Tempu Nakamura was a philosopher and the founder of the Shin Shin Toitsu-do (the Way of Mind and Body Unification).  Many aikidoka may already be familiar with him.  Ando Sensei has read many of his books.

Tempu Nakamura was born Saburo Nakamura in 1876 in Tokyo.  Even from a very young age he had a wild streak and even went so far as to commit homicide, although it was ruled as self-defence.  After that incident, he became friends with the right-wing leader Toyama Mitsuru and joined the Genyosha ultra-nationalist secret society.  At the age of 16, he joined the Imperial Japanese Army and became a military detective and was sent to Manchuria.  He served in the Russo-Japanese War and was one of only nine out of 113 military detectives to return alive from the war.
At the age of 30, Tempu contracted acute tuberculosis.  In an attempt to find a cure for his illness he traveled to America and Europe.
On his travels he met a yogi called Kaliapa and traveled with him to India to Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world.  He stayed there for two and a half years, studying and practising yoga.
After returning to Japan he was involved in various industry and business activities before embracing Buddhism and establishing his Tempukai.

Ando Sensei writes that he has learned several important things from Tempu.
The first is the power and importance of words.  Always choose your words carefully and try to use only positive ones – this will help you to keep a positive attitude.
Secondly, gratitude is very important.   No matter what comes our way, whether it seems good or bad, try to face it and deal with it with a sense of gratitude.
And finally, we should always carry a dream in our heart that we can strive towards.  This has a mysterious power.

We currently have some guests from Argentina staying at Ryu House.  This is Fernando Martinez Sensei from the Ginryukan (who translates this mail magazine into Spanish every month); his wife Jimena and two of his students, Gabriel and Santiago.  They will be here training until the 25th of this month and they will all be testing on Sunday the 22nd of May.  Good luck with your tests!

We’re busy working on updating the Ryu homepage so keep an eye on it for changes coming soon!  Also, look out for new DVDs; updated DVDs and newly-subtitled DVDs from the Ryu Archives.

Yoshida Shoin was an influential scholar during the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate and the early days of the Meiji Restoration. Born in 1830 in what is today Hagi City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Yoshida received formal instruction in military tactics from a young age.  At 21, he accompanied the lord of the Choshu domain to the Shogun’s capital in Edo where he studied under Sakuma Shozan, the most well-known Western military scientist in Japan.  He was in Edo when Commodore Matthew Perry and his Black Ships arrived in Japan in June 1853.  Believing that the best way to deal with the foreign threat to Japan was to learn the ways of the West, Shoin first tried to smuggle a letter to Commodore Perry and then attempted to stow away on board his ship in what became known as the Shimoda Incident.  At this time, it was illegal for foreigners to enter Japan or for Japanese natives to leave the country.  Shoin was captured by the Japanese authorities and imprisoned, first in Edo and then in Hagi City where he was later placed under house arrest.  In November 1857, while still under house arrest, he started his ‘Village School Under the Pines’.  Shoin’s teachings were progressive.  He professed that the Emperor was the true sovereign of Japan but he nevertheless supported Tokugawa rule and favored opening the country to enrich the nation and develop a strong military. He advocated a union between Kyoto and Edo to protect Japan from the threat of foreign subjugation.  Shoin’s teachings would see him executed at the age of 30 but he was successful – many of his students went on to become leaders during the Meiji Restoration and two were prime ministers.

Ando Sensei writes that he visited Yoshida Shoin’s ‘Village School Under the Pines’ when he was in his second year of high school.  He had no interest at all in Yoshida Shoin at the time but he spent a pleasant week hiking with his friend around the mountains in the area.  Later, he went on a family holiday to Shimoda and came across Yoshida Shoin again in a museum there.  When captured by the Japanese authorities Shoin had at first been kept in a cage.  The museum in Shimoda had a diorama of this and Ando Sensei was impressed by the erect figure of Shoin sitting in seiza even in the cage.
One of Ando Sensei’s favourite quotes from Yoshida Shoin is one that says that educational institutions and styles may change but as long as there are students that are keen to learn and teachers who are keen to teach them then learning will continue.  And as long as there are warriors with skill and spirit then the martial arts will continue.  Aikido is the same.  Administrations and institutions are not important.  The most important, the most necessary, is that there remain aikidoka with spirit.