Aikido combines the Physics of movement of the body, Kinesthesia, with classical Physics of motion, Kinematics, for non-malicious responses to aggression. This is essentially what the Aikidoists study.
                                                                            Thomas C. Huffman

Aikido is unique among martial arts in that it teaches calmness and creativity in the midst of aggression .... compassion and non-violent responses towards violence .... and resolution of conflicts without harming others.                             
                                                              Sensei Miles Kessler

“People who practice Aikido should be recognized as the best artists in the world. It is easy to create something good with good materials. However, we perform a martial art that is designed to maim and kill people, which is something that people dislike. With these poor materials we cultivate a society of friendship and build peaceful minds, which people desire. Every Aikido technique has this heart.”
                                                                     Shoji Nishio, Shihan
                                                      [1927-2005]
                                                        Founder Nishio Ryu Aikido
Thomas        5° BB Iwama and Nishio Styles of Aikido, (35 years with 6 years in Japan)
Huffman      3° BB Iaido & Batto (30 years also with 6 years with the "Old" Masters in Japan)
                      2° BB Okinawan Karate & Kobudo (weapons) (40 years with 1 year on Okinawa)

     I have known for a long time that the main line of Aikido does not focus on truly effective techniques.  I experienced this in various seminars that some Hombu students attended while I was in Japan and some other Hombu style seminars I have trained in.   Their techniques look similar, but the results were not as consistent with lock-down efficiency.    Recently I have discovered that the headquarters dojo, the Aikikai Hombu Dojo,  deliberately changed how techniques were executed in order to spread Aikido around the world.   It worked, Aikdo is around the world but the changes frustrated the founder of Aikido, perhaps causing him to develop a cancer.   One day a student asked O'Sensei about the effectiveness of the techniques.   In a fit of frustration O'Sensei told him, "The Aikido being taught here in Tokyo is for exercise.  My Aikido is for the battlefield.  If you want to learn my Aikido go to Iwama and learn from Saito."  
     He was referring to Morihiro Saito Sensei.   He was the teacher of  three of the teachers I started Aikido under.   I managed to get the Navy to send me to Japan so I could study with him as well.  I also studied with his son Hitohiro Saito for three years on the south side of Tokyo.  Then the second three years I would train with Sensei Ryuji Sawa (formerly Inagaki Sensei), when the USS Independence was in port.  After three years at Atsugi Naval Air Station, I had to change duty stations, so I went to the USS Independence which was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, about  45 miles Southeast from Tokyo.  The first year I was on it, the Independence went into dry dock for major repairs.   So for practically the whole year the ship was in port.   The next two years the Independence was away from Yokosuka for 9 months of the year.  So my last two years around Japan, I became more of a visitor when the ship came back into home port.  
     Being stationed nearer to Yokohama, I also trained with Nishio Sensei on a number of nights.   My advancements came from Nishio Sensei who also advocated battlefield strong, effective, fast techniques.   I teach the Iwama Style as a basic foundation and the Nishio Style as advanced for flow and speed.   Nishio Style is more complex, so an understanding of the Iwama style basics makes it easier to comprehend.  I have been so fortunate to study the two styles of Aikido that maintain a sense of Budo (martial way) while the main line of Aikido has chosen to maintain an exercise way. The organization is much larger and the modified techniques that do not consistently work has given Aikido a poor reputation.

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1/10/22 Experiencing the perfect throw. Saturday morning 12 year old (and small for his age) Carlton followed directions perfectly and threw me perfectly for a back spinning Irimi-Nage Tenkan= Entering Throw spinning the aggressor backwards and down. We had been working on this for maybe 10-15 minutes, that morning. Each time I had been tweaking how he caught my arm, how he twisted it as he moved & received it & twisted it and finally how he would slide in behind me, twist my body around and catch the back of my shoulder/neck intersection while spinning backwards.He was surprised and shocked by how much faster and stronger I hit the mat, yet I got up laughing and telling him, “THAT WAS GREAT!” He had followed directions exactly. While I was laughing, he was saying, “It didn't feel like I did anything.” I was telling him, “YES, THAT'S THE GOOD STUFF. You totally unified your body to execute the throw.”
I don't know how many times he has heard me tell people, “The best throws are like nothing, effortless.” (They don't believe it.) This was what Carlton had experienced, an effortless throw. It's a perfect combination of motions of the attack, the reception of that attack and the sequential movements which accelerate the kinetic energy of the movement, while simultaneously destroying the aggressors stability and balance. It's combining the Physics of movement of the body, Kinesthesia with classical Physics of motion, Kinematics. This is essentially what the Aikidoists study. I have never heard anyone put these words in this context. However, I have been pointing out the Physics in techniques and the Physics of the body for years.
People here in The States go gaga when they have a seminar with an 8th Dan = 8th Deg Black Belt. Yet they are still practicing with 2nd and 3rd Degree teachers and sometimes a 4th or 5th Degree. In Japan, I was experiencing classes nightly and on weekends with 4th, 5th, 6th and sometimes 7th degrees. A 7th Degree was my partner for my first test in Japan (for 3rd Kyu). I was receiving these perfect throws dozens per class and essentially getting private lessons, within class, in how to achieve these throws.

