Reports

Saturday began with a young female aikidoka reading a sequence from the booklet "Ki Sayings" ("Detti di Ki") by Koichi Tohei in Italian. An official procedure followed. Bruno Maule handed over certificates for the authorization of examiners up to Chuden or Joden to dojo leaders from Italy, Sweden, Croatia and Germany. He emphasized that it is very important that there are people in charge in each dojo who guarantee the level in Aikido. He also gave a certificate of appreciation to a junior aikidoka (2nd kyu) at his dojo for her steady and quiet work for the community. All awards were applauded by the participants present.
Jan Eriksson started with kenkotaiso and ki tests. He not only taught those that we know from Yoshigasaki Sensei, but also those that Koichi Tohei had in his standard program. He also told some stories from old times and illustrated a few behaviors using examples from his northern neighbour country.
Then Bruno Maule took over. He stressed the importance of good posture. For example, when outsiders see that children have excellent posture in aikido, they understand that this art is valuable. It's good to have a lot of students, because at some point quantity turns into quality. Bruno Maule showed exercises for kote uchi and To Ho Ka Mi E Mi Ta Me with the Bokken and an improvement in Ryotetori Tenchi Nage. He emphasized that he studied each technique intensively in order to understand it, find weak points and improve them. His classes were interrupted by the lunch break.
In the afternoon he demonstrated techniques against holding the wrist on the bokken handle, each ending in uke being cut with the bokken. Bruno Maule emphasized that it is important to pass on this knowledge to future generations. In a short interlude, he handed the certificate for the 5th Dan to Ludovico Benso from Turin, who had already passed the examination for the fourth Dan in April 2013.
After a break, Philip Burgess took over the lessons. He explained the techniques of Tsuzukiwaza 4, Ryotedori. He also told some stories from the past. It turned out that he started with Aikido in 1967, a year before Bruno Maule. Philip Burgess admitted that his English was not easy to understand, but was excellently translated by an local aikidoka into Italian. He used the three-level classification of technique execution, as taught by Maruyama Sensei. First stage is from the catch, second stage is absorbing the attacker's ki with rhythm and third stage is application. All techniques were explained by Philip Burgess very similarly to Yoshigasaki Sensei.
The end of the day was an exam for the 3rd Dan.
The seminar was very interesting because you could meet long-time Aikido acquaintances and train with dedicated Aikidoka from other dojos. The teachers, at least on Friday and Saturday, often resorted to the teachings of Tohei Sensei or Maruyama Sensei and told a lot of old stories from old times.