Autobiography - 10: Continuing About Aikido Dojo

Q: Welcome to our 10th clip about Sensei Jamal Measara's autobiography. We ended with your beginnings in Aikido. Can you continue with the Aikido dojo?

A: Yes, I would love to. That was a fascinating time for me. This Aikido dojo changed my life in many ways. It helped me understand martial arts better than just as a martial sport, like karate is often seen today. At the time, I didn't understand karate as martial arts; it was more like a sport competition. When I joined the Aikido dojo, I understood what was going on in martial arts, including karate, because I met so many masters in this dojo.

I would call this dojo a martial arts academy. It wasn't just a place where we trained Aikido. Many masters of other styles came to train there.

Kendo and Iaido

For example, when I was training there, I met Sensei Hardy. He was my kendo teacher. He was a British gentleman from England, older than me, maybe five or more years. He's probably over 80 now, I think. He went back to England, but I still have contact with him. He taught me kendo.

My friend Venu and I competed in the Kendo Malaysian National Championships. He built us up to the competition, and again, we were into sport competition.

On the first day, I competed in the national championship. In the first round, I met the national champion and he finished me off in a few seconds. I lost the fight. In the second round, it was a round robin, and I was competing against my own Sensei. He finished me also in a very short time. That was my short time in competition kendo.

I hated practicing kendo because of the garments, the men (面), and it was too warm for Malaysia. Malaysia is a very humid country, and it's very hard to breathe, even with all the metal bars. You'd be sweating terribly, and I was always waiting to take off the men, dō (胴), and all the equipment. It was interesting to know what kendo was all about, competition and everything, and the good footwork was good for sport competition karate.

I trained kendo with him, and he also taught me Iaido, the art of sword-drawing technique. I shouldn't forget him; I should mention him. He was my kendo and Iaido teacher.

Judo and Cross-Training

I also met a Judo Sensei in the dojo. His name was Sensei Mutu, I remember him. He was a school teacher in Malaysia. He was from a different part of Malaysia, and when he came to my city, he enrolled in the Aikido dojo. We got to know him, and he used to show us judo techniques sometimes.

What was wonderful was a Judo man, an Aikido man, my friend Venu, and myself, a karate man, all training together in this dojo. Sensei Tambi used to teach us, and sometimes Sensei Venu and Sensei Mutu, and another lady named Queen, who now resides in Switzerland, would come to my dojo to practice karate, to learn punching and blocking techniques so they could refine their Aikido punching techniques. We had a very good relationship training together with all the martial artists, and we enjoyed the Aikido training.

Sensei Tambi's Teaching Style

We trained very hard. Sensei Tambi's teaching those days was different than today. He would come up and show one or two techniques two or three times, and then he'd sit down on his meditation mat, his Zen mat, and watch the training. Sometimes an assistant would correct us, and Sensei very seldom came up and corrected us. Later, he did it more, but at that time, he'd just show us.

I don't know what made him do it, but when I came to the dojo, he was very friendly. He used to come and correct us, and he used to say, "Come lock me." So Venu Sensei and I would lock him. We needed a lot of power to do it on him. He was a very toughened guy. We enjoyed pushing him and everything. His ki (気) was very good, and he loved us so much, and we loved the opportunity to touch him and train with him. The training was completely different than today. Today is more explanation and not so hard like those days.

This was the time of Aikido which we were training at that time.

Q: You had to be very concentrated, I think, in the training.

A: Yes, to see the techniques and to do it. You'd see it once, and you had to have good focus and concentration. Today, you have to go and correct them a thousand times, and it still doesn't go inside their head. It was a different method of teaching those days.

Q: Okay, thank you very much.

A: You're most welcome. I hope I can continue with this later. There are so many things to say about this dojo.

Q: It would be interesting. We hope so. Okay then. Thank you. Hope you enjoy it. Bye!