Hideo Ohba Biography, Part II

Difficult Journey Back Home

Beginning in 1943, defeat in the war was gradually becoming a certainty and ominous clouds began to gather over Japan. However, at least Shinkyo (Hsin-ching, present-day Ch’ang-ch’un) in Manchuria was still a paradise. In those days, Kenji Tomiki held a morning practice in a large dojo at the Shimbuden. It is said that this practice was always held despite severe cold weather. At that time, Ohba’s house was located about a half an hour’s walk past the Shimbuden from Tomiki’s house. They would begin their practice at about five thirty a.m. and afterward would go back to Tomiki’s house at about eight to eat the breakfast Tomiki’s wife, Fusae, prepared for them. Then, they would walk together again to Kenkoku University where they both worked. (In those days, Tomiki was a professor of Kenkoku University and was teaching aikido as a subject in the regular curriculum; Ohba was his assistant.)

However, as the war was drawing to a close, in July 1945 Tomiki was drafted, and shortly afterwards the Soviet Union entered into the war. Fusae joined the families of the non-commissioned officers of the Kenpei Kyoshutai (a military police training platoon) and hastily left Shinkyo with her four children. However, the transportation relay didn’t go as smoothly as she had hoped and she had to get off at Tong-Hua and stay at an elementary school nearby. The situation was so severe that some of the people there even thought of committing suicide out of despair. It was there, and in such circumstances, that Ohba finally located Fusae and her children. He went all the way to Tong-Hua in order to save his master’s family while on his own journey of escape. After many twists and turns, they came to Phyong-yang. However, Ohba was seized by the Korean army and taken to a large airport at the Soviet border. Fortunately, Fusae and her children were able to return to Japan although they suffered many hardships. Their safe return was, however, at the cost of two of Fusae’s children. Although Hideo was forced to work at an airfield maintenance shop for about a year, he finally received permission to return home. However, on the way back home, he was struck by typhus fever. He suffered from high fever and there was a shortage of food. He was prepared to die. Fortunately, he overcame this crisis thanks to the devoted nursing of a youth who was one of the party.

Meanwhile, Tomiki was detained by the Soviet army at Lake Balkash in Siberia with many other Japanese. The present solo tegatana exercises were created as a result of the life he led during his three years and six months in captivity.

Days Of Revitalization

In October 1945, a telegram from Hideo was delivered to Keiko Ohba informing her of his return. Ohba, who returned to Yokote after having had a narrow escape from the jaws of death, gradually regained his stamina after one year of recuperation, supported by his beloved wife. He then began to devote himself to the revival of judo. In June 1949, he became a vice-president of the Hiraka Branch of the Japan Judo Federation and in January 1950, he was appointed as a part-time judo instructor for the Yokote Police Department. Then in October of the same year, he was promoted to 6th dan in Kodokan Judo, and in 1952 he became an adviser to the Judo Federation of Ogachi-Yuzawa. His strenuous efforts during these years are apparent when his personal history is examined.

Also, for the three years between 1950 and 1953, Ohba was invited to teach at least four times as an instructor at the Kodokan. He was requested to give special instruction to a martial arts research group of physical education instructors from the United States Air Force. It seems that because Tomiki, Ohba’s master, was in charge of the Kodokan office beginning in 1951 after his return to Japan, he invited Ohba to be his partner in teaching rikaku taisei (techniques against an attack from a distance) judo [in other words, aikido techniques].

In the summer of 1953, Tomiki, Sumiyuki Kotani, 8th dan, and some others left for the United States in order to teach at Air Force bases in 15 states for more than 100 days. For one month Ohba took Tomiki’s place, and taught 30 instructors of the United States Air Force at the Kodokan along with Kin’ichi Shibata, to whom I will refer later, who was also instructing techniques. It seems that since Shibata returned to his hometown for business purposes after 20 days, Isamu Ishii and some others, who were members of the Waseda University Judo Club, took ukemi for Ohba after Shibata left.

