Sensei’s Writings

The Present April 10th, 2015 Surprising…shocking actually… are the only words to describe how I felt about what happened shortly before noon on March 24th, 2015. Having just completed his duties as Consul General of Japan in Denver, Mr. Ikuhiko Ono, paid a surprise visit to see me on his last day in Denver before returning to Japan. During his …

You won’t find these words of the Founder in the books and biography written about him. Many of the words spoken by the Founder more privately have not been published. Instead, what is most commonly written about Aikido and the Founders teaching are words of “love, harmony and peace” which in my personal experience with the Founder do not reflect …

Shuhari roughly translates to “first learn, then detach, and finally transcend.” shu (守) “protect”, “obey” — traditional wisdom  — learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs ha (破)”detach”, “digress” — breaking with tradition  — detachment from the illusions of self ri (離) “leave”, “separate” — transcendence — there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural, becoming one with spirit alone …

Out of the Dojo but Still in the Dojo In the past twenty years I have been to many places in the world that have been considered dangerous. I did not go to these places because there was alleged danger; I went because there were people in these places that needed support. This past summer I visited Illigan City on …

We Can’t Forget… Reflections on the Upcoming Kyougaku Taiko Drummer “Arigatou” ConcertTour 2012 The survivors today of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami are living through their second winter since the disaster. This year there has been a particularly harsh winter with deep snows and severe blizzards. The people of Japan stand together and day by day continue to …

The following article was published by Nippon Kan General Headquarters in Japanese and English for tbe Nippon Kan General Headquarters and AHAN International websites. This article was written by Gaku Homma, Nippon Kan Kancho, from the perspective of an international humanitarian activist and a Japanese National living in the United States for nearly forty years. *** On March 11th, 2011, …

At the end of every seminar, a large stack of student passports are brought to me for signing. These passports contain a student’s identification and a record of a student’s ranking history and seminar attendance. The passports are brought to me to sign to document attendance at my seminars. The passports are issued by this federation or that association and …

Translator note: The following article has been reconstructed from Homma Kancho’s Japanese article “Nisegane Tsukuri wa Dochira Ka” and edited for English comprehension. Who Are the Real False Profiteers? I have heard people that say, “Practicing Aikido will change your life”, or “If you practice Aikido all of your problems will magically disappear”. I am sorry, but I don’t think …

Written by Gaku Homma, Nippon Kan Kancho The homeless meal service on December 20th, 2009 marks the end of our 19th year of service to the homeless at the Denver Rescue Mission. This coming January we will begin again for our 20th year. When we began this project I was only 40 years old; still young, strong and powerful. I …

by Gaku Homma I created a new phrase the other day, “Hinso Kaiketsu” in Japanese. For me it describes the heart of the challenge of facilitating true conflict resolution. I will go into more depth on the meaning ofHinso Kaiketsu, but first I would like to tell you about some of my other experiences and how they relate to Aikido …

Preface by Nippon Kan Founder Gaku Homma A few days ago I passed a milestone as I moved from my fifties into a new decade of life; at least by the Japanese way of counting birthdays. It was almost 20 years ago that I decided that I no longer wanted to celebrate my birthday with big parties or a lot …

Reflections on the Year 2008 Every country has its own language defines words differently depending on their culture. For example, every country and culture has a word for God, yet there are as many definitions and descriptions of the term God as there are words that name him. It is ironic that the concept of God is prevalent in most …

By Gaku Homma Nippon Kan Kancho July 16th, 2008 As usual, AHAN Coordinator Maji Sarkar and Barbar Ratan were at the airport to meet me when I arrived in Dhaka. Barbar Ratan is actually a barber. He is very savvy about local affairs and has many connections. Both he and Maji are very nice to have as part of the …

August and September 2008 Nippon Kan General Headquarters has made many friends through AHAN all over the world, and has a special relationship with AHAN Mindanao Coordinator Ava Yancha and her students in Illigan City, Mindanao Island in the Philippines. Ava has been especially active in the development of peace and human resource development through the Aikido she shares with …

Written by Gaku Homma Nippon Kan Kancho May 5, 2008 Immigration was so crowded and the lines so long in Bogota that I missed my connection to Cali. This unfortunately was the last flight for the evening, which meant I would be spending the night in the airport. Colombia is a warm-weather country, but inside the airport was downright cold. …