Category: Uncategorized

When you face the sword, you face yourself

Big shout-out to budo buddy Craig Boyd for the invitation and many thanks to Komei Juku Sydney for making us welcome at their recent seminar. We really appreciated the opportunity to observe training at the November 2017 Sydney seminar of Komei Juku Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu taught by Sekiguchi Komei Sensei. It was fascinating to watch the body positioning, footwork and handwork… Read more →

Great mat wash

Thanks very much to everyone who stuck around after training yesterday to help wash mats! Photo shows Mel, Bob and Casper at the wash and rinse stations on the production line. Mats were scrubbed, rinsed, wiped, hung out, dried and put away inside three hours. Heartfelt thanks to Bob, Casper, Donk, Mel, Mike and Vic. Read more →

Business and Pleasure in Japan

Visiting Japan brings with it the pleasure of seeing old and new friends again, some indulgence in my favourite hobby of aikido (a kind of energy minimisation problem in a martial context) and the very serious business of sports and sports engineering. Last month was my most recent trip which might be of mild intrest. See Business and Pleasure for more Read more →

Inside the shell of Kata

Some thoughts from last weeks practice… Aikido practice is based on paired practice of techniques, which are the Kata of the art. Uke and Nage have defined roles. This differs somewhat from our perception of Kata gathered from arts like Karate, Taekwondo etc where Kata is usually a series of movements done solo. Our Kata are instead a Koryu concept… Read more →

Daito-Ryu with the Takumakai

Last weekend a few of us attended a Daito-Ryu day seminar with Grant Periott sensei and seniors from Tweed Takumakai ( http://aikinsw.com/ ), hosted by Redlands Aikido Yuishinkai ( http://www.redlandsaikido.com/ ). It was the first of what is hoped to be an ongoing dialogue and certainly was helpful in gaining further insights into Daito-Ryu, the fore runner of aikido and… Read more →