News

As a dojo officially affiliated to the Aikikai Foundation, Aikido Hombu Dojo, Yokohama AikiDojo is permitted to hold kyu and dan grading examinations. Our dojo recently held those examinations for our adult members, and we are delighted to announce that all students passed their test!

Yokohama AikiDojo is pleased to report that our instructors attended the 2025 edition of the Candidate Instructor Seminar (令和6年度指導者候補講習会), organized by the Aikikai Foundation on the 25th and 26th of January, 2025. This seminar plays a crucial role in shaping the future of Aikido instruction by providing hands-on training and lectures on effective teaching methodologies.

The first major event of the year in the Aikido world is the Kagamibiraki, a ceremony that takes place at the Aikikai Foundation - Aikido Hombu Dojo in early January. For this occasion, several hundreds of Aikido practitioners gather to celebrate the new year and greet each other.

Since its inception, our dojo has been fortunate to benefit from the constant support of Christian Tissier Shihan, and we are also very lucky since when his top students visit Japan, they often come to visit us in Yokohama for a special class.

The last event of the year 2024 was the Kanagawa Training Exchange Practice, which took place on Sunday, December 22nd. As always, a group of practitioners from Yokohama AikiDojo attended both the training and the social afterwards.

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.