RIMUTAKA AIKIDO CLUB
March 2010, Michael Williams Sensei (International Chief Instructor Yuishinkai Aikido)
We were delighted to be able to host Michael Williams Sensei in Wellington for 2 days on 6 and 7 March. As always, Sensei provided us with a great deal of valuable information and insight.
Sensei has an extraordinary talent for communicating the fundamental principles and the application of these to a wide range of techniques. Among other things, the first day covered many of the applications of the irimi entry movement from many different attacks. A considerable portion of the second day focused on weapons, including the jo Harvest Kata, which everyone greatly enjoyed. There was also a quick fire session on jo nage and bokken tori techniques, giving everyone a thorough workout and Steve and Alison plenty of ideas for material to practice over the coming months.
On Saturday evening there was a gathering for a potluck dinner where Sensei kindly demonstrated the finer points of drinking sake for the benefit of the uninitiated.
The club is very grateful for Michael Sensei for his time and teaching. It was also a pleasure as always to be joined for the seminar by Mike Stanford Sensei (New Zealand Head Instructor Aikido Yuishinkai) for the weekend.
October 2009, Byron Bay Aikido Festival, Australia
Koretoshi Maruyama Sensei was joined by Taiki Okajima Sensei (8th Dan Chief Instructor of Kansei district, Japan) and Michael Williams Sensei (8th Dan Chief Instructor of Yuishinkai) at the Goshinkan Dojo in Byron Bay for seven days of Aikido and a question and answer session. Unfortunately, Maruyama Sensei had to return early to Japan and his infectious energy and love of teaching was missed by all. Okajima Sensei and Williams Sensei filled in at short notice and continued the high standard of teaching.
We were given a taste of Daito-Ryu, Sotai-ho and Reiki from Okajima Sensei (aiki age, aiki sage anyone?). Although he spoke almost no English, Okajima Sensei showed himself to be easy to understand and really involved with the students, circulating around the dojo ensuring that everyone 'felt' the techniques. His sense of humour showed though clearly and he frequently had the dojo erupting in laughter.
Williams Sensei covered a lot of ground with his usual thoughness and spent a lot of time explaining the basis of techniques.
Alison and Kevin felt very privileged to be able to spend almost 40 hours on the mat working with such senior instructors and thoroughly enjoyed training with the many instructors and students from across Australia who had travelled to the seminar. We will be endeavouring to incorporate all the new teachings into our training in Upper Hutt.
A series of photos can be seen at http://www.aikidoyuishinkai.com/news.htm
October 2009, Auckland
Members of the Rimutaka Aikido Club travelled to Auckland to train with the Auckland Yuishinkai club. Three days of great training and idea sharing were enjoyed by all.
May 2009, Andrew Sunter Sensei, 6th Dan Lead Instructor Sydney
Andrew Sensei demonstrated why he is one of our favourite instructors, with his cheekiness and back-to-basics approach to teaching the principles of aikido. Much of the time was spent with the ikkyo shape, as demonstrated by lifting and dropping of the sword, as applied to unarmed combat and a great deal was learned by all. Sensei's insistence on 'it can only get worse if you fight' (the move) was a source of great amusement. An enjoyable experience.
March 2009, Mike Williams Sensei, 8th Dan Chief Instructor of Yuishinkai
Williams Sensei came to Upper Hutt for the second time in March 09. Sensei demonstrated his subtlety when using weapons and especially the wooden sword (bokken). As an eye opener, Sensei's avoidance of side strikes was applied with great ease. Over the course of the seminar the whiteboard was filled with the following:
Blending
Interception
Projection / Immobilisation
Irimi (enter)
Tenkan (turning)
Omote (open position)
Ura (hidden position)
Kokyu nage
Irimi nage - sayu waza
Shihonage
Kotegashi
Ikkyo
Zenpo
KiriKaeshi
Kaiten nage
Tenshi nage
Sensei used the yokomen attack throughout the seminar and showed how each of the above could be applied to it as a defence. He also explained how many techniques we may think of as different are just variations of these, and it could be said that there is just one technique.
Sensei gave spiritual and historical context to the 'why' and 'when to use' questions asked. Sensei once again showed the high degree of skill he is renowned for as Chief Instructor Yuishinkai.