The Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation recently decided to resume its area-wide joint practice sessions, which had not been held for quite a while. This year's joint practice session was held on Saturday, November 30th at the Yokohama Budokan in Kannai. The main purpose of this meeting was to introduce the recent changes that were effected to the mandatory martial arts course in junior high schools, leading to the inclusion of Aikido in the curriculum.
In the hope of setting the federation up prior to receiving requests such as the dispatch of instructors, and to prepare the potential delegate Aikido instructors to teach those courses, the instructors and dojo representatives of the entire prefecture were invited to attend this meeting. The afternoon consisted in two phases. In the first one, Yamamoto Hiroshi Sensei, the General Secretary of the Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation gave a 1-hour presentation on the recent changes of regulations in relation to the mandatory martial arts courses taught in junior high schools and what kind of personnel were required in those schools. A Q&A session followed up in order to clarify any remaining question.
The second half of the event consisted in a pedagogical workshop, where instructors were introduced to the specific curricula and teaching strategies to be implemented within the framework of Aikido classes taking place in schools. The two master instructors in charge were Nakano Shiuchi Shihan from Aikido Kotokukai and Takahashi Makoto Shihan from Aiki Kenshin Club. They both instructed the attendees to perform techniques as if they had never done them before, encouraging them not to wear their hakama in order to get in the spirit of complete beginners.
It was quite refreshing, and even joyful to perform basic techniques in such a way, but also quite humbling, considering the fact that many attendees who were diligently trying to rethink their approaches were themselves 6th or 7th dan instructors in their own right, with many, many years of teaching experience. As always, the great camaraderie that exist within the federation made the afternoon feel like an instant, and everyone parted way quite inspired and refreshed.
