The eleventh edition of the yearly Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation Seminar took place on Sunday, February 25th, at the Kamakura Budokan. This year, it was placed under the direction of Irie Yoshinobu Shihan, an instructor of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo.
As a long time student of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo, I have been fortunate to attend many classes taught by Irie Shihan, and even train with him on multiple occasions during the morning classes. Through the years, I have seen his approach to Aikido change tremendously, and it has been very inspirational for me to see one of the top teachers in the world keep researching and never grow complacent.
I had not seen Irie Sensei for quite a long time due to the pandemic, and it was wonderful to be able to get an update of where his research was. Irie Sensei mentioned that he never met O Sensei, as he passed away the year that he was born, but that he did his best to try to understand his technique through his experience with senior teachers such as Saito Morihiro Shihan or Fujita Masatake Shihan, and his study of videos, pictures, and books such as Budo Renshu.
Examples of techniques described in O Sensei's technical manuals
As an enthusiastic student of old techniques myself, I was very interested in Irie Sensei's explanations, especially as he highlighted important fundamentals such as the central axis of action, placement, and use of some atemi at key points of the technique. Irie Sensei spent a great deal of time going around and giving further in-depth technical advice to the attendees.
Irie Shihan demonstrating during last year's All Japan Aikido Demonstration
Almost 200 people attended the course and drew some inspiration from Irie Shihan's rigorous approach to technique. Yokohama AikiDojo instructors will definitely incorporate some of the elements demonstrated that day into their teaching, in order to further enrich and deepen practice at our dojo.
We would like to thank Irie Shihan for his fantastic class and the Kanagawa Aikido Federation for organizing the event. We look forward to next year's seminar!
