Chiba Sensei wrote three short articles about his life in the US that were published in the San Diego Aikikai Newsletter, Sansho. The following was compiled from Sansho issues of April 1987, Spring/Summer 1991 and Summer/Fall 1994.
I moved to San Diego, California, in 1981. Many people have asked me about the reasons behind this move.
To begin with, I was attracted by San Diego’s vast ocean, blue sky, bright sun and dry, clean air (at that time!) My body, which had been in constant pain, also felt very comfortable there. In addition, due to many injuries, I hadn’t yet fully recovered from the ten years I’d spent in England, where the climate was not suited to my physical condition.
A stressful three years in Tokyo, following my return to Japan in 1976, hadn’t helped either. In Tokyo I worked at Hombu Dojo as secretary of the International Department, as well as Assistant General Secretary of the newly-formed International Aikido Federation (IAF). Much of this was administrative paperwork, budget planning and dealing with the often-chaotic political situations of member countries around the world. It kept me away from Japan as I found myself traveling a good seven to eight months out of every year.
Although I was opposed to the formation of the IAF in 1975, I was committed to the work I’d been assigned as the secretary of both organizations (IAF and Hombu). The decision to create the IAF had already been made by those at the top. My philosophy was to do my best to make it something worthwhile and meaningful, even though I disagreed with the decision personally.
I sacrificed my career as a martial artist for three years because there was so much to do, leaving no time for my own training. Finally I resigned in February of 1979 and moved to Izu. I found a house in a small village near the Zen village where Hogen Oshu lives. I was badly worn out and needed a rest. I planned to center my life with farming and Zen for at least five years. However, with so many friends and guests continually visiting me, my money soon ran out.
I went to work for a nearby construction company. This was physically demanding but I enjoyed it tremendously. Like farming, it kept me in touch with the natural environment. We constructed the Amagi highway in the deep mountains of Amagi and also built the breakwater in Odawara for a small river at the bottom of Mt. Fuji.
Through this work I met a number of interesting people. Some of them were well-educated and intellectual, who, for whatever reason, had abandoned their companies and careers. They left the city and perhaps even their families to begin a different life, working in the countryside where nobody knew who they were.
I hungered for the physical activities I’d missed while doing office work, so I greatly enjoyed both farming and construction. Most of the construction work was mechanized. Because I didn’t know how to operate the machines, I was the only worker doing manual labor. I was thus treated with deference, since I did the work no one else wanted to do. While we constructed the breakwater for the river near Odawara city I carried 200 concrete blocks every day. Each block weighed 100 pounds. I wore out my thick cotton jacket and pants every single day.
In May of 1980, Yamada Shihan from New York came to my village to see me. He formally invited me to move to the United States. He had extended this invitation on a previous occasion, but I hadn’t accepted because I planned to continue living in the village for at least five years. This time, however, I felt differently. I felt his friendship strongly and was moved by his sincere efforts and his faith in me. I decided to cut short my plan to stay in Izu.
In the summer of 1980, when I attended the East Coast Summer Camp in the U.S., I asked Yamada Shihan’s permission to visit San Diego. By this time, he had already offered me two potential cities. One of them was Miami, Florida, and the other was Washington D.C. I had already visited each to determine if either would be a suitable place to live.
Without my knowing exactly why, neither city appealed to me strongly. I had been checking out all the other major cities in the U.S. From the information I obtained, San Diego seemed the most desirable. I wanted to avoid places where a major Aikido dojo had already been established. I didn’t want to bother anyone, be bothered by anyone, or move into someone else’s territory. If I was, in fact, going to live in the U.S., I wanted to start from scratch as much as possible.
In 1980, on the way back to Japan after East Coast Summer Camp, I stopped in San Diego. Yamada Shihan accompanied me.
I fell in love with San Diego at first sight. That night I went to see one of my old friends, Mark Murashige, who had lived in San Diego for a few years. “How is fishing here in San Diego?” I asked him.
He looked at me with his usual playful expression that hadn’t changed since we’d met more than twenty years before. “Fish are everywhere. You can catch plenty of bonito, even in the bay out there,” he said.
Bonito! I was astonished. Bonito are a big thing in Japan. There is even a Japanese joke that says, “You should eat spring bonito even if you have to pawn your wife to buy some!” O.K. This is it, I said to myself.
I am indeed glad that I moved here to San Diego, despite the many difficulties I faced. I’ve been privileged to have many devoted students who went through the ordeals with me. As small as we were in those early years to as large as we are now, there has always been a passion for training. It might appear to outsiders that we are quite an eccentric group and, in a sense, they may be right. It is probably this same quality that has made us what we are today. I feel there is nothing wrong with being eccentric, as long as it brings about a creative and meaningful life.
The world is getting smaller and smaller through the advancement of technology. Yet there are still many barriers we must cross before we are able to establish mutual understanding between different races and cultures. Although we are making progress, we still have a long way to go in learning peaceful coexistence as a people.
I have chosen to live in this country as an Aikido teacher as well as an individual because I believe that America is a country where the ideals of cultural integration, peaceful coexistence and the mutual respect of multiple races are being practiced. Of course, American history is full of examples of intolerance and ignorance as well. However, I trust that the ideals are very much alive, and firmly believe they are the very reason for the existence of this country.
I am glad to be here in the United States, not only because I have so many devoted, loyal students, but also because this nation was created in accordance with the principles of Aikido to which I have committed my life. I shall be happy to see what Aikido has to contribute towards enriching this country and its people.