PERFECTION IS ADDICTIVE, both executing and receiving. So, when I receive this type of throw, perfection, from my students, my body spontaneously laughs, because it is the joy I live for, to know another student has achieved perfection even for a moment.
This is why I teach even when I loose money doing it. I want others to experience this knowledge and learn how to defend themselves without responding with malice.

1/2/22  Happy New Year Everyone!  We had a wonderful start to the new year this afternoon.  Jacob's younger sister and brother and sister's friend came to practice this afternoon.  We didn't cover a whole lot of techniques.  We went more in depth of initial principles of  Get-out-of-the-way-of-the-attack, Tai-no-henko, Moro-te-dori Kokyuho = the Drink-your-soda-look-at-the-rainbow throw and the Bearhug from behind attack, Kokyuho Throw.  Last Thursday evening, Jacob and I worked on the 13 no Jo Kata and the Kumijo counter kata I developed for it.  It was exciting and his sister and brother both saw us practicing at the end of class.  I'll bet he was pumped up excited, nearly out of his mind on the way home and his brother and sister now want a piece of that.  They all had fun today and learned a bunch of stuff.  I don't just show the techniques.   I explain what principles we are working on.   Also I explain how the Yin and Yang = In-Yo in Japanese work into everything we practice.  It's everywhere in what we do.
It literally is "The Way".
     
12/30/21  We are coming to the end of 2021.  Hallelujah. December has been miserable for revenue, but OK for advancements.   I have tested and advanced three students this month.  Christmas was good.  I have had a lot of VHS tapes from Japan digitized and will try to get some uploaded  to show what Nishio type classes were like in Japan.  I have uploaded my Nidan (2nd degree black belt) test.  It was a good test and I covered a lot of techniques.  I'm linking it to this page later.  Have a Happy New Year.  Hopefully 2022 will be a better year.       

11/21/21.   Everyone have a great Thankgiving.  There won't be any classes on Thursday, Friday or Saturday this year.  I'll be open on Sunday the 28th.  This past Thursday evening, Jacob passed his 4th test with a pretty good test.  He went through the techniques with few mistakes or redoes.  I was expecting that.  Sensei Keith and I have been reviewing with him the past 3 Sundays.  We drilled him pretty good.
I'm expecting Carlton will take his 7th test early in December.  He is being drilled while he reviews the techniques for his test.  He will have weapons and knife take-aways in his test, so there is more to review.   

10/10/21.  Another good week, kind of.  The little Chinese/Japanese boy who was in last Saturday morning came again Thursday afternoon.  I gave him a white belt and we ended up putting on stripes for everything in the first test and one stripe for the second test.  He picked up so fast, I'm going to have him just do the first two tests together.  All the time we were practicing he would every so often pull up the neck of his shirt and wipe all around his mouth.  I just thought it was sweat and didn't think anything of it.  Friday morning, I  was snuffing and coughing.  I had the cold.  Oh well, it happens when teaching little kids.  But with my experience with the covid virus, which I thought was just a bad cold, I had to stay away from church today cause of all the people in their 70's and 80's.  Saturday morning, I was teaching Chandler, who has been coming regularly and his progress shows it.  The half stripes he still had were all in the weapons portion of his test, so we didn't have to interact so close.  He was the only student who showed up, so we just did all weapons all morning.  So he has finished all his stripes for the 7th test in just around 2 1/2 half months.  I have it posted for about 8 months worth of practice.  Assuming he keeps coming regularly, he could pass the test maybe by the end of this month or early in November.  It's all refinement from here on.  That's the value of consistent practice.          

