The annual All Japan Aikido Demonstration, which is the largest Aikido event in the year, gathering thousands of practitioners from all over Japan, and also from abroad, for a full day of demonstrations.
While our dojo has been invited by the Kanagawa Aikido Federation to participate in the event since we started, our adult class was too restricted to allow us to send a group, and it was Guillaume Sensei and Mihaly Sensei who attended each time. This year, however, when the offer came to participate in the Kanagawa Federation Demonstration, we were thrilled to respond that we would be able to send a full contingent, with a large range of levels of experience.
From the moment the pairs of practitioners were decided, everyone worked very hard to rehearse the demonstration, keeping in mind the most essential aspect of practice, which is, displaying an honest representation of everyday practice, with particular attention to important Aikido concepts such as posture, distance, and zanshin.
Ueshiba Moriteru Doshu demonstrating
Yokohama AikiDojo consisted of ten members, under the guidance of Guillaume Erard Sensei (6th dan), and we shared the mat on that day with twelve members of the Aikido Kanazawa Club, under the leadership of Yosuke Sugimoto Sensei (5th dan) and six members of Aikido Kato Dojo under the direction of Kato Takahiro Sensei (4th dan).
It was very exciting to be able to share the mat once again with our friends from different dojos, and also for our members to challenge themselves during such a prominent event. Everybody did extremely well and spent the est of the day enjoying the demonstrations together. Afterward, we all headed to Shinjuku for a very friendly social, debriefing how everyone thought they did, and enjoying this team experience together.
We are looking forward to next year and hope that we will be able to provide this wonderful opportunity to the other members of our dojo.
