AIKIDO thread

JohnKieran

Hi I train in Aikido. Been doing it now nearly 15 years and I run a club in East Cork. Been looking at Boards.ie and noted that there is no thread available for discussion around this martial art [eg. for beginners, more experienced Aikidoka, training advice, weapons training etc]. Looking forward to hearing from people

JK

MaeveD

Hi John,
I've been doing Aikido about the same length of time... very few Aikidoka lurking on boards, so good luck with any discussions

smacl

Ok, in the interests of keeping the discussion going, from a non Aikidoka, a couple of general questions;

- While I understand Aikido is non-competitive, is there much in the way of free sparring in Aikido as its taught in most schools in Ireland? Reason I ask is that coming from a tai chi chuan background, for me one of the most enjoyable bits are the wrestling / pushing hands, etc.. Most of what I've seen in demos has been one attacker / one defender or multiple attackers / one defender, with the attackers either been thrown or submitted in a single move or short sequence. Is there anything in Aikido where the roles are neutral, and one Aikidoka tries to overcome the other? If so, are there schools around Dublin that practice this way?

- Outside of taking a couple of Aiki classes here, I've heard a bit about Tomiki Aikido and read 'Angry White Pyjamas'. The stuff I did in the classes I took seemed very far removed from what I've read. Are the styles radically different, and which styles are represented in Dublin.

- Does Aikido always tend to be very formal, or does this vary much from club to club? While my exposure to Aikido is minimal, what put me off more than anything else was the strict etiquette which took alot of fun out of the practice. (Should practicing Aikido even be fun, or is it considered a serious discipline for serious people?)

- Lastly, any clubs around the D16 area? I googled, but didn't see anything.

JohnKieran

Hi thanks for the replies, I heve been very fortunate in my years of training as I originally trained in UCC, and then with cork aiki dojo under John Meldrum. John' Aikido is fantastic and through him I have had the opportunity to train under Henry Kono and Alan Ruddock - Aikinomichi - [both direct students of O Sensei in the 1960's]. Moved to East Cork [had graded to Nidan] and decided to open a small club in Midleton [see our facebook page - midleton aikido club] in 2006. Hard to beleive the club is going 4 years, we now train in a lovely gym in local school after moving around a few times...Alan resides in Cork at the moment and he comes down to train with us every so often.

JohnKieran

Hi Smacl

thanks for the perceptive questions, hopefully I can answer some of them for you.

In relation to the non-competitiveness element, Aikido I feel is a competition, but its an internal one where I strive to learn about the martial art as well as myself, or as O Sensei would say "Masakatsu Agatsu": True victory is victory over Oneself. As far as free sparring goes, that would be up to the instructor and student agreeing to try it. I take your point about the demos and the sequencing of moves, but I always like training with beginners because they represent what is to deal naturally with someone. In Aikido, as well as other martial arts when we learn certain moves we sometimes fool ourselves that these moves can be used on anyone, but this is not the case.

On the 2nd point there a number if different styles of aikido. The one you prob did was based on Aikikai [the global organisation for aikido], Tomiki is a sports based competitiveness version, Yoshinkan [angry white pyjamas] is another more defensive version [Japanese police are trained I think in this]. The Aikido I train stems from the training I have done with Alan Ruddock [Aikinomichi] and Henry Kono who both were students of O Sensei and jsut try to pass on what they saw there. I believe that in Dublin the majority of clubs look to the Aikikai for their syllabus, but there are one or two clubs looking to Alan and Henry.
And lastly, formality is just a mirror of the instructors perception of how thing should be. I am not personally in favour of over-formality as it borrows from a Japanese cultural way of doing thing, and I am not Japanese! I personally believe that to train with a sense of fun brings a more condusive learning environment and plus I do not really hit it off with authoritative people , but always mindful that Aikido is a martial art.
As I am from Cork I havent a clue where Dublin 16 is, but I will try and look into it.

