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 →