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Calling all Birankai dojos and friends worldwide: We need video of our
instructors, especially our senior women!

Inspired by some recent Aikido events here on the East Coast with very few women instructors, I created a new Youtube
playlist this month on the BiranOnline channel called “Women of
Birankai.” But I soon found that many of our  teachers have few or no
video clips online. Time to take action!

Please take it on yourself to film any female (or male) instructors in
your dojo and post the footage to YouTube, then send me the url. Phone
cameras are fine – just keep the clips short (2 minutes or less) and
action-packed. Try to get in close and use a tripod, if possible. You
can share the footage with me via Dropbox if you don’t have a YouTube
channel; email me at sensei@firehorseaikido.org.

No time to waste! Please take the time to capture our talented
instructors so we can share our Aikido with the world. Many
prospective students search for video when they are contemplating
starting Aikido or choosing a dojo, so this can benefit all of us.
Liese Klein

Birankai Summer Camp is less than a month away! Early bird pricing has passed but you can still sign up here.

Some more clips from Yoko Okamoto Sensei’s classes at 2011 Birankai Summer Camp — she’ll be the featured instructor at this year’s event.

 

New video of Yoko Okamoto Sensei of Aikido Kyoto from 2011 Birankai Summer Camp featuring many of Birankai’s top female instructors. Deadline tomorrow for registration for 2014 Camp with Okamoto Sensei!

Other camp activities below: Shihogiri with kombu on an Oregon coast beach!

Check out the newly posted video above of Yoko Okamoto Sensei of Aikido Kyoto from 2011 Biranki Summer Camp. We’ll be posting new footage of Okamoto Sensei at the Biran Online channel on Youtube every week or so until 2014 Birankai Aikido Summer Camp — then new video!

Time is running out to register for 2014 Birankai Summer Camp at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. The deadline for regular registration is June 5 — after that late registration prices apply. Register here now to train with Okamoto Sensei and our top-notch Birankai instructors.

If Okamoto Sensei’s incredible technique and teaching aren’t enough reason to sign up, check out my “shaky-cam” footage below of the vistas not far from camp on the Oregon coast…

 

Check out new May issue of Musubi, the newsletter of Birankai Europe. (Access French

versions of Musubi here.)

Some highlights:

• Chiba Sensei on “The Challenge of Age” (from a 1988 essay): “It can be said then that the true study of art (or life as art) only begins at forty. Although physical ability may begin to decline at this time, the physical aspect is only a part of what is

  

  required to be a fine Aikidoist.”

• Anne Ducoret Sensei of Paris on “Understand the Centre of Gravity”: “While we constantly use our centre of gravity in Aikido and usually in all physical activities, we are not fully aware of its constitution and its operation.”

There’s also information on Birankai Europe Summer School (camp), to be held this year in Wroclaw, Poland, featuring Miyamoto Sensei. Camp dates are July 26 to Aug. 2. Contact Information and online registration can be found here.

Also, don’t forget that the deadline is June 10 for the Summer Camp print issue of Biran, our Birankai North America Newsletter. Essays, photos, art, poetry and seminar reports are welcome! Send contributions to sensei@firehorseaikido.org.

L. Klein

Congratulations to Enmei Hunter, chief instructor of Logan Square Aikido, a new Birankai dojo on the northwest side of Chicago.
Hunter Sensei, 3rd dan fukushidoin, has been training for 20 years and helped run Shinjinkai dojo in Chicago. Birankai instructor Chris Wagner Sensei, 2nd dan fukushidoin, will also teach as an assistant instructor at Logan Square Aikido.

Logan Square is a fast-growing neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago Continue reading “New dojo in Chicago”

Birankai instructors T. Grimaldi and L. Klein of Fire Horse Aikido taught classes at the first-ever All-Connecticut Aikido Friendship Seminar at Greater Hartford Aikikai last weekend. There was excellent turnout for the event, including more than a dozen Birankai Aikido teachers and students. We really enjoyed training and making new friends. See you next time!

L. Klein

Check out the beautiful new website for Birankai Aikido Summer Camp 2014 in Forest Grove, Ore.

URL is birankai.org/summercamp/

Early registration ends on May 10, so reserve your spot at the discount price today!

Welcome to our newest Birankai Aikido dojo, Northwest Michigan Aikikai in Traverse City, Michigan.

Chief Instructor Katherine (Roo) Heins started Aikido in 1994 and
trained with Chiba Sensei in San Diego for five years. After leaving
San Diego, she spent seven years in Tokyo practicing at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo under Aikido Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba.

In addition to her godan shidoin rank in Aikido, Heins Sensei holds yondan rank in Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido and shodan rank in Shotokan
Karate Continue reading “New dojo in Michigan”

Multnomah Aikikai hosted Didier Boyet Shihan for an Iaido and Aikido seminar Feb. 7-9, 2014, in Portland, Ore.

An uninvited guest also arrived in Portland that weekend: a hard-hitting snowstorm that unfortunately competed with the planned weekend of training. Just getting to the dojo was a challenge Continue reading “Boyet storms Portland”

The Seattle Seahawks win the 2014 Super Bowl, Birankai 2014 Summer Camp returns to the Northwest – no coincidence!
Check out the new Birankai Aikido 2014 Summer Camp poster, with an original design by Ben Root from Siskiyou Aikikai. Root took his inspiration from a Northwest native story, “Raven Steals the Light,” in which a trickster bird brings the light of the sun to a darkened world.
See you all in Portland! – L. Klein

By Meido Moore, Shinjinkai

Bright, breezy autumn weather greeted attendees at a November 3rd ceremony dedicating the zendo of So’tekizan Korinzenji, “Patriarch’s Target Mountain, Shining Forest Zen Temple,” or Korinji for short.  Korinji is a new Rinzai monastery near Madison, Wis.  Zen priests, students and supporters from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Utah – including a number of Birankai Aikido teachers – gathered together to witness the event.

