Manchester Aikido

Many congratulations to Phil Hadfield, who passed his sandan test at summer school 2017 at Chester University. Well done to him and thanks to all dojo members who attended the seminar over the week.

Umar travelled to Cardiff on Saturday 10 December 2016 and was awarded his shodan certificate by the British Aikido Federation technical director, Kanetsuka sensei. Congratulations!!

All members of Manchester Dojo would like to congratulate our Sensei David Yates on reaching his milestone 60th birthday today. We are truly grateful for all the years David dedicated to teaching us, guiding us through gradings and making us train hard, and we look forward to many more years with him. He is what […]

Photo from the Oxford Course 2016.  Congradulations to Marsha (2nd Dan) and Marcin (1st Dan). Collecting there Certifications.

The Five Spirits of Budo 1) Shoshin – Beginner’s Mind This refers to the kind of attitude that you probably had when you first started martial arts. You were excited and eager to learn. You had an attitude of openness, eagerness, and had no preconceptions of how to do your techniques. You just wanted to […]

On 5th June 2015, Chiba sensei, the former head instructor of the Aikikai of Great Britain as the British Aikido Federation was formerly known, passed away.  He was 75 years old and had been suffering from cancer. Chiba sensei was mine and Rob’s first senior instructor when we started aikido in 1973 after he had […]

On a recent trip to Tokyo, I had the pleasure of meeting an Englishman called Mike Williamson, who has lived over there for many years and is married to a Japanese lady, Keiko Yakawa san.  Yakawa san is the sister of a man I have trained with for many years in Japan; initially at Mr […]