Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Exaggeration Disregards Ai-Ki
Aikido Seminar No.2, In Malta
Chicko Xerri Sensei V. Dan .
Aikido Kenkyukai International Australia / AikiKai Japan
"Remember to always keep an upright posture, Body, Heart and Mind, here is where success lays.
Take care not to have your feet too far apart, exaggeration disregards AIKI. There, will be your undoing.”
Chicko 2009
Saturday 29th May 2010 9:00 – 11:00 & 16:30 – 18:30.
Location: AIKIDO YAMATO DOJO. Maria Assumpta Girls Secondary School 32, J.Abela Scolaro Street, Hamrun
Contact in Malta : Kevin Bonanno. Email: info@aikidomalta.net
Tel: (00356) 9989 9733) Web : http://www.aikidomalta.net/
Location: AIKIDO YAMATO DOJO. Maria Assumpta Girls Secondary School 32, J.Abela Scolaro Street, Hamrun
Contact in Malta : Kevin Bonanno. Email: info@aikidomalta.net
Tel: (00356) 9989 9733) Web : http://www.aikidomalta.net/
After a visit to Japan and Aikido Enbukai with Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan and Doshu UESHIBA. in Kamakura, Chicko Xerri sensei will fly on to Europe for Travel and Aiki-Exchange, visiting Frankfurt, Prague, Beriln, London, Santiago de Compostela and Malta, for a series of short seminars to help foster exchange and new friendships.
All Aikido Affiliations and Aikido-ka are welcome, at any seminar.
Contact in Australia. Chicko Xerri. Email : fudoshindo@gmail.com
Web: http://www.aikido-fudoshin.com/
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Seminar with Shimamoto Sensei
Composition by Bruce Scott. . July-09
Composition by Bruce Scott. . July-09
On my trip home to Australia earlier this month, I was very lucky to be in Queensland at the same time as Shimamoto Shihan from Osaka. Shinamoto Shihan was in Australia to teach a three day seminar organized by David Kolb sensei of Bayside Budokai dojo.
David Kolb sensei is always very open to inviting all interested aikido people to any events that he organizes and the members of Chicko sensei’s Noosa Fudoshin dojo always make an effort to attend.
Shimamoto Shihan is a wonderful man whose kindness shows through in all his actions.
In his daily life Shimamoto Shihan is a Buddhist priest. His very deep and clear expression of aikido is a beautiful integration of aikido and Zen principles.
On the day of the seminar I woke early and watched the sunrise over the sea at Noosa beach. It was the beginning of a perfect cool clear Australian winter day. Dolphins swam in the ocean and the morning air was filled with the sounds of bird song, life awakening.
I met up with the other members of the Noosa Fudoshin dojo and we drove the one and a half hours down to Brisbane together.
When we got to the dojo we were greeted by many friendly faces and warmly welcomed. The seminar was held in an old church hall, a beautiful space with high ceilings and lovely stained glass windows that let all the winter sunlight stream through. The hall was full of a lightness, both from the space and the winter sun but also a lightness of spirit.
When stepped on to the tatami and moved to sit in seiza I felt a strong change in the room, a deepening. Even this simple act of walking across the room and sitting down had a great depth to it.
Shimamoto sensei spoke to us a lot through out the day about Zen and aikido. For every waza that we practiced sensei would share some visualization about the movement. When we sat in seiza we weren’t just to sit we were to imagine our selves as a castle, like Himeji, with a base of strong stone walls deep into the earth and as immovable. Around the stone walls there is a pond of clear water. When the surface of the water is calm then you can see clearly the reflection of the sky, the clouds floating and the sun by day and the moon and a million stars by night. But if your mind is to busy you make waves on the water and then you can’t tell if it’s the moon or the sun that you are looking at.
When your mind is calm then the surface of the water is calm and you can relax and enjoy the view, in this state if anyone tries to attack your castle, first they will have to cross this clam water and you will be able to see the ripples long before the attack arrives.
When we did ryote dori nage was to imagine that he was holding a new born baby and to gently put the baby on the tatami. ‘Hard aikido is easy, beautiful aikido is more difficult. Let’s try to do beautiful aikido’.Shimamoto Shihan’s seminar was a lovely day of aikido and sharing. It was fantastic to train with so many people from different dojos around Australia. And it was great to see friends from A.K.I dojos in Canberra, Sydney and Noosa who all made the trip to Brisbane for this special day.
David Kolb sensei is always very open to inviting all interested aikido people to any events that he organizes and the members of Chicko sensei’s Noosa Fudoshin dojo always make an effort to attend.
Shimamoto Shihan is a wonderful man whose kindness shows through in all his actions.
In his daily life Shimamoto Shihan is a Buddhist priest. His very deep and clear expression of aikido is a beautiful integration of aikido and Zen principles.
On the day of the seminar I woke early and watched the sunrise over the sea at Noosa beach. It was the beginning of a perfect cool clear Australian winter day. Dolphins swam in the ocean and the morning air was filled with the sounds of bird song, life awakening.
I met up with the other members of the Noosa Fudoshin dojo and we drove the one and a half hours down to Brisbane together.
When we got to the dojo we were greeted by many friendly faces and warmly welcomed. The seminar was held in an old church hall, a beautiful space with high ceilings and lovely stained glass windows that let all the winter sunlight stream through. The hall was full of a lightness, both from the space and the winter sun but also a lightness of spirit.
When stepped on to the tatami and moved to sit in seiza I felt a strong change in the room, a deepening. Even this simple act of walking across the room and sitting down had a great depth to it.
Shimamoto sensei spoke to us a lot through out the day about Zen and aikido. For every waza that we practiced sensei would share some visualization about the movement. When we sat in seiza we weren’t just to sit we were to imagine our selves as a castle, like Himeji, with a base of strong stone walls deep into the earth and as immovable. Around the stone walls there is a pond of clear water. When the surface of the water is calm then you can see clearly the reflection of the sky, the clouds floating and the sun by day and the moon and a million stars by night. But if your mind is to busy you make waves on the water and then you can’t tell if it’s the moon or the sun that you are looking at.
When your mind is calm then the surface of the water is calm and you can relax and enjoy the view, in this state if anyone tries to attack your castle, first they will have to cross this clam water and you will be able to see the ripples long before the attack arrives.
When we did ryote dori nage was to imagine that he was holding a new born baby and to gently put the baby on the tatami. ‘Hard aikido is easy, beautiful aikido is more difficult. Let’s try to do beautiful aikido’.Shimamoto Shihan’s seminar was a lovely day of aikido and sharing. It was fantastic to train with so many people from different dojos around Australia. And it was great to see friends from A.K.I dojos in Canberra, Sydney and Noosa who all made the trip to Brisbane for this special day.
.
Bruce scott is another of our new generation A.K.I. members now living in Japan and studying Aikido at the Dojo of Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan. Bruce is much appreciated by all members of AKI Fudoshin Dojo for his determined committment to further developing his humanity through Aiki practise.
.
Chicko.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
2009 Kyu and Dan Gradings August and October.
This year A.K.I. Australia Fudoshin Dojo will hold Kyu grade tests Saturday August 15 and Dan grade tests Saturday October 3. The Dojo will be closed to the general public on those days. Any A.K.I. Aikido visitors are welcome. A general Aikido class at 9am will be open to any visitors to view or take part.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Gragings and Promotions
A.K.I. Fudoshin Dojo Australia will hold its official Kyu and Dan gradings for 2007 on the 19th and 20th of October. The dojo will be closed to the general public on those days. A.K.I. members from other dojo are welcome to attend. promotions
Friday, September 28, 2007
Autumn Kamakura Visit 08 Sept. 07
Embukai group photo. Takeda Shihan 8th dan seated right of preistEarly this year I was asked if I would like to visit Kamakura for the Autumn activity at Hachimungu shrine for Godegeiko and Embukai. I would normaly attend the May activity to incorporate the Doshu UESHIBA seminar and dinner afterwards. In any case I wanted also to visit Japan at an other time of year, so I decided on this Autumn visit.
With me on this occasion was Shane TeAho one of my recent shodan members. It is the policy that all sho dan members connected to A.K.I. Fudoshin Dojo visit Kamakura as part of their dan promotion. We flew into Narita accompanied by an escalating typhoon. By the time we arrived into Ofuna station, two and a half hours later it was ferocious. After two days of wind and rain it abated, the sun came out and the weather from that time on till the time I departed Japan remained clear although unbearably humid.
Training with Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan has taken us again to new dimensions. I won't speak of the training with any explanation, only that Sensei's Aikido has moved further away from the physical. I could say it flirts with the term " Kami waza ." The Ukemi and sense of awareness this training touches on has to greatly benefit ones perceptions given to interpreting and understanding the subtle message specific to the individual listener. There is an air of clarity within the soul after coming down and ingesting the sensations from one of his classes. Something other than the mind is filled with wonderful light and the sense of joy and inspiration remains within for some time after. Its as if you have personally discovered an area of pristine wilderness that no one else has experienced, its that personal........... ...to be continued...
A.K.I. Fudoshin Dojo Australia, Embukai Demonstration.
Over the years Aikido members related to AKI Fudoshin dojo Australia have contributed to the Hachimungu activities with their participation and enthusiasm. This commitment to supporting our aikido network and mentor Takeda Yoshinobu shihan has not gone unnoticed. At any given time in the past and present, students from Fudoshin dojo have lived in proximity to Kamakura and or visited Japan regularly. They have always managed to coordinate their time in order to practice Aikido intensely with Takeda Shihan. To be able to introduce members so they may be touched by Aikido is a joyous experience for any teacher. I have felt over the years much joy from the members connected through our Fudoshin dojo and I appreciate their efforts and commitment to bettering themselves.
At this Autumn embukai I was most fortunate to have as participants Mr Shane Te Aho and Mr Bruce Scott pictured in photos below. We were honoured by being given a freetime segment, that is to allow our demonstration to continue at will, without the customery three miniute limit before being stoped by the sound of the Drum.
Shane was in Japan for his introductory visit after recently receiving his sho dan grade and Bruce is now living, working and training Aikido at both Higashi Totsuka and Ofuna dojo's in and around Kamakura and never far from Hachimungu Shrine....
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