10/3/21. It's been a good week. Thursday evening we taught 15 college girls with the Florida Empower group, formerly known as the UF Empowerment group. It's normally a 3 hour class, but they didn't stay for even two hours. Keith and I had gotten though all the theory and psychology stuff that we teach and had just gotten into techniques, when they left. They enjoy our teaching. This is about the 3rd or 4th year they have been coming. It would be nice if they could come back a few more times this year to get more of what we teach. Saturday morning a new little boy, 6, came in. His mother is Okinawan and she was just beaming as I taught him using Japanese words. As we were warming up and I am counting repetitions in Japanese, he was counting right along with me. Very sharp little boy. He picked up so quickly on things Charles and I were helping him with. Then in the afternoon we had 3 more ladies in for another Women's Self Defense class. They stayed the full 3 hours and we covered our full curriculum. So, it was a good week.

9/9/21  Wow I did not realize it has been so long since I posted anything on this.   There have been two tests since then.  Chandler passed his 6th test in July and Jacob passed his 3rd test on August 25th.  It was a very good test, and I expected that because he comes on Sunday afternoons and so often he has been the only student.  When Keith is there, he gets double private instruction, so he is flying ahead.  Chandler also comes on Free Thursday evenings and Free Saturday mornings.  He's 11 and he may still be small for his age.  He is flying along too and getting proficient with the 7th test.  He's working on the Green with Black belt.   Jacob passed his Purple with White Stripe and is now working on Blue belt.  Jacob's sister has also come to two Saturday mornings.  The first one I taught her most of the Women's Self Defense class.  Then this past weekend I was already teaching Chandler 1st, 2nd and 3rd techniques from both wrists grabbed from behind.  So, we brought her into the practice, continuing to teach Chandler his test while teaching the same techniques, in beginning form, to Katrina.  So, she felt the control of the techniques when she grabbed Chandler from behind and started learning how to apply them to Chandler when he grabbed her single wrist from the front.  Good practice.
                    
Saturday 7/24/21, The Batto today was pretty good.  My sword is cutting spectacularly.  I started out with the Morinaga/Tokutomi Style Toyama-Ryu Pre-drawn  Walking Cuts set.  Then we started going through the 15 Kata pamphlet of Walking Draw Cut Katas I have both put together and designed.   I say that because there are a number of old Katas from the classes I attended in Japan as well as new Katas I have designed from both the Nishio Aiki-Toho System and Toyama-Ryu together to bring the count up to 15.   Some are kind of simple and some are downright difficult.  It's certainly a challenging set.  It's all video taped. So, I will be posting each Kata as I edit them with explanations and process them.                

This coming Saturday 7/24/21 we will be doing Batto (cutting rolled rice-straw mats) out in front of the dojo, under the trees, weather permitting.   I put 21 rolls of targets in a barrel by the dojo and filled it with water today.  So, they will be well soaked by Saturday.  We will start setting up, out front, at Noon.  Once we are set up we will start cutting.  We have been practicing with Iaido swords and pool noodles stuck in cones for target positioning for weeks.  I will be trying to go through 16 Katas.  Most of them are the same as we practiced in Japan.  I have developed some new Katas using the Aiki-Toho Iaido for inspiration and concepts from Toyama-Ryu Batto.  It's going to be interesting.                

Saturday 7/10/21,  I'm very proud of the showing from Aikido of Gainesville down in Orlando for the Japanese Sword Show put on by Bob Elder over the weekend.  On Saturday four of us from the Iaido class rode down together and met two families from the Aikido classes down there.  So altogether counting other family members as well we had 11 show up on Saturday.  Two other students said they would be going down on Sunday.  So this was the best showing on an out-of-town event since starting Aikido of Gainesville in 2002.  Terrific!  Also, this evening, July 12th, I'm showing the Iaido class a composite video of classes I video taped back in 1996 of Batto classes at the Tokutomi Dojo in Toyama village in Japan.   What was taught there, as far as the tame shigiri (cutting), is pretty different from the Tokyo Style Toyama-Ryu tame shigiri that is prevalent here in the U.S.  I am planning on a Batto class, with cutting, outdoors, on Saturday afternoon on the 24th, weather permitting.

