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Reflections on the Harvest for the Homeless
“Standing, Feet Firmly Planted on the Ground”.
By Gaku Homma Sensei
Thanks very much to all attending Nippon Kan volunteers, Denver Rescue Mission Staff, Harvest Farm residents and coordinators.
I want to share my thoughts with you about Nippon Kan volunteer activities and the philosophy behind them.
 I
have been researching the life of the Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba for over the last ten years. Not only did I live with the Founder as last his last uchideshi
in Iwama, but I have also traveled the paths he walked in his lifetime to truly understand his life and evolution. I have visited the village of his birth, Hokkaido where he was a pioneer,
and even Mongolia where he went in search of a utopian dream. I have followed his trials and struggles as a youth, and spent much of my lifetime studying the art of his creation; Aikido.
 Aikido is born
from the soil, from the ground, from the earth. It was not created in a test tube in a laboratory or discovered in a library. The Founder himself, did not spend his entire life developing
Aikido, rather Aikido was the culmination of his many years working the land, the soil, the earth. The Founders life was not gorgeous in the sense of riches and luxury. Rather, it was rather
fraught with bumps, twists, successes, failures and sickness. Ultimately, it was these trials that led to a deep understanding of this earth.
As a boy he played on the beaches of Tanabe. As a young man he joined the army and was molded into a soldier. From a soldier he became a pioneer and explorer as he built a life for himself
and others, wrestling it from the wild lands of Hokkaido which he helped to settle. The land he tamed and the life he built was built with sweat, blood and a tireless mental and physical effort.
What he learned about farming helped him in later years to develop the organic farms at Omoto Kyo headquarters which still are used today. Finally in Iwama after WW2, did the Founder once
again plow and sow his fields, this time with the seeds of the art that has become Aikido.
 The earlier years
of the Founder’s life had definite ups and downs. During a business internship in Tokyo as a very young man, he soon realized he had little aptitude for the business he was studying,
and that along with poor health forced him to return to his families home. As a soldier he was forced to give up the life of the military to serve his duty to his family as the oldest son.
In Hokkaido, after establishing a community that also still exists today, he was again forced to give up what he had established through politics, family illness and the natural fate and folly
of wildfires.
Even the religion he sought for solace was obliterated more than once by the Japanese government. Fleeing persecution with Omoto Kyo leader, Onisaburo Deguchi on the plains of China and Mongolia
he faced the vastness with faith and determination, to ultimately escape narrowly with little more than his life.
Even his years in Iwama were plagued with bouts of illness, of which liver cancer finally ended his days on earth.
 During
the years I spent with him in Iwama, the simplicity of his ways was evident. His lifestyle was not gorgeous or frivolous in any way. As the title “Founder” indicates, the organization
he was building around this new art of Aikido was in its fledgling stage. His beginnings were humble, and fraught with sweat and hard times. The word of Aikido was not the world-wide network
of organizations that has evolved today.
What I have come to truly realize is that the Founder never ran from real life challenges. He faced obstacles squarely, many times, sometimes succeeding, many times failing. There was dirt
underneath his fingernails and calluses on his palms. His clothes were threadbare in places and I am sure there was more than one time when he went hungry.
 It is from
this spirit and strength that Aikido was born. The poems and messages he left us could only be realized by a man who had learned many lessons from life first hand. Anyone trying to understand
the essence of his teaching, or teach Aikido without experiencing trials like the ones faced by the Founder will never understand the process the Founder went through or Aikido.
At Nippon Kan, the Aikido we practice is that of the Founder. We practice with motion and sweat, and we take our practice off the mat and into our community.
Volunteer activities are an important part of Nippon Kan training, training I believe is essential in the process of learning what Aikido is all about.
This is the reasoning behind AHAN or the Aikido Humanitarian Active Network.
