It's a little late at night and I'm slightly sleepy. I would like to talk a little about Dr. Nishino's book, "The Discovery of Ki. Of all the books written by Dr. Nishino, this one is the most interesting, well, it depends on one's point of view, but I personally have a strong impression of this book. It was published in 1989, so it seems like a long time has passed.

It's a little late at night and I'm slightly sleepy. I would like to talk a little about Dr. Nishino's book, "The Discovery of Ki. Of all the books written by Dr. Nishino, this one is the most interesting, well, it depends on one's point of view, but I personally have a strong impression of this book. It was published in 1989, so it seems like a long time has passed.
One thing that makes this book a little different from other books is that while Dr. Nishino does not talk much about emotional episodes, there is an emotional episode in chapter 4 of this book, in which two people appear, one is Iwatate-san, a 10-dan fighter, and the other is Okada-san, a fortune teller. Okada-san's story is particularly interesting.
There is a scene in which Nishino Sensei said he could not stop crying, and this is the story of how he came to know about the existence of ki. Nishino Sensei was a medical student at the time, so he must have been in his early 20s. In another book, there is a story about Nishino Sensei's grandfather, I think it was, who dropped a rat with chi, and this was the moment when Nishino Sensei became aware of the existence of chi.
Another important event in Nishino Sensei's life is the story of seeing ki. This story appears on page 172, and it is a story that Nishino-sensei heard from a fortune teller named Okada-san when he was a student. Okada-san is a professional fortune teller, and he told Nishino Sensei a story about seeing vapor (chiiki).
He said that he trained himself to watch a glass of water evaporate, and then he would be able to see something like cider bubbles coming out of the "tentei" or "shobi," or face.
It is quite an amazing story, but in fact, the human body produces a fair amount of water vapor, and in the famous "Triaxial Correction Method" book, it is said that the human breath contains unexpected amounts of water, so perhaps that is, in fact, what the realm of a master eishi practitioner is all about.
Mr. Okada foresaw the future of Dr. Nishino and predicted that he would grasp the essence of the art after the age of 50. In fact, Nishino Sensei began aikido and discovered ki after the age of 50. Mr. Okada's prediction was right on target.
However, Mr. Okada had a bad way to die in his final days; as described on page 178, he never recovered from his bad habit of womanizing and eventually died in front of six women. Dr. Nishino states that he was heartbroken and could not stop crying over the fact that Okada-san knew his fate and destroyed himself.
What is particularly striking in the book are the lessons Dr. Nishino learned through his encounter with Mr. Okada. Mr. Okada was a very good fortune teller, but he could not change his own destiny. Although Mr. Okada foresaw his future, he could not break free from his bad habits, and eventually these habits destroyed him. This episode made a very strong impression on the young Dr. Nishino.
Dr. Nishino's network of contacts is very wide, and the people who have experienced this episode are quite impressive. I had the opportunity to attend several of Dr. Nishino's birthday parties, and indeed, there were some amazing members.
That's why I recommend Discovering Ki because it describes a rare episode.