Karasukai
Stavanger, Norway
Rainer Varis
Rainer Varis (b. 1955) is the founder of Finnish ki-aikido.
References
Kolehmainen, Vilho (1996). Vahvaa toimintaa ilman törmäystä: Etnografinen kuvaus suomalaisesta ki-aikidosta. Master's thesis in study of religions, University of Helsinki.
Laaksonen, Tero (1992). Kamppailijoita dojolta tatamilta. Turku.
Puhakka, Petteri (2010). “Juhani Laisi -shihan: Aikido on matka itsemme tuntemiseen.” Aikido 2/2010: 6-9. https://issuu.com/suomenaikidoliitto/docs/aikidolehti_2_10_nettiin
Varis, Rainer (1979). Aikido. Varis.
Varis in 2021.
(Photo: Kimmo Räisänen.)
Finnish aikidoka in 1973. Rainer Varis (the man with the beard) is standing under the picture of Morihei Ueshiba. To his left is Juhani Laisi, another high profile aikidoka, currently 7th dan Aikikai Shihan, a long-time student of Seishiro Endo. Toshikazu Ichimura is sitting in the front in a black dress.(Juhani Laisi's home archives; Puhakka 2010, 7).
Rainer Varis in Finnish national TV in 1993. Uke: Pekka Salmi and Kalle Ilvonen. The film is a part of the series by YLE (the Finnish Broadcasting Company) introducing Budo arts in Finland:
https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2012/01/27/budo-lajit-taiteen-ja-taistelun-tasapaino.
Summer seminar with Ichimura sensei in Uppsala, Sweden, 9-19 June 1975. Rainer Varis ("finsk kille") practicing ganseki-otoshi with Mouliko Halén (07:00).
(Aikido, sommarläger Uppsala 1975 med Ichimura sensei. Stockholm Aikikai YouTube channel. Possibly filmed by Lennart Karlsson.)
Koichi Tohei's Aikido seminar in Heidelberg in 1987. Photos by Rainer Varis.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/michido/albums/72157719636260511/
1970s
Ki-aikido demonstration in Helsinki (c. 1978).
(Varis' home archives.)
Varis started practicing aikido and iaido in 1971 with Toshikazu Ichimura and was the first to recieve black belt in aikido in Finland in 1974. He was the Finnish chief instructor of Finland Aikikai until his departure from the Aikikai in 1977.
Koichi Tohei's seminar in Brussels in 1978 had a profound influence on Varis. He founded the Finnish Ki-Aikido Society in 1979 and the Finnish Ki Federation in 1993. (Kolehmainen 1996, 61.)
Varis says he never had a regular personal teacher as such, but says having learned a lot from Kenjiro Yoshigasaki, then the head of ki-aikido in Europe. (Laaksonen 1992, 176.) Tohei also remained a major influence, and Varis regularly attended his seminars in Europe and elsewhere.
After receiving black belt in ki-aikido in 1978 Varis systematically refused to grade, saying that grades wouldn't change him in any ways. (Laaksonen 1992, 177.)
Varis was promoted to 7th dan in 2022 by the Ki no Kenkyukai Musubi. He is Shihan for ki-aikido clubs in Finland and Norway.
Rainer Varis and Michael Holm in Ähtäri, Finland, 2021.
(Video: Esa Lilja.)
Aikido demonstration in Brännkyrkahallen, Sweden, 16 October 1975. Rainer Varis performs knife techniques with Juhani Laisi (uke) in c. 01:48. The heading says "Palle Lundin", but according to Varis it is him instead (Lilja, phone call with Varis, 17 Jan 2025).
(Doshu Kisshomaro [sic.] Ueshiba in Sweden 1975 1/3. Filmed by Olle Dehlén.)
1980s
Varis left his club Meidokan in 1977 and continued aikido training in a budo club entitled Tzuki. Training was hard and was nicknamed "Tzuki power style aikido" (Kolehmainen 1996, 61).
In 1979 Varis published the booklet Aikido (Varis 1979) depicting basic techniques, aikido philosophy, and ki exercises.
