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Shizentai 6British Aikido Association news Summer 2015
BAA ‘Rising Dawn’ & Winchester SchoolsBAA Squad Visit to
DublinBAA Senior ChampionshipsHarvey, Dick & Steve Visit
JapanGoshinaikikwai reaches 40Hideo Ohba part 4Coaching Young
PeopleJunior Reports and more!
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Editor’s page Contents
Editor: Paul Wildish all correspondence andcontributions to
[email protected] by the British Aikido
Associationwebsite www.aikido-baa.org.uk
Reports
3 BAA Rising Dawn Dublin6 BAA Squad in Dublin8 Winchester Spring
School9 BAA Senior Nationals10 Bob Jones writes for Martial Arts
Illustrated14 Goshinaikikwai hits 4017 International Sports Aikido
News
Articles
11 Three Men on a Train18 Hideo Ohba: part 423 Coaching Young
People in Tomiki Aikido: part 3
Juniors & Youth
21 BAA Junior Open Championships North
Association News
16 The Importance of Insurance16 Changes to the BAA Executive
Committee25 BAA Calendar
First apologies to members for thelate arrival of Shizentai 6
this year.We have not gone away and willbe publishing three issues
thisyear. Our intention is to aim forpublication to follow the
majorevents in the BAA calendar ofevents. So late ‘spring’,
‘earlyautumn’ and December arebroadly our publication times.
Ofcourse much depends on ‘copy’,the articles, reports
andphotographs that come in frommembers about our and
youractivities. Shizentai is not intendedto be solely the voice of
the BAAExecutive but a forum for theexchange of information and
thepromotion of the activities of clubsand our members.
It is also intended that it shouldhave an educational
role,reminding members of the historyof the BAA and Tomiki
Aikido’sdevelopment in Japan as well asproviding articles on
coaching andtechnique. This requires people towrite these articles
and as BobJones, Paul Wildish and other ECmembers such as Sarah
Fletcherand Laura Beadsmore areinvolved in managing theAssociation,
we are writing thebulk of the copy. Obviously wewould like more
members tocontribute to reflect the views andcharacter of the
wholeAssociation.
This issue sees a broader andvery welcome input from JeremyVon
Ryan, Pamela Dempsey andSteve Powell who have our thanksfor
providing just the sort ofinteresting and lively articles weare
looking for. I hope to see thembecome more regular
contributors!
This issue also sees the first ofwhat we hope will be
regularfeatures, focusing on an individual
BAA club, its history, activities andmembers. In this issue we
reporton the Goshinaikikwai's 40thAnniversary. Many other
club’smust have long and interestinghistories also, so get together
andput something together and sendit to me. We want to know whatyou
have been doing.
Changes to the Executive
On page 17 Bob Jones introducesthe changes that have been madeto
the management of the BAA.Bob as the longest servingChairman of the
BAA has beenheroically carrying the biggestburden of the management
of theAssociation for many years. Nowwe have moved to a ‘not for
profit’company and are working on bigcoaching and
developmentalchange, the burden of work hasconsiderably increased.
We havetherefore split the work that Bobpreviously conducted
betweendevelopmental affairs and day tomanagement. With Bob as
ChiefExecutive Officer and Paul Wildishas the Chairman of the
BAArespectively.
Membership Renewal
You can now pay for your BAAIndividual and Club
MembershipRenewal online
athttp://www.aikido-baa.org.uk/membership-renewal/via paypal.
Multiple renewals canbe made by clicking “add to cart”,then once in
your paypal basketclick “continue shopping”, whichwill return you
to the BAA websitepage to add more renewals beforechecking out.
Please note this isonly for renewals. You should usethis when you
have received yourrenewal notice from either theMembership Officer
or your club.
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.aikido-baa.org.ukhttp://www.aikido-baa.org.uk/membership-renewal/http://www.aikido-baa.org.uk/membership-renewal/
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‘Rising Dawn’ Dublin, Eire
Ireland’s newest Aikido Club,'Greenhills Tomiki Aikido Ryu'(GTA)
welcomed visitinginstructors Bob Jones 7th Dan,Shaun Hoddy 6th Dan,
VandaFairchild 5th Dan and over sixtyenthusiastic Aikidoka to the
BAA2015 Rising Dawn Seminar atGreenhills Community Centre
inDublin.
In its third year, the Rising DawnSeminar has become one of
thepopular highlights on the BAAevents calendar attractingincreased
attendance year onyear not just from the Republic ofIreland and
Northern Ireland butalso from the UK mainland.
Kicking off early at 08:00 was animpressive line-up of GTA
Youthand Junior students who took partin a vigorous youth
developmentmini-seminar instructed bySensei’s Bob and Vanda.
Thenoise, energy and exuberance ofthese young Aikidoka being
putthrough their paces greeted earlyarrivals and set the tone for
theentire first day.
Formal Welcome &Introductions
Once the formal welcome andintroductions had taken place allwere
eager to begin.
Report Jeremy Von Ryan, photographs Mark Cheevers
Session 1 – Dai Roku – SeanHoddy
A vigorous warm-up andstretching programme marshaledby Sensei
Fairchild led straightinto the study of section D of theDai Roku, a
koryu on the 5th Dansyllabus, under the experttechnical instruction
of SenseiHoddy. A fast pace was set andwe had to pair off and
attempt toreplicate what (we thought) wesaw demonstrated. It was
notlong before beads of sweat wereappearing on furrowed brows
asthese kata techniques requiredfull concentration, focus and
goodobservation to perform correctly.
Session 2 - Free-playDevelopment – Vanda Fairchild
An hour and a half later, a waterbreak was called and then we
wentstraight into a dynamic session onFree-play Development led
bySensei Fairchild, the core focus ofwhich was practical methods
ofbreaking balance on the move as aprelude to discovering
potentialtechniques that could be appliedfrom Uke’s reaction.
The awareness, dynamicmovement and strong posture ofSensei
Fairchild’s technique wasamazing. There was a lot to learn(and
unlearn) before we wouldhave any chance of executing withthe same
grace, but all were eagerto have a go and the sound of
active good humoured practicerang out throughout the hall.
An hour or so later brought us to ashort break at 12:30 where
theopportunity to briefly catch up withold friends, take on some
much
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quickly to the examination andpowerful demonstration ofdynamic
movement of centre asthe basis of good throwingtechnique.
After another hour of techniquedemonstration and practice I
thinkwe were getting close to anunderstanding of the softness
withmovement needed to explore theconcepts further.
Session 4 - Free-playcontinuation – Vanda Fairchild
A mere five minute break led
needed sustenance for the nextsession.
Session 3 – Dynamic Movement& Softness – Bob Jones
At 13:00 and after a quick warm-up, Sensei Jones slowed the
pacedown a little with one of his trade-mark, insightful and
entertainingshort lectures on the evolution ofour branch of Aikido
from its rootsin Ju-Jitsu through to the Judoinspired training
methods adoptedby Kenji Tomiki. If we thought wewere in for a slow
session wewere wrong as the focus changed
straight into the second sessionby Sensei Fairchild
oncontinuation in Free-play wheredifferent continuation
scenarioswere examined as potentialoutcomes from the initial
balancebreaks demonstrated in session 1and Uke’s reaction to
each.Again, Sensei Vanda this timewith Randori Champion
NathanLomax-Cooke as ukedemonstrated the level ofcommitted dynamic
movementand timing required from tori toachieve a successful
techniqueon an experienced player. After aquick demonstration of
each
concept we paired off to practiceand explore how it might work
forus.