Thanks again for your reply

jk

smacl

Hi John,

Thanks for the response. It's interesting having trained Karate pretty intensively for a couple of years under a japanese instructor, the formality never bothered me, but training under an Irish instructor with japanese etiquette seemed somehow contrived. Could be an age thing as well, and a decade of practice in between with no formal etiquette to speak of. Interestingly, the actual mechanics and strategies of tai chi chuan have a lot in common with Aikido (e.g. mis-direction, redirection and keeping upright). Must give it a go again at some time,

Best regards,

Shane

session savage

Hi John. I have been researching lately to try and find an Aikido class near me. (I live in Tipperary).
I have always wanted to learn Aikido and am hoping to start learning as soon as I can find somewhere close enough to attend.
I have checked out Aikido.ie and it seems that the closest classes are in Cork. I was wondering if you (or anyone else here) know of anyone who might be closer to Tipperary.
Something tells me that the gardai learn Aikido. That would be in Templemore which would suit me. Anyone know if this is true and if so is there a class in templemore for 'civies'?
Thanks

cletus

session savage wrote: »

Hi John. I have been researching lately to try and find an Aikido class near me. (I live in Tipperary).
I have always wanted to learn Aikido and am hoping to start learning as soon as I can find somewhere close enough to attend.
I have checked out Aikido.ie and it seems that the closest classes are in Cork. I was wondering if you (or anyone else here) know of anyone who might be closer to Tipperary.
Something tells me that the gardai learn Aikido. That would be in Templemore which would suit me. Anyone know if this is true and if so is there a class in templemore for 'civies'?
Thanks

There was an Aikido club in Nenagh, they trained in the New Institute, but I think they may be training in the AIMAA club behind Supervalu, not sure what nights though

There also used to be an Aikido club in UL, they trained in the PESS building on wednesday nights, dont know if they are still running.

JohnKieran

to savagesession, check out nenagh aikido club website, http://nenaghaikidoclub.yolasite.com/

Hope that helps tell instructor Brian that Midleton Aikido Club sent you!!

session savage

Ah john thats excellent. Thanks a million. I'll give him a shout friday week (site says he's on holidays)
Looking forward to it now.

JohnKieran

No problem, just tell Brian that Kieran from Cork gave you the details and you should be ok, Brian doing Aikido longer then the rolling stones have been on tour!!!

Thanks as well to Shane, I too have had the same experiences with both indigenous teachers and foreign teachers, but Henry Kono [who is Japanese Canadian] has a more relaxed outlook to teaching....

Nice start to what I thought would be a lonely furrow in doing Aikido Thread!

truedoom

just thought i'd throw my hat in, also studying aikido, however for much less time than those above. Started it last year, in my first year in NUI maynooth. Unfortuneatly for me, i'm from mayo, so i've found myself unable to train during the summer months. The closest class is in galway!

All i can really do is stretches, some bokken workouts, and practice my posture/rolls/falls.

Don't reckon anyone knows if some sensai will be starting classes in mayo anytime in the future, seeing as aikido is slowly reaching all over ireland. I'll keep my fingers crossed anyways.

rolion

sorry,maybe offtopic....anyone knows an Aikido club around D15 please !?
thanks in advance.

JohnKieran

@truedoom, even though you havent access to a club over the summer it's really good that that you keep practicing your postures etc. I find waht helps me when there is a gap between sessions is to visualise an Uke attacking and run through the moves etc [shihonage, iriminage, etc] and this helps me to focus on how I move as a whole rather then just focussing on just my arms.

@rolion
Have you checked site http://www.aikidoinireland.org/ and got to dojo's section. Let me know how you get on

MaeveD

rolion wrote: »

sorry,maybe offtopic....anyone knows an Aikido club around D15 please !?
thanks in advance.

rolion, I think all of the clubs that were close to you have closed down

but if you have a car we're 15 mis drive just off the M50/M1 www.henshinaikido.com or www.defendu.ie

John, unfortunately the list of clubs on aikidoinireland.org isn't up to date... some of the clubs have been closed for years.

JohnKieran

Hi I've put up 2 links for interviews done with Alan Ruddock and Henry Kono [both who had the seminal experiences of being in Japan in the eraly 1960's and trained under Morehei Ueshiba as well as globally renowned Sensei from the Aikido world. If anyone ever gets the opportunity to meet or train with them, grab it!!!! I have been fortunate [ and ever thankful] that through Cork Aiki Dojo where I originally trained to train and meet both of them and still wonder just how down to earth they are....read and enjoy!


http://www.guillaumeerard.com/Aikido/Interviews/interview-with-henry-kono.html

http://www.guillaumeerard.com/Aikido/Interviews/discussion-with-alan-ruddock-the-first-irish-aikido-practitioner.html

JohnKieran

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F7EPQWTAtA

Here is a vid of Henry Kono [who studied with O Sensei in Japan] on Cork last year, for me this sums up what kind on Aiki Im trying to do, also on same siter are a few vids of Alan Ruddock who also was in Japan with Henry. Enjoy!

