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Iwama Embu 2018

Iwama Aiki Shurenkai 2018 Embu The Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shurenkai, led by Kaicho Saito Hitohira, conducted their annual public “embu kai” demonstration in Tomobe, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan in June 2018. The video of Saito Kaicho conducting a variety of paired sword practices and sword takeaways illustrates the precise nature of aikido as practiced under his […]

Hear One, Know Ten

Hear One, Know Ten Anyone familiar with Japanese culture or has taken a course on doing business in Japan may be familiar with the phrase: hear one, know ten. This is normally stated as: 一言えば十をしる (ichi ieba ju wo shiru). The statement alludes to the situational awareness and social attentiveness, characteristic of Japan, that allows […]

Secret Sword Of Tama

Shinsengumi Prepare To Attack In The Moonlight

Not much is known about the origins of Kondo Kuranosuke Nagamichi (近藤内蔵助長裕), the founder of the Tennen Rishin Ryu (天然理心流) samurai martial system. He is believed to be from the rural part of Totomi province west of the Kanto plain, in what is now known as Shizuoka Prefecture and his date of birth is unknown. However, […]

8 Points For Realistic Aikido Training

Origin and Intent Aikido and other samurai derived martial arts are properly referenced with the understanding that everyone is armed, or has the potential to be so. For this reason, authentic aikido training is ideally suited for military, law-enforcement, and high-risk security personnel. Aikido was chiefly informed by Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu, which was a descendent curriculum […]

Reminiscing on a seminar with Waka Sensei

“Upon opening the door to a dark room you do not have to wait for even an instant before the light floods in. This is the proper timing of aikido technique.” Such was the advice of Yasuhiro Saito, the young master, “Waka Sensei” of Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shurenkai and son of Saito Hitohira Juku-cho, during […]

Virtue Of A Sincere Attack

Often times while training in the martial arts a challenge arises when a partner reluctantly attacks or deliberately diverts an attack so as to reduce the potential for harm. As an example, rather than striking directly into the face of their training partner, they direct the attack just slightly away. Presumably, they do this as […]