It was plain to see that everybodywas enjoying the practice
andwith many experienced Dangrades on the mats everyone wastaking
it seriously. Day 1 of formalseminar instruction concludedwith a
quick warm-down and short
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break before the official BAA Kyuand Dan grading got under
way.
Day 2 – Session 1 – SuwariWaza with a difference - BobJones
Starting at 10:00 a short warm upwas slowly under way to allow
theover indulgent to wake-up andrecover sufficiently from
theprevious night’s social activitiesand focus for the first
section ofthe Day 2 schedule led by SenseiJones. This session was
veryinteresting, working from Aikidokata suwari waza techniques
intovarious pins, holds and chokesfound within the Judo
syllabus.
Day 2 – Session 2 – Dai Roku(continued)- Sean Hoddy
After another short break, it wasstraight back into the
remainingsections of the Dai Roku withSensei Hoddy. As we had a lot
ofsyllabus to get through, the pacewas fast and again a high level
ofconcentration was required to takein the techniques. This was
newsyllabus to nearly all attendeeswith high grades struggling
withthe rest to execute what wasdemonstrated. This mind
meltingaspect of Aikido is as exciting as it
is challenging as it forces us outof our comfort zone in the
struggleto absorb new information quickly.
Day 2 – Closing Session –Softness & Power – Bob Jones
Continuing the theme fromSession 3 of Day1, Jones Senseiclosed
out the seminar this yeardemonstrating the awareness,softness and
dynamic movementneeded to effectively executetechniques from the
Dai Yon, witha special focus on flow andmaintaining good posture.
Thetotal combination of all theconcepts in the execution of asingle
technique revealed howdifficult this kata is to master to ahigh
level.
Uke appreciationIt’s easy to write off the role of ukein a
seminar as an accessory.Indeed an experienced uke’scontribution is
largely invisibleallowing the instructor to commitand apply
technique fully withminimal adjustment orcompensation for full
effect. Icertainly appreciated the skillsand utility of the amazing
NathanLomax-Cooke, the brilliantPamela Dempsey and theindefatigable
Keith McCleanSensei, who after a full day ofseminar uke duty, still
had energyto uke for 1 dan grading tests aswell as some serious
dancingdemonstrations at the local nightclub. A special mention
goes hereto Vanda Fairchild in this regardalso (so I am
informed).
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BAA Squad Session Visit to Dublinand the Road to Brisbane
It’s just under a year since my firstsquad session. As with many
ofthe aikido trips it was just myselfand Keith McClean that
attendedthe last squad session with MickPratt and Danielle Jones as
squadmanagers as they handed overthe reigns into the very
capablehands of Laura Beardsmore andPaul Carr.It only took one and
that was it wewere hooked. Other aikidocommitments prevented us
fromattending every session for theremainder of the year but we
didmanage to get in a few. Cominghome to our club with a new
zestfor aikido and the competitiveelement ever growing we tried
torally the troops to our cause. Noteveryone is as addicted as
Keithand I so unfortunately most wereunable to commit to travel.It
was announced that the newsquad managers would visit ourshores for
the first time. A historic
occasion for us and theexcitement was palpable. Our joywas
dampened slightly havingattended squad sessions alreadyrealising
that now we would havetwo days of it instead of one.We attended the
squad session inOctober in what would be our lastof the year in
that venue. The
new managers now in full swingset out a tough session. We
werereminded of what was to come inNovember. It was after
thissession being encouraged byother members of squad and theteam
that we made the decisionthat we would commit to going tothe World
Championships inBrisbane. It was so exciting nowto welcome Paul and
Laura toDublin knowing that we would betraining with them on the
run up toour first international competition.November arrived. It
was coldand miserable, like every othermonth in Ireland. But they
camenonetheless not knowing whatwould be waiting. We are only atthe
beginning of our competitiveroad in Ireland. The knowledgeand
experience brought with thesquad managers was beyondmeasure. For
some it would bethe first time they would witnesswhat competitive
aikido reallylooks like. Despite our bestefforts to explain it, it
was Pauland Laura who managed to makesense of it for so many
whoattended.It was a two day session, run likemany of the others
we’d attended.
Pamela Dempsey
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Irish Squad Session November 2014
Paul took the lead with the warmup and much of the
uchikomitraining. It was well attended withall those there giving
it their besteffort. Much of the first day washigh tempo physically
as wewould expect. Moving swiftly intoa quick introduction to the
rules ofcompetitive aikido. Specificallyfor Randori. For many
thatattended this would’ve been thefirst time they had access to
thissort of learning experience. Whobetter to explain this than the
twotime female world championLaura Beardsmore. Laura’srelaxed and
honest approach toteaching allows a level ofunderstanding that
previouslyseemed beyond our grasp.Paul Bonnet was also inattendance
and kindly took asession on embu. His recentvisits to Japan adding
invaluableexperience and knowledge to thekata. Focusing
particularly onsome of the finer points of kuzushiin each
section.This wasn’t just a historicalweekend for competitive aikido
inIreland it was a weekend that Ifeel cemented our commitment
tosquad and to competing for aslong as our bodies will allow.The
benefits of attending squadsessions over the last year havebeen
immeasurable. Personally
my aikido has evolved to a level ofunderstanding far greater
thananything I could’ve imagined. Butby far the best thing
aboutattending squad both in our newhome in the Judo centre
ofexcellence and in Dublin was thesense of being a part
ofsomething. It is a privilege to trainwith some of the best
aikidoka inthe UK and in the World at squad.From the moment we
began ourjourney we were welcomed andencouraged. With Paul and
Lauraat the helm we’ve managed totake our competitive aikido to
thestandard where we can competewith confidence at world level
thisAugust. Without their support andnever ending patience we
wouldno doubt be lacking theconfidence to even attempt this.
At the beginning of August I willbe practicing aikido 5 years
and Ican tell you when I started I neverwould’ve dreamt of
this.Paul and Laura and in fact all ofthe team have given us
nothingbut encouragement from thebeginning to help me build a
selfbelief that will allow me tocompete with confidence inBrisbane.
Given the chance totrain with some of the best canonly help you
improve. Anyonethat attends freely share theirknowledge and
experience withthose less experienced, such asmyself. Brisbane is
waiting and Ican’t wait to go and be a part ofsomething special. A
part ofsomething more than myself. Apart of a team.
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BAA Spring School Winchester
The Winchester Spring School2015 provided an opportunity forover
50 Aikidoka to practise andshare experience both on and ofthe mat.
The school itself hasbeen growing over the years andis now
established as regular BAAevent hosted by Francis Burgessand many
helpers from his club atthe Winchester Lido.
Clubs came from far and wideincluding Leeds, Wakefield,Brighton,
Herne Bay, EPIC,Newbury, Sheffield, Bristol andWinchester
Instructors from variedbackgrounds gave strong andinteresting
instruction covering awide range of topics. LindseyComens
demonstrated techniquesfrom the Daito Ryu school, whichfor many
provided someinteresting links between
traditional and Tomiki approaches.Paul Wildish undertook to
teachthe Dai Ichi; a traditionally focusedTomiki Kata. Bob Jones
focused
on a kneeling techniques and IlyaSolonitsyn from Russia
engagedthe class with a unique approachfocusing on inner power
andgeneration of movement.
The coaching course provided forseven more newly qualified
BAACoaches to teach at their
Course Report Bob Jones
I really enjoyed attending this yearsspring school, it was good
funpracticing with higher grades andpeople from different clubs.
Myfavorite part was learning grasptechniques because I could
performthem quickly and properly. Theweekend has been lots of fun
learningnew aspects of aikido with neinstructor and making lots of
newfriend.
Matthew Millen Age 11, Green Belt,Eastleigh Aikido Club.
respective clubs.