Aikikai Ireland

Hi all. Good to see a dedicated aikido thread up and running on boards. While it might not be the busiest thread on boards I look forward to any discussion, reading and sharing course reports and seeing whats new in Irish and international aikido.
A small but about ourselves: We are aikikai ireland, a national body consisting of clubs following an aikikai based syllabus set up in 2009. For more info see www.aikikaiireland.ie

We will be updating our events shortly and fellow aikiboardies are more than welcome to come along.

JohnKieran

Apologies for taking so long to get back to this thread, been a lot going on like giving extra Aikido Classes to a martial arts academy in Cork which generated great interest but unfortunately I had to stop to my wife's work schedule, anyone interested in carrying on Aikido Classes [mondays 8.30pm] contact K2C in Cork they're on the interweb.
Anyway this friday 10th September Alan Ruddock [the only Irish person to have trained and graded Shodan under O Sensei at the original Hombu Dojo, and who is also credited with initiating Shotokan Karate as well as Aikido to Irish Shores] is coming down to our humble Dojo to give a 2 hour class [7pm to 9pm], this one I cant wait for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also put together a new website http://midletonaikinomichi.yolasite.com/ for the club, hope you like. Anyways thats it from East Cork.
May all things be happy...............

opinion guy

Anyone know if there is any Iwama style Aikido in Ireland yet ? I trained in it abroad before and would like to go back to it but have never been able to find a club here

JohnKieran

Aplogies for not writing for a while [if anyone is still reading this thread!!] Anyways, Aikido still going on down here in East Cork and we're soon going to have an intro class for kids to see if they like Aikido and want to carry on practicing it. Anyone with any ideas about the aikido curriculum for kids as I want to stay well away from techniques such as Nikkyo, Sankyo, Rokkyo etc.

Estelindis

For those interested, the Irish Aikido Federation has many dojos throughout the country, including Dublin city centre and many universities. Classes occur six days a week - sometimes seven, if a full weekend course is on offer (and there's at least one of those per month). The chief instructor is John Rogers (6th dan). The national training centre (basically the IAF HQ) is on Macken St, Dublin (near Grand Canal Quay). This is where Mr. Rogers teaches most frequently. All are welcome, from complete beginners to dan ranks.

JohnKieran wrote: »

Aplogies for not writing for a while [if anyone is still reading this thread!!] Anyways, Aikido still going on down here in East Cork and we're soon going to have an intro class for kids to see if they like Aikido and want to carry on practicing it. Anyone with any ideas about the aikido curriculum for kids as I want to stay well away from techniques such as Nikkyo, Sankyo, Rokkyo etc.

The only thing I can recall being told is that shikko races can be very popular with kids! Thinking about it now myself, I assume you're staying away from the techniques mentioned in order to avoid stressing young joints that are still developing...? In theory, that shouldn't be a problem if the techniques are being taught and practised properly, but the enthusiasm of children could be misapplied to adding unwanted force in many of these techniques. Maybe iriminage, shihonage, kaitenage and kokyunage would work well? In any case, I'll ask my instructor for her opinion and post back later.

JohnKieran

thanks for the advice re kids aikido, sounds good, the 1st class went really well so here' hoping that it continues that way. The adult class is growing in numbers as well, so good news all round down here in East Cork.

JohnKieran

....ps forgot to add that my 6 year old has started the kids classes as well,
from a proud aikidoka and dad!!!!

rolion

MaeveD wrote: »

rolion, I think all of the clubs that were close to you have closed down

but if you have a car we're 15 mis drive just off the M50/M1 www.henshinaikido.com or www.defendu.ie

John, unfortunately the list of clubs on aikidoinireland.org isn't up to date... some of the clubs have been closed for years.

Hello,
Still ... "open for business" !?

Looking for two places for AIKIDO beginner'class !

Thanks in advance...

MaeveD

rolion wrote: »

Hello,
Still ... "open for business" !?

Looking for two places for AIKIDO beginner'class !

Thanks in advance...

Yes, Aikido beginners every Mondays 8-9pm, its a 6 week course and you can join in any Monday night.

MaeveD

ps....

We're starting a Junior Aikido class (8-15 yr olds) on Saturday 24th September 9.15 - 10.30 am