News

This year’s Kagamibiraki ceremony took place at the Aikido Hombu Dojo in Shinjuku on Sunday, January 14th, 2024. This was the first fully public occurrence of the event since the COVID19 pandemic started.

Even though we were nearing the end of the year, many volunteers from various dojos participated in the winter edition of the Aikido Kanagawa Federation Joint Training Session, an event that gathers practitioners from across the Kanagawa Prefecture and beyond.

As we ushered in the winter break, Yokohama AikiDojo marked its third year of existence with the annual Bonenkai celebration on Saturday, December 16th, 2023. Once again, Saint Maur International School generously provided the Cougar Café, a spacious venue located just above our regular practice room.

We hope that everyone is getting excited about the coming Winter Season. We certainly are! We will be going on break so make sure to note the following dates in your calendar.

We reported previously about the first edition of the Aikido & Japanese Budo Festival (合気道と日本武道文化祭・夏) that was held in August 2021. While Guillaume was not able to participate due to his seminars in Europe last year, he was back on the roster this year and a group of Yokohama AikiDojo members went to Adachi-ku to support him.

The 19th Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Demonstration was held on Saturday, July 29th, 2023 and because of renovation works held at the Kanagawa Prefecture Budokan, which is the usual location of the event, it was hosted this year at the Yokohama Budokan, very close to our dojo.

The summer is always a busy time for Yokohama AikiDojo instructors because on top of keeping the dojo open through the hottest days of the year, they are also in quite a high demand to teach summer seminars abroad.

We reported last year about the fact that Yokohama AikiDojo was among the four dojo who were selected to represent the Kanagawa Aikido Federation at the 59th All Japan Aikido Demonstration held at the Nippon Budokan. This year, our head instructor Guillaume Erard Sensei was asked to perform an instructor enbu (指導者演武) for the federation.

The magazine Gekkan Hiden recently hosted its “Shine! Martial Arts Martial Arts YouTube Video Awards”, where it selected the best videos and best channels out of more than hundred entries submitted by the readers of the magazine. The Yokohama AikiDojo kids class video that we published last year was selected in the list of entries and as a result, it was featured on the official Hiden Gekkan website and in the printed version of the magazine.

Our last class before the winter break took place on Saturday, December 17th. Adult and children members of our dojo took this opportunity to gather after practice to celebrate our very first Bonenkai.

We hope that everyone is getting excited about the coming Winter Season. We certainly are! We will be going on break so make sure to note the following dates in your calendar.

After a three-year hiatus, the Aikido Kanagawa Rensei Koryu Keikokai (合気道かながわ錬成交流稽古会, Kanagawa Aikido training exchange practice session) could finally be held at the Yokohama Budokan on October 11th, 2022.