In those days, there were several people who were attracted to Ohba’s personality as well as his ability and thus became his supporters. Among those Ohba was close to, there was Ryosuke Togashi (who became a Police Superintendent in 1969). He was a person Ohba thoroughly trusted as a benefactor in his later years. Mr. Togashi had already begun to notice and recognize Ohba’s judo ability in the spring of 1948. In the summer of the following year, Togashi, as the department chief, invited Ohba to become a judo instructor at the Yokote Police Department. After that, the two practiced judo ten days every month until July of 1954 when Ohba was transferred to the Akita Prefectural Police Department.

Another person Ohba trusted was Kin’ichi Shibata (presently the head of a construction company), whom I mentioned earlier. Mr. Shibata returned to Japan in the spring of 1950 after having been detained in Siberia. Immediately after his return, he dissolved the old Yuzawa-Ogachi Yudanshakai (Black Belt Association) to form a better organization, now known as the Yuzawa-Ogachi Judo Federation (with Takichi Takahisa as the president and Ohba as adviser) and devoted himself to its development. During his days at the Akita Middle School, he was famous as the captain of the Judo Club. Ohba had complete confidence in Shibata who was nine years his junior, and who had a gentle personality and great ability. He instructed him with great passion. It is said that during the practice which was held nearly every night (from 5 to around 7:30 p.m.) beginning in 1950 or 1951 until the middle of 1954, they practiced not only judo but also aikido, kendo, naginata and iai. During this period, Shibata also worked actively to help Ohba get employment at the Akita Prefectural Police Department. Shibata consulted with Yoshiyuki Date, a leading figure among instructors in the police judo world as well as Shibata’s benefactor during his Akita Middle School days. Fortunately, Date remembered Ohba’s activities during his days at Kakunodate Middle School and was pleased to know that he was still active. He, along with the Chief of the Yanagihara Police Office, another person who understood Ohba well, talked to Fudo Honda, the head of Akita Prefectural Police Department about Ohba and through this Police Chief, Ohba was given a position at the Akita Prefectural Police Department.

There was also Ichiro Suzuki, a top executive at Akita Hakko (Akita Fermentation Company), who should not be forgotten as one of Ohba’s benefactors.

The Akita Prefectural Police Department

Beginning May 1, 1954, Ohba took his position as a technical official at the National Rural Police (the educational section of the Akita Prefectural Police Headquarters). When two months later, the National Rural Police and the local municipal police were combined to form the Akita Prefectural Police Department, Ohba became a technical official of the educational section, as the chief of the technical section in charge of judo. His job was to instruct judo and police tactics to all police officers in Akita and he was also the judo instructor for the Akita Police School. In those days there were two other technical section chiefs in addition to Ohba. Natsui Shokichi was in charge of judo instruction. He was the first judo world champion in 1956 and won the All-Japan Championship in the following year. The period from 1954 to 1959, while Ohba was working at the Akita Police Department, was a golden age of judo with Natsui as the leader, a post he had held continuously since before the war. In 1958 the Akita Police Department B team won first place at the All-Police Judo and Kendo Competition and in 1959 the A team won second place. Natsui, recalling those days, spoke of Ohba as follows:

Ohba Sensei always did his best to take care of me as well as the department teams. He was very pleased when we won, too. Sensei was a very serious person who would never do anything outside of the rule book, and he never claimed credit for himself for anything, nor ever tried to appear in the limelight. Since it took him fully an hour and a half to get to the Police Department from Yokote, I think it was really hard for him when he went home after the evening practice. However, he had a very strong will and never said he was tired even if we had had a very hard practice.

During our relaxation time, he would play his shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) for us. We would also drink sake or play go together.

Sensei was the type of a person who always tried to search for the “Way” (michi) in judo as well as in aikido. I suppose that this was because he was greatly influenced by Tomiki Sensei. He taught us the judo kata in great detail. It was all thanks to Ohba Sensei that we have achieved what we have now.

