“Once when I asked my teacher how much he practiced a day, he answered, ‘I practice twenty-four hours a day.’ Wanting to only see if my training time was adequate to follow his example of skill in the art, I was not wholly ready for his answer. Much of it escaped me at the time. I could not totally see the fusion of life and practice that he was attempting to point me toward. The practice for me was still a matter of doing something while not doing something else.”

Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.

Click here to read entire article.

The first kumijo is a close cousin of the first 6 moves in the 31 Kumijo. Let’s talk about what uchijo does first. Uchi attacks from hidari tsuki no kamae with choku tsuki, and then uses uchi choku barai to parry a counter thrust. So right away we learn that there is protection even as there is an attack being made. Uchi then attacks again with choku tsuki. After that, uchi steps back to parry a strike with migi kaeshi barai. I remember Patricia Hendricks Sensei at a seminar once calling this parry uke nagashi. After this, uchi finishes up with migi gyakute tsuki.

“Attacks can come in many different forms, and from many different directions. Moreover, an attack must necessarily carry with it a quantity of energy, and this force will be characterized by any of a number of classifiable qualities. The following is a brief compendium of the variety of attack characteristics, each designated by a descriptive title. After the explanatory paragraph, suggestions on appropriate aiki response strategies are given.”

Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.

Click here to read entire article.

“What makes Aikido different from other mashal-arts?” some in the group once asked Sensei when the seniors were trying to get him drunk enough to reveal secrets. Presumable they were not OBSERVING in class because Sensei, whilst tacit gave away secrets freely.

BY EXAMPLE. But these guys wanted words.

“During the one-hour randori workouts at Shodokan, the following sequence of drills is typical. The person holding the knife is called the tanto (after the fact that a dagger in Japanese is called a tanto.) The unarmed person is referred to as the toshu (literally unarmed) player.”

Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.

Click here to read entire blog.

So for the past few months, I have been drilling my Aiki Jo. Surely, mine is a tired jo! I have reached some personal conclusions, nothing profound or mind blowing, but I thought I would type this out so that my brain has room for more stuff.

As I understand it, the jo of Aikido is a tool for self perfection. It has many lessons to teach, and many attributes to develop.

“An artist, teacher, and environmentalist, Kazuaki Tanahashi was born in Japan, where he studied painting and calligraphy. He now teaches brushwork for retreats at California School of Japanese Arts (Santa Rosa, CA) and Zen Mountain Monastery (Mt. Tremper, NY). His many publications include Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen and two books available through the ATM Book and Video Service: Essential Zen and Brush Mind. He also was one of the translators of Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba’s book Aikido.”

Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.

Click here to read entire interview.

Introduction

This is an important book on Aikido. It is a detailed biography of the founder of Aikido by his son and successor.

Moriteru Ueshiba, grandson of O Sensei and the current Doshu, summarizes the value of the book to Aikido practitioners in his preface:

“At present Aikido has spread to over 90 countries all over the world…given this wide dissemination, it is extremely important for Aikido to be correctly understood by its practitioners. In particular it is essential to trace the footsteps of the Founder Morihei Ueshiba. The publication of this book, and its translation into English, are very significant in that regard.”

More exciting news on the book front! We are now accepting pre-orders for Traditional Aikido, Volume 2 by Morihiro Saito, 9th dan. This important book covered for the first time the Kumitachi and Tachidori techniques that define the Aiki Ken and the Kumijo and Jodori techniques that characterize the Aiki Jo. This book was revolutionary at the time of its publication and remains the standard text on the subject even today.

Just as with Traditional Aikido, Volume 1 recently republished, this is a brand-new edition done in the exact style and format of the original books by Saito Sensei that took the aikido world by storm when they were released in the 1970s. These are hardcover volumes made for durability featuring a semi-gloss paper like the originally published volumes.

On October 31st 2008 TK Chiba Shihan met with the three surviving Aikido pioneers of British Aikido at the now internationally famed ” Hut Dojo ” Hillingdon Middlesex UK. Chiba Shihan last visited the Hut Dojo 41 years ago in 1967. Over lunch and a pint of beer in the Hut Pub next door many memories and memorable events were fondly remembered of the illustrious Budo Masters who had visited the Hut Dojo from 1955 as follows - Kenshiro Abbe - T Abe - M Nakazono - M Noro - TK Chiba - Y Kobayashi - H Tada - M Harada - M Otani - T Otani.

This new book (lulu.com 2008) is an interesting foray “outside the box” of conventional Aikido thinking. While Aikido is generally described as a defensive art, many from within and without have questioned its effectiveness in a realistic scenario. One reason for this is that the various attacks, and therefore the various defenses, contained in the typical Aikido syllabus are very limited in scope, especially if viewed from a realtime fighter’s perspective.

“I began training Freeform Aikido in February of this year, since joining I have been surprised by the number of unexpected benefits to be found in this discipline. Aside from the obvious benefits of training to improve physical fitness and co-ordination I have also found that the practice has given me a space to explore ideas that have been of great interest to me in my creative practice as a designer, in particular the notion of reading intent.”