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Reports:10th International Aikido Festival & Tournament 2013Kawasaki, JapanBAA South of the River FolkestoneBAA Autumn School Herne BayJuniors:Junior Open ‘South’ Competition High Wycombe

Shizentai 3Newsletter/Journal of the British Aikido Association December 2013

Kawasaki 2013

InternationalChampionships Issue!

December 2013

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Editor’s page Contents

Editor: Paul Wildish all correspondence andcontributions to shizentai@aikido-baa.org.ukPublished by the British Aikido Associationwebsite www.aikido-baa.org.uk

Reports

3 BAA ‘South of the River’ School Folkestone

4 BAA Autumn School Herne Bay

5 10th International Aikido Festival & Tournament 2013 Kawasaki, Japan

Juniors & Youth

15 Junior ‘Open’ Competition South

News

17 Team Managers advertisement

18 BAA Courses & Club Events

December 2013

As a consequence of theextensive coverage of theKawasaki Championshipsthe following articles will beheld over until the nextissue:-

Hideo 0hba : the aikido ofquiet taste 2

Coaching Young People inTomiki Aikido 2

BAA Success in Kawasaki!Congratulations to all the BAANational Squad, National Team andall BAA members who took part inthe 10th International AikidoFestival and Tournament 2013,hosted by the JAA in Kawasaki,Japan. All of you have shown suchresolve, commitment to training,breadth of technical skill andunderstanding that has all BAAmembers in awe of your success.You have emphaticallydemonstrated that the BAA canhold its own against the best ofJapan and the Tomiki Aikido worldin general. Everyone now knows ifyou want to win, you have to beable to beat the BAA first!

We are especially proud of ourwomen team members, who foughttheir way to the top rung ofcompetition winning gold forWomen’s Team Tanto Randori,matching the men’s success in2011. Congratulations go also toLaura Beardsmore for her gold inthe Women’s Individual TantoRandori and to Natuley Smalle forbringing back Bronze in the sameevent.

Of course the men also deserve ourpraise for their successes and thisissue of Shizentai carries anextensive report on the KawasakiChampionships, which gives a fulllisting of the impressive medal haul.Appropriately our coverage on theevent has been written by thewomen members of our teams!We have also once again to giveour thanks to Danielle Jones andMick Pratt, our retiring TeamManagers, who have provided theinspiration and dynamic leadershipto such a successful run ofcompetition results during their

tenure. Well done Danielle andMick!

The BAA Executive realises that wecan not rest on our laurels,particularly as so many of our bestplayers are considering retirementfrom competition. This success washard won and required exceptionalleadership skills on the part of ourTeam Managers. The BAA istherefore seeking new leadershipfor its National Squad and Teamand is advertising on page 17 forinterested members to stepforward.

The Politics

The events in Kawasaki this yeartook place against the backdrop ofthe schism within the Tomiki Aikidofamily. The BAA in concert with BobDzuibla of the Tomiki Aikido of theAmericas continues to advocate thefoundation of a World Sports AikidoFederation, open to all legitimateinterpretations of Kenji Tomiki’slegacy.

WSAF aims to bring all together forone common purpose, the pursuitof non-partisan, friendly competitionand the sharing of technicalexpertise. It does not intend toserve the interests of one shihanabove another or advocate aparticular style or training systembut to offer a neutral platform formatching skills, spirit andknowledge.

We will continue to maintain ourfriendships with both the JapanAikido Association and theShodokan Aikido Federation inpursuit of this aim.

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Folkestone Pete CoiaBAA ‘South of the River’ School

This year’s SOTR  providedexcellent coaching from BobJones, Ken Broome, ShaunHoddy, and Paul Bonnet.

The venue, the Saga Centre inFolkestone, really did match thequality of the coaching. Shaunprovided excellent instruction onthe Koryu Dai Ni and Ken with theKoryu Dai Ichi. Paul Bonnet

dazzled the participants withaspects of the Goshin Ho.

One of the coaching highlights wasBob’s jigsaw aikido session.This  neatly involved everybody,both the children and adults, at thesame time. As well as helping tounderstand the components of allaikido techniques.  The jigsawpieces were cards containing the

Japanese names of differentattacks, responses, directions, andstyles of movement. For example,a set or cards, selected at random,could contain a right handed, onehanded sleeve grasp, matchingstances, rotation throw, turningaway, and cartoon. A group put thejigsaw together into a techniquewhich they then performed – andthe all other groups had to guesswhat the technique was (totoro*migi katate dori aigamae tenkaikaiten nage?). Surprisinglyperhaps, the performers and theaudience got them all right!

(*TOTORO is a famous cartooncharacter in Japan and soundsbetter than miki nezumi !)

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BAA Autumn School Lee AdamsHerne Bay, 9/10 November 2013

This year saw a change of venuefor this event that had previouslybeen held for many years at theThanet Club run By Richard(Dick)Todd.

The Club in Herne Bay (ShogunAikido Kai) is a purpose builtDojo and is owned by the localJudo Club, and is convenientlysituated next to the local trainstation. The line up ofinstructors was confirmed asSatoru Tsuchiya 6th Dan(Shodokan) and BAA coachesPaul Wildish 6th Dan, ShaunHoddy 6th Dan and VandaFairchild 5th Dan.

This is the first time TsuchiyaSensei has taught at a BAAevent and the turnout reflectedthis with some 60+ Aikidoka fromacross Europe (Czech Republic,Spain and Northern Ireland) onthe mat for the first session at9.30am (early I know but therewas a packed agenda). Therewas a Coach level 1 course runby Paul Holding Sensei who isthe BAA Coach developmentofficer.

After the formalities and safetytalk the first session was takenby Paul Wildish Sensei, thecontent focused on the weaponssection from the Dai-San and inparticular the ‘sword taking’,each of the five techniques wereexplored in detail giving thestudent a comprehensiveunderstanding of the mechanicsof the kata.