Ohba’s teaching method had a special feature. Ryosuke Togashi described this feature as follows: “Sensei used to let himself be thrown by his students. He was also a person who always tried to praise his students’ good points whenever he found them. He would praise them so much that they would feel embarrassed.” It seems that Ohba Sensei’s intent in this teaching method was to awaken the desire to learn in his students and thus have them struggle to improve themselves by their own will. This was why Ohba praised his students and also allowed himself to be thrown. He always thought of others and had a kind character.

He would go to work at the educational section in the morning and then in the afternoon he would teach at a police school or would make a trip somewhere with some of his students. He also had great confidence in kendo and naginata and sometimes participated in the kendo competition of the Police Department.

One year the Kendo Club of the Akita Shogyo School (Akita Commercial Middle School), which had won the All-Japan Kendo Championship, came to visit for a match. At this match Ohba surprised the audience by competing against his strong opponent with two short shinai. It was also around this period when he competed in a match with a kendo shihan using a naginata at the Prefectural Police Headquarters.

On September 25, 1959, Ohba visited Togashi at the educational section of the Prefectural Police Headquarters and told him that he had to quit his position at the Police Department in order to go to Tokyo. It was sad news for Togashi. Hideo decided to go to Tokyo at the invitation of his master, Tomiki, and was very enthusiastic at the prospect of being able to help in realizing the ideal of his master, which they had been forced to abandon in Manchuria.

Efforts To Establish Tomiki Aikido

Ohba became an instructor of the Physical Education Department of Waseda University in 1960, and also held a position as an aikido instructor. Ohba described how he felt when he was appointed to this position, saying that it was a greater privilege than he deserved, and that he was very grateful. He demonstrated his ardent spirit by actively encouraging the students to pursue more studies of the new aikido.

The junanahon no kata has been organized by Tomiki Shihan. Now, we all should do our best to study the openings and kuzushi (balance-breaking) in the limitless variations of atemi-waza (striking techniques) and kansetsu-waza (joint techniques) in order to make the techniques effective, (from a passage written by Ohba to the students of the Waseda Aikido Club, July 1961; Kyogi Aikido Soseiki no Ayumi; Ohba Hideo Sensei o Shinobu (The Early Days of Competition Aikido; with Recollections of Ohba Sensei), Tokyo: Nihon Aikido Kyokai, 1987, p. 1)

Ohba taught at a great many places. His third son, Kiyoshi, recalling these days said, “My father would go home immediately after practice at Waseda and then after he ate, he would go to teach at the United States Armed Forces Base in Fuchu. Then he would come home again, this time to do some washing, and then go off somewhere else to teach. He was very busy every day going back and forth between his house and the places he taught, sometimes as many as four times a day.” The places at which he taught alone or together with Tomiki changed over the years, but he taught at a large number of locations. If I recall back to those times, he taught at many newly established clubs such as the Seidokan in Kasumi-cho, the Wrestling Hall in Aoyama, Sports Kaikan in Okubo, as well as at the Shudokan. He also taught the newly established aikido clubs of Seyo, Kokushikan and Meiji universities. Furthermore, he taught at each of the branch dojos established in Osaka (Shodokan), Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Imabari (Ehime Prefecture) and Niigata. In this way, he exerted himself teaching all over the country. In 1977, after he retired from Waseda University, he became an instructor at Kokushikan University and then in 1980, he also held the position as an instructor at the National Police Academy. He continued to devote himself to instruction with a passion until he returned to his hometown in 1985.

