Mid - April

Spring tests are finished - Next up, The 29th Urayasu City Aikido demonstration.

A few pics from the Kasukabe Wednesday morning class, Wednesday Noda class, Saturday Kasukabe abd Tuesday Noda evening class.

The kids have been working on some pretty slick moves for the upcoming demo. Videos to follow!

4 shrines - one day

On Thursday April the 4th, after 15 years in Japan, I finally made the trip out to Iwama to visit the Aiki Jinja.

The Aiki Shrine is in Ibaraki prefecture, about an hour and a half out of Tokyo. The original part honden was finished in 1943. This is the small structure housing the 42 guardian Gods of Morihei Ueshiba.

Pictured to the left is a stone carving with Abe sensei`s calligraphy.

This along with the big statue of Morihei Ueshiba and a few other monuments are all fairly new additions to the grounds.

The bigger building in front of the actual shrine was built in the early 60`s.
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Across the street from the shrine is the Ibaraki branch / Iwama dojo


This is the famous dojo where Aikido`s founder taught until his death in 1969. After that, Saito Morihiro sensei continued to teach for over 30 years.

There are still a number of high ranked teachers, including the current Doshu instructing daily classes for both Japanese as well as many foreign live-in students.






Following our morning in Iwama we decided to take a nice drive along one of the biggest lakes in Japan, Kasumigaura lake. The weather was great and so was the view.

After about an hour we reached Kashima Jingu - a famous shinto shrine dedicated to the patron martial deity Takemikazuchi-no-Ōkami, (God of thunder and of the sword) The kenjutsu style Kashima shinto ryu has been around since the early 1500`s.

After Kashima we took a short drive over to Ikisu jinja, this is a small and simple shrine with no direct relevance to martial arts, but part of the West Japan 3. It is said to bring good fortune if you pay respect at all 3.

That being said, our last stop was Katori jinja, the shrine of Futsunushi-no-kami, (God of swords and lightning) A big and beautiful shrine, the head of over 400 shrines around Japan. The kenjutsu style Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū is one of the oldest Japanese martial arts dating back to the late 1400`s.





During my uchideshi years at Yoshinkan Aikido Ryu we visited Kashima and Katori each and every year early April with Ando sensei, but this was my first time back since 2015.  It felt nice to carry on the tradition with some of the Aikido Meiryukan instructors. I hope to do it again next year.

Ryu Koga culture

It was nice to see everyone from the Yoshinkan Aikido Ryu Koga culture club last Friday.

I taught here for 3 years up till last Spring, then former member, Takada-san took over. Now I only come out to grade the kids and adult tests 3 times/year.

Mostly new students, but same energy as before.
Not the easiest mats to start on, but all the beginners are working hard and getting better at the basics.

See you again in the summer!

Kaiten nage in Noda

Here and there the last few days

A few pics from here and there...

To the right is Wednesday morning at Kasukabe.
Kasukabe tests are tomorrow, so we went over the test syllabus.

To the left is Meiryukan Sakado. Tests finished last weekend so back to regular training - shomen uchi shomen iriminage ni

To the right is Friday night at Omiya.
A few visitors and one new member.
We went through some basics along with related techniques - shomen uchi nikajo osae ni

お花見

3/30(土)に吹上で吹上同好会稽古後17：30よりに花見を行います。

今回フリースタイルで気楽に花見を行いたいので料理や飲み物は各自持ち込みでお願いします。
（屋台もあります）
場所も特に朝から場所取りするわけではありませんので、ブルーシートの用意はしますが人数によっては、何カ所かで分かれる可能性もあります。
※夜の花見となりますので少年部は必ず保護者同伴でお願いします。

https://sp.jorudan.co.jp/hanami/spot_1119.html

吹上同好会当日の稽古は下記の通りです。
※吹上同好会以外の会員は出稽古代500円での参加となります。

・少年部：14：20～15：20
・一般部合同：15：30～17：00


もちろん花見だけの参加もOK。
※当日さくらまつりが開催されており駅周辺は交通止めの区間がありますので、車でいらっしゃる方はご注意下さい。

参加ご希望の方は人数把握のため各同好会代表者またはinfo@meiryukan.comまでご連絡下さい。

Spring shinsa dates

Full classes at both the above Sunday Saitama and below Tuesday Noda clubs.

Tests must be near...

3/16 Fukiage and Kumagaya
3/16, 3/17 Urayasu - 3rd kyu and up
3/19 Noda (Tuesday)
3/20 Noda (Wednesday)
3/23 Noda (Saturday)
3/23 Nagareyama
3/24 Kazo
3/24 Sakado
3/30 Kasukabe
3/31 Saitama
3/31 Funabashi - 3rd kyu and up

Spring Aikido trial lessons

Free Aikido trial lessons at the Aikido Meiryukan and Omiya clubs!

Kasukabe
Wednesday, March 13th 9:30 - 10:30
Friday, March 15th 17:30 - 18:30
Saturday, March 16th 9:30 - 10:30

Omiya
Monday, March 18th 17:30 - 18:30
Wednesday, March 20th 9:30 - 10:30
Friday, March 22nd 17:30 - 18:30

Check the HP for details!

3/2(土)春日部同好会

春日部同好会3月より幼年部に新しいメンバーが増えました～♪
幼年部は先日のジュニア大会でも好成績❤
これからの成長が楽しみなメンバー達です。

春日部同好会では春の体験会を行います。
興味のある方がいらっしゃいましたらぜひご参加下さい。

・3/13(水)　9：30～10：30
・3/15(金)　17：30～18：30
・3/16(土)　9：30～10：30

場所： 春日部市市民武道館
費用： 無料※お一人様1回限り

春日部同好会の稽古内容は審査稽古中心で行いました。

　最後はみんなで腹筋の強化です。

春日部同好会２／２３

明日から3月。だんだんと春に近づいてきました。3月といえば、春の審査。春日部同好会は3/30(土)です。

審査まで残りあと僅か。少年部はジュニア大会があったので忙しいですね。

稽古が足りない方はぜひ近くの同好会へ出稽古に行きましょう！！