After a short break TsuchiyaSensei taught the Goshin Ho,with the content centred onusing a relaxed wrist and arm tomake the techniques moreeffective, Tsuchiya sensei

explained that although only 49techniques are used for gradingpurposes there are many moreavailable.

Third session Vanda FairchildSensei taught Tanto KaeshiWaza, exploring movement andcounters and Tanto Atemi WazaAfter lunch we did it all again,Paul Wildish Sensei this timelooking at Jo from the Dai-Sanexploring each technique indetail so to understand thekuzushi.

Goshin Ho again from TsuchiyaSensei followed by VandaFairchild Sensei Tanto KaeshiWaza.

Mat activity halted around 5pmso the Level 1 coach attendeescould be assessed, Followed bythe Kyu and Dan Grading, Thisled to the following promotions:-James Abernerthy 3rd KyuGary Maiden 1st DanMartin Dean 2nd DanKelvin Shiel 2nd DanLee Adams 3rd Dancontinued on page 11

From L to R: Paul Wildish, Satoru Tsuchiya,Shaun Hoddy and Vanda Fairchild

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Festival & Tournament 201310th International Aikido

This year was an outstanding year.With the competitive Aikido worldsplit in two following the SAFleaving the JAA last year, and witha number of our previous squad

players unable to attend due towork commitments, we had certainreservations about the competition.However, it was reassuring torealise that there was a goodnumber of participants at thecompetition, with over 400competing, including 28 men’srandori teams and a very highstandard of participants. At thecompetition itself the BAA teamwas truly amazing. There was agreat sense of team spirit (quiteunlike anything we hadexperienced before). We areimmensely proud of thecommitment, effort and skill leveldemonstrated by each and everymember of the team, who expertly

represented both the associationand the country. Certain membersof the team excelled to producesome brilliant displays of Aikido,both in Embu and Randori events,standing out in the world of sportsAikido. The team wascomplimented by a number ofgroups and individuals from aroundthe world for its level of skill,technical standard and spirit. Weachieved the best results in Japansince being in management,winning medals in eight out of thenine disciplines. It is with deepestregret that this year will be our lastin management. The role hasbrought great value to our lives andit has been a great privilege to

The BAA challenge in Kawasaki Danielle JonesTeam managers Danielle Jonesand Mick Pratt have led the mostsuccessful team in the BAA’shistory. Both are retiring thisyear from team management andwill leave a class act to follow.We thank them for all theexcitement and thrills they havegiven us. Here Danielle gives usa crisp account of the lastinternational competition of theirjoint stewardship.

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Kawasaki 2013watch some of the best competitivepractitioners in the world grow asAikidoka, as individuals and as ateam.

Leading up to the 10th InternationalTournament, we held fourteensquad training sessions fromJanuary 2012 to August 2013. Allthe sessions were held atLoughborough University. BetweenApril 2012 and September 2012 weinvited guest instructors to coach,including Gitte Wolputt, PhilNewcombe and Marco Crispini.Team selection, which wasannounced at the August Squadsession in 2013, was based onindividual performance at thesesessions, as well as at thecompetitions and courses. Eachyear the squad releases a NationalTeam Pack at the beginning of thetraining season which outlines entryrequirement for each of theNational team tiers – Nationalsquad, National team, BAA team.

There were 10 competitors whorepresented the National Squad.These were -

Mick PrattDanielle JonesJermaine Liburd

Laura Beardsmore Paul Carr Natuley Smalle Adedoyin Ogunbiyi Scott Pearce Phil Hargreaves Sarah Fletcher

There were 10 competitors whorepresented the National Team.These were - Gareth Bottomley Martin Hall-May Robert Price John Parker

Seb JacksonDaniel WhiteAndrew RigbyFred KamaraNathan Lomax-CookeMorgan Murphy

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Kawasaki 2013 the BAA challenge

There were 8 competitors whorepresented the BAA Team. Thesewere -

Daniel RamsdenChelsie GaviganCallum AldridgeJoe OckendenPaul MyhillWayne CooperLeo SmallePhil O’Hara

Altogether BAA competitors won 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze medals.

Award Event Competitor(s)

Gold Women’s Team Randori Danielle Jones, Laura Beardsmore, Natuley Smalle & Sarah FletcherGold Women’s Individual Randori Laura BeardsmoreGold Kongodantaisen Danielle Jones, Daniel Ramsden, Mick Pratt, Paul Carr, Laura Beardsmore, Jermaine Liburd, Adedoyin OgunbiyiGold Koryu Dai San Gary Hogg & Steve HoggSilver Open Kata Mick Pratt & Paul CarrSilver Men’s Team Randori Paul Carr, Daniel Ramsden, Jermaine Liburd, Phil Hargreaves, Adedoyin OgunbiyiBronze Women’s Individual Randori Natuley SmalleBronze Men’s Individual Randori Jermaine LiburdBronze Dan Junanahon Sarah Fletcher & Andrew RigbyBronze Open Kata Jermaine Liburd & Daniel WhiteBronze Koryu Dai San Mick Pratt & Paul Carr

Throughout the year the teamworked extremely hard with themajority of players attending mostof the training sessions as well asattending regular club practice andcompetitions. The team spirit wasextremely strong and all playersdisplayed a very positive attitude.The team selection as well as thededication and hard work of theplayers resulted in outstandingachievement at the InternationalTournament.

The tournament presented certainchallenges to the team, with newrefereeing and judging proceduresbeing announced the morning ofthe competition. Both embu andrandori refereeing changedsignificantly, with embu beingmarked on a points system andsome significant randori rules beingchanged. The teams wereoutstanding and displayed theirprowess in adaptability, expertlyovercoming last minute changes.

