Aikido Dojo North Vancouver Aikiaki will be welcoming in 2009 in traditional Aikido fasion with Kagami Biraki, a japanese new years traditional ceremony that involves a special rice cake offering, often performed in martial arts dojos. North Vancouver Aikiaki will be offering an open house on Saturday, January 17, 2009 with a Kagami Biraki opening ceremony and demonstrations by students and weapons from noon until 3:30 PM. This event is a great opportunity for the public to become more familiar with the Martial Art discipline of Aikido. The opening ceremony will be followed by demonstrations by children and teens. The presentation will continue with demonstrations of Aikido weapons, Kobudo weapons presented by Shintokokai Karate and Kobudo dojo, and Iaido, or live sword drawing, presented by Shin Ken Kai Iaido dojo. That sounds exciting – its not every day you get to see real katana swords in action. Its a special occasion to see so much at an event like this – a traditional ceremony, student and special weapon demonstrations. That is why if you are interested in marital arts, you should not miss this event. The day will finish with an open house until 3:30 PM.

North Vancouver Aikiaki is a registered not for profit society dedicated to the teaching of Traditional Aikido, and is a member of the United States Aikido Federation. Dedicated to the art of Aikido, the lessons are lead by Chief Instructor Joel Posluns, 6th Dan and Shidoin who volunteers his time.

The website for North Vancouver Aikiaki, http://www.nsaikido.org, features more information about Aikido, their programs for kids, teens and adults and a gallery of videos related to the discipline.

Some more info about North Vancouver Aikiaki is also available at this CL posting:
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/com/966151884.html

Here is an Aikido demonstration video passed along to me from Joel Posluns:

More info about Kagami Biraki:

http://www.shitoryu.org/heritage/kagami_biraki.htm

http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=156

Sparring on Friday was tough. Our sensei came in and sparred with three of us. Sensei Blake is an extremely tough guy and we all took some heavy licks from him. It doesn’t look very nice at first glance, but this is a new year, and we students have been with Versus 21 since or almost since it opened, almost a year ago. So as we progress, the challenges are sure to only get greater. And as we learn more we can also expect to be coddled a bit less as well. If you get into marital arts, especially in the harder forms, you are probably going to get hit once in a while – and you need to learn now to take a hit so you don’t just crumble when it really happens. I feel neither malice nor humiliation from the experience. Nor should I ever. Sparring is a test; we take responsibility for ourselves and what we know and we act upon it. What would we be learning anyways if we were never exposed to real conflict once in a while. And it wouldn’t be such a great class if it weren’t so intense. Successes give us confidence; failures help us learn. So by Saturday morning, one corner of my eye was blackened and my left eye inside the socket felt like it has been scraping against sandpaper. Both eyes are totally bloodshot; an ice pack helps all of this. And I am thinking about what I did wrong – I let my guard down at some point and I am responsible for that. Something tells me this wont be the last time either. But by defending myself, and responding appropriately to my opponent it shouldn’t have to happen more often than necessary. Osu!