Christian Tissier Shihan at SportAccord World Combat Games 2013 - Full Demonstration

I'm going to talk about a question about the most tactically gifted Westerners competing, who are not competing, but... He would be the most gifted Westerner I have seen in my lifetime, I think, and of course he's probably the best-known, probably the most martial art the Westerners make all over the world. And what separates him from us, we are about to see, what makes him special. He has a very large following around the world, people who are special to him. More than 50 years. And you can hear all the cameras going off behind us? Obviously. A lot of respect for Christian Tissier. As a Christian traditionalist, does he follow the same path that many have followed? Yes. As far as I know, he went to Japan as a young man, and stayed there, and trained very closely with the Weshaber family, and maintained his connection with them all the time, while also building a very large organisation within France, and now increasingly around the world. But as a model, I think he's a very good model. And following a model is very important in Aikido, to have someone you believe in, whose example you believe in, and you want to emulate. I think the other thing about people like him, and Ufu Venus Shihan, is they continue to study all their lives. My own teacher was a very good example of that. For the development, for someone who is a senior man, to the point where there's nobody there to teach them. Oh yes, there is. There's always seniors. But what about for the seniors? You're at a point where there is no one there. How do you develop? Well, I think the only way to develop is the way the founder himself develops, by personal study. Generally, you're still continuing to develop what you learn from your teacher. My teacher died. I was with him for 45 years. He died, and I'm still studying from him, because I've never learned all that he had to teach, or that he tried to teach me. I'm far from it. And Tetsuya Sensei, and indeed Ufu Venus Shihan, and Miyamoto Shihan, who will be on in a few minutes, they studied under the best, and they're still following their example. And here we have the same basic movement we saw demonstrated at the beginning. You're saying mirror. Yeah, while turning, to be in harmony with the other person, called musubi, to blend, you end up in a mirror position. And the philosophy behind that movement? It means literally blending spiritual energy. It depends who's saying it, but it's essential. So here, you're looking at someone who's formed. You're looking at someone whose form has developed into an art, whose technique is an art form as well, has very powerful. And obviously, someone, both of these guys, some people who can move in harmony with whatever's happening to them, while remaining calm. That concludes our coverage of Aikido here from the SKK Arita in St. Petersburg, Russia for the 2013 Sport Accord World Combat Games. For Tony Spibert, I am John Ramdeen. Thank you so much for watching. Next, we have demonstrating from Japan, Miyamoto Tsujo Toshihane, with Suzuki Toshio, fifth time, and Yoshida Naoto, fourth time.