Since its founding in 1974 by Frank Hreha, Oberlin Aikido has been a strong presence in the continued practice of a martial art rooted in conflict resolution. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the club is holding a seminar May 2–4 in Hales Gymnasium. 

Primarily run by fourth-years, the club regularly teaches an ExCo that assumes no prior knowledge or practice of Aikido. And for those who wish to learn beyond the extent of the course, the club has additional weekly lessons. As members of the dojo of the Aikido Schools of Ueshiba, students have the ability of receiving official rankings.

Since its inception, the Oberlin Aikido Club has been devoted to deepening students’ understanding through seminars featuring world-class martial artists. These events also act as opportunities for institutional memory of the young art form to develop, as Aikido has only been around for the last century. Notably, Hiroshi Ikeda Shihan has returned to Oberlin almost annually for the last 40 years. This is of particular significance because his teacher, Mitsugi Saotome, was a disciple of Aikido’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba.

Aikido is unique in its techniques, but its most defining element is its ideology. Andrzej Siwkiewicz, who has been the club’s head instructor since 2006, identified what grounds Aikido. 

“There is an interesting concept, where you don’t try to overpower your opponent, but you harmonize with their energy and redirect it,” Siwkiewicz said. “In Aikido, the size [of the person] shouldn’t matter. You can throw an elephant if you can break that elephant’s balance.” 

College fourth-year James Frothingham emphasized that the skills acquired through Aikido are applicable elsewhere as well. 

“Staying balanced, centered, and relaxed is the most important lesson,” Frothingham said. “With Aikido that’s in a physical sense. If you’re in an altercation with someone and they’re pushing against you and you push back, whoever’s stronger is going to win. If you’re relaxed, you can just move past them and their own energy will carry them past you. I can extrapolate that … whenever something is stressful. My initial motivation in joining the ExCo was to be in a space where I could practice being bad at something and to overcome perfectionism.” 

Siwkiewicz also made it clear that Aikido, as much as it appears to be a physical challenge, requires strong mental fortitude. He suggested that this duality takes one down a path toward a better self.

“Often, what stands in the way are our own anxieties,” Siwkiewicz said. “It is an interesting feeling when after many, many years of training, we suddenly realize that the less you want, the more you get. In other words, using less energy, without attempting to change or affect others, can actually change others. You change yourself.”

Through Aikido, Siwkiewicz has learned to be dynamic. He rejected that one should be burdened by difference, instead believing comparison only illustrates what cannot be changed about oneself.

“My Aikido will be different than your Aikido,” Siwkiewicz said. “Also, the element of time, the river that moves on. My Aikido tomorrow will be different than my Aikido yesterday or today.”

Instead, Siwkiwicz thinks the challenge should be to continuously seek a perspective in which there is more to learn. 

“You can become very efficient in building furniture, a chair, a table, or play scales on a piano. And it’s alright,” Siwkiewicz said. “There is nothing wrong with that. But art happens when someone can maintain that freshness, almost child-like spirit of discovery. …  Shoshin is to maintain a level of humility and understanding that the vessel is not full. So, you can always learn, and you can also recognize those moments where life provides you with an opportunity to learn. Some people may call them failures. I call them opportunities. The challenge can become an opportunity if you remove your ego, if you leave it outside.”

Siwkiewicz expressed a deep belief in these ideas when asked what his motivation for teaching Aikido is. 

“Aikido is not just a fighting art, it is more than that,” Siwkiewicz said. “Aikido can offer a perspective to life. So I hope that people will continue training in Aikido in order to become better human beings. In modern society there is a huge pressure where people basically start to produce for money, either to survive or to get even richer. If you are honest as an artist, you keep yourself fresh in body and mind and spirit and always try to excel beyond what you think is enough, since there should be no baseline, just a horizon ahead of you.”

Siwkiewicz’s goals and motivations seem to express themselves in his students. 

“Aikido doesn’t have competitions: the only person you’re up against is yourself,” Frothingham said. “The only evaluation is when you test for your next rank.” 

Though technically an Oberlin club sport, “calling it a sport departs from the core values,” Frothingham said.

The notion in Aikido of taking advantage of an opponent’s exertion of power is difficult to grasp, but Siwkiewicz believes that this idea can benefit anyone. 

“If they pay attention, and if they are focused on what they do, they will discover this themselves,” Siwkiewicz said. “They would find that feeling and [have] their ‘aha’ moment.” 

The Aikido ExCo will be taught in the coming fall semester and everyone is encouraged to apply, regardless of physical ability or experience with martial arts. For anyone interested in joining outside of Oberlin, there are clubs in both Columbus and Cleveland.