{"id":3130,"date":"2026-04-10T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=3130"},"modified":"2026-04-10T00:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T04:15:22","slug":"a-journeys-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=3130","title":{"rendered":"A Journey\u2019s End"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n\n

Charles Aarons, Aikido Takayama<\/p>\n\n\n\n


My dear teachers, colleagues, and friends. It is with deep sadness and mixed emotions that I announce the closing of Aikido Takayama after 37 years.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I arrived here in 1989, our town, 36,000 people that call itself a city, felt small enough to cross in five minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With permission from my teachers, Jack Arnold Sensei and Chiba Sensei, I opened the dojo and began teaching in the community center, sharing space with karate and dog training.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get the program started, the centre collected student dues and bought small white foam mats we put down and took up after every class. More than once l arrived to find the mats out and children or dogs using them. Those early compromises taught me patience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aikido has never been an easy sell here. Over the years I’ve come to understand that our culture often seeks quick, visible rewards. That outlook runs against Aikido’s- quiet, steady training without promise of shortcut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As teachers we’ve all faced the predictable questions: “How long until I get a black belt?” “Why wear white until then?” “Why do we repeat the same things?” “How effective is Aikido against other arts?”
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some questions were sincere, some reflected misunderstanding; all were opportunities to explain what Aikido truly is.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The dojo nine years ago with Neilu Sensei and Groot Sensei teaching a small seminar.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At our peak we had about a dozen adults and a dozen youth. The pandemic took a heavy toll- students were lost, and for three years we struggled to rebuild. Rising rent and insurance costs in our small town made running the dojo unsustainable.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coupled with a broader shift in interest toward fighting arts driven by media portrayals, the practical realities led to this painful decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All things must come to an end. Closing Aikido Takayama is one of the hardest decisions l’ve faced, but I leave with gratitude. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for your instruction, your friendship, and the shared practice that sustained this dojo for nearly four decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


With love and respect,
Charles Aarons
6th Dan, Shidoin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Aarons, Aikido Takayama My dear teachers, colleagues, and friends. It is with deep sadness and mixed emotions that I announce the closing of Aikido Takayama after 37 years. When I arrived here in 1989, our town, 36,000 people that call itself a city, felt small enough to cross in five minutes. With permission from … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Journey\u2019s End”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2RSKg-Ou","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3130"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3137,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions\/3137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}