Aikido Yoshinkai

NOTICE to all Students regarding  December  Dojo class times for Maple Ridge.

December 27th and December 29th dated Classes are arranged to be held at the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre Dojo and not at Sensei’s Unit.

Also please note all Tuesday classes  from this point forward have been changed from a 7:00pm start to a 7:30pm start time.  Class will end as usual at 9:00pm.  Tuesday class  will now mirror the format of  Thursday with all levels welcome.

So to summarize.

1.  No beginner’s class on Tuesday from 7:00pm – 8:00pm.  Replaced by item 2.

2.  Regular class times for Tuesday until March 2012  from 7:30pm – 9:00pm and available for all levels.

The members of Sowakan Dojo (Maple Ridge) and Sokushinkan Dojo (Vancouver) had the pleasure and honour of a second visit from Blackwell Sensei of South Carolina.  Five members, including one taking his first ever aikido class, enjoyed 2 hours of training with Blackwell Sensei.  Although his techniques and precise methods are a little different from our usual techniques and methods, we were all able to see the similarities of our different forms of aikido.  As Blackwell Sensei said during class, “there is really only one aikido”.  We also experienced two other of his basic lessons: “get out of the way” and “go with the flow”.  During the class, we practised katate mochi shihonage (omote and ura), ushiro ryote mochi ushiro nage, shomen uchi ikkajo, ryote mochi kokyuho, a form of kokyunage (connection/breath throw), and a seated wrist grab throw.  Blackwell Sensei was in Vancouver to do kyudo (archery training) with the kyudo group at the Vancouver Japanese Language School.  We thank both Blackwell Sensei and the Kyudo group for taking the time from their training to share Blackwell Sensei with us.

The members of Sowakan and Sokushinkan Dojo thank Shihan Ikuo Watanabe Sensei  (8th dan) for visiting us May 31 – June 10. We all greatly enjoyed his interesting teachings and his kind and generous spirit. We also thank Robert Mustard Sensei and Judy Remedios Sensei of Aikido Yoshinkai Burnaby, who joined us for a farewell dinner to Watanabe Sensei on June 9.

The members of Sokushinkan dojo thank Aaron Blackwell Sensei of South Carolina for his guest seminar on Monday March 15, 2010.  Blackwell Sensei was in Vancouver to teach kyudo at the Vancouver Japanese Language School.  He is a 6th dan in kyudo and the highest ranked kyudo practitioner in North America.  He also practices Aikikai style aikido, which he has done for 35 years.  Blackwell Sensei showed us a number of techniques, demonstrating the flow and power of Aikikai aikido and the essential similarities of Aikikai and Yoshinkan  styles of aikido.  Our thanks also to the kyudo group at  VJLS, for kindly allowing us the chance to meet and train with Blackwell Sensei.

On Sunday Keith and Christopher headed to Island Aikido for an impromptu class. We had a good sized turnout of ten students. We practiced the following techniques:

Kihon Dosa
Hiriki no yosei ichi
Hiriki no yosei Ni
Hiriki no yosei ichi w. Partner

Hiriki no yosei to nikkajo ni. Ikkajo pin

Katate moochi kokyonage
Ryote moochi kokyunage
Katate moochi hijiate kokyunage

Thanks a bunch to island Aikido for hosting us, we had a great time!

Osu!

Details regarding this past clinic are forthcoming.