We wish to thank Dominic Cheshirefor his support to the team as TeamMedic. We also would like to thankBob Jones and Garrett Baxter whoattended as referees. A big thanksto the executive committee for yourcontinued financial support to theteam. It means a great deal toplayers who are able to travel

around the world to represent thatassociation. It is always muchappreciated.

It is with regret that we will resignfrom the post of National squadmanagers following theInternational tournament inKawasaki. The role demands agreat deal of work and bothemotional and time investment,which we feel unable to continue inthe future. We believe that as a newgeneration approaches, attractingyounger players to the squad, newmanagement will bring a fresh newoutlook with new motivation andideas. We would like to thank theplayers who have supported usover the years – without yourcommitment, dedication and hardwork we, as a team, wouldn’t haveachieved the success we have over

the years. We have beenimmensely proud to be the BAANational squad managers and torepresent such a talented, skillfuland brilliant group of people.

10th

International

Aikido

Tournament

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When looking at the chronicle ofachievements in women’s teamrandori at the last nine JAAInternational tournaments, it wouldbe hard to avoid noticing theabsence of a world title. Where themen’s five-man Randori team havesucceeded on two previousoccasions, the women’s team havestruggled to cross the finish line.Whether it be absence, injury or thenow renowned ‘second daysyndrome’ the gold medal haseluded us.

It would be fair to say the womencurrently making up the nationalteam have had an injury strewn fewyears and we are in the hunt fornew volunteers to take over thereins. Natuley Smalle with a seriousachilles injury, Sarah Fletcher hashad ongoing ankle problems, Ibroke my thumb and Danielle...wellwhat hasn’t Danielle injured.

At the turn of 2013, I will have youunder no illusion I was definitelygoing to compete in Kawasaki.Work, life and injury put themassive commitment we all maketo aikido into perspective. Inparticular the dedication it takesmentally and physically to preparefor an International tournament.However a few things helped make

my decision. First Natuley got fit,had a fierce haircut and put me toshame with the intensity and desireto train. I doubt any competitiveminded sports person wouldn’t feelthe stab of “actually I don’t want tolose my individual title”. Second,Danielle tugged at the heart stringsof the ‘gold that got away’ withregard to women’s team, and withNatuley’s renewed vigour we allstarted to become quietly confidentthat 2013 might be our year.

So 12 squad sessions, multipleclub nights and gym sessions withmonths of penny scrimping alongthe way we were in Kawasaki. Andwas it worth it. After a comfortablepreliminary and quarterfinal round,we faced the semi final. Havinggone 2-0 up Danielle took to themat to play out the third bout to sealthe deal when a quick change ofdirection caused a toe crunchingdislocation. In hindsight, the bestdecision we could have made as ateam was standing our ground andnot forgoing our fourth man (SarahFletcher) to a Russian team earlierin the tournament.

The final was a tense affair,ultimately it came down to rawdetermination and desire whichthankfully all the girls I amprivileged to stand next to have inabundance. You could say wenailed it, but in truth we dug deepand did what we needed and thereis no shame in that. Much will besaid about Kawasaki, whether it bepositive about the teamperformance or negative aboutongoing politics, but it will go downin history as the first Internationalwomen’s team title for the BAA.That alone will hopefully inspiremore girls to stick out the junioryears to come join us where wehave proved women can mix it withthe best of them.

Always the Bridesmaids… Laura BeardsmoreKawasaki 2013 BAA Women

Laura Beardsmore gives her personalaccount of the frustrations and rewards ofbeing a member of the BAA Squad from awoman’s perspective.

Kawasaki BAA Women’s Gold Medallists

2003 Leeds – England (5thInternational WorldChampionships)Silver D. Jones, N. Anson &

R. Pratt2005 Katsuura - Japan (6thInternational WorldChampionships)Bronze D. Jones, V. Fairchild &

N. AnsonBronze N. Smalle, L. Beardsmore, & S. Fletcher

2007 Vandalia – USA (7thInternational WorldChampionships)Silver D. Jones, N. Smalle &

L. Beardsmore

2009 Kyoto – Japan (8thInternational WorldChampionships)Silver D. Jones, N. Smalle &

L. Beardsmore

2011 London- England (9thInternational WorldChampionships)Bronze D. Jones, L. Beardsmore & S. Fletcher2013 Tokyo – Japan (10thInternational WorldChampionship)Gold D. Jones, L. Beardsmore, N. Smalle & S. Fletcher

2005

2007

2009 2011

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Kawasaki 2013 BAA WomenA journey Natuley Smalle

Women in Aikido seem to be a hottopic in 2013, and through the yearsmany women have come and gonethrough the competitive ranks of theBAA. In the last 10 years however,four women have remained a prettyconstant presence; Danielle Jones,Laura Beardsmore, Sarah Fletcherand myself. I would say the handingover of the proverbial baton fromthe previous generation came inKatsuura 2005, with this being thefinal appearance of Vanda Fairchildand Nicole Anson in randori, whereboth women’s teams took thebronze. Since then between thefour of us we have always been onthe precipice, with two silvers(Vandalia 2007, Kyoto 2009),another bronze (London 2011) andEuropean titles to boot, but justnever quite able to grasp the bigone.Over the years I’d say we’ve eachhad our own obstacles to overcomein trying to attain this title. My ownjourney has not been a simple one,full of peaks and troughs both in myconfidence and commitment. Along

the way the girls have helped tokeep me going in various ways.Danielle the ultimate third woman,with an uncanny ability to dig deepand find that extra gear wheneverour backs are against the wall.Sarah with her unswervingcommitment and budo spirit, thenLaura, the trail blazer for us all,seeing her dedication in the run up

