Robert Savoca Sensei is a 6th Dan teacher in Birankai and one of T.K. Chiba Shihan’s successors. This interview was conducted on Saturday, February 2, 2019 during Savoca Sensei’s seminar at Wroclaw Aikikai, Poland.
(more…)Category: Philosophy
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Interview with Yasuno Masatoshi
Yasuno Masatoshi was born on September 7, 1948 in Kanazawa city which is in the Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. Yasuno Masatoshi is a Hombu Shihan with a 8 Dan Aikikai rang and is considered to be Yamaguchi Sensei’s technique heir along with the Seishiro Endo, Yoshinobu Takeda and Christian Tissier. (more…)
Interview with Piotr Masztalerz from the Wroclaw Aikikai
Piotr Masztalerz studies Aikido since 1988. He’s a 6 Dan Aikido Birankai Shidoin based in Poland. For those who don’t know Birankai is an association of Aikido Practitioners and Dojos founded by T. K. Chiba Shihan, forged by rigorous training, tempered by mutual respect, and committed to the relentless pursuit of the art.
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Morito Suganuma
We’ve met Morito Suganuma Shihan earlier on the blog in a post with the warmups but he really deserves more… He was born on July 27, 1942 in Fukushima, Japan. He knew about the aikido from the early age and heard about O-Sensei few times but only at Asia University in Tokyo he was able to join a Nobuyoshi Tamura aikido class. He continued at the Hombu Dojo, where future sensei was surrounded by the greats with the Morihei Ueshiba as a head. (more…)
Aikido Warm Ups
There is a ton of the warm up wxercises and variations of each one, just like the techniques and the entrances. Changing a speed of the same move can make you feel different. No matter where you do aikido – a class is going to start from a warm up most of the times. Warm up exercises are usually the simple ones to do. They are about stretching, breathing, unlocking your joints and preparing your body for a harder work. You are trying to get a detailed feeling of these little parts of your body, preparing your mind also and concentrating on the present moment. These simple moves will tell you how hard are you able to go this time. You must try to remember this every time you start a warm up. It’s not only a tradition.
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Why Mokuso?
Mokuso is a japanese term for silent meditation. First kanji reads as “moku” and means silence or stop and the second one is “so” and means to think or focus. Mokuso is a common way to start and to end a training session in the japanese martial arts and especially aikido.
Miyamoto Musashi – The Book of Five Rings
Miyamoto Musashi (1584 – June 13, 1645), also known as Shinmen Takezo, was an expert Japanese swordsman and ronin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became reknowned through stories of his excellent and unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 60 duels. He was the founder of the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu style of swordsmanship and in his final years authored The Book of Five Rings, a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today.