Welcome to

Aikikai Aikido Dulwich

Aikido, Mindfulness, Well-Being

ABOUT US

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Aikikai Aikido Dulwich offers Aikido training every Tuesday and

Thursday in West Dulwich, London. Aikido is a unique, dynamic Japanese

martial art combined with mindfulness. We relate to Aikido as "Zen in

motion".

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Practising "Zen in motion" will see you quickly gain the benefits of

mindfulness bringing not only greater focus and technical improvement, but a general sense of peace and well-being. Zen in Motion helps many overcome the mental and physical struggles we face in our daily life. It can be very personal, and everybody has a different way of dealing with stressful situations day-to-day. At Aikikai Aikido Dulwich, we believe in individuals and appreciate all the differences we have as human beings. A specific tradition of martial arts guides our training, but we do not want to force culture on people. Instead, we try to bring people into the tradition. We want to help everyone improve in their own space and to recognise the qualities of every individual, and how each person's unique attributes can strengthen our tradition. We want to bring out the best in each person, so that each of us becomes a better, healthier member of the community around us, in their unique way.

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"Aikido is not a technique to fight with or defeat

an enemy. It is the way to reconcile the world

and make human beings one family."

Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido is open to everyone: men and women, young and old, all physiques and levels of fitness. The approach to martial arts in Aikido is not to learn to fight but rather to learn to control the mind and find peace within oneself. 

Aikido is a responsive martial art, which means we learn to expand and focus our awareness and act fluidly and harmoniously. It makes Aikido useful for training, not just the body but the mind too. The methods, in this martial art, work for every type of ability and body shape. As we progress, we learn to roll, fall, throw and learn evasive manoeuvres, build physical fitness, endurance and stamina, with joint locks and pinning techniques to help develop flexibility. We each work with a partner rather than fight opponents, and this non-competitive aspect helps each person learn at their own pace and have fun. Aikido does not have limits to its combinations of techniques or its ideas, and each time we practice, we discover new depths, new strengths, and unique talents within ourselves.

We are a member of the Lancashire Aikikai and affiliated with Yokohama International Aikido Club (横浜国際合気道会). The Yokohama Club was established in 1997 by Atsushi Mimuro Shihan. He is the technical director of Aikido Dulwich and Lancashire Aikikai. Mimuro Shihan is a direct student of Seigo Yamaguchi.

Seigo Yamaguchi was born April 13, 1924, in Fukuoka, Japan, he was introduced to Morihei Ueshiba in 1950 and entered the Aikikai in 1951. Seigo Yamaguchi was a 9th dan Aikido instructor and influential teacher in the Aikikai. Yamaguchi Shihan died on 24 January 1996, peacefully passing away in his sleep.

Aikido is a non-competitive Japanese martial art founded by Morihei Ueshiba (December 14, 1883 – April 26, 1969). He is referred to as Osensei (大先生/翁先生), "Great Teacher" or "The Founder" Kaiso (開祖). 

The Founder`s inspiration to his broad study and knowledge of martial arts and his religious beliefs was enormous. He firmly believed that Aikido is the way for a happy and healthy life for humankind. Translation of aikido as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of the harmonious spirit" is widespread in the aikido world. The founder's goal was to create a martial art that is highly effective self-defence, while simultaneously leaving the attacker uninjured.

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HISTORY OF AIKIDO

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Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平 Ueshiba Morihei, December 14,

1883– April 26, 1969) was a martial artist and founder of the Japanese

martial art of Aikido. The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Ueshiba studied

several martial arts in his youth and served in the Japanese Army

during the Russo-Japanese War. After being discharged in 1907, he moved

to Hokkaidōas the head of a pioneer settlement; here he met and studied

with Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. On leaving Hokkaido in 1919, Ueshiba joined the Ōmoto-kyō movement, a Shinto sect, in Ayabe, where he served as a martial arts instructor and opened his first dojo. He accompanied the head of the Ōmoto-kyō group, Onisaburo Deguchi, on an expedition to Mongolia in 1924, where they were captured by Chinese troops and returned to Japan. The following year, he had a profound spiritual experience, stating that, "a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one." After this experience, his martial arts skills have had significantly increased.

​​“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for

anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner's

mind, there are many possibilities, but in the

expert's mind, there are few. ”

Shunryu Suzuki

​Ueshiba moved to Tokyo in 1926, where he set up the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. By now he was comparatively famous in martial arts circles, and taught at this dojo and others around Japan, including in several military academies. In the aftermath of World War II, the Hombu dojo was temporarily closed, but Ueshiba had by this point left Tokyo and retired to Iwama. He continued training at the dojo he had set up there. From the end of the war until the 1960s, he worked to promote aikido throughout Japan and abroad. He died from liver cancer in 1969. After Ueshiba's death, aikido continued to be promulgated by his students (many of whom became noted martial artists in their own right). Many people are practising aikido around the world.

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Aikikai Foundation (財団法人合気会 Zaidan Hōjin Aikikai) is

the original aikido organisation. It has been an incorporated entity in Japan

since 1940. The head of the Aikikai Foundation is called Doshu, the living

successor of the founder of aikido. In its name, Kai (会) means assembly or

club. The Aikikai Foundation operates Hombu dojo, which is also named

Aikido World Headquarters. It is known by other names, for example, the

Aikikai Hombu to distinguish it from the base of later aikido organisations. Its location is in Tokyo. The use of the term Hombu, loosely, refers to the upper echelons of instructors at Hombu dojo, or to the Aikikai Foundation itself. The Aikikai Foundation also currently manages one satellite dojo, the traditional Iwama dojo in Ibaraki (about 100 km northeast of Tokyo). The Aikikai Foundation sends instructors around Japan continually. It also issues certificates of grading and instructor titles legitimated by the Doshu throughout the world.

"Budo is full of such opposite concepts. Movement in stillness,

stillness in motion. In motion, yet immovable. They sound like Zen

koans. But with our bodies, We can gain a clear understanding of such

ideas. We forge such a body, and such a mind, rather than simply

trying to learn techniques."

Seigo Yamaguchi Shihan​

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OUR TEACHERS

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