to the 2009 championships, thesuccesses there and subsequenttitles has been nothing short ofawe-inspiring.London 2011, I was convinced thatit was ours to take. Fate had otherplans; a ruptured Achilles left medevastated and forced me to watchfrom the sidelines. Not that itmattered the girls fought on with thesame level of guts and

determination we have all come toexpect, it just wasn’t our time. SoKawasaki 2013, with all of us asinjury free as we are ever likely tobe, with the world championship inour midst, everyone throwingthemselves into training withrenewed vigour and me personallyfinding a level of want I neverrealised I had, surely this time wasour time. Not to mention it beingDanielle’s last as Squad managerand potentially the last time the fourof us would ever compete together,we had a lot riding on this one. Theroad wasn’t easy and the final tooclose for comfort, but at last we didit!I think the best thing about it is thatall four of us played our part duringthe tournament and all four of uswere officially national squadmembers and we did it onJapanese soil. Ashamedly I haveto admit I am glad that fate didn’tdeny me this feeling in 2013. I hopeour journey keeps the topic ofwomen in Aikido, particularlycompetitive Aikido alive andinspires the next generation to takeover the baton.

Natuley Smalle recounts her own personaljourney to this year’s victory in Kawasaki.

Kawasaki 2013 the action!Team report Sarah Fletcher and Danielle Jones

Wow what a competition!Our journey began on Thursday19th September. The teamgathered at the hotel in Kawasakifor a team meeting before thewelcome party. Seeing everyonetogether, in Japan, in a sea of redshirts, waiting with nervousanticipation for the days ahead, hasto be one of the most exhilaratingexperiences. Walking in convoythrough the streets of Kawasaki tothe welcome party – everyoneknew the BAA were in town. The

team was in good spirits, greetingour friends from around the World– as we do once every couple ofyears. It is like seeing yourextended family again. Thehighlight of the evening for many ofus was the speech. Not the officialpolitical one, but the one given byMr Tim Wolput – which we are allquite sure was completely differentwhen repeated in Japanese!On the first day – Friday 20th -several instructors held seminars.These were given by Eddy Wolput

(Belgium), Frits Van Gulick(Netherlands), Bob Jones (BAA),Aleksei Shchepikhin (Russia), KenBroome (BAA) & Loi Ah Lee(Australia). On the followingmorning – Saturday 21st – moreseminars were held by TadayukiSatoh (JAA) and Seiji Tanaka(USA).That evening was the refereesmeeting. This was a nerve-rackingaffair. The JAA, in true form,announced complete procedureand rule changes for the

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tournament (the next day!!). Insteadof using the flag system for embu itwas decided that they would use apoints system. The score sheetslooked like they had beendeveloped by quantum physicistsand none of the referees knew howto use them.There were also rule changes forrandori announced – and althoughthese looked like they were goingto open up play a little by allowinga wider range of techniques (orvariations of techniques) anddiminish the amount of shidosawarded – this was neverthelessstill news to us and the referees! Itis a good job that one of the team’sbuzzwords is adaptability!

The competition started on theafternoon of the 21st. It wasincredibly hot – the JAA hadreportedly spent the majority of itscompetition budget on YouTubeand not on air conditioning! It wasa very brave Chelsie Gavigan andCallum Aldridge that were the veryfirst pair of the day to open thecompetition in the Kyu Junanahonevent. With very little preparationon the procedure the pair did anexcellent job. It was to the teamssurprise that no scores wereshouted out – the pair stood inanticipation of a mark but insteadwere asked to sit down! Thefollowing eight pairs on their matwent and performed with no scoresgiven. We then expected that thejudges would give some indication

of who had won – the two top pairsfrom each of the four mats wouldgo through to the final. Little did weknow that we would have to waituntil 8pm (some 6 hours later) tofind out our fate.After an afternoon of gruelling firstrounds in all the embu events, withno indication of scores, we thenhad the men’s team first roundqualifiers. It was extremelyunfortunate that the BAA blue team(S. Pearce, F. Famara, N. Lomax-Cooke, A. Rigby & D. White) weredrawn against the JAA first team inthe first round. After putting up agood fight unfortunately they didn’tprevail. At the end of the first daythe BAA Red team (J. Liburd, P.Carr, D. Ramsden, P. Hargreaves

& A. Ogunbiyi) were the only BAAmen’s team left in the competition.Finally we were given our emburesults. This was my favourite partof the whole competition. The worldon sports aikido stood around asBAA echoed repeatedly around theroom over the tannoy! The BAAteam had four of the eight finalistsin Open Kata and Dai San andthree of the eight in Junanahon. Itwas worth the wait!Day two was a busy day – withKongo Dantaisen, Men’s Individualrandori, Women’s Individualrandori, Women’s team and Men’steam randori qualifiers. There weresome truly amazing performancesby the team. By the end of the daythe BAA red team were in the

‘The BAA team showed amazing teamspirit throughout the competition. Everytime one of the team was on the mat, otherswere at the side supporting, givingencouragement and cheering for who everwas up. We saw some amazing aikido fromboth the men and women.’

semi-final for Kongo Dantaisen(having not dropped a point in thequalifiers). Jermaine Liburd hadexpertly secured a place in thesemi-final of the men’s individualrandori. We had two BAA womenin the semi-final of the women’sindividual – Laura Beardsmore andNatuley Smalle were outstandingin the rounds. Along with DanielleJones and Sarah Fletcher, Lauraand Natuley had secured a placefor the women’s team in the semi-final (again not losing any points inthe qualifiers) and the BAA men’sred team joined them too.On the finals day everyone wokewith nervous anticipation andexcitement. With many playerspreviously experiencing the

‘second day syndrome’ we werehoping they wouldn’t meet thesame fate this year! First up wasJermaine Liburd in the semi-final ofthe men’s individual randori.Jermaine had shown great skill,determination and some amazingtechnique during the rounds buttoday he was up against ShimadaSan (current world champion).Shimada showed great class,throwing Jermaine with histrademark Shomen-ate. Withseconds to go Jermaine threwShimada San for Ippon butunfortunately narrowly missed outon the win. Jermaine secured ourfirst bronze medal of the day! Nextwas the turn of the women. Withtwo of them making the semi-finals– Laura and Natuley – the team

Kawasaki 2013 the action!

