The 18th Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Demonstration was held on Sunday, July 3rd, 2022 at the Kanagawa Prefecture Budokan in Yokohama. The event was organized by the Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation with the support of the Aikikai Foundation, the All Japan Aikido Federation, the Kanagawa Prefecture Board of Education, and the Kanagawa Prefecture Budo Promotion Federation.
On the day, Aikido practitioners from twenty-four dojos of the Kanagawa Prefecture gathered on the mat for the first time after three years of pandemic hiatus. The event started at 13 o’clock with speeches by Kanagawa Aikido Federation chairman Matsuda Yoshiaki and director Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan.
Takeda Shihan then formally opened the demonstration session with a formal bowing of two bows, two clappings, and one bow, as is often done in Shinto shrines. The demonstration was split into two parts, each starting with dojo demonstrations where people of all ages showed the result of their daily practice, followed by instructor demonstrations of 2 minutes each.
Our dojo-cho being out of Japan for his series of summer courses, Yokohama AikiDojo was represented by instructor Mihaly Dobroka 4th dan, who did a wonderful job demonstrating dynamic and fluid techniques. A member of the Takeda dojo very kindly recorded his demonstration so please check it if you missed it:
The last demonstration was given by Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan himself who demonstrated his characteristic no-touch techniques, which are a fruit sof his personal research on energy and non-verbal communication, making a great impact on all participants. He showed bokken and empty-handed applications and controlled all his five ukes from a distance with ease and elegance.
The event ended around 16 o’clock as the participants gathered for the final bow and Takeda Shihan had a few words to conclude the event.
We are very grateful of the fact that Yokohama AikiDojo is now firmly established in the activities of the Kanagawa Aikido Federation and we look forward to continued collaboration in future.