We do have the free classes going again on Saturday mornings. It's open from 9am to Noon. When there are a number of kids coming we usually start with a warm-up game at 9am for those coming in not really just a 9am. Then we bow in and do the stretches and wrist warmups and break up to knowledge level groups. Often I have the more advanced students helping the new students, which promotes good learning for all. When the advanced students teach their juniors, they learn more in depth what they learned previously, which helps their advancement to more complex versions of the same techniques with different attacks and accelerating speed. If time and good attendance permits, I switch out the advanced students so I can teach them something to help their tests. Then often, the last 15 minutes, we play either some "Samurai" hockey or 10 strikes. This promotes teamwork with a lot of laughing and or fun with some competition.                  

6/10/21 We have had the first test and promotion since before the pandemic.    Jake started a number of months ago practicing weapons while we were still limited to no contact.  So, we just started the empty hand a few weeks ago and we just put the two first tests together and he blew through them.  He will already know weapons knowledge up through about the 6th test when he gets there.  So, I expect that Jake will advance pretty fast through the lower tests.  He's coming twice a week to both an empty hand and a weapons class, so he will advance much faster than the persons who only come to the free classes, once a week.  I now give both a free empty hand and weapons classes on Thursday nights, but still just one time a week doesn't trend to as good retention of knowledge as coming a second time during the week.   I found that to be the case with the Batto (cutting with a sword) classes that were only on Saturday afternoons and evenings while I was in Japan.  It was difficult to recall what I had learned the week before.  Once I started video recording classes and re-viewing them later, I could progress much better.  That second reinforcement did the trick.             


5/23/21  It's been a good day, but a sad day.  The family from India has a flight date for a week from tomorrow.  Today was their last practice.   I gave them a weapons bag for the handmade Jo's I made for them.  The mother asked if she could be a teacher in India.   I told her what Sensei actually translates to.  Student who has gone before.  She and her daughters are obviously that, so of coarse she can be a Sensei.  They have recorded so many videos of various techniques I have taught them.  So, if they save those videos, they have a good library of explained techniques to use.  They also know the 31 and 13 kata movement kumijo's, both the defender and aggressor sides.   Yes, there is a kumijo for the 13 movement kata.  I developed it.  Her youngest daughter is 8 and she knows both sides of the katas.  There are lots of Sandans, 3rd Degree blackbelts who don't know the kumijo.  These girls are great.  Wonderful family.  I am going to miss them so much.                    
           

4/2/21 The last Saturday of March, we went down to Orlando to Bob Elder's Toyama-Ryu class.  I demonstrated the walking draws set of the Toyama-Ryu style I learned in Japan, which I am teaching and to observe their practice.  Here is a video of what I was showing.  https://rumble.com/vfa1u1-toyama-hon-iaido-batto-walking-draws-set.html  I put it up on Rumble, because I don't trust what Youtube or Facebook might do with it.  I don't think there is much Batto here in the U.S. that is doing any cutting on the move. The normal target stands are not conducive to cutting on the move. You can not walk past the stand close to the target. So the stands you see me using are very different. Also the angle stand that holds the target at a 45degree angle is unheard of here in the states. I may have the only one existing now. I think Bob's students may want to build one now. My demonstration was radical compared to normal. The amount of time required to set up cuts made me think about the sequence of katas. I am re-arranging them now so I can accomplish more cuts on the same setting before moving stands around for the next cuts.                      
3/14/21 Sunday.  Today Bharathi's two older daughters were practicing back and forth on the aggressor side of the 31 movement Jo kata.  They were laughing and having just too much fun with it.  (I'm being facitious)  They all so much enjoy what I have been teaching them.  And I certainly enjoy teaching such students.  Another great day!       

3/12/21 Rock, the student who moved up to Memphis so he and his mother would get to see Dad more often, was in last week.  His mother's parents live here, so they will be back down to visit now and then.  I got to meet his father.  He thanked me for being a kind of surrogate father/uncle to Rock while he was flying cargo around the world.  They have enrolled Rock in a Karate school.  I asked him how he liked it.  He said, "It's OK, but it's not as fun as Aikido."  So we had a lot of fun practicing the 13 movement Jo kata.  Then he wanted to put together the 13 movement kata and the 31 movement kata.  (He didn't really forget anything.)  So, that gave me a challenge of how to fix it so the 13th movement could go right into the first movement of the 31 movement kata.  Our normal finish of the 13 no Jo ends with the attack side moving right and the defender's Jo being on the left.  But the start of the 31 no Jo starts with the attacker reacting to the defender's first counter thrust being to the right of the attacker.  I had to create a left movement for the attacker with a response to the right.  I got it.  So we now have a 44 movement kata.   So we both learned something.  Good practice.          