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Kawasaki 2013 the action!

tried to split in two to support themboth. It was like we were watchinga tennis match instead of Aikido –our heads turning from one mat tothe next. Natuley secured oursecond bronze, missing out to GitteWolput. Natuley’s performancethroughout the year and at thecompetition was phenomenal,becoming a truly inspirationalathlete! Laura powered on to thefinal, for a re-match of 2011’s finalagainst Gitte. Following Laura’ssuccess, the Kongo Dantaisenteam (D. Jones, D. Ramsden, L.Beardsmore, M. Pratt, P. Carr, J.Liburd and A. Ogunbiyi), theWomen’s Team and Men’s Teamall reached the finals.

Then on to the kata finals - PhilHargreaves & Seb Jackson, GarethBottomley & Martin Hall-May andSarah Fletcher & Andrew Rigby inDan Junanahon final, Mick Pratt &Paul Carr, Sarah Fletcher &Andrew Rigby, Gary Hogg & SteveHogg and Scott Pearce & NathanLomax-Cooke in Dai San Final andJermaine Liburd & Daniel White,Mick Pratt & Paul Carr, ScottPearce & Nathan-Lomax-Cooke

and Danielle Jones & MorganMurphy in the Open Kata final – theBAA had a busy day! Everyoneperformed brilliantly well – but againwe had to wait! No scores given andanother long wait for the results!

Before that was the afternoon offinals – Laura kicked us off byretaining her Individual women’stitle. Twice international goldmedalist – pretty awesome! Thegolds then came in quicksuccession with the KongoDanteisen team beating the JAAfirst team in the final and then theWomen’s Team finally winning thegold. It was a close call, withNatuley throwing her opponentseveral times but out of the area –finally getting a score in the areaonly seconds before the end. SarahFletcher then took the place ofDanielle, who was injured in thesemi-finals. Sarah did the teamproud, showing sheerdetermination and fighting to theend! Then Laura sealed the deal!When the women’s team won wedidn’t know whether to laugh or cry- we were so happy, so proud to bea part of the women’s team that has

worked so hard over the last 10years to achieve that gold medaland all the more special to win inJapan. The men’s team thennarrowly missed out to the JAA firstteam in the final, gaining the silvermedal. They did themselvesextremely proud – with Paul Carrdrawing with men’s individualmedalist (Konaka San), DanielRamsden beating the men’s worldchampion (Shimada San) andJermaine winning his fight 12-1.Outstanding. Unfortunately overallthe team lost on points!

As for the kata results – again atthe end of the day the BAA nameswere called out over and overagain. It was an unbelievablefeeling to be a part of this amazingteam. Overall the competition wasa great success! We got thebiggest medal haul in Japan, eachand every member performedbrilliantly and the team showedgreat sportsmanship and teamspirit. It feels amazing to be part ofone of the best competitive aikidogroups in the world!

A second full days trainingstarted again at 9.30am, withTsuchiya Sensei deciding theJo-suburi would be fun, after thewarm up using the Jo weexplored the 6, 11, 21 and 31 ( Ithink – heads a bit fuzzy aboutthis) a very enjoyable session

and something slightly differentto start the day.

After a short break ShaunHoddy Sensei took everyonethrough the entire Koryu DaiIchi, excellent technicaldirection, which no doubtimproved every onesunderstanding of this importantKata for Tomiki Aikido…

I would like to thank all thoseinstructors who gave their timefreely and to the Committee ofmy club who gave up theirweekend and made the event

Autumn School Herne Bay 2013 continued from page 4

possible.. so many highmoments, so many new friends..how do we repeat this nextyear… can’t wait!

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Kawasaki 2013 keynote speech

Ladies and gentlemen,I have the honour of giving akeynote speech on the subject of“What is the complete TomikiAikido”.

I have received many messages ofsupport from all parts of the world,since I sent a short message ofencouragement to our friendsentitled “Under the banner of theTomiki´s spirit” on May 6, 2012.Despite the controversy raised bythe “Report on the current situationof the JAA”, I express my heartfeltthanks to those of you who havestood by my side. Some of myfriends kindly suggested that Ishould refute the emotionalallegations of our detractors with anevidence based, rational approach.In fact I finished writing a rebuttalmessage but have not delivered it

to you. It was because I believed ina proverb: God stands with therighteous.

1. The meaning of the “Tsukuri”training method as a part ofTomiki Aikido.

Master Tomiki emphasized Kuzushi1 and Tsukuri 2 in his last few years.One day Tomiki taught that therewas Tsukuri in the atemi-waza ofaikido. This was because manypractitioners applied dangerousattacks against their partner.According to Master Tadayuki Sato,Tomiki taught how to touch apartner softly with a palm, but hedid not teach how to topple one´spartner to any student. However,he demonstrated it to riot policeofficers at a special training coursefor the 1979 G8 summit in Tokyo.

Tomiki touched Sato´s chin with apalm and let him escape, Tomikithen followed him and toppled himafter floating his both his legs fromthe tatami mat.3

Sato explained that Tomiki´s skillcame from the principle of how tobreak balance demonstrated in theItsutsu-no-kata of judo. I alreadyreferred to the importance ofItsutsu-no-kata in a book in 1985,because I knew that Tomikiemphasized it in his articles. But,honestly, I did not really know whyit was important. It was Sato whoexplained to me its significance.However, Tomiki did not teach howto practice it (Itsutsu-no-kata) to theprevious ‘two Shihans’ (Shishida &Nariyama) of the JAA, so wemisunderstood it. The ‘twoShihan´s’ emphasized only how farwe move in one breath. One of thereasons why Mr J Konaka becamean excellent practitioner, is that helearned from Sato how to moveafter making contact with anopponent’s chin by following withunsoku (nimble steps). (Please letme skip mentioning the Tsukuri ofKansetsu-waza, and postpone it foranother occasion.)

