What makes a good Sensei?

I’m on the cusp of admitting to being a follower of Nagayama Sensei.  Yes, I know I’m pretty low down the food chain and have no right (and therefore should not have any aspiration) to claim to be a direct student.  And yes, I’m fully aware protozoa shouldn’t even be permitted think for themselves let alone choose who to clone themselves on.  But what if?  And then again, leaving the question hanging in the air, but what if?

Sensei demonstrating his nukitsuke 

Jumping back a few days.

From last Thursday until Sunday we were in Perth for the West Australia Kendo Renmei’s annual Spring Seminar.  WA is a big State as far as Australian Iaido and Jodo are concerned with a high concentration of 4^th, 5^th, a 6^th and one 7^th Dan.  Add to that the visiting of Oda and Nagayama Sensei and you have a recipe for a good seminar.

On the basis Nagayama Sensei was extremely good to Klara and I when we visited him at his dojo in Sendai in August just gone, I spent nearly all my Perth time on the Jodo floor picking up titbits here and there, refining moves and adjusting timings under his critical gaze.  He doesn’t suffer foolish questions with a grin or a brush-off, just action.  If you don’t understand why some action needs to be performed, a little painful reminder demonstrates.  Leave an (incorrect) opening and this is what happens, he demonstrates.  There is a reason why things happen in Jodo kata.  It’s a structured battle in a somewhat similar manner as a game of chess but with more serious outcomes.  Force a wrong move physically or psychologically and someone loses.

Forcing a wrong move is what Nagayama is instinctively good at.  What makes him a brilliant Sensei is his ability to inject instinct almost intravenously to his students.

If I were all of the following:

• Japanese
• Living in Sendai
• About 30 years of age

I’d ask him to formally train me as his deshi in all the arts he is superbly proficient in.

But I don’t come close to qualifying so have to make to with the titbits here and there.  It's a good second.