 
1/29/21 Wednesday evening Iaido practice was good.  My students understand the Aikido Toho Iaido well so we have been going through the katas and just doing two each unless there are mistakes.  If there are mistakes we repeat those 4 times.   After we finish the 15 katas, we switch to the Toyama-Ryu katas.  Since I expect that at some point we will be actually using these katas for cutting, it is important for everyone to understand the positioning of targets for cutting.  The use of cones with short pool noodles positioned as targets makes the practice much more realistic.         


 1/19/21 About a week ago Bill of the Iaido classes brought in some low cones with about 1.25" holes in the top.  It is big enough that a 1.5" short pool noodle can be pushed into the hole to represent the location of a "wata" (target) for Batto cutting.  So I have begun using these to give a better visualization of target placing for future Batto cutting.  Up to this point I could visualize where the targets would be when I have been teaching, but it is pretty abstract for students.  This will allow them to get a much better idea of what they are doing when I teach them about the Toyama-ryu Batto.   Also I got a really nice deal on a new canvas cover for the mats.  I've had it for over a year and a half, but there were too many other things that would mess it up that I wanted to get done before we put that cover on and I was waiting for the weather to cool because it's a hot job.  More on that as it progresses.    

1/10/2021 Wonderful news today.  I have been promoted to 5th Dan, 5th Degree black belt in Aikido after 20 + years as 4th Dan.  I will need to make new business cards.  What a terrible need.  Perhaps the 20 years time-in-grade pushed my name to second in line on the list.   I had three students for both weapons and the empty hand time today.  We changed weapons and kept going.  Good Day!                     

1/1/2021  Sensei Keith has been coming to practice weapons more now.  He came to one of the Kids & Teens classes or maybe it was a Thursday evening for the free classes and found out some of the kids are getting more advanced in weapons techniques than he is.  Not so good.  So I am overjoyed to be teaching him more weapons stuff.  He is getting more and more proficient with the attack side of the 31 movement Jo kata.   I believe he learned the attack side of the 13 movement kata about a year or two ago, but without practice, it's easy to forget.  I also had a new student come in yesterday.  He has practiced a number of other martial arts, but felt that they required too much aggression to use in  a real situation.   Aikido does not need the aggressiveness to respond and he likes that philosophy better.   That's the kind of student I want to teach lots of knowledge to.  I packed his brain with Bo, Boken and Jo techniques yesterday.  It's just a beginning.                      


Nov 8th, 2020.   About a week or so ago, one of my Iaido students gave me a really heart felt thank you for my teachings.  He said that the consistent intense focus in manipulating the sword straight really helps himself and the other students to focus as well and everybody improves quickly.  Sensei Keith has also thanked me in the past that these classes have been so beneficial and healing for his mind because of the  concussions and other head traumas he experienced over his years as a deputy sheriff.  We have had to go to all weapons classes because of the virus constraints and I have always maintained that practically everything we do builds neural pathways across the brain divide because you must use both sides of the brain to move and coordinate your appendages all the time.   The kids are beginning to really enjoy the classes as we get deeper and deeper into the partner practices.  When they are facing another weapon coming at them and deflecting it and responding back, things get exciting.  They recognize that this could get dangerous even though we are going slow as they learn things.  It gives them a little adrenaline pumping.   The time to think is very limited, so they must respond as taught.  Time and again I hear, "This is so cool!" and "I love this!" and "This is fun!"  I respond with, "See, I told you right from the beginning that Aikido is fun."               

We kept on the Tsuka Osai and Tekubi Osai katas during Iaido this week working on getting the angles right because the orientation of the student's body and the movement of the handle of the sword is so important to what makes the technique effective. I need to get some of the blue paint type masking tape to put down on the mat so the feet get oriented correctly because body stance and positioning is what is moving the sword handle around. Strong Nikyo technique can be executed with very little effort provided you use your body in a very unified coordinated movement. Otherwise, you may need to use much more strength or the technique may be weak or not work at all. When I got back from Japan, in 1997, I was moving and turning with very small tight hand movements and people would fly to the mat. I was even taking the Nikyo off before the full execution, yet they were so surprised by the strength, they thought I was being mean. The key is total body unification.  That was the level I practiced in Japan.       