Tomiki accomplished tremendousteaching for many senior and evenjunior people in his long aikido lifefrom1940 until his death in 1979.4 Iregret to say that the trainingmethod of “Tsukuri” taught in hislast years is only one part of his“treasures”. Of course, it is still acrucial method if doneappropriately, but any methods ispossible to improve whilst aprinciple is impossible to change.

What is the Complete Tomiki Aikido?Fumiaki Shishida, PhD, Shihan of the Japan Aikido Association.September 19, 2013

At the opening of the 10th TAINInternational Aikido Festival andTournament, Professor FumiakiShishida delivered this importantkeynote speech outlining hisvision and ambition for the futureof Tomiki Aikido. Ever the‘restless researcher’ Shishidahas undertaken an in-depthanalysis of the development andtheoretical underpinning ofTomiki’s concept of aikido andjudo. In this speech Shishidaoutlines where his research hasled him and why he thinks it isnecessary to make a profoundchange of direction in theteaching and practice of TomikiAikido.

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So we should always think of bothTomiki´s concrete methods and histhe theory behind those methods.

2. The complete aikido systemfounded by Master Tomiki

Tomiki Aikido has been in existencefor long time, beginning in 1927when Tomiki started to learn Aiki-jujutsu from Ueshiba. From aroundMarch of 1936 when Tomiki beganto teach it in earnest in Manchukuo,he had many pupils in variousgroups. He published two textbooksfor the military police about Aiki-bujutsu,5 and one long article thatis called “The Systematic Study ofTechniques While MaintainingDistance in Judo” 6 before WorldWar 2. After the post war period,Tomiki wrote “Judo Exercises” 7 in1954. If you had read that book, youmight have been surprised atTomiki´s scientific analysis of waza,his fundamental theory, basic termsand so on that you have never beentaught. In the “Introduction toAikido” 8 in 1958, Tomiki explainedhis theory in much detail. One of hismost important opinions when wepractice aikido, is to be practicaleven in actual combat, whichmeans that you must defendagainst any stab or sweepingtechniques in judo. Tomiki tried tomodernize Ueshiba´s aiki-jujutsuand establish the second randoritraining system of judo at the sametime from this perspective. This isexactly what Tomiki´s spirit is.

When we reconsider all techniquesfrom that perspective, I have tohonestly admit that we, the twoShihans, misunderstood about howto apply a waza. 9

3 Koryu-no Katas and the problemsthat we have left undone.

I rediscovered one excellentinstructor who was well taught byTomiki. One day around 1990, Iwatched a scene of an instruction

session on a video, where theinstructor was teaching manystudents how to break the balanceof the opponent in various cases ofrandori, but not in those of kata. Iwas shocked by the contents of histeachings and his truly effectiveperformance with plenty ofconfidence. After that, I tried tostudy his techniques, theory, andhistory, but did not have a chanceto discuss with him directly aboutthese techniques for a long time.He was Tadayuki Sato,10 11 one ofmy former students from WasedaUniversity Aikido Club between1979-1981, when I was involved inthe club as the supervisor. He firstmet Tomiki at the funeral for hisfather in 1970. Tomiki kindly startedto teach his theory andmethodology of both judo andaikido to him. In 1977, Sato enteredWaseda University, and started toboth practice judo at the judo cluband aikido at the aikido club, andfinally he decided to belong to theaikido club when he was asophomore. Tomiki told him to visithis house every Sunday, where helearnt the “essence of aikido”.

Young Sato and the other youngaikido practitioners in the club werevery strong, but they had littleexperience of the Tsukuri trainingmethod but instead the traditionaltraining method. The same wastrue of my later students at theclub. I realized from these facts that

the Tsukuri training method that Ihad constituted from Tomiki´steachings 12 was not a decisivemethod. My conclusion was that Ihad misunderstood it because I didnot consider it in relation to theentirety of Tomiki´s teaching thatTomiki continued to study andteach as his own way of aikido. Infact, instead of simply adding theTsukuri training method, the ‘twoShihans stopped studying andteaching the many Koryu-no-kata,13 that were establishedmainly by Master Hideo Oba. Wealso failed to study the Koshiki-no-kata, Itsutsu-no-kata, Kodokanskills of self-defence etc., in judo,although Tomiki put a greatimportance on them in his articles.We will have to continue to studyall of them not to preserve them butlearn the essence of budo.

4 The difference between Kata andEmbu

In May 3 of 2012, we held the juniorstudents tournament that includedboth Randori and Embu in theKanto area. As a matter of fact, wewill of course preserve the Embucompetition both in the internationaland domestic tournaments,although Tomiki did not prefer it. Ipersonally think that we shouldkeep this program, while studyinghow to judge and how to evaluatethe quality of Embu from Tomiki´sstandpoint of budo practicality.

When I read their “Report on thecurrent situation of the JAA”, I amafraid that many people might notunderstand the difference betweenEmbu and Kata. The traditionalstyle and spirit of Koryu-Daisan thatMaster Oba mainly establishedseems to have been lost when Ilook at the demonstrations by highdan-grade instructors. But,fortunately, there are manytalented elder instructors in theworld, and Japanese oldpractitioners have been coming

Kawasaki 2013 keynote speech

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back to dojos in the JAA. We shouldmake an endeavor to spread thegreat Tomiki Aikido in cooperationwith us.