Sarah Fletcher organised anumber of coaches for the juniorswho
thoroughly enjoyed theirexperience including the gradingon the
Sunday.
The senior grading saw for the firsttime both traditional and
Tomikipractitioners grading togetherunder the revised
gradingregulations. The grading wasdifficult and exacting with
elevenout of the fifteen candidatesachieving their next
gradeincluding six new Dan grades,Jack Wilson, Sam Mossaheb,
JackSharpe, Johnathan Hedley, DarrenBird and Peter J Hall.
It was a great weekend includingthe social barbeque
withexchanges of ideas andtechniques making it enjoyable
foreveryone – if you weren’t thereyou missed a treat.
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British Senior Nationals 2015
Participating Clubs:Leeds Central (Lds), Huddersfield (Hudds),
Tanseikan (Tnskn), Ittaikan (Ittn), Shoshinkan (Shskn), City
ofLondon Shodokan (CLSh), Bradford (Bfd), Greenhills Tomiki Aikido
Ryu (GTAR), Sussex Sports Aikido(SSA), Thanet Judokwai (TJK)
Junanahon – Kyu Grade ( 10 pairs) Junanahon – Dan and 1st Kyu
(10 pairs)1st M.Bolton/Ellie Gander Lds 1st D.White/P.Carr Lds2nd
M.Murphy/C.White Lds 2nd L.Mazacs/J.Pullen Hudds3rd
E.Harrison/G.Pullan Hudds 3rd D.Fielding/F.Kamara Tnskn
Open Kata – Kyu Grade (7 pairs) Open Kata – Dan and 1st Kyu (5
Pairs)1st J.Pullen/W.Firth Hudds 1st D.Fielding/S.Pearce Tnskn2nd
M.Murphy/C.White Lds 2nd D.Ogunbiyi/N.Smalle Tnskn3rd K.Bolton/Ed
Gander Lds 3rd L.Simons/W.Hayward Ittkn
Goshin No Kata - Open Grade (9 pairs)1st S Pearce/N Lomax-Cooke
Tnskn2nd S Fletcher/A Rigby Lds3rd P Livett/D Szymanski Shnkn
Ninin Dori – Kyu Grade (8 teams) Ninin Dori – Dan and 1st Kyu (5
Teams)1st Panitiru/Livett/Szymanski Shnkn 1st Fletcher/Rigby/Carr
Lds2nd Harrison/Pullan/Firth Hudds 2nd Pearce/Lomax-Cooke/Smalle
Tnskn3rd M Bolton/Gander/Ducketts Lds 3rd Simons/Hayward/Hayward
Ittkn
The BAA Senior NationalChampionships were held on the8th of
March this year at DartfordJudo Club’s impressive 3 matcentre in
Kent. This year saw
impressive first time outings fromHuddersfield and Shoshinkan
anda well contested challenge fromTanseikan and Leeds Central
forthe top club position.
It was undoubtedly Tanseikan’sday with a very strong
competitiveteam taking the top position with26 points and
dominating bothKyu and Dan grade Men’s randori.
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Tanto Taisabaki (14-17 yrs) (18 competitors) Women’s Tanto
Randori – Open Grade(5 competitors)1st Jake Pullen Hudds 1st
Natuely Smalle Tnskn2nd William Firth Hudds 2nd Sarah Fletcher
Lds3rd Morgan Murphy Lds 3rd Ellie Hughes CLSh
Men’s Tanto Randori - Kyu Grade (8 competitors) Men’s Tanto
Randori – Dan and 1st Kyu(12 competitors)1st Chris Wilson Tnskn 1st
David Fielding Tnskn2nd Vamba Konneh Tnskn 2nd Scott Pearcxe
Tnskn3rd Emilio Bielsa Tnskn 3rd Fred Kamara Tnskn
Team Trophy1st Tanseikan 26 points2nd Leeds Central 18 Points3rd
Huddersfield 15 Points4th Shoshinkan (Essex) 4 points
Bob Jones brings Aikido to
Bob Jones 7 Dan, our formerChairman and now the new
ChiefExecutive Officer of the BritishAikido Association, is
currentlywriting a series of aikido articlesfor Britain’s largest
circulationmartial arts magazine, ‘MartialArts Illustrated’.
Beginning with the July issue2015, Bob set outs the
principlesand practice of competitive TomikiAikido for the MAI’s
wideaudience of martial artspractitioners and enthusiasts.
Theseries is entitled ‘Spirit of the
Samurai - The Aikido Way’making the important connectionbetween
the development of mindand body.
Bob opens his article in thecurrent July issue with
thisimportant reminder;
“In Aikido, individuals must also learnthat is not just
techniques that theyhave to master. The development ofthe ‘self’ is
also an important factor inthe development of a true martialartist.
Without this holistic approach todevelopment, maximum effect cannot
be achieved.”
The article then goes on toexplain over four pages
theprinciples, technical, physical,psychological and emotional
skillsthat must be acquired as we moveforward along the aikido
pathway.
The articles while primarilydirected towards those notcurrently
practising aikido, theyrepresent a succinct and wellthought through
account of aikidopractice relevant to bothbeginners and
experiencedaikidoka. Buy a copy online youwill not be
disappointed.
‘Martial Arts Illustrated’ magazine
July issue August issue
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End of February 2015, threemen of a certain age (andweight)
visited Japan to trainand travel. Harvey Goodman,Dick Todd and I,
Steve Powell,with 97 years practice betweenus. For Harvey and I
this wasour first visit to Japan. Dickhad visited fifteen
yearspreviously and trained at SentaYamada’s dojo in Fukuoka.
Our first job on arriving atHaneda airport after the elevenhour
flight was to get theJapan rail passes activated.Which was easy
enoughalthough I took all three whenwe should of handed them
inindividually, and then off tocatch the train to Ningyochostation
that was just up theroad from our hotel in ChuoWard.
Lesson number one was howto read the subway map withstations and
price, which isnow also in English butapparently this wasn’t
availableyears ago. Then how to workthe ticket machine.
Stationstaff were extremely helpfulwhen trying to find the
rightplatform. On entering the trainwith at least two bags
eachfilled with gi, luggage and giftswe found it wasn’t
particularlypacked and we could read thestation information. As we
gotfurther into Tokyo we couldn’tactually see each other so wemade
an educated guess bylooking out the window and onarriving at our
destination thecall went up and with elbowsout it was a scramble to
get outof the door before the trainedmoved on.
Just an observation that was acommon theme during ourstay in
Tokyo, note the gateyou come out from the subwayas there are many
and can besome distance apart. This alsoapplies if you arrange to
meetsomeone. Also, there are notas many escalators in Tokyocompared
to London which isgreat fitness training after aneleven hour flight
and up tothree bags.
The first full day, a Saturdaywe visited Sensoji which isalso
known as Askusa KannonBuddhist Temple, completed in645 and next to
this the ShintoAskusa shrine built in 1649 byTokugawa Iemitsu. In
theafternoon it was off to WasedaUniversity for the first
time.Fumiaki Shishida met us at thestation as we had managed tofind
the right gate and he tookus through the campus toWaseda University
gym.
The building is divided betweenaikido, fencing and wrestling
inthe basement, Judo on theground floor, then kendo,karate and
‘Ping Pong’ on thetop floor. As you enter thebuilding and descend
the stairsthere is a plaque by theentrance to the judo dojo thatwas
penned by Tomiki Sensei.
When we arrived at the aikidodojo, the university studentclass
was already underway,taking techniques to the point ofbalance
breaking. The three ofus trained in the first area of thedojo, also
balance breakingand then Shishida Shihanconcentrated on
techniques.Beginning from reverse twohanded grasps then
increasingthe amount of force from uke.This was achieved by
workingon the timing of droppingposture and hip turning.