Saturday Aug 29th, During Iaido class we analyzed the 7th Aiki Toho Iaido kata, Tekubi Osai  (wrist pin down), which is the right hand of the aggressor grabbing the end of the tsuka (sword handle) or grabbing the left wrist of the defender for empty hand attack.  The Katate Dori Nikyo Ura (take down to the rear) is pretty easy to see.   What we were analyzing was what was happening with the various positions we move the sword through as we execute the kata. There are a number of interesting effects to the aggressor's wrist and physics principles effecting the bodies that the movement presents.   Takemori Sensei would often sit beside me at the parties and he would often say, "Nishio Sensei is very clever."  He is right.  Nishio Sensei was a very clever man.  I believe Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, O'Sensei, ran a genius factory.  So many of his students became geniuses.   
 

I received this awesome message from my friend Mike Fowler about a night with Nishio Sensei after practice.   This was Nishio Sensei's deep philosophy.
    In Tokyo, one night after class, we all went out to Nishio Sensei's favorite yakitori place for dinner. There were 5 or 6 students with us; We ordered some things and after a while Nishio Sensei looks at me and said "Michael, I'm one of the best martial artists on the planet,  if you have a question for me, you can ask it now!”  That's called “Front Street.”  It's an unusual, direct way of Japanese speaking.
    I thought about it for a second and said, “Sensei, when you practice Ken Tai Ken, What do you feel when you meet your Uke without hurting them?”
    Sensei answered me in a deep voice, "Forgiveness.” “Most people have a hard time to forgive even once. I'm an aikido man.  I must do better than that. In the Aikido techniques we practice, there are many points of reflection where we have the chance to learn forgiveness for others and ourselves, even when they want to harm us!”
    "Sensei, How many times do we need to forgive in one technique?"
    Sensei said, “At least 3 to 5 time's is good, or until they feel the sharp part of my sword, after that it gets repetitive!”
    "Sensei, What do we think about when we practice cutting with our sword?"
     "We should think that we are cutting out the bad parts of ourselves, or our character that we don't like. With every cut we go deeper. The Aikido sword cuts in the correct way for people to follow and develop good character and spirit  to become strong and to help others to do the same.” “But first, we must work on ourselves!" “I believe in myself!" He said, “1000 Sword cuts for your heart!” “10,000 sword cuts for your spirit!”
     Sensei looked at me deep in the eye's for a minute and said, "Most students would not ask this kind of question of me Michael-san.”
     I looked at the other student's at the table. We all had tears in our eye's at that moment. We all said, “Kampai Sensei!”
    I always tried to pull things out of him in this way. Thank you Nakamichi Sensei, for reminding me of that moment in time.   I feel AIKIDO is the physical expression of love and compassion.  I miss you Sensei!”
Michael fowler 5th dan Nishio sensei.
Ronin,


This is a video of Saito Sensei teaching a seminar in Japan.  Maybe it's a university aikido club or perhaps multiple universities cause the average age looks like college student ages.  Probably you won't be able to understand the words, but you can still understand the teaching cause it goes more by demonstration than exactly what he says.  I linked it, so you should be able to just click on the url address here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzNa_7uufAs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR16mgTh9-FqDmg1OPowQDP-lUQdXF0CRs8BNq0CbNwYm5rhjcD9VLwAGN0


I stumbled onto an old demonstration by Nishio Sensei.  It's the 11th All Japan Aikido demonstrations.  I think they are up to around 57 now so this must be back in the 1960's  I'm about 85-90% certain the Uke's are Nishimoto Sensei and Masuda Sensei.  Everyone is so much younger than when I practiced with them.  Nishimoto Sensei was my Uke and tested me for Sankyu at the old Matsuo Dojo.  He just called me up near the end of class and had me do techniques.  I didn't even know I was being tested.  How many white belts have a 7th Dan test and Uke for you at the same time.   That was special and I didn't even know it at the time.  I was still pretty clueless at the time.   This is the link to the video:   https://www.facebook.com/senseiaikidocom/videos/544548876016792/UzpfSTEwMDAwMTA0Njg4Njk3MzpWSzoyNDQ4NjUxNTQxODE2OTQw/                   


I received this wonderful Thank You from the woman who requested and coordinated bringing the children with Tourette Syndrome to the Saturday morning classes.  She said posting this was great with her.       
Simpson, Heather N.
Mon, March 2019
to Sensei Tom,
 
Thank you so much for welcoming our group this weekend.  I know that the children loved it and really enjoyed learning the activities.  In particular, while the kids were learning, the parents were bonding and connecting, which was a real bonus to Saturday.
 
