FROM EDITION 14 OF THE TRADITIONAL AIKIDO EUROPE JOURNAL – WINTER 2025 In the past I have written about how useful I find it to reflect on how to learn effectively. This can very much help in not just making the training fun but also assuring good progress and development. One of the topics I often come back to is the difference between whether you are practicing the forms in the curriculum or if you are using them. This might seem like only a slight wording difference, however, the...

FROM EDITION 13 OF THE TRADITIONAL AIKIDO EUROPE JOURNAL – SUMMER 2025 How long should we be training each area? I.e. do you focus on ikkyo for several weeks or months and then move onto other things such as ushiro waza or do you leave that for events and seminars? In my own regular Dojo teaching, I essentially follow the system that Sensei taught when I was in Iwama and that makes sense to me. In Iwama roughly 80% of the regular training was done within a small group of basic core...

FROM EDITION 13 OF THE TRADITIONAL AIKIDO EUROPE JOURNAL – SUMMER 2025 Introduction The ancient martial traditions of Japan focused on practical approaches to combat (armed and unarmed). Your skill was defined by your ability to best an opponent (or opponents), and to survive, whether on the battlefield, or in a civilian encounter. ‘Grades’, and associated markings, such as our modern belt system had little, or no, relevance.  In Japan, by the end of the Edo (also known as Tokugawa) period...