Junior Grading Results

We have had some gradings for the juniors over the past few weeks. Congratulations to everyone for your hard work. The results were Theresa Walsh 9 kyu, Nakula Wrightson 8 kyu, Isaac Rogan Benfer 7 kyu, and Kristianna Quesada 7 kyu on 21 May. Abigail Rogan-Benfer 7 kyu, Sundara Wrightson 6 kyu, Annika Quesada 3 kyu, and Roberto Quesada 3kyu on 28 May. Lastly, Narada Wrightson 6 kyu on 4 June 2013. Well done!

Schedule Change: No Class 11 June

I'm embarking on another journey. As a result, there will be no junior aikido or iaido on Tuesday 11 June. All other sessions will continue as normal.

Thanks Brisbane Aikikai and Takase Shihan

A big thank you to Brisbane Aikikai and Takase Shihan from New Zealand Shinryukan for a great seminar last weekend (13/14 April). It was fantastic for us all to get together and practise again. Congratulations too for the guys from Brisbane who were successful in passing grading tests on Sunday afternoon. Really impressive efforts by Tom Garwood and Richard Spry (2 kyu), Kit Barker, Luke Pearcey and Andreas Dias (2 Dan), Lance Wilson and Paddy O’Regan (3 Dan). Apart from Sue and my surprise cameos taking ukemi , the star of the day was Bruce Eccles Sensei who unleashed to rock the house in a flawless grading test for 4 Dan. As the Gecko Dojo Kiwis would say….”Choice”.

Class Schedule Back to Normal

With school holidays and the Takase Shihan Seminar now over, all Bayside Budokai classes have now returned to normal programing. Thank you to Sue for running the show in my absence. We headed to Japan for some family time. Naturally there was some training involved between the Onsen and a Mister Donut marathon. I managed to catch up with Okamoto san, our friend in Sapporo and join in a session of iaido training at the Yoshinkan Dojo at the Hokkaido Jingu. The hospitality was much appreciated, especially Ishii Sensei for spending time to try and fix my Zen Ken Ren.

Easter and Beyond

There’s a few changes coming up with Easter, School Holidays and some special events. There will be no iaido at Newstead next Friday 29 March (Good Friday) training at Wynnum will continue as normal on Easter Sunday. There will be no Junior’s aikido or iaido at Wynnum on Tuesday 9 April. Due to the seminar with Takase Shihan hosted by the Brisbane Aikikai, there will be no iaido at Newstead on Friday 12 April. Iaido will be at Wynnum on Sunday 14 April, but no aikido. Aikido types should all be heading to the seminar and being prepared to help bring our mats back afterwards.

Visit by Dave Brown Sensei

Ronin has organised a visit by Dave Brown Sensei (6 Dan) to Brisbane. He will be taking scheduled aikido classes on the Bayside at 6.30pm on Thursday 21 February and at 9.30am on Sunday 24 February. He will also be teaching at Brisbane Aikikai on Friday evening and all day Saturday. Note: this means that there will be no iaido at Newstead on Friday 22 February.

AKR National Iaido and Jodo Seminar

As indicated last time, Sue and I made it down to Hobart for the AKR National Seminar. Here we are with Keiji Igarashi, Shacho of Nosyudo, rising iaido star and all round good bloke. I managed to get in a solid three days of iaido supervised by Inoue and Oda Sensei. Hopefully it will pay off. Good news was that Ohara Sensei passed the test for 7 dan in jodo in Tokyo just before the seminar. Ohara Sensei has been a fixture in the annual delegation of teachers from Japan and has previously accompanied Nagayama Sensei to the Bayside. Congratulations to Sensei from everyone at Bayside Budokai. Next year’s seminar will be in Queensland, which will be a great opportunity.

Happy New Year 2013

We are back for 2013 with classes having started Thursday 3 January. Happy New Year to all and we look forward to seeing everyone back in action. The National Iaido and Jodo Seminar is looming and Sue and I are heading down for a few days. As a consequence, there will be no iaido class on Sunday 20 January and no juniors aikido or iaido on Tuesday 22 January. On the subject of iaido, I have added links to a couple of articles. The first called Sore Zore Iaido is a translation of an article featuring Yagyu Sensei from Osaka and the other is a translation of an excerpt of an article by Ishido Sensei that formed part of a book by renowned teachers on important aspects in judging high level grading candidates. Both provide a number of important insights on the art and the background of Osaka iai, particularly Sakamoto Sensei.