Thestudents worked on a form ofninindori, where toricontinuously
did the same two
Three Men on TrainHarvey, Dick and Steve visit Japan Steve
Powell
Harvey, Dick and Steve with Shishida Sensei at the Waseda
University Dojo
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Shizentai 6
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techniques, one on each uke.When kotai was called theymoved
around and changedthe technique. The Studentclass stopped briefly
to rei toShishida Shihan and weintroduced ourselves andjoined in
the very fast but lightkakarigeiko and tantohikitategeiko. The
studentsthen did fitness training and thesession was finished by
allgrabbing a broom andsweeping diagonally across themat.
In the evening with we had thehonour to go to dinner withsenior
senseis Kitayama,Yamaguchi, Sato and Shishida,fortified Chinese
wine was thefavoured drink of the evening.
In the morning FumiakiShishida took us to the TokyoNational
Museum where therewas a special exhibition ofancient Buddhas from
NorthernJapan and then onto the majorshopping area of Ginza. Wewere
advised that umbrellasare cheap in Japan because itrains as much as
London. Justoutside the doors to themuseum there is a sizeablearea
to lock up your umbrellas.We didn’t take this advice!
Up early the following morningwe headed north to see theSnow
Monkeys at Jigokudani,five hours, three trains, a busand a mile
walk up an ice trackbecause the Shinkansen couldnot make it through
theprevious night’s snow fall, threehours back. Followed by thenext
with day a more sedatestroll in the Royal PalaceGardens, heard the
kiai
screams from the kendo hall,and made a visit to judo’sKodokan
central headquartersand museum.
After being taken to the‘Landmark Tower’ with greatviews of
Yokohama, the nexttraining session was in a smalldojo with Yoshiomi
InoueSensei. The emphasis of hislesson was on maintainingtension
whilst using a dip andhip movement to break balanceand execute the
technique.
Inoue Sensei demonstrated thepower of keeping on thetension by
tori and uke holdingeither end of a two litre cold teabottle. All
the time tension ismaintained tori can control theweight of the
bottle, as soon asuke let go, the bottle drops astori cannot hold
the weight andloses control. We alsoconcentrated on ushiroateusing
the “wheel of the bus”movement to break uke’sbalance. We
participated in thefollowing two classes and laterMr Ehara and Mr
Konomivisited the dojo and joined usfor a Sashimi Dinner.
Thursday night is the adultclass at Waseda with MrShinohara as
the regularinstructor. Before the classTakeshi Inoue Sensei
wasgiving an individual a lesson onkata and Sato Shihan waslooking
after two Russianvisitors. Points taken from thissession were the
“winning thecentre” from tegetana.
Tegetana awase was firstpracticed as we are familiarwith, hand
blade, good posture,with tori leading but then variedby tori
entering by tsugiashi atspeed whilst transforming theleading hand
blade from soft tohard. This had the effect ofturning uke a
fraction andunsettling his balance.
Over the couple of weeks weattended on Thursday night,Shishida
Shihan amongst othertechniques, gave us histhoughts on the
combinationtechniques of the Randori NoKata,
oshitaoshi/udegaeshi,kote hineri/kotegaeshi,hikiotoshi/ude
garami.
Over the next few days the tripmoved on to Nara (Deers in
thestreet) via the Mount Fuji resort(nice large rooms),
Kyoto(traditional ryoku, in the 1000Buddha temple) and the
SpringSumo Basho at Osaka.
When booking a box for four,for the Sumo Basho online, afew
weeks before, there was apolite warning on the web site,“stout
westerners may find thebox uncomfortable”. The boxwas slightly
smaller than atatami with four cushions and ascaffolding type bar
aroundyour area. As we were there forseven hours we were
fortunatethat a very kind Japanesefamily next to us let usencroach
on their area. Wefound out later that their sonwas one of the
referees for thelower ranks. We were also
Dick and Harvey with Inoue Sensei
The giants of Sumo
Respect for the Dojo
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lucky enough to be near one ofthe entrances where the
rikishiwaited to enter the hall. Theatmosphere was
magnificentparticularly when the ozeki andyokozuna lined up to
fight. Ourown personal challenge wastrying to stand up and
walkafter the concluding bowwielding ceremony.
Dick returned home from Naraand Harvey and I travelled
ontoFukuoka in Kyushu viaHiroshima. In Fukuoka we hadtold Dick we
would try andtrack down the dojo he hadtrained in 15 years ago.
Istarted taking photographs of ahall only to be told by a passer-by
that it was a fire station andthe dojo was around the back!
Having found the entrance wewere invited in to watch judoand
were joined by Mr ManzoShitama who lives above thedojo and whose
family hadtaught Sosuishi jujitsu for 360years. He pointed out
SentaYamada’s name plate on thewall and by coincidence told usthat
he was being interviewedthe follow day by Mr Shishidawho was due to
meet us thefollowing evening.
Still trying to get over the “LiveDancing Fish” which was
thefirst course of the evening mealthe next day we trained
atFukuoka under SenseisShishida, Yoshio Takemotoand Osamu
Nagayoshi, themain themes were the warmup exercises during
whichShishida did the splits and anexamination of oshitaoshi.
Alsoin the far end of the hall therewas a Sensei giving
individualtraining in a form of kenjutsuand in the next hall was
aSunday morning kendo trainingsession.
We later took a train down toKumamoto where we were metby Mr
Yuji a Shinto priest whotrained in the more traditionalstyle of
Manseikan Aikido. MrYuji’s father knew Kenji Tomikiand is friend of
FumiakiShishida.
We were treated to anexcellent meal at the home ofMr Yuji and
his wife and thenext morning we were taken toa Dojo in Aso which is
thehome Mr Kimura a retiredpolice officer. This dojo was setin a
bamboo forest with a viewof a live volcano.
After the rei Mr Kimura led achant, which invoked the spiritof
aikido and then cut with abokken thirty six times in acircle,
followed by cuts to thefour points of the compass. MrKimura then
demonstratedtechniques to be practiced withan emphasis on kokyu
ryoku(breath power). At the end ofthe session Harvey and myselfwere
invited to demonstratekoryu dai ni. After ourdemonstration a cover
was putover the tatami, a low tablewas brought in and we had avery
nice lunch with senseisand students, whilst MrShishida interviewed
MrKimura.
Manseikan Aikido was startedby Kanshu Sunadomari whodied in
2010, he was one of thelast uchideshi of MoriheiUeshiba who he met
throughthe Omoto Kyu religion andafter Ueshiba’s death in 1969
he started his own style inKumamoto. A film on You tubecan be
seen of him doing ademonstration at the first AikidoFriendship
games in 1985 withMr Kimura being one the ukes.
Harvey and I finished our tripwith a visit to Reigando, thecave
where Miyamoto Musashispent the last part of his lifeand wrote the
legendary GoRin No Sho – The book of 5rings. The rain was
torrential sowe decided to take a cab,trying to explain that we
wouldpay and make our own wayback to Kumamoto as we didnot know
long we would be gotlost in translation so the taxidriver turned
off the meter andjust joined us on the path tosee the cave and then
drove usback.
My observations are, you onlyneed to stop and get out a mapand
someone will stop to helpand usually walk with you untilyou are at
your destination. Allclubs were very welcoming anda four person box
at sumo isnot big enough for three robustEnglishman.
We would also like to take theopportunity to thank MrShishida,
Mr Ehara, Mr Inoueand others for the hospitalitywe were shown
during our timein Japan.
