Seminars, Tournaments & Courses Admin & compliance Aiki Mind & Body Community & Members Calendar Highlights Club Management Member Articles Information on Clubs Tournament results, events coming, Info on joining SAUK, useful club Articles from members on reffing Welcomes, goodbyes and some under >18 yrs development. management info on insurance. attention & automaticity, and randori updates on clubs www.shodokan aikido .org.uk September 2012 - No 64 Shodokan Aikido Newsletter Dear Aikidoka, Welcome to this “Newsletter” edition. In reality we appear to be slowly becoming more of a magazine; with great articlesrt ic le frfrom Matt Houlton and Dan Ramsden and a view on under 18 years competition aikido from yours truly and we are now starting to receive letters (albeit anonymously)...what all this shows is the growing understanding and breadth of knowledge currently in the UK on Sport Aikido. As this sharing of information, ideas and views on the sport continues, it can only become stronger for it. This also suggests perhaps a change in the way we should be thinking about Aikido. When I first started in Aikido it was clear that the sport was being led by a few seniors in the UK, eg: Phil Newcombe for Shodokan, Bob Jones in the BAA and we had Nariyama and Shishida Shihans’ in Japan. There were reasonably clear lines of control and instruction that reflected the size of the sport at that time. But the sport has now changed; there are more senior instructors in both the UK and Japan, and an increasing number across the world. The thinking and development of Aikido as a sport now goes far beyond only the most senior instructors, again, I would refer you to Matt and Dan’s articles as an example. I think if we are to continue to develop we will only do so by recognising that the sport has to embrace a much wider knowledge base from all our members and become increasingly open to new ideas and thoughts. Although it is important to maintain the leadership, administration and responsibility at a senior level, we must also recognise the value and input from the membership as a whole … letters on this subject welcome (published in the next newsletter - anonymous if you prefer!). Meanwhile, in the remainder of the Newsletter, an update on the Shodokan Aikido Federation (SAF). The new organization under Nariyama Shihan now has 80 clubs worldwide. Any new clubs wishing to join, are welcome to contact the SAF Administrative Officer, Sakai Sensei directly. SAF also plan to announce the date and details of the next International Aikido Tournament soon. …on a more local level…. We have been fortunate to have Sensei Mike McCavish, 5th Dan, teaching in clubs around the country until end October (full information on remaining sessions follows) and our congratulations on the marriage of Mike and Natalia! - many of you have met Natalia as she too tours around the country with Mike and in true Aiki style, post wedding, she also attended training that evening! We also said goodbye to the infamous City University, Islington club a few weeks ago. Many of us have trained there and experienced what Chilean Deep miners must feel like, but a good farewell night and joined by many past members of the dojo including King Goodliffe! (you need to look at the photo...) and we have a very rare photograph of the Newcombe brothers...not long after their release from solitary confinement, (I think..). Many thanks to all contributors and I would just ask most of you to ignore Martin’s suggestion about doing your own calendars – I have been in many changing rooms around the Country...please don’t do them...remember, Martin’s is a student club – they have youth on their side! Xmas Seminar & …important events for the diary … The 3rd London-Hove Aikido Festival. A great day of Grading Malaga seminars on Saturday with leading international and national Aikido instructors - not to be missed! Followed Full details (accommodation, dojo by a rapidly growing Randori event on the Sunday that address, seminar, etc) will be published will provide a real opportunity to try out your shortly on Facebook. In the meantime, email competition skills. With over 30 competitors last year [email protected] this is now becoming a regular competitive event in the UK Competition diary. And finally, for the Juniors, Tanseikan have their next Fun-day in November and plans for a GB < 18years programme. Chris Stamate Editor SHODOKAN AIKIDO UK SEPTEMBER 2012 ARTICLES: We welcome contributions, comments, articles and " Letter to the Editor photographs from the Aikido community. Is it all in the name? Nothing political or The meaning of Shodokan controversial - the Editor I have been following the latest news from Japan as closely