This is a retelling of a short story by Terry Dobson, the late teacher and writer of Aikido who is often credited with spreading the art to the U.S.

Aikido is a martial art, which means “the way of peace”, or more specifically, the “way of harmonizing energy or spirit”.  

One day, a young Aikido student was riding a subway in Tokyo.  He had been studying Aikido intensely for a few years there.  At the next stop, a very big, very drunk, and very angry man boarded at the next stop and began pushing and threatening the other passengers.  Aikido is the art of resolving conflict and the student was thus taught never to engage in combat except if others were in harm’s way or if there was no other recourse to prevent an attack. The student, eager to test his skill in a real-life situation, knew he could disable the man and thus prevent anyone from getting hurt.

So, he stood up and the big man immediately shot a look at him and yelled, “What are you looking at sweet-heart?”  The student then blew a kiss at the man who shouted back “Someone wants a lesson!” and began to stomp over. About half way down, a little old man caught the drunken man’s attention and said, “He buddy? What ya drinking?” The big man glared at him and replied “Sake!  What’s it to you, old fart?”  The little old man just started talking “Ah, sake!  I love sake!  I drink it with my wife in our garden.  In the spring the azaleas grow but not now because of the frost…”  Gradually, the large man’s face began to soften, and by the time the Aikido student arrived at his stop, he was in the old man’s lap sobbing, “I don’t have a wife anymore, and I don’t have no job and I’m ashamed …bwaa haa haaa…”  The young student realized he was still far from becoming the Aikido master that the old man on the train that day was.