Closing remarks

I have a dream to establish thestable theory and methodology ofTomiki Aikido by reconstituting allof Tomiki´s teachings. The contentswill include Toshu-randori, Koryu-no- kata, Judo, Jujutsu etc., as wellas ordinary Tanto-randoi throughthe study of Tomiki´s documents,teachings, and related matters. Ihave already published thefollowing articles on these points onthe internet. Attached below aresome of them for your information.

Shishida, F. (2008) Counter techniquesagainst Judo: The Process of FormingAikido Circa 1930, Archives of Budo, Vol.4:4­8. ·

Kudo, R. And Shishida, F. (2010) Themeaning of aiki in Aikido: Focusing oncomments made by Morihei Ueshiba andhis pupils, (in Japanese), Japan J. Phys.Educ. Hlth. Sport Sci. 55: 453-469.Shishida, F. (2010) Judo´s techniquesperfomed from a distance: The origin ofJigoro Kano´s concept and its actualizationby Kenji Tomiki, Archives of budo, Vol. 6(4):165-172.Shishida, F. (2011) Jigoro Kano´s pursuit ofideal judo and its succession: Judo´stechniques performed from a distance, “IdoMovement for Culture. Journal of MartialArts Anthropology” Vol. XI (1): 42-48.Shishida, F. (2012) A Judo ThatIncorporates Kendo: Jigoro Kano´s Ideasand Their Theoretical Development,Archives of Budo, Vol. 8(4): 225-233.

I believe that you will easilyunderstand the meaning of Tomiki´sideal and what we should beheading for.

Thank you for listening. We have toovercome rapidly the problems weare confronted with. For thatpurpose, I will do my best to expandthe prestige of the JAA or TomikiAikido while cooperating with all of

our friends across the world. Iwould appreciate it if you wouldhelp us for the just and righteouscause of Tomiki Aikido at thepresent critical moment.

1 Throwing the opponent off his/her balance.2 Throwing the opponent off its balance andconcurrently getting ready for applying a waza to theopponent.3 Mr Masayuki Fujita (Sato´s senior), one of Tomiki´sassistants at that teaching, said that everyone wasstruck with astonishment.4 It is the year when he was promoted to be the firstaikido 8th dan by Master Morihei Ueshiba.5 “Aiki-bujutsu-kyotei” (1937) and “Taijutsu Kyohan”(1940).6 Subtitle is “The Principles of Judo and theTechniques of Aiki-budo”.7 Subtitle is “The training system of Aiki-no-wazaanalyzed by “the principle of Judo”.8 Subtitle is “The rational training method of Atemi-waza and Kansetsu-waza”.9 For example, I think that we taught only a half ofhow to apply an shomen-ate.10 (Transcriber's note: in Shishida’s original thefootnote on page 10 is missing)11 Sato, born in 1957, started to practice judo in hisfather’s club, a friend of Tomiki´s, when he was 8years old.12 It was classified by Shishida based on Tomiki´steachings in 1979, when Tomiki passed away.13 They are called Koryu-daiichi-no-kata, Koryu-daini-no-kata, Koryu-daigo-no-kata, and Koryu-dairoku- no-kata

Kawasaki 2013 keynote speech

Congratulations Jugokan! Bob JonesKawasaki 2013 gradings

The International Festival provideda unique opportunity for individualsto experience a range of differenthigh-ranking coaches delivering avariety of approaches and technicalskills. Both Ken Broome 7th Danand Bob Jones 7th Dan providedtwo quite different seminars withcontent of a very high standard.They were well received by theparticipants and helpeddemonstrate the breadth and depthof knowledge held within the familyof British Aikido Associationcoaches.

As part of the International anopportunity to grade was providedand success came with both Steveand Gary Hogg achieving their 6th

Dans adding to their Gold medal inthe Dan San event during thecompetition making this a doublecelebration of their achievements.Their performance during thegrading was of an excellentstandard and brings great pride to

the Association in having them asmembers.

This achievement was furtherenhanced with Ken Broome 7thDan being appointed as a JAAShihan, this is a great honour andwell deserved.

In retrospect the members fromJugokan played a significant partin Japan not just in the competitionbut also as ambassadors forTomiki Aikido and the Association.

Well done all

British Aikido Association.

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AiKIDoLee MazacsBAA Youth Development Officer

Juniors& Youth

On Saturday 23rd November 2013sixty-five of the BAA’s finest juniorand youth competitors turned outfor the Junior Open Southtournament in High Wycombe. Itwas an extremely successful daywith all competitors demonstratingsome great Aikido and excellentsportsmanship. Congratulations toall those who took part. We hope tosee you at the BAA Juniorcompetitions in 2014:

BAA Junior Open North - March22nd - Bradford

BAA Junior Nationals - June 21st- Bradford

ETAN Junior EuropeanChampionship -October 26th-27th - St Petersberg, Russia

BAA Junior Open South -November 22nd - High Wycombe

Junior Open South Competition

BAA Junior Open South 2013: Results

Under 8’s

Basic KataBronze Stewart & Muraska HuddersfieldSilver Young & Maud HuddersfieldGold Godsman & Hartley Bradford

Tanto KakarigeikoBronze Stewart & Muraska HuddersfieldSilver Young & Maud HuddersfieldGold Godsman & Hartley Bradford

Ninin DoriBronze Muraska, Young & Emmerson-Curry HuddersfieldSilver Maud, Stewart & Hartley Huddersfield/BradfordGold Vint, Simpson & Gard Eastleigh

Best Individual: Thickbroom Eastleigh

Under 12’s (including under 10’s)

Basic KataBronze Hill & Hill BradfordSilver Emmerson-Curry & Watson HuddersfieldGold Galiev & Young Huddersfield

