During my annual trips to Paris, I always take the opportunity to visit Christian Tissier Shihan's dojo in order to discuss with him and practice under his direction. Before my last visit, I suggested to him to film an interview in order to look back into his fifty years of practice and teaching aikido. As usual, he generously accepted my request and I was able to ask him a number of questions, as well as to film both a weapons and a taijutsu class.
The following video contains images that I shot during that day in addition to the better part of a two-hours discussion that we had before the class. We were able to cover its beginnings, his experience of Japan, and look back on his 50 years of practice. I had interviews Christian about ten years before and while I had come to expect the clear and eloquent way he uses to express himself, I was very surprised by how candid he was willing to be on many subjects. Having talked to several of his closer students since the making of his video, they confirmed to me that he indeed exposed himself more than he usually does. I hope that this video will help people to see the man behind the famous teacher.
