Interviews
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 Bruno Gonzalez: From Constraint to Freedom
It was in the particular atmosphere of Cercle Tissier t...
Interview with Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan, 8th dan
When I opened my own dojo in 2019, in the midst of the ...
Interview with Robert Frager, 8th Dan Aikikai, direct student of O Sensei
Dr. Robert Frager is a distinguished figure in the aiki...
Interview with Patricia Hendricks Shihan, 7th Dan
Patricia Hendricks Sensei, a 7th Dan Aikikai Shihan, ha...
Interview with Sameshima Motonari, 8th Dan Judo Senior Councilor of the Kodokan Judo Institute
This interview was conducted during the Kano Jirogo Ann...
Roundtable Discussion with Doshu and Students from Abroad
I was once told by Christian Tissier, who spent substan...
Interview with Kimura Jiro (8th Dan), President of the Osaka Buikukai
Kimura Jiro Shihan is a Japanese Aikido teacher, succes...
Interview with Jacques Payet, 8th Dan Yoshinkan
As my work is receiving more attention from the aikido ...
Interview with Hélène Doué from the Cercle Tissier
Hélène Doué is one of the most popular aikido teachers ...
Events
Videos
History
A Brief History of the All Japan Aikido Demonstration
The All Japan Aikido Demonstration will celebrate its 60th anniversary this coming May (2023) so I thought it would be a good opportunity to go through some historical records and summarize how the de...
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...
"New budo, that is, Divine budo" - A short presentation of Ueshiba Morihei in Shin Budo
I have been searching through old issues of the defunct Shin Budo magazine for the past year or so and thanks to the help of Baptiste Tavernier, I was able to lay my eyes on this interesting presentat...
"A Look Into Tenshin-ryu Aiki-budo" - O Sensei demonstrating battlefield techniques
Shin Budo (新武道, lit. new budo) is a now defunct magazine that ran through from April 1941 through most of World War II. It argued that budo could bear some worthwhile teachings that could, often liter...
Takashimaya: The first public Aikido demonstration that most of us are wrong about!
Most history books about Aikido mention at one point or another the famous first public demonstration held for five days on the rooftop of Takashimaya Department Store in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district. ...
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...
Budo Renshu: The Technical Key to Ueshiba Morihei's Aikido
Ueshiba Morihei (植芝 盛平, 1883 - 1969), the founder of Aikido never made any particular effort to teach what he was doing. Indeed, he did not seem to give technical explanations, and when he did speak, ...
The Origin and Meaning of Martial Arts Demonstrations in Japan
Ihe warm days have returned and with them, comes a time of demonstrations and martial arts events of all kinds. Indeed, we will soon be preparing for the great annual demonstration of the aikitaisai (...
Old Japanese Newspaper Articles about André Nocquet
As an amateur researcher on the history of Aikido, I am lucky to have direct access to some of the last great Masters, direct pupils of O Sensei. Last weekend, I spent some time with Isoyama Hiroshi S...
History of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo
The association between Tokyo's Shinjuku ward and the headquarters of the Aikikai world is obvious to pretty much all practitioners affiliated to the organization. Indeed, the imposing five-storey bui...
Columns
Women in Aikido
Interview with Patricia Hendricks Shihan, 7th Dan
Patricia Hendricks Sensei, a 7th Dan Aikikai Shihan, ha...
Mutsuko Minegishi Shihan Becomes First Woman Awarded 8th Dan in Aikido
Tokyo, April 15, 2025 — In a historic milestone for mar...
Virginia Mayhew: Founder of the New York Aikikai and Direct Student of O Sensei
Many of us aikidoka are eager to read about the lives o...
Interview with Hélène Doué from the Cercle Tissier
Hélène Doué is one of the most popular aikido teachers ...
Micheline Tissier promoted to the 7th Dan - Kagamibiraki 2020
The year 2020 is upon us and it is definitely going to ...
Budo Renshu: The Technical Key to Ueshiba Morihei's Aikido
Ueshiba Morihei (植芝 盛平, 1883 - 1969), the founder of Ai...
The Female Aikidoist's Guide to Hombu Dojo
In February and March 2016 I travelled to Japan for the...
Interview with Janet Clift, 6th Dan Aikikai
Janet Clift is a 6th Dan British Aikido instructor who ...
