London East Aikido

“Aikido is not limited to a mat space…”

We did ikkyo, shihonage, kotegaishi to confirm the importance of basics. You know training can be kind of boring – year after year the same thing, over and over. That’s what it is – nothing exciting… it’s just like a meal you eat every night, night after night. If it’s something very exciting you get sick. A healthy meal is sort of a boring meal – no excitement…

All of Aikido is to work with your body. The body is the foundation for everything. Work with your body…

Of course, Aikido is not limited to a mat space like this. There is a huge world out there, what I call big Aikido or big dojo. Practice Aikido principles within the big Aikido, right out there! That is what true Aikido is.

-- T.K. Chiba, from Oct 2, 1998 lecture at Siskiyou Aikikai, Ashland, Oregon --

"One must overcome the greatest enemies of budo: anger, fear, doubt, hesitation, scorn, and vanity, and develop a firm soul and great courage. One must be penetrated by the necessity of victory over oneself. It is through the repetition of daily practice that one vanquishes tiredness, weariness and comes to know a taste for effort, the importance of perseverance and the joy of winning over difficulty."

-Nobuyoshi Tamura Shihan, 8th dan
On the mental aspect of Aikido