Manseikan Aikido
Miyamoto Muhashi’s cave in Reigando
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Shizentai 6
14
The Goshinaikikwai reaches 40
My name is Dudley Osborneand for my sins I am the Chairmanof the
Goshinaikikwai Aikido Club.I would, on behalf of all the
clubmembers, welcome you and thankyou for coming to this
40thAnniversary special training andsocial event. I know you will
be anxious toget on with the show but on thisoccasion it seems
appropriate tosay a few words regarding ourfounder Basil Stephenson
and themany members and instructorswho have over the years, kept
theclub running and enabled us tohere today. The club was founded
by BasilStephenson and Ken Saunders,both 1st Dans from
theRenzukwai, in September 1974,at the Downes School in
Dartford,Kent. Ken departed after a shorttime leaving Basil to run
the clubon his own, which, as far as Iremember, consisted mostly
ofbeginners. Eric Brown whoinstructs in Norwich and Ian Dunn,who is
now back with theGoshinaikikwai, were in the firstbeginners class
in September1974 and Paul Wildish and myselfwere in the second
class whichstarted in December of that year.Dave Freed joined in
1976, as Ibelieve did Bob Barrow, both withprevious aikido
training. DuringBasil’s time and after he left to live
with his daughter in Australia, PaulWildish and Bob Barrow
playedmajor roles in coaching and otherclub activities, including
coachingat another club that Basil ran inNorbury, near Croydon. The
Goshinaikikwai has hadvarious dojos over the years. Imake the tally
five in Dartford, twoin Bexley and two in Otford andusually with
two venues running atany one time. The club has been veryfortunate
in progressively havingvery talented instructors, some ofwhom have
attained highrecognition and status within theBAA. As I mentioned
earlier theseincluded Bob Barrow, Paul Wildishwho is also
vice-chairman of theBAA, Dave Freed, Ian Dunn,Kevin Lee, Geoff Cox
and Rob
Paul Wildish, Dudley Osborne & Ian Dunn Dudley still on the
mat in his 80s
On the 25 April this year theGoshinaikikwai celebrated its
40thAnniversary, with a training dayheld at their dojo St.
Michael'sCommunity Centre, Welling, Kent.Sessions were taught by
PaulWildish, Ken Broome, HarveyGoodman and Adrian Tyndalewith extra
contributions from DickTodd and members of the club.Presiding over
all was theindomitable, if diminutive, figure ofDudley Osborne. An
octogenarianbut practising with a great heartand spirit as the
chairman and‘father’ of the club.
Sadly as posted on the BAAwebsite he Dudley shortly afterthis
immensely enjoyable event onthe 12 May. We have thought itfitting
that Dudley should tell someof the club’s history in his ownwords.
What follows is the speechhe gave that day to members andguests
recalling theGoshinaikikwai’s story.
Dudley Osborne
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Shizentai 6
15
instructor, with Steve Powell, TimButler, Rob Johnson and
hisnephew Scott Johnson in support.Ian Dunn is now also part of
thecoaching team. We have also hadclose ties with Dick Todd, who is
here todaywith some of his members fromhis club in Margate and we
havereciprocal training arrangementswith them. All past and present
membersshould be congratulated for theirefforts on behalf of the
club overthe last forty years and who havemade the club what it is
today. I would also like to drawparticular attention to twomembers,
Jo Holbourn who was
Johnson, who also now plays amajor role within the club andmany
others. As you will seeduring the course of this eventmany of our
members are wellqualified in other martial arts,including iaido,
judo, karate andtai chi. We have for many years hadclose ties with
the Shukumie Clubunder Rob Johnson and theMishinakwai under
HarveyGoodman and so it was decidedsome time ago that in the
presentclimate it would make sense tomerge. This made
theGoshinaikikwai coaching teameven stronger. So we now haveHarvey
Goodman as our chief
our secretary for twenty plusyears, now retired, well done
Jo,and Simon Davies, our clubtreasurer, who apart from DaveFreed
and myself is the longestcontinuous serving member withtwenty four
years service. Simonis also a high ranking karateinstructor as you
will see later. I will finish on a personal levelby saying that
over the last fortyyears I have made many lastingfriendships,
trained with and beencoached by some of the finestpeople in the
aikido world andconsider myself exceptionallylucky to have been
able to do so.Thank you.
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Shizentai 6
16
The Importance of InsuranceTo claim Coach PI Insurance clubs
must have members
Bob Jones BAA Chief Executive Officer
The Association offersmembers a range of insurancefor the
protection and peace ofmind of students and coaches.
There are two key benefits ofmembership: first -
permanentdisability insurance, thisprovides a range ofcompensation
packages tosupport members. Second -member to member liabilitycover
provides cover againstpotential legal action from
othermembers.Accident or loss of earningsinsurance is not part of
thepolicy provision but can besought directly through theinsurance
provider Endsleigh.
The above policies apply tocoaches; in addition it ismandatory
for all activecoaches to hold ProfessionalIndemnity Insurance
coveringrisks related to potentiallitigation.
Coaches actively engaged inday-to-day coaching must have
Professional IndemnityInsurance. Qualified coacheswho may have
completed theircoach award are not requiredto hold PI insurance
until actualcoaching begins.
The association has had twoliability actions in the past
threeyears, it is therefore extremelyimportant that active
coachesaccess this cover.
The PI Insurance is heavilysubsidized by the associationon the
understanding thatstudents are also covered byinsurance through
associationmembership. This means thata club coach can only
accessPI insurance whilst coaching ator for a BAA member club.
Assome clubs are accessing PIbut have no registered clubmembers the
ExecutiveCommittee have taken action.From January 2016 thesubsidy
for PI insurance will belinked to student membersregistered with
the associationin a ratio of 1 to 5. This means
that for every five registeredstudent members the club canaccess
one PI subsidy for acoach. For example, a clubwith fifteen
registered BAAmembers can have up to threecoaches claiming a PI
subsidy.So subsidized coachmembership fee will be £45.00with
student members and fullcost £85.00 for those withoutstudent
members.
We know insurance works byspreading the financial riskacross a
large number ofpeople. The Association’spolicy is no different and
isbased on risk spread the costacross the whole membership.The
lower the number ofmembers the higher the cost. Itis therefore in
everyone’sinterest that all studentmembers are enrolled in
theassociation.
CONTACTBAA CEO
[email protected]
Changes to the ExecutiveThis year’s AGM has set thescene for
future developmentsfor the BAA. A number ofchanges have taken place
injob roles and responsibilities toset the association on
firmground to move forward. Thesechanges include a division
oflabour between the
Chairmanship and the newlyestablished role of ChiefExecutive
Officer (CEO). Themain focus of each will be thatthe Chairman can
focus on theday-to-day management andmaintenance of
theassociation’s affairs whilst theCEO will focus on the
developmental aspects. TheAffiliates Liaison Officer willlook
after the needs of alltraditional Affiliates. Whilst thenew Club
Liaison Officer postwill provide ongoing support forall existing
clubs. The Technicaldevelopment Officer will Chair
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Shizentai 6
17
the associations technicalCommittee.
The new Chairman is PaulWildish and the CEO is BobJones.
The Finance Officer BrentMoran, Membership Officer LeeAdams,
Child Welfare OfficerFrancis Burgess andCommunications Officer
PhilEyers all remain unchanged.
Relatively new to roles, thathave not changed, are PaulCarr and
Laura Beardsmore asNational Team Managers,Vanda Fairchild as
SportDevelopment Officer, SarahFletcher as Junior and
YouthDevelopment Officer.
Also remaining in post is theQualifications and StandardsOfficer
Mark Jenner and theInternational Liaison OfficerDanielle Jones.
