Hi all!

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[Mat Hill]

Just wrote a long rambling intro... and lost it to the vaguaries of the information superhighway! Should get out of that layby I suppose! Anyway, you don't know how lucky you all are to have missed it...

Summary:

Aiki was/is my first love, but I would shock most purists!

10 years of aikido, inc about three years of practising every day, sometimes twice, in the UK.

Unfortunately only six months of pure aiki in a dojo in Japan (been here for 5 years), then work took over. Currently the next dojo is depending on my change of work in March.

9 years of wing chun kungfu: aiki on smaller parts of the large circles! Still do this every week, and one of my partners (student?) does aiki so we play mix n match with the principles.

2 years, shodan and ongoing occasional gasshuku in kendo in Japan. Again, despite its apparent linearity, some nice shared principles, especially things like the awase in simultaneous men strikes.

Recently, and still ongoing-ish (time being as ever, the limiting factor), taking lessons from an eclectic teacher from daitoryu and hsing i kungfu... hopefully be some interesting things to share and discuss with you all from that!

Also train with my friend who is a pro shooto fighter, doing muay thai, boxing, wrestling and BJJ... precious few shared principles with aiki, but can work the odd (being the operative word?!) one in.

In real life, I'm an environmental freak and always have been, and this is also a large part of my martial art philosophy.

There you go... bet you're glad you missed the long one!!! :D love the smileys on this board btw, esp :yuck: this one...! Not going to be around so often but hope to have some interesting discussions with you all.

Mat.

[akiy]

Hi Mat,

Welcome, and thank you for your introduction!

-- Jun