 Every dojo,
large or small can join in this concept of learning by sharing and doing in the community. Take off the walls and the ceilings of the space you define as the dojo, and redefine it to include
the community around you. Then, your dojo will grow and flourish from within and without. With these actions, we can more easily understand and digest the philosophy of the Founder of Aikido,
Morihei Ueshiba.
Lets do it! Take action!
Gaku Homma
Nippon Kan Kancho
Harvest for the Homeless Report
September 7th, 2002
 Wellington
Colorado, located about an hour and a halfk north of Denver, is home to Harvest Farm, a self-sustaining community farm directed by the Denver Rescue Mission in Denver. Here at the hundred
acre farm, pigs and cows are raised along with a variety of vegetables and alfalfa. The farm is a place of growth and harvest, not only for the vegetables produced but also for the men who
live and work on the farm. The sixty bed facility houses men who are working on dealing with life’s challenges in a new and positive way. It is not a place of isolation, but a place
of rehabilitation and retreat.
 Volunteers
from neighboring communities including Denver work side by side with residents to produce the vegetables that are ultimately canned or frozen for future use. The produce is used to feed the
homeless at the Denver Rescue Mission in Denver, and is also distributed to needy citizens in surrounding communities. About 200 lbs. of vegetables a week are distributed in Wellington alone
during the peak harvest months.
Nippon Kan has been making and serving meals to the homeless at the Denver Rescue Mission for over twelve years now. This September, the mission asked us to help with this years harvest. Jumping
at this opportunity, over fifty Nippon Kan members volunteered to help pick and process vegetables for the harvest. This was a project that was perfect for AHAN (the
Aikido Humanitarian Active Network) founded by Gaku Homma Sensei and Nippon Kan in the year 2000.
 Nippon Kan
members gathered at 7:00 am. on the morning of September 7th, ready for “pickin”. A caravan of about 13 cars was formed, including the lead car, a front scout, a supply truck and
a sweep van equipped with roadside emergency repair equipment. As the sun rose, we headed north toward Harvest Farm. We were greeted by Paul Payton, the Harvest Farm co-ordinator and agriculturist.
In the campground campfire circle he briefed us on the work day ahead. As is Nippon Kan tradition, all Nippon Kan volunteers formed a circle in the grass for Nippon Kan style stretch exercises.
A chorus in union rang through the fields with a familiar ichi-ni, ichi-ni, ichi-ni, san, shi, go!
Nippon Kan volunteers and residents alike broke into two groups; one heading for the fields to pick green beans, the other to hoe and prepare the beans for blanching and canning. As we worked
through the morning, Homma Sensei busily prepared a gourmet lunch for volunteers and staff.
At noon, Homma Sensei rang the lunch bell, and every one returned from the fields and factory   for
a wonderful lunch. After the meal, volunteers returned to finish up the picking, with a grand finale in the “snapping room” where over 400 pounds of beans were finally processed
that day!
Nippon Kan’s student coordinator for this project was Glen Brown who did a great job of organizing the event. Hats of to Glen, Brian Cooke, our caravan sweep officer, and all Nippon
Kan volunteers for a job well done!
 The most important thanks go
to the Denver Rescue Mission, Harvest Farms and Paul Payton for allowing us this wonderful opportunity. We’ll be back next year, with our sites set on corn this time, and maybe a little
Aikido practice to boot!
Report by
Emily Busch
Nippon Kan Vice President
AHAN President
Letter from Justin Timm, Volunteer Coordinator for Harvest Farm
September 19th, 2002
Dear friends,
On behalf of the staff and residents of Harvest Farm, thank you very much for volunteering your time and efforts here on Saturday September 7th. We greatly appreciate your willingness to help
with the harvest, we really needed the help out there this year more than ever. Without volunteers like you we would have been unable to process and harvest such an incredible amount of food
for both Harvest Farm and the Mission’s locations in Denver. Once again, thank you very much for a full day of service here at Harvest Farm. Have a great fall season and may God bless
everyone at Nippon Kan. We hope you will return next year.
Sincerely,
Justin Timm
Volunteer Coordinator
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