I have taken your flyer and will hand it out whenever possible.
 
Your program is truly remarkable and I appreciate your kindness to the group.
 
Most sincerely,
 
Heather Simpson, OTD, MOT, OTR/L
Tourette Clinic Coordinator
Southeast Regional Centers of Excellence
UF Health Rehab Center at Fixel Center for Neurological Diseases

              
I received this great email complement from Nathaniel after his first class in Jodo, walking staff, last Thursday evening.  It's so nice I asked him if I could post it on the website.  He said he would be honored.  
Dear Sensei,
        Thank you for writing and for teaching a wonderful class. Having dabbled in various martial arts and numerous dojo’s over the years I have developed a good sense for quality instruction and found it in abundance on Thursday. And I feel very fortunate to be able to receive such a level of instruction within a small class (although I do not expect the class to remain small for long). The commute is a challenge but is what it is. I look forward to seeing you again on Thursday.
Best regards,
Nathaniel        

This video explains how to perform the first kata of the Aiki Toho Iaido developed by Shoji Nishio Sensei. I also explain about the cutting draw I was taught right from the start of my practice of Iaido. I did not need to change anything when I was introduced to Tasaburo Tokutomi Sensei, master of the Morinaga line of the Toyama-Ryu style of batto-jutsu, cutting of rolled rice straw matting.   Here is the URL of the first Aiki Toho kata  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBuEw99f3CE

 
   The primary question:  What constitutes a good dojo?  How do you recognize a good dojo?

1.   The Sensei (instructor) is knowledgeable, helpful and safe.
2.   The techniques work and can be powerful, but don't always need to be powerful.
3.   The senior students look out for and help the junior students and keep things safe.
4.   Everybody is learning a lot and having fun. 
There are Dojos that stand a lot on visual image and ritual because they can't stand on knowledge and there are Dojos that forego a lot of ritual and may not look like much but they have an abundance of knowledge.    We are in the latter group. 
                           TEST US!    There is an overwhelming abundance of knowledge here.
To see and learn more about the dojo, go across the top menu to "About".  On the drop down menu click on "Location".  On that page there are 10 videos showing the dojo with explanations of what I have on the walls. 

Under the videos menu I have added instructional videos for both Iwama Style and Nishio Style.  I will begin showing how I teach the techniques, as time allows.  You may find them very informative. 

If you want to get in contact with me, email;  sensei@aikidoofgainesville.com or 352-494-7816.
The more time spent in class becomes more learned which means the faster the advancement.

Free Saturday classes will remain in the mornings until further notice.
Kids    9am to 10:30am  and  
Teens  10:30am to Noon 

AOG web sites with information about Kids classes are;
Aikido Kids of Gainesville,
Stop the Bully Using Aikido and
Bully Defense Using Aikido
These sites have more information about what to  expect in Kids and Teens classes and Anti-Bully techniques.

Thursday Free Class times are 6:30-8:00pm. 
There is now a weapons class from   8:05 to 9:00pm following the free class.
 
The Nishio Sensei videos shown above here are advanced techniques.    I start practically everybody in the Iwama Style to build knowledge and a foundation of basic techniques.   After you have the knowledge to pass the third test, then you will better understand and appreciate the Nishio Style techniques which are strong and fast. 


Calendar of all Aikido of Gainesville Events

  For more class choices visit the
Aikido Lessons Store

Classes will be tracked by the use of a punch card.   The number of classes purchased will be written on the punch card and when the number of punches are completed a new card may be purchased.   There will be no time restrictions on the cards. 
Tom Huffman (352) 494-7816 sensei@aikidoofgainesville.com 4424 SW 35th Terrace Suite 4 Gainesville, FL 32608 Copyright © 2002-2017 Aikido of Gainesville, Inc. and Thomas C. Huffman, All Rights Reserved