GUILLAUME ERARD
6TH DAN SHIHAN - AIKIKAI HOMBU DOJO
Latest Articles
Interview with Yoon Dae-hyun, founder and president of the Korea Aikido Federation
This interview with Yoon Dae-hyun Sensei, the founder and president of the Korea Aikido Federation, was conducted during the organization's 30th anniversary celebration. Mihaly Dobroka and I were invi...
Interview with Bruno Gonzalez: From Constraint to Freedom
It was in the particular atmosphere of Cercle Tissier that I had the chance to speak with Bruno Gonzalez. Christian Tissier's successor at the head of aikido classes at the Cercle, Bruno has over thir...
Interview with Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan, 8th dan
When I opened my own dojo in 2019, in the midst of the pandemic, the Takeda family were the first people to contact me and offer some help, especially in regard to spreading the word about the dojo&nb...
Bayonne 2025: Exploring Aikido’s Roots Through Dynamic Practice
This summer I had the privilege of teaching a series of seminars across Europe, focusing on the roots of Aikido and their connections to Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu. A central theme was the study of classi...
New Video: Guillaume Erard at the Kanagawa Budokan
On July 27th, Yokohama AikiDojo proudly took part in the 21st Kanagawa Prefecture Aikido Federation Demonstration at the Kanagawa Budokan. Our dojo was represented by a group enbu featuring ten adult ...
Interview with Robert Frager, 8th Dan, direct student of O Sensei
Dr. Robert Frager is a distinguished figure in the aikido world, known both for his direct training with founder Ueshiba Morihei and for his contributions to the fields of psychology and spiritual dev...
Upcoming Courses
| Friday 19 June to Saturday 20 June 2026 ERARD Shihan - Emmendingen (GERMANY) |
| Friday 20 March to Saturday 21 March 2026 ERARD Shihan - Montreal (CANADA) |
| Sunday 14 December to Saturday 20 December 2025 ERARD Shihan - La Réunion (FRANCE) |
| Friday 11 July to Saturday 12 July 2025 ERARD Shihan - Cambridge (UK) |
| Friday 04 July to Saturday 05 July 2025 ERARD Shihan - Paris (FRANCE) |
| Thursday 26 June to Sunday 29 June 2025 ERARD Shihan - Bayonne (FRANCE) |
| Thursday 19 June to Sunday 22 June 2025 ERARD Shihan - Emmendingen (GERMANY) |
| 22 December 2024 ERARD Shihan - Kamakura (JAPAN) |
Interviews
Interview with Isoyama Hiroshi: The Master of Iwama
Isoyama Hiroshi Shihan is one of the very last living s...
Interview with Peter Goldsbury - Part 1: From Aikido in the UK to Academia in Japan
Peter Goldsbury is 7th Dan Aikido instructor who has be...
Interview with Miyamoto Tsuruzo, Christian Tissier, and Okamoto Yoko Shihan
In June this year, just before heading to Europe for my...
Interview with Yoon Dae-hyun, founder and president of the Korea Aikido Federation
This interview with Yoon Dae-hyun Sensei, the founder a...
Interview with Kimura Jiro (8th Dan), President of the Osaka Buikukai
Kimura Jiro Shihan is a Japanese Aikido teacher, succes...
Interview with Philippe Gouttard - 35 Trips in Tokyo
My first interview with Philippe Gouttard dates back to...
Newspaper Articles about Takeda Sokaku Part 1: The Recluse Bokuden of Our Times (1930)
Even though Takeda Sokaku was said to be rather reclusi...
Interview with Jacques Payet, 8th Dan Yoshinkan
As my work is receiving more attention from the aikido ...
Interview with Christopher Mulligan: Generative Aikido
Christopher Mulligan began training Aikido in 1972. Alo...
Interview with Olivier Gaurin: A Journey on the Way of Disgrace
Olivier Gaurin is one of the most well-known French Aik...
Column: It Ain't Necessarily So
Where’s My Money!!!???? - It Ain't Necessarily So
Some might find this an essay on a trivial subject—a one-hundred-year old personal debt. How this debt is interpreted, however, defines the nature of the relationship of two men: Takeda Sokaku and Ues...
Revisiting Assumptions: Twenty Years to Hiden Mokuroku - It Ain't Necessarily So
Event though the extent of the technical curriculum of some martial arts schools can be quite extensive, fellow koryu practitioners often express surprise at how large that of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu i...
Kobayashi Hirokazu, a Daito-ryu Master? - It Ain't Necessarily So
Some time ago, Aikido Journal published excerpts from an email exchange between the late Stanley Pranin and André Cognard, who runs an independent Aikido group in Europe. The article highlights a so-c...
Banquo’s Ghost - It Ain't Necessarily So
Where do myths begin? Jungian psychologists assert that myths reflect primordial patterns within the unconscious. Myths, therefore, impose a one form of order on chaos. This order is based in both rea...
Rendez-vous with Adventure - It Ain't Necessarily So
I trained for a short time at the Kodokan, and then, for several years, with Tokaidai Sagami high school’s judō team. Tokai Daigaku, a huge complex of university campuses was the pre-eminent judō powe...
Ueshiba Morihei's "Escape from Osaka" - It Ain't Necessarily So
I have previously written about Hisa Takuma and Nakatsu Heizaburo, who were both the students of Ueshiba Morihei, and then Takeda Sokaku, at the dojo of the Asahi newspaper in Osaka between 1934 and 1...
