So yesterday was Steven Seagal‘s 60th Birthday. I approach this guy’s day of birth with a mixed bag. Being an Aikidoist myself I have mixed feelings about him and his contribution to increasing the exposure of the art to the masses. Well not true, I just have mixed feelings about him as a person rather than his martial ability.
I have no doubt about his Aikido skills and his martial ability, although I’m sure Jean Claude Van Dame has something to say about that. With regards to Sensei here, I have never been too much of a fan of him before and even during my training and exposure to Aikido. To me he was just another action hero out to make movies. It wasn’t until I started training did I got exposed to a picture of who he really was
This was due to the fact that he visited my dojo in 1990 as a guest teacher! Now of course I was 5 at that time and I had not heard of Aikido – or martial arts for that matter (I was probably too busy surviving the kindergarten playground) but seeing that Seagal met my Sensei it’s like something of a connection…to someone who is utterly famous for his direct-to-DVD movies, enormous ego, musical tastes, questionable law enforcement career, and…
Ah well. Happy Birthday Sensei, your “true” purpose in this world has yet to be revealed.
Below is the video made of Seagal Sensei at my dojo at its old location in 1990. Till next time!
I am Avatar Andrew 
Mr. Seagal may be “colorful”, but I think he aikido is first class and his charitable work is sincere.
Perhaps I was a little harsh in my assessment of him. But yes, his martial skills and charity actions are not to be ignored.