I received sad news last month, ºÏšÝµÀ¤ÎÏÈÉú¤¬Íö¤¯¤Ê¤ê¤Þ¤·¤¿ (aikid¨­ no sensei ga nakunarimashita, my aikido teacher passed away).

As is the tradition with many Japanese traditional arts, we follow only one ÏÈÉú (sensei, teacher) and ÕÓÌïÏÈÉú (Numata-sensei) was also the aikido master for my French husband and both our children. He will remain our family¡¯s ÏÈÉú for the rest of our lives.

After learning that he only had a few days left to live, we went to see ÕÓÌïÏÈÉú at his bedside. I asked him a final question: ¡¸šÝ¡¹¤È¤¤¤¦¤Î¤ÏºÎ¤Ç¤¹¤« (¡°ki¡± to iu no wa nan desu ka, What is ¡°ki¡±?) He told me that šÝ is everywhere. We can gather and use it, even though we cannot physically grab it.