The 14th International Aikido Federation Summit took place in Yoyogi’s National Olympics Memorial Youth Center from September 30th to October 6th, 2024. The event takes place every four year and is the opportunity for over a thousand practitioners from Japan and all around the world to meet and train under the most prominent masters of the art.
Members of our dojo attended classes through the week and got the chance to experience different ways to practice Aikido. Classes were very rich and intense, and we also got to take a lot of ukemi for the teachers, which always provides an invaluable window of understanding to the inner mechanics of their technique.
Guillaume Sensei and Mihaly Sensei taking ukemi for Christian Tissier Shihan
It goes without saying that such events are incredibly rich in human connexions, and they come as a very welcome was to reconnect with long time friends and teachers who we always mean to meet but rarely get the chance to visit.
Guillaume Sensei and Mihaly Sensei with Kimura Jiro Shihan and his students of the Osaka Buikukai after one of the most dynamic classes of the week.
The training schedule offered up to five classes each day, including teachers from the Aikido Hombu Dojo, as well as a number of prominent teachers from Japan and abroad. The last two classes were given respectively by Hombu Dojo-cho Ueshiba Mitsuteru and by Doshu Ueshiba Moriteru.
Yokohama AikiDojo members at the summit.
A whole afternoon was also dedicated to demonstrations, with delegations of almost fifty countries presenting their particular approach to Aikido. Our teachers also supported the event by providing assistance with Internet connectivity for the General Assembly, video shooting, and conducting interviews, hence making it a very challenging week, both on and off the mat.
Speaking of the General Assembly, it was also the occasion of the election of the new Chairperson and Directing Committee, and we are extremely excited to report that the new Chairperson is Okamoto Yoko Shihan, the very first woman to hold such a position. Okamoto Shihan who is well-known around the world for the quality of her teaching, and we look forward to continuing working with her in future.
Interview of Okamoto Shihan conducted in Kyoto by Guillaume Sensei
This fantastic week ended with a party held at the Keio Plaza in Shinjuku, and all attendees were able to mingle one last time and say goodbye. Everyone shared the same appreciation for the event and is already looking forward to the next summit, which will be held in Tanabe, the birthplace of the founder of Aikido in September 2028.
Guillaume Sensei surrounded by Christian Tissier Shihan and his wife, for one last picture together before they left for the airport.