Elected at the AGM was a newGeneral Secretary ClaireGrundy.
Roles that have been deletedfrom the structure are CoachLiaison
Officer, TraditionalLiaison Officer and SelfDefence development
Officer.Affiliates Liaison Officer TonyDavis, Club Liaison
OfficerPaul Holding and TechnicalDevelopment Officer DanielleJones
are replacing these.
The role of Vice Chairman isnow elected internally by
theExecutive Committee and isnow Lee Adams.
Current Fellows include BobForrest-Webb, Lesley Hepden,Terry
Gibbs, Mike Smith, BrentMoran, Bob Jones and PaulWildish.
The Child Welfare Teaminclude Francis Burgess, Terry
Gibbs, Paul Holding and MarkAldridge.
The Meritorious AwardsCommittee comprises TonyDavis (Chair) Paul
Wildish (asChairman) Bob Jones (asCEO) Shaun Hoddy, TerryGibbs and
Lesley Hepden.
Competition Committee VandaFairchild (Chair) SarahFletcher,
Danielle Jones, PaulCarr and Laura Beardsmore.
The composition of theTechnical Committee withDanielle Jones as
Chair hasyet to be considered by theCommittee.
These changes are intended toaid the association’sdevelopment
and support thenext stage of its application forNational Governing
Bodystatus.
The BAA National Team will soonbe heading for Surfers
Paradise,City of the Gold Coast inQueensland, Australia for the
firstAikido World Championships co-sponsored by the Shodokan
AikidoFederation and the BAA backedWorld Sport Aikido
Federation.
The BAA Team have been traininghard over the last eighteen
months
International sport aikido newsAustralia
under the leadership of LauraBeardsmore and Paul Carr,
theNational Team Managers.
There will be the usual Randori forboth men and women and
mixedEmbu events. We are of coursehoping that our National Team
willcontinue to perform well at thehighest international level
andbring back the medals. We havehad much success in the
past,proving for both the SAF and theJAA the BAA is the team to
beat.
The event coincides with theAustralia Multi-Culture
WeekCelebrations and will include anumber of Japanese
culturaldemonstrations interspersedthrough the event. Which
should
add extra interest for thespectators.
On a lighter note, we expect theBAA National Team, once
thecompetition is over to have a greattime wearing their medals
in‘Surfers Paradise’ one of the mostpopular and spectacular
holidayresorts on Queensland’s beautifulGold Coast. Sun, sand and
sea!
Good luck to the BAA NationalTeam and we are all behind you!
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Shizentai 6
18
Hideo Ohbathe aikido of ‘quiet taste’ part 4
Paul Wildish
Hideo Ohba resigned his post asa judo and police compliance
andarrest tactics (taiho jutsu)instructor for the Akita Police
in1959. This resignation wasprompted by a request from KenjiTomiki,
to join him in Tokyo at theprestigious Waseda University.
Tomiki Sensei had joined theuniversity in 1951 as a
full-timelecturer in the PE Department andwas given charge of
Waseda’sJudo Club. Under his leadershipTomiki had introduced the
study oftechniques for use in therikakutaisei, or separated
standingposition taking ‘a distance apart’,as well as the more
usual judograppling forms taking a grip onthe gi. These were the
techniquesTomiki had worked on inManchuria with Hideo Ohba as
hisassistant, based on what they hadlearnt from Ueshiba Sensei.
In 1952 Tomiki extended theseideas and began to teach acourse
that he named Judo Taiso(judo exercises). At first thiscourse was
for women only but by1953 it was opened to men.Tomiki taught this
course basedon both judo and aikido toWaseda students for next
eightyears. Finally in March 1960, thecourse name was changed
toAikido and the first steps towardsthe creation of Aikido Kyogi,
or‘competitive aikido’ were taken.
The creation of Tomiki Aikido
Ohba joined the PE Departmentof Waseda University as a judoand
aikido instructor at Tomiki’sbehest in that same year,specifically
to help further hisambitions for the ‘new aikido’.Fumiaki Shishida
attests that withhis typical modesty that he feltprivileged to have
such anappointment which he felt hehardly deserved and was
verygrateful for. Characteristically hethrew himself into
encouraging thestudents to more active study andpractice of
Tomiki’s new aikidotechniques designed for randoripractice.
Waseda was not his only teachingassignment at this time as
histhird son Kiyoshi remembered.
"My father would go homeimmediately after practice at Wasedaand
then after he ate he would go toteach at the United States
ArmedForces Base in Fuchu. Then hewould come home again, this time
todo some washing, and then go offsomewhere else to teach. He
was
very busy every day going back andforth between his house and
theplaces he taught, sometimes as manyas four times a day."
Fumiaki Shishida Sensei alsorecalls the tireless nature of
HideoOhba’s teaching programme.
“The places at which he taught aloneor together with Tomiki
changed overthe years, but he taught at a largenumber of locations.
If I recall back tothose times, he taught at many newlyestablished
clubs such as theSeidokan in Kasumi-cho, theWrestling Hall in
Aoyama, SportsKaikan in Okubo, as well as at theShudokan. He also
taught the newlyestablished aikido clubs of Seyo,Kokushikan and
Meiji universities.Furthermore, he taught at each of thebranch
dojos established in Osaka(Shodokan), Yamaguchi, Fukuoka,Imabari
(Ehime Prefecture) andNiigata. In this way, he exertedhimself
teaching all over the country.”
In 1977 Ohba retired fromWaseda University but that did notin
the least stop his commitmentto teaching Tomiki Aikido.Immediately
upon retirement hetook a post at KokushinkanUniversity and then in
1980 hebecame an instructor at theNational Police Academy.
Hecontinued to pursue his passion toteach and communicate
aikidountil he finally retired to his hometown in 1985, his spirit
undimmed.
The 25 years of his teaching at
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Shizentai 6
19
Waseda and at numerous clubsboth in Tokyo and across thecountry,
ran in parallel to thedevelopment of Tomiki’s‘Competitive Aikido’
and theformation and growth of the JapanAikido Association (Nihon
AikidoKyokai).
When Ohba Sensei joined KenjiTomiki in 1959 at Waseda,
theformation of the new ‘CompetitiveAikido’ was still in its early
stages.Recruiting Ohba to Wasedaenabled Tomiki to gain thesupport
of an accomplished budopractitioner with whom he hadworked closely
with in Manchuria.Ohba had been his closestdisciple, confidant and
faithfulfriend. This combination of
Tomiki’s questing intellectualvision, coupled with Ohba’sbreadth
of budo experience,teaching and performance skills,was to prove an
enduringpartnership of great benefit to thecharacter of Tomiki’s
‘CompetitiveAikido’.
Ohba’s arrival at Waseda came ata fertile moment of
technicalchange within the nascent JAA.Up until that time the
pattern ofpractice consisted of unsoku,tandoku undo, yonhon no
kuzushi(the original version of what wasto transform into nanahon
nokuzushi) and the basic jugohon nokata (15 technique kata)
thatformed the basis of Tomiki’ssystemisation of aikido
waza.Shortly after Ohba’s arrival, in andaround 1960, this began
tochange taking the fundamentalshape in which it is practicedtoday
with the creation of thejunanahon (17 basic kata). Inaddition to
which the roppon nokuzushi was created and then the
dai san or goshin no kata as akata of classical aikido
techniquesresponding to unarmed andarmed attacks.
Takeshi Inoue who was a closestudent of both Tomiki and Ohbaat
this time, recalls this process ofcreation.
“During the mid-60s Ohba Senseiand others worked on the creation
ofthe kata forms of the dai-ichi (first) todai-roku (sixth), which
we presentlypractice as the koryu no kata, in orderto work on
techniques fordemonstrations and for purposesother than randori.