as is possible and watching with wants an easy life and will interest the split of the JAA into two camps. What I find most interesting is that this appears to always have the final say! be separating into two very distinct Tomiki camps; the first Shodokan and the second the rest… To someone slightly bemused by the whole thing it motivated me enough to seek out a bit more Thanks on the history of the martial art itself and in particular what “Shodokan” really means. So Chris Stamate apologies if I go on a bit, but I felt it would be interesting to review the history to place the Editor current changes in context… I suppose one question is how far back we look? I think we can all accept that Martial Arts go back many centuries. In fact, jujutsu, as the forerunner to Judo, can be found in the Kojiki EDITOR: (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), that were compiled at Chris Stamate th the beginning of the 8 century. DESIGN: Christine Young But it was in the Edo period (1615 - 1868) that the development of jujutsu really developed. Many of the jujutsu masters of this time founded schools in the art with their success measured CONTACT EMAIL in actual combat on the battlefield. As the wars came to an end and the people were able to enjoy SE [email protected] peace, rearrangement was effected in the art of jujutsu, so that it might be the aim of training not only to acquire skill in the art, but also to cultivate the mind and build up character. WEBSITE: www.shodokanaikido.org.uk With regard to Aikido the word aiki is found in Edo era books on kenjutsu (sword fighting). For CONTRIBUTORS FOR example, Kenjutsu Hiden Hitori Shugyo (Secret Sword Techniques, Training Alone) written by ISSUE 64 - SEPTEMBER: Sen-en in 1800 reads, “A situation in which two people stand facing each other is aiki.” Dan Ramsden According to den-sho (manuscripts of instruction and records of the secrets of the martial arts), Martin Livingstone, Edinburgh the aiki jujutsu dates as far back as the Kamakura period (1185-1336). It was founded by Lauren Kearvell, TTWAC Yoshimitsu Minamoto (d.1120) and handed down in the Minamoto family for generations and Matt Houlton, York then was taken over by the Takeda family in the Aizu clan. After seven generations the Yann Golanski, York legitimate successor of the art was Mr Moritaka Ueshiba. A man of profound religious belief, he made many additions to the art that is now known as Aikido. In a particular moment, directly related to the meaning of Shodokan, Professor Kano gave the new name of judo to what had used to be called jujutsu. The reason, educational and historical significance for this may be explained by the words of the professor himself. In his address on “The Contribution of Judo to Education” delivered in 1932 at the University of Southern California, he said; “Kodokan literally means “a school for studying the way”, the meaning of “the way” being the concept of life itself. I named the subject I teach Judo instead of Jujitsu (Jujutsu and Jujitsu mean the same thing in this instance)….Ju means “gentle” or “to give way”, Jitsu, an “art” or “practice” and Do, “way” or “principle”, so that Jujitsu means an art or practice of gentleness or of first giving way in order ultimately to gain victory, while Judo means the way or principle of the same. In 1927 Morihei Ueshiba (aged 43) opened his Aiki Jujutsu club in Tokyo and in 1931 he built the Kobukan, an 80 tatami dojo on the site of the present Aikikai Headquarters. As his supporters increased he opened further dojo’s in Tokyo and Osaka. For numerous reasons, Ueshiba changed the name of his school several times, for a while known as Aikibudo. In 1942, whilst the war was on, the name had to be altered temporarily to Aikido following instructions from the military government. After World War 2, GHQ (General Headquarters) prohibited all budo. When they classified Ueshiba’s jujutsu it was called “Aikido” and this name has remained since. 2 SHODOKAN AIKIDO UK SEPTEMBER 2012 Letter to the Editor continued….. After the war Aikido could be divided into two groups; one was the Headquarters run by Kisshomaru Ueshiba (M Ueshiba’s son) as the head of the dojo and Koichi Tohei as the chief instructor. The other was independent and made up of Ueshiba’s prewar pupils, Inoue, Tomiki, Mochizuki, Shioda and others. The Aikikai remains as the “central force” in Aikido, with Kisshomaru Ueshiba stating in writing that there is no Competition in Aikido. However, Kenji Tomiki, one of Ueshiba’s students (and First President of the JAA) coming from a Judo background was firmly of the opinion that Aikido needed Competition practice of some sort and set about developing an acceptable means of doing so.