonstrates aiki principles with Ravenswood Dojo member Ryan Yokota.

As a special treat, the Chicago Aikido Club – where Takehara sensei occasionally instructs today – cancelled their scheduled Monday class to attend our dojo in support of this goodwill exchange. We shared a couple warm-ups and basics of karate, then handed the floor over to Takehara, who introduced some advanced concepts of applying technique through kimochi (feeling), relaxation, and proper breathing. A former boxer and gymnast, Takehara took up the practice of aikido shortly after starting a dental practice located across the street from Muranaka’s home. Like his contemporaries, he was not so much interested in the physical aspects of the art as the mental and spiritual side that would help him center and settle his energies for enhanced focus in his career and family life.

Special guest Jason Matsumoto, of Chicago-based Ho Etsu Taiko – “a collective of musicians with a fresh take on the art of Japanese drumming” – also happened to stop by the dojo for some training. Here he works with Chicago Aikido Club manager Dwight Sora.

At 83-years of age and plenty genki to join us for a post-practice hamburger and beer, Joe Takehara is an exemplar of traditional budo. The fact that his vehicle for expression is aikido and our chosen vessel is karatedo makes no difference. We are grateful for this rich experience and look forward to future such exchanges.

Post-practice pub grub at O’Shaughnessy’s Public House, around the corner. Most importantly, we all had fun.

BTW, Erik had mentioned to me that the original draft of his article at Nikkei Chicago on Takehara Sensei had included far more material than made it to the final version. Recently on the Chicago Aikido Club Facebook page, Erik posted a little snippet of what got cut out, which was about Takehara Sensei's time as a gymnast. I have reposted it below.

Erik Matsunaga

September 28 at 2:58pm

Joe Takehara sensei, the most senior aikidoka in the Midwestern United States, captained the 1951-1952 gymnastics team at the University of Illinois at Navy Pier. While attending Lakeview High School in Chicago, Takehara met Herbert "Herby" Vogel, a member of the Chicago Chapter of the American Turners - a nationwide German American gymnastics club.

Herby encouraged Joe to participate, and Takehara went on to practice gymnastics with the Turners from high school through undergrad, until he entered the University of Illinois Dental School. By that time, Takehara said, he had no more time to practice. His buddy Herby Vogel founded and led the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Women's Gymnastics Team for 23 years, and went on to be regarded as "The Father of Women's Collegiate Gymnastics."

After his first dentistry job doing labs for Andrew Kambara, D.D.S. at 2561 N. Clark, Takehara opened a dental practice at 3355 N. Clark, a mile north (at that time, a mile in city terms was a world away) in a Japanese American neighborhood near Wrigley Field, and became a charter member of the Illinois Aikido Club - founded in Chicago Police detective Tony Muranaka's Clark Street 3-flat basement in 1961.

Little known fact: Joe Takehara, D.D.S. once gave the legendary Koichi Tohei, then Chief Instructor of Aikikai / Aikido World Headquarters, Tokyo, an emergency root canal during one of the latter's visits to Chicago.