What OhbaSensei particularly stressed informulating these kata was
theorganization of different techniques insuch a way that students
could learnconnections between techniqueseasily and naturally.
After he hadorganized the techniques to someextent, Ohba Sensei
reported toTomiki Sensei and demonstratedwhat he had done for him.
Hereceived some advice from TomikiSensei and then added corrections
tothe kata.”
Takeshi Inoue, who came to theUK and spent time teaching withthe
BAA, was the catalyst for thestudy of Ohba’s koryu no kata
byprominent British instructors suchas Ah Loi Lee and LesleyHepden.
It was Takeshi Inouewho first introduced Loi Lee toOhba in March
1971 when shewas taken by him to early morningpractice at Aoyama.
Both Loi Leeand Lesley Hepden, who alsostudied in Japan with Ohba,
wereprofoundly impressed not only byhis great skill but by the
wisdom,humanity and gentle considerationhe displayed as a teacher.
Bothwere to regard him as their aikidomentor from that time
forward,
which would condition their ownapproach to teaching and
practiceand ultimately influence that of theBAA.
Such was Loi Lee’s and LesleyHepden’s enthusiasm for
histeaching, upon their respectivereturns to the UK, that they
easilyconvinced their aikido friends thatOhba Sensei should be
invited tothe UK to teach. Through thegood offices of Takeshi
Inoue, thiswas finally achieved in march1976.
Ohba’s visit to England
Loi Lee in her book ‘TomikiAikido: Past and Future’ wrote ofthis
time.
“It was typical of the man that whenwe met him for the first
time atHeathrow Airport accompanied byShinohara San from
WasedaUniversity and took them to my flat,he insisted on playing
his shakuhachi(bamboo flute) as his way of greetingus for the first
time and also thankingus for the invitation. This is after along
tiring journey of 17 hours.”
Shinohara San was a 3rd Danfrom Waseda University and wasto act
as uke, translator and to‘look after’ Ohba. However LoiLee
describes many instanceswhere Ohba was looking out forShinohara and
making thetranslations himself when hethought his assistant was
beingtardy and long-winded. Ohbastayed in England for five
weeksteaching and also visitingStratford upon Avon, Brighton andthe
Lake District.
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Shizentai 6
20
Importantly for the BAA, Ohba notonly taught and demonstrated
thekata of Tomiki Aikido but heintroduced the practice of
tantorandori for the first time. All thosewho attended his sessions
werecharmed by his engagingpersonality, and impressed by
histechnical mastery and charismaticteaching.
Ohba was to visit England onceagain three years later in 1979,
tocelebrate the opening of Loi Lee’sYawara Centre dojo in
London.This time he travelled without anuke from Waseda, as Itsuo
Haba4 Dan was already staying withLoi Lee while studying English.
Onthis occasion he was only able tostay for two all too short
weeks,but nevertheless immenselyregarded by all who had thebenefit
of his teaching.
“a rare close teacher andstudent relationship”
Hideo Ohba throwing Ken Broome with his signature inEnglish and
Japanes on the left (from Dick Todd’s collection).
Kenji Tomiki and Hideo Ohbaenjoyed, according to RyosukeTogashi
“a rare close teacher andstudent relationship” through themajor
part of their professionallives. Ohba’s devotion to Tomikiwas the
central pillar of his life andhad been tested through thehazards of
war in Manchuria andtheir long teaching partnership. Itwas never
found wanting of anabsolute commitment to Tomikiand his vision for
aikido at alltimes. This was again confirmedwhen Ohba had news that
Tomikiwas critically ill in hospital. Ohbawho was in Akita at the
timeimmediately drove, without rest orsleep, across the country to
be byhis master’s bedside. His hopesand prayers that Tomiki
wouldrally and recover were to bedisappointed. Three days later
inDecember 1979 Tomiki died,leaving behind a great legacy ofbudo
scholarship and technicalinsight and creative invention thathad
moulded the teachings ofjudo’s Kano and Ueshiba’s aikidointo a
coherent unity. Now it was
to be Ohba’s mission to carry thatlegacy forward.
The second president.
After Tomiki’s death Ohba Senseibecame the second president
ofthe Japanese Aikido Association,and stepped into the role
ofleading the instruction anddissemination of Tomiki
Aikidothroughout Japan and the widerworld. In this capacity,
despite hisage, from his base in Tokyo hemade regular visits to
dojos inother cities across Japan to teach,encourage and inspire
hisstudents. This passion took himfurther afield, making as we
noteda second visit to the UK andEurope and teaching trips to
Taiwan and Australia. He alsoappeared in an episode of theBBC
documentary series, “ TheWay of the Warrior” entitled“Aikido &
Kendo: The SportingWay”, which can still be trackeddown on YouTube.
His efforts topromote Tomiki Aikido bore fruit,particularly
internationally, whereclubs developed not only in theUK but in
Belgium, theNetherlands, Switzerland, SpainAustralia, the USA,
Brazil andTaiwan. Today even more clubshave opened in France,
Russia,the Ukraine, Georgia and theCzech Republic. Giving a
vitalinternational dimension to TomikiAikido eventually bringing
manycountries together to celebrateand compete in both kata
andtanto randori.
For the UK, Ohba’s koryu no katahave been continuously
practicedand valued, even when they fellfrom favour in Japan. Now
thatthe JAA are revisiting andreviewing these kata, a
vitalcontribution made by Ohba toTomiki Aikido is hopefully
beingrestored.
Continued on page 23
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Shizentai 6
21
AiKIDo Juniors& YouthSarah Fletcher BAA Youth Development
OfficerJunior Open North Competition
On Saturday 14th March 2015one hundred and thirty of theBAA’s
junior and youthcompetitors turned out for theJunior Open North
championshipsin Bradford. It was an extremelysuccessful day with
allcompetitors demonstrating somegreat Aikido and
excellentsportsmanship. Congratulations to
all those who took part, and thankyou to all the referees
andassistants who helped the day torun smoothly. We hope we
willhave seen you at the BAA JuniorNationals - 27th June 2015
inBradford and then at the next BAAJunior Open South – 21stNovember
2015 in HighWycombe.
Junior competitions count towardsthe Youth and Junior
AwardScheme.
