The Kagamibiraki is the first official event of the year on the Aikikai schedule, and in addition to being a traditional way to celebrate the new year, it also marks the publishing and awarding of the new dan grade promotions.

Due to the imminent coming of the 5th wave of COVID, the event, which usually sees several hundreds of people gathering at the Aikido World Headquarters inShinjuku, had to be held privately like last year. Our head instructor Guillaume Erard, who trained assiduously at Hombu Dojo for over a decade and who is also an enthusiastic amateur videomaker, was asked by the Aikikai to provide support in setting up a video live stream so that people around the world would enjoy the event, albeit online.

As always, our other instructor Mihaly Dobroka, who is also a student at Hombu, was happy to help Guillaume and he took care of operating the second camera. If you missed it, the replay of the event is currently viewable on the Aikikai’s YouTube channel and it will remain visible for about a month or so.

Congratulations to all newly promoted individuals and happy new year to all!