Shihan John Damian

In the summer of 1984 I met Shihan John Damian at Chief Al Tejero's house. He was a big Hawaiian, but very soft spoken and when he would walk across the floor it was like he was floating - not a sound. He started speaking about KI (Chi in Japanese), and it was almost in every other sentence he spoke. You could just feel his Chi across the room. He then started coming to our Goju-ryu school once a month or every other month, just to teach us black-belts. He only taught us advanced Aikido techniques to demonstrate the different types of Chi. Most didn't get it in my school, but I was totally fascinated by this energy you can't see, yet it's more powerful than anything I've seen. I must have asked him a million questions, and every time he would take his time to answer them. He was responsible for "Night of the Masters" show down in San Diego - he would invite the who's who of our time in Martial Arts to demonstrate. Then I saw him demo with six other Aikido black belts. It was like a beautiful dance, with him in the middle and the other guys just flying across the room like if he was blowing feathers in the air. The graceful nature of his movements, the gentle gestures, and the swift techniques were executed flawlessly. He was a great family man and loved his son very much (shown here with his grandson in arms). Although you wouldn't believed it when he would use his son for a partner during demonstrations - he would throw him around harder than any one else. Shihan Damian was always teaching different law enforcement agencies throughout the country, most of the techniques you see them use today to subdue an assailant are directly traceable to his teachings. Then, an interesting thing happened, I saw Shihan Damian do a brick braking demonstration - he was a big man, but the amount of force (Chi) he used was beyond his physical abilities. There was something else there, when asked he simple said it's KI. Wow, what ever that was I needed to know. I approached Shihan after one of our training sessions and told him how much I appreciated his time and efforts to teach us, but I really needed to know more. I wanted to learn the basics of Aikido and KI, since he only taught us all of these advanced techniques. I did them, but I wanted to know why and what were the principles behind these movements, and what was this KI thing all about. Without hesitating, he said that he would give me a letter of introduction to his teacher who happened to live here in Los Angeles - his name was Shihan Roderick T. Kobayashi. The following week I went to meet Shihan Kobayashi and gave him the letter of introduction. After reading the letter, he said that he would accept me as his student and would recognize my black belt. I thanked him but declined the black belt and told him that I wanted to start at the beginning, and learn everything about Aikido and KI (so, I put on a white belt). So, our journey began, I would train every Tuesday and Thursday during my lunch hour (or two) from work. Some time went by and Shihan Damian produced another "Night of the Masters" show in San Diego, and Chief asked me to demonstrate at the show. I was to brake bricks on stage with three other world brick braking experts. There was only one problem, I was never taught to brake bricks correctly. I approached Shihan Kobayashi during one of our training sessions and asked him how I could use my newly found KI principals to brake bricks - I should not have asked him, since he quickly proceeded to demonstrate the "dead arm" Aikido technique. After I got off from the floor I understood what I needed to practice. For the next month I trained in my back yard, adding one brick at a time to the stack. The night of the show came and the audience was full of Martial Arts legends, such as Sijo Emperado and Ed Parker. For the first time in my life I was totally focused and used all of the KI principals I learned to go through 10 slabs of concrete like a hot knife through butter - I got a standing ovation (it was really a tribute to those who shared with me their knowledge). What a great lineage I shared with Shihan Damian, such as his teacher Shihan Kobayashi, and his teacher Grand Master Koichi Tohei (the first 10th degree ever promoted by the founder), and his teacher and founder of Aikido O'Sensei (great teacher) Morihei Ueshiba. One can spend a lifetime learning the two thousand Aikido techniques created by O'Sensei, but they would be missing the essence of Aikido, that is, to harmonize with your surroundings and your times. Shihan Damian and Kobayashi definitely took that to heart and continued to evolve Aikido to be relevant to our times and our space. Unfortunately, both of my Aikido teachers are now dead, but definitely not forgotten. Their legacy lives in my art, for Aikido and the KI principals I learned form the key foundation of Gosikido. The simple nature of these movements, the unification of mind, body, and spirit create a completely defensive environment where the harmony of all things come together - KI being the glue.