Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 4

“The way people interacted with the door was often reflective of how they interacted with their training partners. Your training partners, exams, kata, demonstrations…these things are all obstacles to be negotiated. They are all doors to pass through. And when you come to a door, do you expect to turn the knob and walk through without resistance? Do you expect the same when doing ikkyo? And when you meet resistance, how do you respond?”

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 4 (bonus issue)

This bonus issue of Inryoku first appeared in a 2012 issue of the Aikido World Alliance’s newsletter. It’s about the AWA’s 2012 Spring Camp with Eiji Katsurada Sensei from Hombu Dojo in Toyko, Japan. Katsurada Sensei is ranked nanadan and holds the title of shihan (7-degree black belt and “teacher of teachers”). He is a student of Aikido Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba (doshu means leader of the way). Ueshiba Doshu is the grandson of aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. You cannot get much closer to aikido’s origins than this!

I dug up this article because Katsurada Sensei will be teaching at the AWA’s 2024 Fall Camp! The seminar is October 17-20 at Keishinkan Dojo in Memphis, TN. I hope this article will help inspire and motivate you to attend. Click here for seminar details and registration.

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 3

Flexibility and fitness are sometimes overlooked aspects of a standard one-hour aikido class. There’s only so much that can be covered in an hour, so we tend to give preference to technique practice. After all, you can easily stretch in your living room, but you can’t always practice at home with your partner or roommate (especially if they don't train.) Aikido has homework, and part of the homework is cultivating flexibility and fitness beyond what’s achievable in class. 

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 2

Dojo etiquette is being helpful, treating others as you wish to be treated, and practicing safely. It is putting the needs of the dojo and the community ahead of your personal needs. It is an attitude and lifestyle worthy of worry, preservation, and transmission. Without etiquette there’s no “mystique” to the dojo—it’s just another fitness class. Etiquette is the most practical skill we cultivate in the dojo. It is the one that we can use daily, and in all our interactions. O’sensei said that aikido is medicine for a sick world, and our world is certainly diseased with vulgarity and incivility.

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 1

This year marks my 25th year of aikido. During that time there have been no significant breaks or gaps in my practice. I’ve continued training through all sorts of life events like getting divorced and remarried, having a son, injuries, surgeries (including an emergency root canal), pandemics, natural catastrophes, new friendships, career changes, betrayals, and the invasion of social media. Taken altogether, it begs one simple question: Why?