For more information pleasecontact: Sarah Fletcher
-youth@aikido- baa.org.uk
UNDER 8’sRANDORI-NO-KATA
BRONZE – Cox & Gumbs(LDS/BDF)SILVER – Mustafa &
Obbard(HUD)GOLD – Wallon & Carter (HUD)
KAKARIGEIKO
BRONZE – Bundred & Woodward(LDS)SILVER – Wallon & Carter
(HUD)GOLD – Cox & Tippling (LDS)
NININ DORI
BRONZE – Grundy, Sutton &Cheetam (YJH)SILVER – Clubs, Watson
& Tipling(YJH/LDS)GOLD – Mustafa, Carter & Wallon(HUD)
BEST INDIVIDUAL
Gumbs (BDF)
UNDER 10’sRANDORI-NO-KATA
BRONZE – Grundy & Oostervic(YJH)
SILVER – Barnaby & Stenson(YJH)GOLD – Masterfano &
Bishop(YJH)
KAKARIGEIKO
BRONZE – Bishop & Masterfano(YJH)SILVER – Bearne &
Davidson(HAR)GOLD – Stewart & Emmerson-curry (HUD)
NININ DORI
BRONZE – Kasongo, Emmerson-Curry & Stewart (HUD)
Junior Open Championships (North) results
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Shizentai 6
22
SILVER – Baker, Compston &Cox (LDS)GOLD – Bishop, Masterfano
&Grundy (YJH)
BEST INDIVIDUAL
Howes (LDS)UNDER 12’sRANDORI-NO-KATA
BRONZE – Emmerson-curry &Firth (HUD)SILVER – Ball &
McKenzie (HUD)GOLD – Hartshorne & Kellitt(YJH)
KAKARIGEIKO
BRONZE – Ball & Mckenzie(HUD)SILVER – Keyworth &
Sutton(YJH)GOLD – Hartshorne & Kellit (YJH)
NININ DORI
BRONZE – Ball, Mckenzie &Kasongo (HUD)SILVER – Marsland,
Hill &Goodsman (BDF)GOLD – Hartshorne, Kellitt &Oosterviv
(YJH)
TANTO TAISABAKI
BRONZE – Cox (LDS)SILVER – Kerrigan (LDS)GOLD – Firth (HUD)
BEST INDIVIDUAL
Hewitt (LDS)
UNDER 14’sRANDORI-NO-KATA
BRONZE – Barnby & Walker(YJH)SILVER – Millar & Millar
(LDS)GOLD – Goodall &Pilling (LDS)KAKARIGEIKOBRONZE – Barnby
& Walker(YJH)SILVER – Pilling & Goodall (LDS)GOLD – Firth
& Young (HUD)
NININ DORI
BRONZE – Pearce, Reddish-Good & Hudson (LDS)SILVER –
Goodall, Cheney-Thornton & Pilling (LDS)GOLD – Firth, Young
& Galiev(HUD)
BEST INDIVIDUAL
Al- Hassan (BDF)
UNDER 16’sRANDORI-NO-KATA
BRONZE – Gander & Bolton(LDS)SILVER – Firth &
Emmerson(HUD)GOLD – Harrison & Pullan (HUD)
OPEN KATA
BRONZE – Harrison & Pullan(HUD)SILVER – Bolton & Gander
(LDS)GOLD – Pilling & Cox (HUD)
KAKARIGEIKO
BRONZE – Bolton & Gander(LDS)SILVER – Pullan &
Harrison(HUD)GOLD – Firth & Emmerson (HUD)
NININ DORI
BRONZE – Bolton, Gander &Riley (LDS)SILVER – Gornall,
Cheshire &Aldridge (BDF/LDS/WHF)GOLD – Barker, Emmerson
&Harrison (HUD)
TANTO TAISABAKI
BRONZE – Harrison (HUD)SILVER – Gander (LDS)GOLD – Firth
(HUD)
BEST INDIVIDUAL
Rowichi (BDF)
TEAM CHAMPION
1st - Huddersfield Tomiki Aikido2nd - Leeds Central Aikido3rd -
Yon Ju Hachi
Hideo OhbaContinued from page 21
Eventually, despite his energyand commitment to
spreadingTomiki’s Aikido across Japanand the world, age and
illnessfinally caught up with HideoOhba. In 1982 he was taken
illand hospitalised. Upon leavinghospital he began teachingagain,
encouraging the beliefthat he had fully recovered.This was not to
be and he
became ill again in 1985 andreturned to hospital. Thisconvinced
him to leave Tokyoafter twenty five active yearsand retire to
Yokote, his oldhome and birthplace. Manystudents came to Ueno
Stationin Tokyo, to celebrate andwitness the departure of
TomikiAikido’s second greatest figure,Hideo Ohba and his wife
Keikoto honourable retirement.
Ohba Sensei finally diedpeacefully attended by his wifein
February 1986. Fumiaki
Shishida records that it wassaid that while ill in bed he kepta
picture of Tomiki by hisbedside and still hoped torecover and
continue his workto promote his master’s aikido.Even at his end
this spirit stillburnt bright within him.
Bibliography:
Hideo Ohba Biography 1 & 2, AikiNews,1990, Fumiaki
Shishida
Tomiki Aikido: Past & Future 1988,Ah Loi Lee
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Shizentai 6
23
A series of articles focusing onthe coaching of young
people,helping coaches to make practiceboth safe and enjoyable.
The acquisition of anddevelopment of skills in youngpeople can
be difficult, especiallywith the complex nature of
Aikidoitself.
The skill and communicationabilities of the coach,
maturation,development of nervous system,physical maturity, prior
experienceand the difficulty of the taskunderpin the development
ofcontrolled movement.
The development of techniqueleading to good performance isthe
ability to make adjustments toperformance as conditions
orcircumstances demand. Skill isabout the development ofconsistent
performance.
In early years young peopledevelop skills informally
throughplay, PE in school and throughlocal sports clubs. These
basicintroductions lay the foundationfor future development.
Maturation refers to changes thatoccur in the body over time
withregard that young people growand mature at different rates.
Understanding the implications ofthese elements will make
sportsmore rewarding and safe foryoung people. Coaches shouldadapt
activities to the changingneeds of their students especiallyduring
periods of rapid growth.Judge performance according toa young
person’s stage ofdevelopment and not by whatothers of the same age
can do.Reduce the exposure to
competition randori as long aspossible
Some key points related to growthand maturation
· Growth and maturationvary greatly in youngpeople,
makingchronological age a poorindicator of developmentalstatus.
· Young people should beencouraged to participatein a wide range
ofmovement development.
· Late maturers and youngpeople small for their agemay be
discouraged insport and therefore maynot get a chance todevelop
their talent.
· During growth spurtstraining and competitionneed to be
plannedcarefully to avoid injury.
· The risk of bone fracture,growth plate injuries andsoft tissue
injuriesincreases during rapidgrowth.
· Girls who under-eat whiletraining intensely run therisk of
stress fracturesand, in later life,osteoporosis.
· Training and competitionschedules need to beplanned around
theholistic needs of eachindividual.
· Early specializationreduces athleticism.
· Taking care of youngpeople with regard topractice and
trainingschedules, is important tokeep young people inAikido for
the long-termand to make sure nopotentially talented youngpeople
are lost fromAikido.
The development of the nervoussystem is also key to
theacquisition of skills. The system isthe body message conduit,
inyounger children their ability toremember or select importantcues
is reduced, making decisionmaking more difficult.
Prior experience is also crucial,young people with a range
ofexperiences have already begunto develop a wide range ofmovements
and related skills.They have started to build upexperiences and
physicalpatterns to draw upon. Thereforevery young children may
findadditional difficulties in learningAikido as their general
levelmovement and skill is low.
Ultimately the role and abilities ofthe coach are key, their
ability tocommunicate at an appropriatelevel, their ability to
impartinformation in a variety of waysand their experience of
dealingwith young people is crucial. It isimperative that the
coachpresents each skill in a way thatgives the individual the
greatestchance of success, allowsadequate time for practice,
rotatepractice to avoid boredom andabove all is patient. The use
ofgames is very good practice, aslong as the activity supports
theacquisition of an Aikido relatedskill. The next issue will
providean outline to a number of potentialAikido games.
Coaching Young People in
Skill Development (Part Three)
Tomiki Aikido Bob Jones
-
Shizentai 6
24
Contact: [email protected] BAA Website
www.aikido-baa.org.uk
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July 2015
24-26 BAA Summer SchoolLeeds
August 2015
10 BAA National SquadLoughborough University
29-30 SAF/WSAF InternationalCompetition Gold CoastAustralia
September 2015
26-27 BAA SOTR School SouthTBC
October 2015
11 Executive CtteeNorthampton
26-27 JAA/TAIN InternationalCompetition Fleisch
SwitzerlandSeptember 2015
November 2015
7-8 BAA Autumn School HerneBay, Kent
21 BAA Junior Open South HighWycombe Judo Centre
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