People tie their obi (belt) in different ways depending the art they are practising and the school they are learning with. This is how we tie the obi at the Ku-ring-gai Dojo. 1. Start with the end (tagged or name end on the left hip) Tag up. 2. Wrap the belt around your waist, from …
Instructions on how to tie the Obi for children (and adults too) Read More »
And avoid getting a Granny Knot (the information below is extracted from Wikipedia and other sources.) A Reef knot is formed by tying a left-handed overhand knot and then a right-handed overhand knot, or vice versa. A common mnemonic for this procedure is “Right over Left, Left over Right makes a knot both tidy and …
Stanley Pranin of Aikido Journal, has published a series of quotations by the late Saito Sensei about his teacher, the Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. They are worth repeating. The Takemusu Aiki Association are the inheritors of the teaching from O’Sensei’s dojo in Iwama. We work to keep the memory of O’Sensei’s insight alive through …
I had heard about this story before, but never from someone who was there. Stanley Pranin of Aikido Journal, recently re-published an interview with Shoji Nishio Sensei from 1983. He told this story about Koichi Tohei Sensei training at the Iwama Dojo: “Mr. Tohei went to Hawaii in 1953. On his return, he brought back …
The following article is copied from Stanley Pranin’s Aikido Journal website. You can find the full article and accompaying slideshow here: http://blog.aikidojournal.com/2012/09/05/slideshow-great-stills-of-morihiro-saito-9th-dan-in-class-teaching/ One of the things that stood out to me during my years of practicing aikido in Japan was the fact that the majority of Japanese instructors — including some of the most famous names …
There is a current “debate” as to the value/need for weapon training in Aikido and its importance. Our dojo follows the training curriculum from O’sensei’s personal dojo in Iwama, Japan as laid out by his longest serving student, the late Morihiro Saito Sensei, and as taught and continued by Saito’s student, Saburo Takayasu Sensei, 7th …
The departure of Frédéric and his family back to France occasioned the need for a party and a sayonara-nikkyo. David Alexander Sensei tells the story of this practice from the Ibaraki Iwama Dojo at his Iwama Monogatari website: Sayonara Nikkyo There is a tradition in Iwama that whenever someone …
David Alexander Sensei was a foundation student at the Iwama Ibaraki Dojo and his stories are legendary. Here is one of my favourites from his Iwama Monogatari website: Introduction To Iwama I first went to Iwama and met Saito-sensei in the spring of 1972. I was training at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo at …
David Alexander Sensei spent over 10 years training in Iwama under Saito Sensei, in the old days when understanding was obtained from vigorous and rigorous practice. In an article he explains the four levels of technique in Aikido training: 1. KATAI (rigid) Also known as Kihon (basic) it is what builds the foundation of tai-sabaki …
David Alexander Sensei was my sempai when I trained at Iwama in 1980. He had the rare experience of spending over 10 years training under Saito Sensei, in Iwama while Saito Sensei was in his prime. He also gave me my “sayonara nikkyo”, when I returned home. He explains his idea of elegance in Aikido …