The ceremony began at the newly constructed Korinji gate, which I was pleased to dedicate by sprinkling salt and water on its posts while reciting the hak’ku darani, the heart Continue reading “Korinji Monastery Dedicated”

Nearly 50 aikidoka packed the mat at Fire Horse Aikido in New Haven, Conn., for a Birankai seminar on Friday with George Lyons Shihan of Bucks County Aikido. Great training, great teaching and New Haven’s world-famous apizza!

See more videos at Biran Online’s channel on Youtube.

Japan-based Birankai master to visit Oregon

Check out the video above of an entire class with Didier Boyet Shihan last year at Athens Aikikai — Boyet Shihan will be teaching a seminar at Multnomah Aikikai in Portland, Ore., Feb. 7-9. More info on the seminar here.
Below is newly posted video of Boyet Sensei from 2012 Birankai Summer camp in Bronxville, NY.

The Birankai North America Senior Council and founder T.K. Chiba have announced the 2014 New Year’s promotions. Congratulations to all!

Rokudan

Rodger Park, Huron Valley Aikikai

 Godan

Thierry Diagana, Mumei Shudan Aikido, Singapore

Yondan

William Champion, Ventura Aikikai

Gary Payne, San Diego Aikikai

Sandan

Jeremy Cail, North County Aikikai

Mark Drake, North County Aikikai

Kevin Liu, North County Aikikai

Cindy Moore, San Diego Aikikai

Val Vullev, Riverside Aikikai

Nidan

Michael Bristol, Mountain Coast Aikikai

Edward Morales, Ventura Aikikai

Or, Happy New Year! Birankai dojos across the country held special practices in waning hours of 2013 and early hours of 2014 to celebrate the coming Year of the Horse.

San Diego Aikikai rung in the new year with Misogi harai, zazen and aikido misogi. Aikido misogi is traditionally practiced at Hombu Dojo with 108 suwariwaza shomenuchi ikkyo, the number representing the multitude of worldly passions said to cause suffering in the Buddhist tradition. Members prepared soba, nishime, tempura and inari for the after-party.

At Fire Horse Aikido in New Haven, Conn., we did 108 ikkyo followed by yosenabe, oden, miso soup and a range of fine foods and beverages. Midwestern teachers gathered in Ann Arbor for New Year’s.

And check out this performance by the Brooklyn Aikikai house band at their New Year’s celebration, which lasted until 7 a.m. the next day:

Here are some of the New Year’s traditions observed at Aikido Hombu Dojo in Japan:

Etsunen-Keiko: New Year’s Eve practice. Read this report on the event from Birankai’s own Roo Heins in the Hombu Dojo newsletter.

Hatsu-Keiko: First class of the year with Doshu. This class is attended by most Hombu senior members and instructors, who practice with general members. You may end up getting schooled by a high-ranking shihan for an entire class! (Trust me, I know.)

Kagami Biraki: The “breaking the mirror” celebration held about a week after New Year’s. Members pound rice into mochi and then enjoy grilled mochi and sweet bean soup. Read about this event from the perspective of a Brazilian student in this item in the Hombu newsletter.

Kangeiko: Mid-winter training period where members are encouraged to train every day for 10 days. Read this report from Guillaume Erard and see the souvenir prizes for participating.

Happy New Year to all!

L. Klein

A big thanks to Rob Schenk, who has uploaded to YouTube the Jack Arnold slideshow we all enjoyed so much at Summer Camp in San Francisco this year.

Please also check out the moving tributes here on the Aikido Daiwa Facebook page.

Dear Friends, It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Jack Arnold Sensei, who died peacefully at home this morning with his wife, Melinda, and his students by his side.

Arnold Sensei’s passing came just after Aikido Daiwa hosted a wonderful seminar by Didier Boyet Sensei that was attended by 70 people and served as yet another confirmation of his incredible life work. Arnold Sensei attended the Saturday evening party in good spirits and was able to view the legacy of his dedication to Aikido.

He is loved and cherished, and we will all miss him.

The members of Aikido Daiwa

By Michael Márquez, Ventura Aikikai

Life and death. When thinking recently about what to write for this essay, this is the first thing that came to mind.

Certainly, I also considered the several years of training I have experienced: the effort, time, sweat, injuries, frustration and joy. I recalled the support of my family, my wife and two daughters, and their understanding of my evenings away from home training, my Saturday mornings at the dojo, my attendance at Summer Camps and seminars. Memories of arriving home late in the evening as my two daughters are getting ready for bed, spending a few moments with them as they smile, running to me as I walk through the door, sleep heavy in their eyes, and listening to them telling me about their day.

My wife asking me about my training after the girls are in bed, and listening to me as I try to explain the joy of having done iriminage well after struggling with proper entry, or finally taking a decent breakfall for kotegaeshi. My fellow Aikido practitioners, who patiently Continue reading “Aikido’s Big Questions”