News

Like every year, Yokohama AikiDojo took the opportunity of its last class of the year to celebrate its bonenkai, which is a very popular Japanese end-of-year party where people drink and celebrate with friends and coworkers. This year however, the date coincided with a major event, the anniversary of the birth of the founder of Aikido, Ueshiba Morihei Sensei, who was born on December 14th 1883.

The Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation recently decided to resume its area-wide joint practice sessions, which had not been held for quite a while. This year's joint practice session was held on Saturday, November 30th at the Yokohama Budokan in Kannai. The main purpose of this meeting was to introduce the recent changes that were effected to the mandatory martial arts course in junior high schools, leading to the inclusion of Aikido in the curriculum.

The 14th International Aikido Federation Summit took place in Yoyogi’s National Olympics Memorial Youth Center from September 30th to October 6th, 2024. The event takes place every four year and is the opportunity for over a thousand practitioners from Japan and all around the world to meet and train under the most prominent masters of the art.

Last weekend took place a major celebration for our friends in Korea, with the 30th anniversary of the Korea Aikido Federation. Yokohama AikiDojo Dojo-cho Guillaume Erard and instructor Mihaly Dobroka were invited to participate and teach classes during the event, along with Igarashi Kazuo Shihan (8th dan), Takimoto Seizo Shihan (8th dan), and Yoon Junhwan Sensei (5th dan).

The twentieth edition of the Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation Demonstration took place on Saturday, July 27th, at the Kanagawa Prefecture Budokan located within Kishine-kōen.　This year being such a milestone, the event welcomed as guest of honor Aikido Hombu Dojo-cho Ueshiba Mitsuteru, the great-grandson of the founder of Aikido.

Our dojo is very fortunate in that it receives regular visits from practitioners from all over the world, especially during the month of May, as it is particularly busy in Aikido events of all sorts. One of our recent guest instructors was Fabrice Croizé Sensei, a 6th dan instructor from Paris.

The annual All Japan Aikido Demonstration, which is the largest Aikido event in the year, gathering thousands of practitioners from all over Japan, and also from abroad, for a full day of demonstrations.

On Saturday 11th of May, our dojo held a very special event in order to celebrate some recent milestones, with a special class and an evening social.

With the end of the academic year soon approaching came the last session of our Elementary School Aikido Class. In order to celebrate all the learning and personal growth that the students went through during those many weeks of dedicated training, we hosted our yearly examination session.

On Saturday, 13th of April, Yokohama AikiDojo held its yearly kids class kyu grade examinations and we are delighted to announce that every of the sixteen children passed their test!

Christian Tissier Shihan is arguably the most senior and the most well-known non-Japanese aikidoka in activity today. Since returning from his apprenticeship in Japan, he has authored many technical books about aikido. 

The eleventh edition of the yearly Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation Seminar took place on Sunday, February 25th, at the Kamakura Budokan. This year, it was placed under the direction of Irie Yoshinobu Shihan, an instructor of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo.