Novosibirsk Seminar

Ando Sensei recently returned from 6 days in Novosibirsk, Russia. Andrey Podoynikov Sensei and the Shosetsukan Dojo hosted him for 4 days of training. About 140 kids and adults attended the weekend seminar. There were students from Irkutsk city, Moscow city, Naberezhnie Chelni city, and Krasnodar city.

Above - Ando Shihan preparing for some snowmobile riding in -20 degree Siberian weather

Check this LINK for a video of the demonstration.

Congratulations to Denis Letin on his successful shodan grading and thanks again to Andrey, his wife, Kumakura-san, and all the students, friends and family for the help and hospitality during the week.

Jim Dawes

Junior Tournament

Last Saturday, Feb.11th, Yoshinkan Aikido Ryu and the Urayasu Aikido Federation hosted the 8th Annual Junior Tournament here at the Maihama Sports Center in Urayasu. 160 students from second grade to the 6th were split up in to upper and lower levels and competed in various kihon waza, jiyu waza, 31 no jo, and kihon dosa renzoku tournaments.

Then as in the picture below, the upper and lower level groups were split in to two different sections (4 areas in total). Being 4 different tournaments going on simultaneously, the staff required is ridiculous - Over 55 teachers / regular students assisted in everything from judging (20 3dan and up instructors) to writting out certifcates, working the reception, lining up kids, score keeping, sound and screens and a number of other jobs. Thanks to everyone for all your help.

The first round was kihon dosa renzoku - out of 5 or 6 kids the top two would move on to the second round. For Brown belt and up, the second round was kihon waza - shomen uchi sankajo osae ni and ryote mochi tenchinage ichi. For orange belt and below the second round was again kihon dosa renzoku.

The third and final round before semi-finals all groups did kihon waza. Orange belt and below did katate mochi shihonage ni and shomen uchi sankajo osae ichi. The 8 top people from the 4 sections were then on to the semi-finals. But before that the 31 no jo tournament would take place. This was the first year we added this extra section to the taikai. Students could choose whether or not they wanted to take part in it. 31 no jo ran straight threw to the finals - leaving 4 people (1st place, second, and two 3rds).

Next was the semi-finals - brown belts and above did shomen uchi jiyu waza. Only 8 people left, so everybody was giving it 100%. Sad to say but the jiyu waza looked better than many of the adult students out there. For the finals, the lower level group also did some simple jiyu waza (4 techniques repeated twice). The upper class finished with ryote mochi jiyu waza (which was fun for them since its not on the regular testing syllabus and most of them haven't practiced it before the tournament training began).

Thanks to all the students, families, and staff for all thier time not only on that busy Saturday, but for the weeks / months before preparing for this years competition. And of course congratulations to everyone on a great job, especially all the winners in their perspective categories.


Following the kids event was the 5th annual adult training. This year there were 3 shihans present - Ando Shihan, Chino Shihan and Aiki-kai's Nakajima Shihan. The 80 or so participants split in to 3 different groups and trained for about 30 minutes with each Sensei.

A lot of the Ryu members found it interesting to train with a different style teacher. Each Sensei focused on different things, but it the end it was all aikido. This was the first year that Nakajima Shihan joined us, giving the Yoshinkan crew a chance to experience some Aiki-kai first hand.

After the training about half the participants went upstairs to the Sports Center cafeteria for a short, but well deserved party. We finished up at about 8pm, but then Ando Shihan, Chino Shihan, Mizuno Sensei and the uchideshi went to the nearby family restaurant - COCOs for some coffee. A long, busy, hectic... BUT fun, exciting and successful day. Next year we are thinking of adding junior high school students as well as some other changes to the ever evolving event.

Jim Dawes

13th Kangeiko

The cold week of early morning training is under way - 3 days done, 4 to go. The first day Ando Shihan went through 8 different ikkajo techniques. Yesterday was Hotta Sensei's turn, nikajo and shomen iriminage (was good to see Hotta Sensei, been awhile).

Today Katagiri Sensei taught a variety of sankajo and hijiate techniques. Tomorrow is Otsuka Sensei, then me, Mitsuhashi Sensei and we will finish again with Ando Shihan.

Well, it's Tuesday and Kangeiko has finished. 18 people attended everyday and got both a certificate and small gift. Another 3 missed just a day or two so received a certificate. All in all not too bad of a week, the weather was cool, but hard to complain when I seen this mail from James Fish (Alaska).

Congratulations to everyone here in Urayasu, and goodluck to all the students at Shoryukan in Fairbanks.


Jim Dawes

Urayasu Kagami Biraki

Sunday, January 15th was the Urayasu Kagami Biraki, held as always at the Urayasu Chuo Budokan. This was my 3rd consecutive year planning and organising the event. Each and every year a few small changes trying to improve and make the best out of the morning.

This year from 9:15 ~ 10am Ando Sensei held a special free seminar. About 45 or 50 adults joined the training. Sankajo ichi, ni and sankajo nage. Following the seminar, a brief intermission, then short rehearsal for the over 100 kids and adults participating in the Kagami Biraki demonstration.

8 out of the 11 members of this years Tokubetsu Course doing some kihon waza. Kagami Biraki being the 2nd weekend after the Winter vacation doesn't give anyone much time to practise, however the Tokubetsu Course did a great job as always. Applications for next years course, which starts May are being accepted now. Contact Ryu for more details.

Nagahata Kaoru, and husband Toru lined up 20 or so kindergarten kids from mostly Urayasu, but also some other students from out of the city for a short, but cute demo of seiza-ho, shikko-ho and new year greeting.

Shonenbu started the enbu off with kihon dosa renzoku, and various ukemi. Junior high and high school kids did 31 no jo, Adults students did kakari geiko, and above videos of the Ryu Instructors demo (including Nikolai Zherdev, from Moscow) and then of course Ando Shihan. This time the demo was split up into groups and each group had its own leader, hence everything running a lot smoother than previous years. Looking forward to trying to make 2013 even better!

After Aiki-kai's Nakajima Sensei finished up the demo, all the students and guests helped prepare for the sweet bean and mochi party. Almost 250 people were in attendance this year, a few more each year! All the kids got a snack pack kinda thing as a new year gift from the Urayasu Aikido Federation.

Next up - Feb 1st to the 7th the 13th Annual Kangeiko (early morning Winter training), then Feb 11th, the Junior Aikido Competition, then in March, Spring tests. A busy, but good start to 2012.

Jim Dawes

little Fish

Congratulations to James Fish and his wife on the birth of their healthy little boy - Tonnadon William Fish. Born January 4th, in the middle of a -35 degree Alaskan Winter. A future strong addition to the Fairbanks Shoryukan Dojo .

It's been a couple years, and now with the new addition to the family, probably a couple more before we see James here again in Japan. But Jim has always kept in touch and continues to try and get things rolling for Yoshinkan in Alaska. Good luck with both the family and dojo. Hope to see you all soon!

Jim Dawes

Introducing Kouhei Ando

Ando Sensei and I are absolutely delighted to announce the birth of our second child, Kouhei Ando.  Kouhei was due to arrive on the 31st of December last year.  Apparently the little guy didn't want to wait that long and he was born unexpectedly early on the 16th of December.  He was so eager to see the world, in fact, that we almost didn't make it to the hospital on time and he was almost born in the taxi!

The characters in Kouhei's name are　光平　and they mean "bright" or "shining" and "peace".  

If you read the previous post, you will see that Kouhei was born right before the busiest weekend at the end of the Ryu year with Ando Sensei being away on Saturday at the Edogawa shibu demonstration and busy with tests and parties on Sunday.  A big, big thank you to Miyuki Otahara and Chieko Morita who stepped in to help look after Kouhei's big brother and everybody else for their support while I was in the hospital.  Also, thank you to everybody from all around the world who sent messages of congratulations!  

2012 is the year of the dragon in the Chinese calendar and we hope this year is a wonderful one for everybody!  

Ando Sensei and Stephanie.