Aikido East

Kevin McDonald Sensei (Chief Instructor) and Bill McDonald Sensei are my teachers, fellow instructors, and friends at Fudoshin Aikikai in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. They are pioneering Aikidoka in NL and are the oldest practitioners in our province. They never cease to amaze me with their breath of Aikido knowledge, dedication to our martial art, and sincere, patient, and kind instructional styles. Kevin and Bill have had long and colorful Aikido careers and I hope that others enjoy this interview as much as I have.

Kevin: We have both been practicing for 35 years. In fact, this is our 35th Anniversary and we have been mostly practicing, as you say, as opposed to teaching.

Bill: We began Aikido in 1973 simply to get in shape. Kev had just come back from Labrador where he had been working at Churchill Falls as an Industrial Electrician and had put on a fair bit of weight. I was a young teacher and just married. And yes, both of us did smoke a pack a day at that time. So, basically, we needed some exercise.

Tom: Was the Aikido practiced when you began training the same as we practice today?

Kevin: Yes and no. While the basic techniques remain the same, the instructional methods differ. Graham Burt Sensei, our first teacher and the first Canadian Aikido sensei, taught us "forms" as he had been taught in England. The practice was very demanding physically. Graham trained us in the tradition of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei and Masahilo Nakazono Sensei. Graham concentrated very much on the "form method" where you would learn the same nine techniques, very repetitiously, from each and every attack. The five projections and four immobilizations were drilled into you. Today Aikido is not taught that way and there seems to be a compulsion by some instructors to always have a new technique to show. There is no goal or strategy in mind sometimes, just the presentation of a new technique. Strangely enough, we have been using the form method to some extent again recently for beginners.

Bill: Yes, we have because we firmly believe that the basics in Aikido are so very important. There's an old saying that "Repetition is the Mother of all learning" so we allocate part of all our classes for instruction in basics and for instruction in the form method. During the early years Aikido was truly exciting and enjoyable. There was a wonderful camaraderie among all of us and a deep respect for Graham. They were some of the happiest years that I recall. We were deeply taken up with Aikido. We would practice as often as we could and for as long as we could. We couldn't get enough of it. We were literally out of our minds about Aikido. Graham had us out of our minds about Aikido. And learning by the form method only drove us on. Eventually, we began to anticipate what Graham might do in his next class. I believe that drove him on to teach us as much as he knew. You have to keep in mind that Graham was a new Shodan of Nakazono Sensei at the time. Meanwhile, the Aikido community today has grown literally exponentially in North America and many excellent teachers have influenced us. Graham Burt Sensei is our first love when it comes to Aikido instructors. But we are also indebted to the late M. Kanai Shihan, Y. Yamada Shihan, Claude Berthiaume Shihan and a list of superb teachers from the USAF and the CAF.

Tom: I didn't have the pleasure of meeting Graham Burt Sensei. Can you please tell us a little about him.

Kevin: Well, Graham was a very quiet, unassuming individual. He was not pretentious. He never sat and claimed to be an expert on Aikido or any of that kind of rubbish. He was a very genuine and magnetic personality. As I got to know him more, he turned out to be a very wonderful and extraordinary human being.

From left to right: Kevin McDonald Sensei, Dermot McDonald Sensei, Graham Burt Sensei, Bill McDonald Sensei. Photo taken in 1979 during tests at Holy Cross School, St. John's, NL. (Photo used with permission.)

Bill: Well, Graham was an unusually gentle man but extremely physically strong. He exuded a personal poise and self-confidence that many people would envy. But he was especially kind. By way of example, if Graham spotted a long-legged spider on the floor during the summer, he would bend over, pick it up and place it ouside the door. That would be typical behaviour for Graham. He exhibited a truly sincere kindness towards all things and people. He deeply enjoyed nature, going trouting as often as he could, salmon fishing, and all things very simple. He loved swimming and ironically died in 1979 as the result of a tragic drowning incident.

Tom: Who would you consider to be your sensei today and during the interim since Graham's death?

Bill: After Graham's death both Yamada Sensei and the late Kanai Sensei were back and forth to Newfoundland regularly. We have always felt affiliated along those lines so today we consider Yamada Shihan our main line of instruction along with other advanced instructors of the USAF whom we have come to know. Our primary connection today is Yamada Sensei and naturally Claude Berthiaume Shihan of Montreal. Berthiaume Shihan has been acquainted with Newfoundland for a long time, initially as uke for Kanai Sensei and Yamada Sensei and later as a teaching Shihan himself.

Graham Burt Sensei. Photo taken around 1970. Burt Sensei taught Judo and Aikido at the 510 Air Cadet Squadron in Pleasantville, NL. (Photo used with permission.)

Kevin: Well, there were times when I thought about why I didn't move on to something else. I imagine many people give it some thought at one time or another. But, really, over the years Aikido has truly become part of me personally, part of my life. So, I guess, while I gave it some thought, I was really hooked on it. I couldn't imagine today having given up Aikido. It really has contributed to my personal growth as a human being, to whom I am today.

