End of 2017 and New Year Schedule

2017 is quickly coming an end, so thanks for another great year everyone.

In the run up to Christmas there will be no Friday class jo/iai on 22 December.

Classes at Wynnum will continue as scheduled up until and including Christmas Eve 24 December.

After that there is a bit happening, including the iai/jodo Seminar in Sydney, so it is easier just to list which classes will be happening up until the end of January.

Sunday 31 December: iaido/aikido

Tuesday 2 January: iaido (NB No juniors aikido)

Thursday 4 January: aikido

Tuesday 16 January: juniors aikido/iaido

Thursday 18 January: aikido

Thursday 25 January: aikido

Sunday 28 January: iaido/aikido

Tuesday 30 January: juniors aikido/iaido

Juniors Aikido Gradings

We had a bunch of grading tests for the juniors on 5 December. Congratulations and thanks to everyone for your hard work. The results are:

Lucian Van Staden 10 kyu

Marcus Corey 9 kyu

Omkara Wrightson 9 kyu

Emiko Kolb 8 kyu

Aiden Corey 6 kyu.

We didn’t get around to testing everyone so there are a couple more results pending. Stay tuned.

QKR December Seminar

Heaps of iai fun this weekend on the Goldy at the QKR December Seminar. It was a pretty good roll up, so thanks to everyone who attended and worked so hard.

Special thanks to Brendan Kee who came up from Canberra and helped out with the instruction. On the kendo front, it was great to hear that Tsukadaira Sensei has been awarded the kyoshi shogo. Congratulations also to everyone who graded especially the Bayside’s own Ka Lun Leung for his shodan . Here’s another happy snap for Dreamy’s grading album, this time with his support crew in tow.

Aikido Grading Time

Congratulations to Aidan Corey for Junior 7 kyu and a nice new orange belt on 26 September and also James (the builder) Webley for 3 kyu on 1 October 2017. Well done!

DB Sensei August

We are anticipating a visit from Dave Brown Sensei.The plan at this stage is that Sensei will conduct regular aikido class on the Bayside on Thursday 24 and Sunday 27 August.

Another Certificate for Dreamy

Got to present Ka Lun Leung with his 1 Kyu iaido certificate. I'd reckon the pool room is starting to look pretty good. Well done!

Congrats to Marcus Corey

Really great to present Marcus Corey with junior aikido 10 kyu certificate following his test last Tuesday (27 June). Congratulations for a top effort!

QKR Seminar

Great weekend of training on the Gold Coast at the QKR Seminar. Thank you to Tsukadaira Sensei, Tom and all the organisers. Good performances in the gradings with Bayside's Ka Lun Leung aka Dreamy nailing 1 kyu iaido on Sunday 2 July. He's the good looking unit on the right.

Up Coming Events

There are a couple of events in the calendar during July which will mean no Sunday class at Wynnum.

Sunday 2 July: Due to the QKR Seminar on the Goldy.

Sunday 16 July: Due to the Brisbane Aikikai 25th Anniversary Seminar.

Home and Away

I managed to rack up a few hours on planes over the past few weeks. First up I headed to Charlotte, North Carolina where I met up with my old school mate and karate sempai/sensei, Nick Hughes. These days Nick is into combatives, specifically Krav Maga. As well as catching up on old times, I got to join in a class where we did some aikido techniques in a Krav context which was a lot of fun. Here’s me with Nick at Warriors Krav Maga.

After my Charlotte stopover, it was off to Spencer, Massachusetts . Here I joined up with a group of other Aussies as well as attendees from elsewhere in the US, and Holland for an intensive internal power seminar at Dan Harden’s Shugyo Dojo. Suffice to say it was a pretty full on four days of awesome training, laughs, anecdotes, and local cuisine. Pictured is the dojo with a new driveway thanks in part to some Australian expertise and me with Dan and Brisbane’s own Michael Nash.

After a big flight home, it was off to the office for a day and then to Canberra for the weekend for the Iaido/Jodo Seminar by Nagayama and Higashi Sensei organised by the ACTKR. Great to catch up with Nagayama Sensei and the Canberra crew again with the best part being a jodo tune up by Higashi Sensei.

Here’s Higashi Sensei taking the group through some of the latest clarifications in the ZNKR Jodo Manual.

Thanks once again to Nick Hughes, Dan Harden and students, the Aussie Assault crew, and Damon Schearer for looking after me. On the home front, thank you Gotaro Kitayama for filling in at Bayside Budokai and Naoko and Emi for putting up with this.

Class Changes

I'll be travelling a bit, plus there are some events coming up which will mean some class cancellations.

The following sessions won’t be on:

• Tuesday 30 May, juniors aikido & iaido
• Friday 2 June, jodo & iaido @ Newstead
• Sunday 4 June, iaido & aikido
• Tuesday 6 June, juniors aikido & iaido
• Sunday 11 June, iaido & aikido (Nagayama Sensei jodo/iaido Seminar)
• Sunday 2 July, iaido & aikido (QKR Seminar)
• Sunday 16 July, iaido & aikido (Brisbane Aikikai 25th Anniversary Seminar)

All other classes are as posted. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Washup from the 2017 IJSC

It was a big few days of training, gradings and competition in Melbourne. Congratulations to Sharma Wrightson who passed 3 Dan iaido and sometimes Baysider Damon Schearer along with Brendan Kee from Canberra for 5 Dan jodo.

Pictured are Tsukadaira Sensei, Yaguchi Sensei, Hiroko Tsukadaira, Sharma and me with Ohara Sensei.

Tsukadaira Sensei, Sharma, me, Higashi Sensei and delegation leaders Shiiya and Namitome Sensei.

Also, the winning Qld iaido team consisting of Sharma Wrightson, Hiroko Tsukadaira and Tom Johnson.

Happy 2017

We are back in action for 2017, time to get off the couch and back on the mat. First items on the agenda will be an iaido workshop with Tsukadaira Sensei next Saturday 14 January and the National Iaido Jodo Seminar and Championship in Melbourne from 17-21 February. Training next Saturday will be at the Ken Shin Kan Dojo, Mt Gravatt High School Creighton Street, Mt Gravatt. 10am to 4pm. Cost $30.