Between Heaven And Earth – Aikido Seiichi Sugano

Salepage link: At HERE. Archive:

Sugano Sensei was known as a gracious, gentle, and greatly revered teacher who dedicated himself to training and inspiring students around the globe. He became an uchi deshi (live-in desciple) to Morihei Ueshiba (O-Sensei) after highschool studies in 1959, and so, is one of only a handful of current teachers who is a direct student of O-Sensei. In 1965 Hombu Dojo sent him to Australia, where he remained for nearly 15 years. In 1979 Sugano Sensei’s teaching mission took him to Belgium where he taught until 1989 when he moved to New York Aikikai at the invitation of Yamada Sensei. Sugano Sensei’s approach to Aikido was strongly influenced by his passion for learning and dedication to personal development, which has included studying Zen mediation and more recently, European fencing. Until this video production, his subtle and spontaneous approach to Aikido had not been documented on film or video.

With the wholehearted support and encouragement of the Aikido community, his students captured on digital video the wisdom of Sugano Sensei’s philosophy and spiritual approach to Aikido, the beauty and grace, the power and precision of his art.

The making of Between Heaven and Earth is an historic event, an opportunity to document Sugano Shihan’s vision and teaching. It includes sections on body techniques and Aikido movement principles, bokken training, weapons, and breathing and mental preparation.

It also includes a special added feature: twelve minutes of O-Sensei archival film footage.

This special edition 70-minute DVD includes two impressionistic music videos set to Ricardo’s original guitar arrangements.

Directed by Henry Smith and Produced by SOLARIS.