Bill: Yes, even with my physical problems, I can't imagine putting my gi and hakama away. Years ago I might have thought of that. But what would you do with all the knowledge you have accumulated for one thing and how would you deal with the realization of how much you still don't know, that there is a dimension of Aikido yet to be explored or to be revealed to me. There are a lot of Aikido doors still to open or to be opened.

Recently I was teaching a class and someone asked me about a technique I had just done. I actually didn't know what I had just done and explained that I had not done that before. It was simply a natural action or reaction. And so now I try to explain that in Aikido there is really only one technique, it is called Aikido. The techniques we come to know, like shihonage and the like, over time become a means to an end, largely a vehicle to get you to a point where you begin to create and bring the basic techniques to another level. While you strive to become a good technician, you begin to realize there is something beyond these physical, technical movements. That is the real beauty of Aikido. It is not static; it is not only physical or technical. It is continuously unfolding and revealing itself.

Kevin: I have always felt that way about Aikido also. Bill and I discuss this kind of thing often. Only now do I feel that through practice and teaching there is a convergence of all the techniques towards some unifying experience. It is very difficult to explain. It's like having been awakened to the fact that there is something else to this martial art. Aikido is not just a package of techniques, it is deeper than that. I have come to initiate body movements naturally without any great deal of thought given over to an end result. This year especially I feel I have made some headway in this direction and I am now deeply curious.

Mitsunari Kanai Shihan (left), Graham Burt Sensei (right) Photo taken in 1975. Kanai Shihan was the first Japanese Master to visit Newfoundland. (Photo used with permission.)

Bill: We regularly talk about being centered in Aikido, that we should have good balance. This is true. But the balance is not purely physical. There is your physical being and then another part of you. For a loss of words I would call the other part your interior self or interior life. That interior self must be balanced or in accord with your exterior or physical self. Once you have experienced this, when you are in that frame of mind, you initiate and create body movements naturally. You begin to move beyond individual techniques, as you were taught them, and initiate new body movements that might be classified as "no name" techniques. This is the balance that we are continuously searching out. One that will bring us to this new level of initiation and movement. So, it is not just a good center of gravity for throwing someone.

Kevin: Yes, very much so. I have taught on and off as an occasional instructor in the past. Once you feel comfortable with yourself in Aikido, regular teaching is really good and compels you to improve in every which way as you have a serious responsibility to many other people.

Bill: I agree. At Fudoshin both Kev and I, and you, have assigned teaching duties every week. I look forward to my classes particularly because the students are so very receptive. They give their full attention all the time. When practice is over, they don't want to leave the dojo. What more could a teacher ask for? And as Kevin has put it, we have a very serious responsibility to such fine students.

Yoshimitsu Yamada Shihan (left) and Bill McDonald Sensei (right) chatting during a social at Bill's home, 1988.

Tom: That must be challenging, as you must be constantly thinking of what you are going to teach from one class to the next. Is there any particular way you prepare your classes?

Bill:Well, I am a retired teacher and school administrator. Preparation is not a new word to me. I usually devote a portion of the day on which I am teaching to think about my class. You have to understand that Aikido students are intelligent people; they are highly observant. They deserve a responsible instructor. Normally I begin with some basic idea and build on it, and continuously spiral back to preceding instruction and bring that forward to where I am. I like to see a class start at a certain pace, with a very basic idea, and see the class accelerate to where I want it to go, understanding the level of the students. I like a follow-up class to the previous class. I then like to move along a little farther, integrating everything that has gone on before. So, there is some rhyme and reason to what we do at Fudoshin Aikikai. We are not just "winging" it for the ninety minutes we have to teach.

Tom: The four McDonald brothers--both of you, Dermot and Charles--are Aikido Black Belts. I think this is quite astounding. Why do you think your family gravitated towards Aikido?

Kevin: Yes it is a bit unusual that all four of us became interested in the same thing. Obviously, we must have found something that we liked. Maybe we found something that we have yet to disclose to anyone else. On the serious side, I think it might have had to do with the fact that we were somewhat close at one time when we were younger and talked about Aikido a lot. That might have led to one after the other joining. I'm not really sure to be honest.

Tom: You both have had long and successful Aikido careers. What advice would you like to offer those who follow?

Kevin: I know I speak for both Bill and myself when I say that Aikido is worth a commitment. You will be glad you did stay with it, as you get older. Keep involved with the people on the tatami and be mindful not to get caught up in the political side or the administrative side of Aikido. All organizations have political and administrative sides to them and we all see from different perspectives. So, I suggest you be mindful of that and keep before you always why you joined Aikido in the first place.

Yoshimitsu Yamada Shihan. Photo from same social at Bill's home during 1988.

Interview with Kevin McDonald Sensei and Bill McDonald Sensei of Fudoshin Aikikai

St. John's, Newfoundland www.fudoshinaikikai.org