Complete Aikido. Christopher Watson G.

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      By 1953, Suenaka’s training reached a turning point. Henry Okazaki was now gone, having passed away a year earlier, while James Mitose had relocated to Los Angeles not long after. Both events strongly affected Suenaka: “Both my great teachers were gone.” Somewhat disillusioned, and without the constant impetus of his accustomed teachers, twelve year-old Suenaka cut back on his jujutsu and kempo training, although his judo study continued as usual. Still, there existed a void—more emotional than physical—created by the absence of the two men who, other than his father, exerted the greatest influence in shaping him physically and spiritually. In retrospect, however, it appears that the departure of Okazaki and Mitose merely signaled the end of the first stage of Suenaka’s martial evolution; it could be said these two teachers were made a part of his life in order to lay the foundation for his first meeting with a man who would later become more important to him than either of his former mentors.

      In February of 1961, aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba O’Sensei was invited to Hawaii to preside over opening ceremonies of the first aikido dojo established there. At a farewell party held in his honor just before his departure, O’Sensei briefly addressed the assembled well-wishers, summarizing his feelings thusly:

      “The reason I am going to Hawaii is to build a “silver bridge” of understanding. I have been building a ‘golden bridge’ within Japan, but I also wanted to build bridges overseas and, through aikido, to cultivate mutual understanding between East and West. I want to build bridges everywhere and connect all people through harmony and love. This I believe to be the task of aikido.” (The Spirit of Aikido, Kisshomaru Ueshiba)

      Although O’Sensei’s first and only visit to Hawaii did not occur until 1961, construction of his “silver bridge,” or shinbashi, began with another man’s earlier visit. Katsuzo Nishi, a wealthy local businessman and owner of the Nishi Kai health club in Honolulu, extended to O’Sensei a formal invitation to send a representative to Hawaii to demonstrate the art that had impressed him so much during an earlier visit to Japan. In response, in February of 1953, O’Sensei dispatched Koichi Tohei Sensei to Oahu as his ambassador.

      Born January 17, 1920, Koichi Tohei had just turned thirty-three years old at the time of this historic first visit. Having begun his study of what was then known as aiki-budo in 1939, by 1953 Tohei was ranked hachidan (eighth degree black belt) and was shihan bucho (chief instructor) at the Aikikai Hombu headquarters dojo in Tokyo. This, understandably, made him a natural choice to introduce this relatively new martial art to the Western world. Not surprisingly, the Hawaiian martial arts community was buzzing with anticipation of Tohei Sensei’s visit. As Suenaka recalls, “Everybody got all excited and said, ‘Hey, this is a new martial art, they say it’s better than anything around.’” Also not surprisingly, Warren Suenaka learned early on through Nishi-san of the impending visit and made a point of attending Tohei’s first Hawaiian demonstration. Naturally, he took his sons with him.