Kamiza and Shomen Pics

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[Michael Young]

Hi Everyone,

A post in the "Spiritual" forum about Kamidana got me interested in seeing what different dojo's Shomen and Kamiza look like. I'll start it off, here is ours from Alamo City Aikido in San Antonio, TX:

[John Boswell]

http://members.cox.net/aikidoc1/images/classpics/dojo%20progress/thumb8.JPG

New Dojo. New Kamiza. I like both. :D

Aikido of Midland, Texas

(note to self: replace the glass in O'Sensei's picture with non-glare glass. ;) )

[John Boswell]

I am (unfortunatly) not a student at this dojo, but I love their shomen so much, I have to make a mention of it:

Aikido of Tamalpais (Wendy Palmer and George Leonard, Senseis)

http://www.tam-aikido.org/images/stories/dojo_icons/tam_icon.jpg

VERY awsome shomen and was my "inspiration" for suggesting to Sensei Riggs that Aikido of Midland base the shomen around one of the windows. Due to the layout of the room, it worked out perfectly and, hopefully, we may one day have a stained glass kanji to go in the window as well. REALLY looking forward to seeing if that happens.

Kudos to Aikido of Tamalpais! They have an excellent shomen, in an excellent dojo with some of the best instructors in the United States. :D

[Yann Golanski]

We have a brick wall... It's very Zen.

[Dajo251]

we have a painting of O'sensei hung from the drop ceiling by a shoelace.....we arent done with the dojo yet but we are training in it, I dont think he minds much as long as we train hard

[mathewjgano]

I am (unfortunatly) not a student at this dojo, but I love their shomen so much, I have to make a mention of it:

Aikido of Tamalpais (Wendy Palmer and George Leonard, Senseis)

http://www.tam-aikido.org/images/stories/dojo_icons/tam_icon.jpg

VERY awsome shomen and was my "inspiration" for suggesting to Sensei Riggs that Aikido of Midland base the shomen around one of the windows. Due to the layout of the room, it worked out perfectly and, hopefully, we may one day have a stained glass kanji to go in the window as well. REALLY looking forward to seeing if that happens.

Kudos to Aikido of Tamalpais! They have an excellent shomen, in an excellent dojo with some of the best instructors in the United States. :D

I particularly like the image of "ai" embedded in the center. :ai:

[mathewjgano]

Now, maybe this doesn't count because it's a Jinja, but this is the Shomen of the dojo at Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja.

[Sonja2012]

Nice, and so low key ;)

No, honestly, impressive!

[Nick P.]

we have a painting of O'sensei hung from the drop ceiling by a shoelace.....we arent done with the dojo yet but we are training in it, I dont think he minds much as long as we train hard

Well said. Our picture of O-Sensei is placed on the cart we use to store our tatami when they are not used.

He is bowed to with the same respect and humility as any other picture of him in any dojo.

[Jack Simpson]

As we train in a fitness center and have to set-up and tear-down each class, we have a "shomen-in-a-box". The blue cloth covers a RubberMaid storage box and O Sensei, the flower arrangement and necessary dojo log books etc, live inside when not in use.

The flower is fake and from Target, but I get a lot of complements on it when we have it set up at demos. Guess I got lucky. The photo of O Sensei was a gift from a friend long ago. The stone is my favorite concept in Aikido, takemusu aiki.

Cheers,
Jack :ai:

[John Boswell]

I like that picture of O'Sensei, Jack. The poster you can get from Aikido Journal, but having on that board the way it is, with the kanji next to him... worn on the corner... there's something very cool about that that I like. :D Flower is pretty good and I like the stone as well.

Not bad at all!

[Jack Simpson]

Thanks John. I think the poster photo is different. I'm not sure where my friend got the photo we use, but it seems to be O Sensei beside the kanji, in other words, we didn't put the two together.

Cheers,
Jack :ai:

[Michael Young]

The Kamiza at the Kannagara Jinja is great! I've got to try and make it by there next time I am in Seattle at Ledyard Sensei's dojo.

[Neal Earhart]

Jack,

I agree with John, for a "Kamiza-on-the-go" that is quite excellent !!

The calligraphy stone is very nice !

[mathewjgano]

Nice, and so low key ;)

No, honestly, impressive!

Heheheh! Well sure it's not much to look at, but maybe they were going for a "zen" approach? ...which is odd being a Shinto shrine ;) :D

[dreamborn]

Here is the kamiza that I did for our dojo. It disasembles into 3 parts for easy transportation. The heaviest of the 3 parts is less than 50 pounds. It is made of solid walnut and hardwood maple. Just click on the link in my sig file, it is at the bottom of the page. The kanji is engraved. I am willing to share the plans and material list to any who are interested. Here are more pictures from an album on my facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1055601954591.2008995.1362108281&type=1&l=14236e3b25