nidan

This morning after adult class we had one of our periodic dojo cleanups, as usual in the days before a seminar. In addition to about a dozen adult members, there were several children and even a parent or two. Teenage James was climbing like a monkey in the rafters, while others, including some of our… Continue reading

lihue

Behind the Hongwanji Buddhist Temple in Lihue, Kauai, is the dojo for the Lihui Aiki Kai. I showed up without a dogi and after a short conversation was offered a clean used one for that night’s training. The class, attended by eight mudansha at all levels of experience, was taught by the daisempai and focused… Continue reading

ohana

For summer vacation (and a *zero birthday) we spent a week on the Big Island, followed by a week on Kauai. The former was quite interesting: staying in the tatami room at the family-owned Manago Hotel, followed by a beautiful chalet in the rainforest outside Volcano park, and culminating with a day in Hilo and… Continue reading

choreography

Recently there was an online discussion 1 about how “real” an aikido demonstration might have been 2, and/or how much might have been choreographed.  That discussion was so fundamentally interesting that I wanted to archive the main posts here…

watershed

After simultaneously training in two different affiliations for the past two and a half years, I finally made the leap. Now I’ve gone from a guest in Birankai to becoming a visitor at the Iwama dojo that’s been my home for a decade. It was extremely difficult, and the discussion with Sensei was spiked with… Continue reading