Aikido Kenkyukai Sydney City
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AKI Australia 25th Anniversary Celebrations in Japan In May 2005, 30 Australian Aikidoka travelled to Japan to celebrate with Takeda Shihan the 25th anniversary of his first visit to Australia and the birth of AKI in this country. Among them were 5 members of AKI Sydney's Bondi Beach Dojo: Berin Mackenzie, Peter Baillie, Genevieve Autret, George Kamencak and Paul Mckey. During their stay, they had the wonderful opportunity to take part in an enbukai with Aikido Doshu Ueshiba Moriteru; a visit to O-Sensei's Aiki Shrine and Iwama Dojo in Ibaragi Prefecture; and a gasshuku with Takeda Shihan in Kamakura city. It was a once in a lifetime trip. Training in Japan I got off the plane at Narita at 6am and hit the ground running, clearing customs with ease. The first stop for me is always a can of Royal Milk Tea and some rice crackers with peanuts from that kiosk on the platform - that's when I know I'm home. Next I jumped the NEX bound for Yokohama and then the all to familiar Yokosuka-sen to Higashi Totsuka. I struggled under the weight of my overstuffed backpack as I raced up the hill towards the dojo with only ten minutes left until Sensei's Sunday morning class. I couldn't wait to see him and the latest feelings he was exploring. It had been 12 months since my last visit and I knew he would have evolved a lot in that time. Sensei taught such an amazing class and it was pure joy to be back in the dojo, taking his ukemi and training with my friends again. The next 3 weeks were going to fly! I spent the 5 days that followed up in Gunma Prefecture catching up with Daiyu Sensei and his family - another kind of homecoming. Daiyu Sensei had generously organised 2 classes a day - a mini gasshuku - and it was fantastic! Already a week full of wonderful training under my belt and the 25th anniversary celebrations were still to come! On the Friday, I travelled back to Yokohama and met up with the early arrivals from Bondi Beach. It was the first time I had brought students to Japan and I was very excited to be showing them around and to finally be able to introduce them to my teacher. There was a palpable buzz in the air as we climbed the hill to Sensei's dojo, stopping in at the konbini for some last minute supplies. It was another incredible class and a fantastic introduction for them to the intensity of training in Japan! Back to the inn for a few hours sleep and then off to asageiko on the first train out of the yard. That evening we trained in Kamakura with Suzuki Takeshi Sensei - another great class. Walking through my old neighbourhood at night with all the familiar smells and sounds took me back and I knew (again) that it was going to be hard to leave. The next day was the godogeiko and enbukai with Doshu at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, showcasing the incredible diversity and freedom with which the Art is practiced. A great day of training was fittingly followed by a great party sparking endless conversations and fits of hysteria over a rare blend of sake and some rather unfortunate amphibians! On Monday morning came the invitation to visit the Aiki Shrine in Ibaragi Prefecture, and to be shown around the shrine and O-Sensei's private dojo by Isoyama Sensei. It was an honour to be able to visit here with Takeda Sensei and connect with this birthplace of Aikido - a definite highlight of this visit to Japan. The next weekend was the 25th anniversary gasshuku and it really was something special! All the daisenpai came together to be there and train with us. At the after party and speeches, student after student stood up and paid tribute to the incredible work and generosity of Takeda Sensei and early pioneers such as Yasu Sensei, Seino Sensei, Takahashi Sensei, Numata Sensei, Satoshi Sensei, Kadoya Sensei and others in developing and nurturing AKI in Australia. It was very humbling to see my senpai from both countries standing side by side as I tried to imagine all the things they must have been through and seen together over the past two and half decades. We all stayed together at the ryokan and partied late into the night. In amidst a blur of sightseeing, soaking in onsen and recovering from after keiko parties, I attended many wonderful classes with some very gifted teachers - Takahashi Sensei at Kanazawa Hakkei, Suzuki Takeshi Sensei at Hachimangu Shrine, Kadoya Sensei in Sakata City, Hiroshi Sensei at Yokohama Shidai, Yamamoto Sensei at Isogo, Ozawa Sensei and Momose Sensei at Higashi Totsuka, and of course Takeda Sensei. A small band of crazies even made a couple of 3:30am trips to Honbu Dojo in Tokyo to attend Doshu's classes. There are far too many wonderful memories and experiences to recount them all here but one thing that stands out when I think of this trip is the feeling of peace and contentment as Kadoya Sensei and I sat and talked while soaking our feet in the steaming, soothing water of an ashiyu (a kind of heated outdoor footbath), surrounded by cedars. It is an amazing thing the way Aikido connects human beings and the remarkable opportunities and doors it opens for us. You never know where it's going to take you and I feel incredibly grateful and fortunate to be treading this path. My heartfelt thanks go to Takeda Sensei for the precious and continuing gift of his teachings, and to his students here in Australia and in Japan whose dedication and hard work over the past 25 years has forged the wonderful group I feel so lucky to be a part of today. Congratulations to you all on 25 wonderful years! Yasu Sensei, Hiroshi Sensei and Momose Sensei put an incredible amount of work in behind the scenes to make this anniversary visit possible and I look forward to their next visit to Australia and the opportunity to repay some of their generosity. Many thanks also to Daiyu Sensei, Keiko-san, Yuka-chan and Hiroki-kun for making me feel so welcome in Tatebayashi - I'm waiting for your visit too! And thank you to Kadoya Sensei for the wonderful class and for taking the time to show me around Yamagata. Finally, thanks to all the people I travelled with, trained with, stayed with, shared jokes, stories, war wounds, sake, onsen and pachinko with on this trip. Can't wait for the 30th!     - Berin Mackenzie My first impressions of arriving in Japan were ones of foreignness. I'd been to non-English speaking countries before, but a street sign in Germany is still something you can hang on to. For a first time visitor like me, with no Japanese, any two street signs were interchangeable. I couldn't see into them to make a reading. This strangeness stayed with me as Berin shepherded a small flock of early Bondi Beach arrivals through the train stations and up the hill to Higashi Totsuka Dojo, Takeda Sensei's dojo. I'd only met and trained briefly with Takeda Sensei some 13 years ago, but my memory of this delightful man who seems able to find a void just my size and shape whenever I go near him was true. My sense of foreignness was temporarily lifted in that world of familiar movement and structure, and some of the strands of Berin's teaching over the previous year came together as I watched Sensei seemingly reach inside an attack and become one with it. I was pleased to be in this dojo celebrating Takeda Sensei's 25 years of work in Australia. Saturday night was a chance to train at Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura with Suzuki Takeshi Sensei before the enbukai the next day. I was bowled over by the building, its size, aesthetic, that huge drum they beat and mostly that we could train in such a place. It's as if we could move all the pews in a Cathedral to one side and train there. I had a sense of the central role Budo still plays in Japanese culture. The enbukai at Hachimangu was like the coming together of a large extended family, with the Doshu and other senior people, and I felt a part of this family that I never knew existed. I remember training with quite an old man and hoping that I'd still be on the mat at his age. He certainly enjoyed throwing us middle-aged youngsters about. It was a day in which we were both audience and actors and I thoroughly enjoyed the demonstrations, the training and the celebrations afterward. The next day was a bus trip to Iwama and with the associated hospitality and sightseeing would have been an excellent day in itself, but the fact that we were visiting O'Sensei's shrine and dojo made it extremely interesting. I was struck with the simple elegance of the buildings and a spirit of dedication that seemed to emanate from the place. I'd again like to thank Isoyama Sensei for his generosity and hospitality, and Takeda Sensei for organizing this most satisfying day. The stop at the park with the summer palace was glorious, and I wish I'd had more time to wander through this building. Thursday night was training with Takahashi Sensei at Kanazawa Hakkei Dojo. Another captivating class. I'm still playing with a technique he showed that night, a sort of abbreviated kaiten nage, that messes with my mind when I try to replicate it. Dinner afterwards required all of Berin's invaluable instruction on correct pouring etiquette, and I'm extremely appreciative of Hiroshi-san, Momose-san and others who carefully guided our tracks back to the Ofuna ryokan. Although the first memory that comes to mind when I think of the gasshuku is Sensei's casual call for 250 ukemi at the end of the second day, the deeper feelings are about finding a softness in the centre of movement, of trying to find a way in to what seems like a tranquil place undisturbed by the flurry of hands, arms and legs. There were many other experiences of Sensei's teaching over the time I was there, but one simple thing of nage closing their eyes while working with uke elicited a strong sense of finding a point of balance in the relationship, without muscular force, through uniting with and not separating from uke that felt invaluable to me. It was many things this gasshuku, a chance to train with many of the daisenpai and experience the different feelings they are developing, a chance to be awed by the demonstrations during the final enbukai, and the feeling of bringing together much of what I'd seen in the previous fortnight. I'd like to thank everyone involved in bringing this remarkable time together. Takeda Sensei for sharing his training with us, but also using the obvious esteem in which he is held within the larger Aikido community to organize such once in a lifetime experiences as the visit to Iwama and our presence at the enbukai in Hachimangu Shrine. Also Suzuki Yasu Sensei, Hiroshi-san and Momose-san who all seemed to be ever present and able to solve any problems we brought on ourselves.     - Peter Baillie Talks about the trip to Japan to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Aikido Kenkyukai Australia were heating up the dojo since December and, as the date approached, I found myself increasingly drawn into the spirit of it, so that at the last minute I was in the plane to Tokyo, landing early Friday morning and training in Takeda Sensei's class the same evening. I can't recall Sensei's words, but his teachings about staying with the image and feeling the center have hit home and are still, to this day, slowly sinking in, as I focus on relaxing and letting go of pushing or resisting. The days flew by, bringing to awareness many different ways to practice the amazing power of softness and receptivity, especially felt when training with Daiyu Sensei, who embodies kindness, and his wife, Keiko-san, whose movements are extraordinarily gentle. The anniversary celebration was held in a beautiful traditional shrine in Kamakura; Suzuki Yasuyuki Sensei, who pioneered the establishment of Aikido Kenkyukai Australia, announced the beginning of enbukai with a few strikes on an gigantic drum. The training that day highlighted the many different ways we can practice Aikido and the wonderful power of togetherness it evokes in a group. The next day we were privileged to be taken on a tour, accompanied by Takeda Sensei, to visit Iwama Shrine and be shown inside O-Sensei's private dojo. It was humbling and wonderful, and I recall a sense of peace and gratefulness to be part of this group. "What do you guys miss most about Japan?" asked our instructor after we came back. Well, 'everything' would have been the close to the truth except perhaps for the 'mat-burns', although it was surprisingly strengthening to get past some physical limitations. I enjoyed so many things, not least of all being part of such a fun group, discovering our instructor in fits of uncontrollable laughter, sharing dinners, beer and plum wine in the friendliest company of our hosts, bathing in Japanese onsen, trying to understand a few words. Yes, it was a wonderful experience and I thank everyone who made it possible.     - Genevieve Autret I was fortunate to be able to attend the 25th anniversary and celebrations of Takeda Sensei's first visit to Australia in Japan in May 2005. I attended a number of special events, including taking part in the enbukai and training with Doshu, attending the gasshuku, and attending as many of the regular classes as possible. I arrived on the Friday with fellow Bondi Beach students Peter and Genevieve, and with my wife Bronwyn who came along for the trip. We wasted no time in attending Takeda Sensei's class that evening and the following morning. We were lucky to have arrived in Japan before the main Aussie group which at least for these two classes, gave us a different type of training experience to the 'full mat' experience that followed. It was an inspirational introduction to training in Japan, and to training with Takeda Sensei. The Sunday enbukai and training with Doshu was also a great experience. For the first time, I saw the great variety of how different people interpret and train in Aikido, whilst still maintaining a connection with the very precise and traditional technique of Doshu. We followed up the training with Doshu by also attending one of his morning class at Honbu Dojo, which was an amazing experience in itself. Whilst at Honbu, we also attended a class led by Kobayashi Shihan who was pleasantly amused at the amount of tape that seemed to be holding my feet together. The joys of training on tatami!!! I also enjoyed our visit to Aiki Jinja and to Iwama Dojo. Isoyama Sensei was very generous in taking the time to show us the Aiki Jinja and Iwama Dojo and we were very grateful to be able to visit the place where O-Sensei spent so much time developing the Art. Isoyama Sensei's hospitality extended to sharing some excellent sake making it all the more memorable!!! The final weekend was spent attending the gasshuku, led by Takeda Sensei and his other senior students. Once again, the training was sensational and the spirit on the mat was inspiring. It is great to see and to experience directly from Takeda Sensei, the basis from which our own study and exploration has and continues to evolve. Overall, the 10 days I spent in Japan were very rewarding, and served to complement and enhance our training at home. It reinforced the feeling that we are trying to explore, and allowed us to experience the level of intensity in training that will enable greater depth in further study. Thanks to Steve, Ayano and others who helped organise the trip and make it such a success. Thanks also to Takeda Sensei and all those in Japan who helped organise our visit, and for welcoming us so wholeheartedly. Both the training and social activity made for a great trip, one which we hope to repeat. We also look forward to welcoming our new found friends to Australia, the only potential difference being - swap sake for beer; the onsen with surf, and sushi for a barbie!!!     - George Kamencak I'd been eagerly anticipating my first trip to Japan for months. Without trying to preconceive too much, I was pretty sure it was going to be the highlight of my year. And still it exceeded my expectations! After hearing so much about Takeda Sensei and receiving his teachings through Berin Mackenzie, it was fantastic to finally meet him. I learnt many profound lessons on and off the mat from Takeda Sensei and the daisenpai. A number of times time I couldn't stop smiling as I finally understood the joy of simply taking ukemi! The fact that so many people travelled from Australia and New Zealand to celebrate the 25th anniversary of AKI Australia is testament to the extraordinary work that so many loving people have put in over the years to make this something we all want to grow. I feel privileged and blessed to benefit from their efforts. I look forward to seeing my new friends again next time I visit Japan. Domo arigato gozaimashita.     - Paul McKey - Click here to view the photo gallery -