Complete Aikido. Christopher Watson G.

      It is the eleventh century. The formidable mounted warriors of Khubilai Kahn have swept out of the steppes of central Europe on a campaign of conquest that will ultimately bring most of Western Europe, China, and all of Korea under Mongol rule. In November of 1274, the Kahn sought to expand his empire by sending an armada of 450 ships bearing some 15,000 troops from conquered Korea southeast across the relatively narrow Korea Strait to the latest object of his desire, the mountainous island chain of Japan. His intent: to take the southernmost island of Kyushu, then sweep northward until the entire chain was under his dominion. Expecting a repeat of his earlier victories, he was to be disappointed. After a day’s fierce fighting on the shores of Kyushu, the Mongol fleet limped home, unexpectedly repelled by the determined samurai forces they encountered.

      Angry and humiliated, Khubilai Kahn spent the next seven years assembling what remained until modern times the largest sea-borne invasion force in history. In June of 1281, the Kahn tried again, with ten times the troops. On June 23, the Mongols landed at several spots along Kyushu’s northwest coast, mounting a series of relentless attacks in an attempt to penetrate the island’s coastal defenses. However, though boasting superior weaponry and proven tactics, the forces of the Kahn were no match for the legions of samurai once again awaiting them.

      Some of the most fierce fighting took place outside the walled city of Hakata, overlooking Hakata Bay. Over the next fifty days the samurai, brandishing their cherished, razor-edged tachi (swords), held the Mongols to within a few miles of the coast. On the shore, samurai boldly boarded the lumbering enemy warships in daring “mosquito raids,” cutting down the crew before slipping away in their small skiffs to attack anew. By the end of August, the valor of the samurai, with help from a massive typhoon (known from that day on as kamikaze, or “divine wind”), which splintered and sank the Mongol fleet, the Japanese had once again successfully repelled the forces of the Kahn.

      Although many written accounts exist, there is but one detailed pictorial record of the second Mongol invasion. The samurai Takezaki Suenaga, who was also a veteran of the first invasion attempt, commissioned a series of scroll paintings to record his prowess during the battle of Hakata Bay. Known as the Moko Shurai Ekotoba, they today reside as part of the private Imperial Household Collection in Tokyo.

      The defeat of the second Mongol invasion marked the beginning of the end of Imperial rule in Japan and the rise of the samurai warrior class. Whereas before, court nobility and aristocrats wielded power, under the Shogunate the samurai ruled supreme, guided by the strict tenants of bushido, the way of the warrior. Samurai families flourished, the Suenaga clan not excepted, for the next five-hundred years.

      Although Suenaga’s fame for his exploits at Hakata Bay spread far, it was not enough to keep his creditors from his door. Heavily in debt from his war expenditures, he was hounded incessantly, to the point that he took the drastic step of changing his name, to Suenaka. A minor alteration, certainly, but evidently enough to avoid further financial persecution.

      The year 1867 marked the end of Japans feudal period, as the Emperor Meiji took advantage of growing dissent and factional fighting among regional shoguns and ascended the imperial throne, beginning the Meiji Restoration the following year. Rebellious samurai were ordered to lay down their arms, cut off their prized topknots, and turn to more peaceful pursuits, or face the Emperors punishment. Such was the case with the Suenaka clan, who gave up the sword in favor of the hoe and plow. Although the clans lineage was well-known, this simple vocation change was sufficient to placate the authorities, appearing as it did a renunciation (at least on the surface) of their martial tradition. Privately, however, the Suenaka clan continued to pass down the martial traditions of their ancestors from father to son, particularly jujutsu and kenjutsu.

      In 1878, dissatisfied with farming and with other jobs scarce, Yoshigoro Suenaka, wife Uta (nee Maemoto) and his two elder brothers, Denkichi and Shokichi, emigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii, in search of a new beginning. Yoshigoro and his brothers worked in the sugar cane fields by day, and continued to practice their ancestral budo (warrior arts) when the day’s work was done, striving to keep their heritage alive in their new home. In November of 1913, Yoshigoro’s youngest son, Warren Kenji, was born, and it was into this proud, centuries-old samurai tradition that Roy Yukio Suenaka, the first of four sons, was born to Warren Kenji and Ruth Masako Suenaka (nee Iwahiro) on June 25, 1940.

      From the moment of his birth, Suenaka’s survival was in doubt. He was a “breach baby,” born feet first; a difficult enough birth in a hospital, made even more hazardous by his home delivery by a midwife. The family physician, Doctor Yamamoto, was quickly summoned and, working with the midwife, was able to deliver the baby. Still, newborn Suenaka would not breathe. Knowing they had but a few minutes before oxygen deprivation would result in irreparable brain damage, the midwife, Yamamoto, and Suenaka’s maternal grandfather, Tsurujiro Iwahiro, worked feverishly to revive the infant: the physician using the accouterments of Western medicine, while Grandfather Tsurujiro applied his decades of skill in reiki—the projection of ki (vital life energy) through the laying on of hands. Finally, almost five minutes after his delivery, technically long enough for brain damage to occur, Roy Suenaka took his first breath.

      Though he suffered no permanent damage as the result of his difficult birth, Suenaka’s youth was plagued with related health problems. He was barely months old before he was diagnosed with bronchial asthma. Attacks were frequent, sudden, and severe, his respiratory tract becoming clogged with mucous, often to the point where he would stop breathing altogether. Tsurujiro would immediately begin performing reiki while Dr. Yamamoto, who fortunately lived but minutes away, was summoned. Eastern and Western medicine again worked together to handle the crisis.

      Despite his condition, Suenaka began physical training, under the apt tutelage of his father, almost as soon as he was able to walk. Young as he was, Suenaka was introduced to the basics of weight training, doing his best to imitate his father as he joined him in his daily workouts. Though Suenaka no doubt considered these sessions more like play than work, his father was consciously laying the foundation for what was to become a lifetime of physical and martial study. This early education was accelerated at age four, when Warren Suenaka introduced his son to the family arts of jujutsu and kenjutsu, as well as judo, having begun his study of this system during one of his many trips back to Japan, and continuing upon returning to Hawaii.