Tanto KakarigeikoBronze Hill & Hill BradfordSilver Galiev & Young HuddersfieldGold Emmerson-Curry & Watson Huddersfield

Ninin DoriBronze Booty, Hristova & Hristova EssexSilver Hill, Hill & Godsman BradfordGold Galiev, Young & Watson Huddersfield

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Tai SabakiBronze Watson HuddersfieldSilver Galiev HuddersfieldGold Young Huddersfield

Best Individual: Gniewek Essex

Under 14’s

Basic KataBronze Bolton & Gander LeedsSilver Harrison & Pullan HuddersfieldGold Barker & Emmerson Huddersfield

Tanto KakarigeikoBronze Pienkowski & Wilson TanseikanSilver Gander & Bolton LeedsGold Barker & Emmerson Huddersfield

Ninin DoriBronze Dawit, Wilson & Pienkowski TanseikanSilver Gander, Bolton & Riley LeedsGold Barker, Harrison, Emmerson & Pullan Huddersfield

Best Individual: Elliot Eastleigh

Under 16’s

Basic KataBronze Godsman & Gornall BradfordSilver Shergill & Barker BradfordGold Bolton & Gander Leeds

Tanto KakarigeikoBronze Godsman & Gornall BradfordSilver Shergill & Barker BradfordGold Bolton & Gander Leeds

Ninin DoriBronze Hodgson, Pantiru & Cox EssexSilver Barker, Shergill & Gornall BradfordGold Bolton, Gander & Duckett Leeds

Open KataBronze Emmerson & Barker HuddersfieldSilver Shergill & Barker BradfordGold Bolton & Gander Leeds

Tai SabakiBronze Shergill BradfordSilver Bolton LeedsGold Gander Leeds

Best Individual: Pantiru Essex

Overall Team Champions: Huddersfield

Junior Open South Competition Results BAA

The BAA Executive Committeewishes to congratulate the followingmembers on their Dan Gradepromotions at the BAA AutumnSchool in Herne Bay, Kent on the9th November 2013.

Gary Maiden 1st DanMartin Dean 2nd DanKelvin Shiel 2nd DanLee Adams 3rd Dan

Dan Grade promotions

CommitteeExecutive

The BAA wishes all itsmembers, clubs and

aikido friends throughoutthe world a

Happy Christmas and asuccessful New Year!

Happy Christmas!

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WANTEDNational Team and

CompetitionEmergency Aider and

Physiotherapist

BAA Executive Committee

Due to the retirement of Mick Pratt andDanielle Jones the British Aikido AssociationNational Executive Committee are looking fora committed individual(s) to manage theBritish National Team leading to the nextinternational in 2015 and looking forward toJapan in 2017.

The post is appointed on a three year rollingprogamme and has full responsibility for theteam’s development, coaching andpreparation for international competition.

As a full member of the Executive Committeethe Manager (s) have full voting rights on allmatters and would be expected to liaise withthe Executive, Sports Development Officer,Youth Development Officer and a range ofpotential coaches and specialists.

Candidates would have to provide an Aikidorelated Curriculum Vitae with a personalvision and brief outline of how the teamwould operate and develop over the nextthree years.

Interested candidates should contact theChairman for an informal discussion aboutthe post, its remuneration, expectations andassociation ambitions.

Closing date for application -Friday 31st January 2014Chairman Bob JonesTel 01943 863857Mb 07793 487098jonesbinw@btinternet.com

The British Aikido Association NationalExecutive Committee are looking for acommitted individual to act as emergencyfirst aider and provide physiotherapy andfirst aid at competitive events and to theBritish National Team on international duty.

The post is appointed on a three year rollingprogamme the appointee having to liaisewith the National Team Manager, SportsDevelopment Officer, Youth DevelopmentOfficer and cover a range of events on anannual basis.

Candidates would have to provideCurriculum Vitae with particular reference toemergency aid qualifications and experience.

Candidates must have independentinsurance cover for first aid and emergencyaid activities and cannot be engaged incompetition event itself.

Interested candidates should contact theChairman for an informal discussion aboutthe post, its remuneration, expectations andassociation ambitions.

Closing date for application -Friday 31st January 2014Chairman - Bob Jones Tel 01943 863857Mb 07793 487098jonesbinw@btinternet.com

WANTEDNational Team

Manager(s)

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Contact: shizentai@aikido-baa.org.uk

Keep up to date withBAA Courses, EC & Club Events 2014

Thinking of replacing your old Gi? Then take advantage of this greatoffer negotiated by the BAA for our members. Help promote theBAA’s highly professional corporate image.

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19 Jan Squad SessionLoughborough University

1-2 Feb BAA Winter SchoolNorth EIS, Sheffield

2 Mar EC TBC

9 Mar BAA NationalChampionships EIS

22 Mar BAA Junior Open NorthBradford

19-20 Apr ETAN EuropeanChampionships AntwerpBelgium

26-27 Apr BAA Spring SchoolNorth - Ireland

11 May Squad SessionLoughborough University (SH)

24-26 May BAA Spring SchoolSouth - Winchester

Jun EC TBC

15 Jun BAA Senior ClubChampionships Thomas Tallis,Kidbrooke, London

21 Jun BAA Junior Nationals Bradford

25-27 Jul BAA Summer SchoolSt Mary’s Menston, Leeds

10 Aug BAA Squad SessionLoughborough University

Sep TBC BAA SOTR SchoolFolkestone, Kent

Oct TBC EC TBC

26-27 Oct Junior ETANChampionshipsSt Petersburg, Russia

8-9 Nov BAA Autumn SchoolHerne Bay, Kent

16 Nov Squad SessionLoughborough University

22 Nov BAA Junior OpenSouth High Wycombe JudoCentre

Dec TBC Kyu Grade CompSouth TBC

14 Dec Squad SessionLoughborough University