These 25 years of Ohba’s history parallel exactly the history of the development of the competitive style of aikido founded by Tomiki, and its unified organization, the Nihon Aikido Kyokai (Japan Aikido Association). Takeshi Inoue, who knows in detail the background of the creation of the basic kata of the present Association wrote:

In about 1958, we practiced mainly the unsoku, tandoku undo, yonhon no kuzushi (the original version of the present nanahon no kuzushi) as well as the jugohon no kata (fifteen technique kata). In around 1960, the junanahon no kata (17 technique basic kata) and the roppon no kuzushi were created and then the dai-san no kata was devised as a kata of classical techniques. During the mid-60s Ohba Sensei and others worked on the creation of the kata forms of the dai-ichi (first) to dai-roku (sixth), which we presently practice as the koryu no kata, in order to work on techniques for demonstrations and for purposes other than randori. What Ohba Sensei particularly stressed in formulating these kata was the organization of different techniques in such a way that students could learn connections between techniques easily and naturally. After he had organized the techniques to some extent, Ohba Sensei reported to Tomiki Sensei and demonstrated what he had done for him. He received some advice from Tomiki Sensei and then added corrections to the kata. (“Bujin Hideo Ohba,” Kyogi Aikido Soseiki no Ayumi; Ohba Hideo Sensei o Shinobu, p. 67)

Parting

The day of parting came and cooperation between Tomiki Sensei and Ohba came to a close. In December 1979, Ohba, who was in Akita at the time, was informed of his master’s critical condition. He got in his car without a moment’s delay and drove to the hospital at full speed without sleeping or resting. He had just recently received his driver’s license. However, despite his hope for his master’s recovery, Tomiki passed away several days later. The relationship between the two, which was often described as “a rare close teacher and student relationship” (according to Ryosuke Togashi), finally came to an close.

After the death of Tomiki, Ohba became the second president of the Association as Tomiki’s successor and took the lead in instruction as well as in the spread of the art. Thanks to the efforts of these two shihan and their students, Tomiki Aikido has become widespread abroad and its success has been perhaps even greater than in this country. Therefore, the importance of the Association’s role as the center of the international scene grew with each passing year. Hideo, who felt the needs of the times, began to teach in foreign countries, beginning with Taiwan (1970), then Britain and Europe (1976, 1977) and finally, Australia (1981). Ohba felt that it was finally time to prove his worth as President as he faced a new question — how to go about developing Tomiki Aikido in this rapidly changing international society. In 1982 Ohba became ill. But since he started to teach again immediately after he left the hospital, it seemed that he had recovered. However, in 1985 he was again hospitalized. In May, Ohba decided to put an end to his 25 years of life in Tokyo and got on a train for Yokote. At Ueno Station many of his students, reluctant to part with them, gathered to see their master and his wife, Keiko, off.

In February 1986, Ohba passed away under the watchful care of his wife. It is said that even when while he was ill in bed, Ohba always kept a picture of his master, Tomiki, at his bedside and kept repeating his hope that he would to recover from his illness in order to continue his contributions to the Japan Aikido Association. His love towards his students is still pouring down on us from heaven. One student wrote recalling his master:

…I always got on the same bus in the Shinjuku area since Ohba Sensei also took that bus. One morning, there was some delay on the Odakyu train line and when I got off at the station, the bus had just left the bus stop. I was disappointed. Suddenly, the bus stopped in front of me and the door opened. I saw Ohba Sensei thanking the bus driver by bending his big body in a deep, deep bow. He was a master who could be thoughtful of a mere student like me. This memory of him makes me cry now. (Setsuji Eguchi, “Reminiscence of Ohba Sensei,” Kyogi Aikido Soseiki no Ayumi; Ohba Hideo Sensei o Shinobu, p. 73)

(This essay is a slightly revised version of an article published in the Kokushikan University Aikido Club newsletter, 1989).

This is the second of two parts. Read the first part here.

Profile Of Fumiaki Shishida

Born in 1949. Graduated from the Literature Department of Waseda University in 1972. Masters in Martial Arts Theory from Tsukuba University. Currently an associate professor at Waseda University, Department of Human Sciences. Promoted to 7th dan shihan of the Japan Aikido Association in 1988, and is working on a book-length biography of Tomiki Aikido founder, Kenji Tomiki.