The History of Aikido in Australia?
Greetings all,
Am looking over the history of Aikido and would like to look into how Aikido became started in my own country, where the first Dojo's were and who began them, along with who were the first Aussie men and women to recieve gradings in Aikido in Australia as opposed to overseas, then I guess a footprint of how each of the Aikido denominations got started here. I have tried Google without a great deal of success and am hoping that a member here may be able to point me in the right direction for a search like this? |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Good luck!
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Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Here are some of the Ki-sters in action
http://www.aikidorepublic.com/aikido...kido-australia the funny thing about documenting is that knowledge comes out of the woodwork and the back stories are quite interesting too |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Here's a short history of Aikikai in Australia: http://www.aikido.org.au/aikidohistory.html
More assorted historical articles can be found in the newsletters: http://www.aikido.org.au/aikikaiaustralie.html |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Stan Pranin, has some of the early history in an Australian entry in his encyclopaedia of Aikido here
http://www.aikidojournal.com/encyclopedia?entryID=54 |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
The aikikai site above claims it "is the only Australian organisation to have grading authority from the Aikido World Headquarters in Japan".
I know it used to be the only Australian organisation to have grading authority from Aikikai Honbu, but I'm pretty sure A.K.I. and one other that I can't remember right now also have grading authority at present. They might want to update their website. |
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Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
I think Aikikai Australia have been making that claim for a long time, I'm they told me that when I trained with them briefly. But I'm pretty sure Kenkyukai (A.K.I), Aikido Alliance Australia (through Robert Nadeau Shihan in California), and I think some "Iwama" style dojo's like Barry Knight in Melbourne are all affiliated with the Aikikai hombu. There are surely many more Aikikai Australia doesn't have a monopoly on this.
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Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
I think it's that Aikikai Australia can conduct dan gradings and award dan ranks on behalf of Hombu. I've only ever trained with Aikikai, I've never even met someone who practiced a different style in real life, so this might be splitting hairs, and may very well be incorrect.
It's also the only Australian organisation listed on the Aikikai Foundation website, if you believe things published on the internet: http://www.aikikai.or.jp/eng/info2/overseas.htm I'll ask someone who would know more than me :) |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Diana,
Pretty sure you are correct about the only Australian based organisation, but I think the difference is that Aikikai Australia is affiliated directly to the Honbu, where other organizations such as AKI and AAA are affiliated to the honbu via overseas aikikai shihan (ie. Japan (Tekada Shihan) and USA (Nadeau Shihan) for these 2 examples) and can still award Aikikai Dan rankings. It is interesting that I have trained with at least 2 senior Aikidoka in US who were very surprised that I was not from Aikikai Aust because when they visited Australia with Yamada sensei, they were told by the locals that Aikikai was the only Aikido organisation in the country. May be a language barrier with the Americans and Australian, I find that a lot here :) . I think Aikido landscape and history in Australia is quite devise and I would be very interested in what the original poster could put together. |
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I agree that this was probably a mis-speaking about being the "only" organisation. I pass by a Ki Society dojo on my way to training, and I think there's a Yoshinkan one nearby as well. I couldn't speak to numbers or popularity of the different schools, though. Quote:
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Alex |
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You said that you have never met someone who does aikido outside of Aikikai Australia, and I find this is a remarkably common state of affairs. As Tony said, Aikido organizations in Australia can be very insular. For our part, we always invite all the local schools to our major events, and we often have people from the local Tomiki school attend. We also have people who train with us as well as the local A.K.I. dojo on a regular basis and I have attended seminars at the A.K.I. dojo as well. Insurance has always covered everyone who attends our seminars and the same goes for the other schools. In spite of our invitations, we have never had anyone from Aikikai Australia join us for one of our events, and it is my understanding (although I'm happy to be corrected) that their students are forbidden from doing so by the organisation. I know this is getting sidetracked a little, but as Tony said, this insularity is a particularly Australian quality and is an important element of the history of Aikido in Australia. |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
I train in Australia, under Aikikai Australia. We are just down the road from the Brisbane Aikikai who are now aligned with New Zealand. This created an issue as the Brisbane guys were originally students of the head of QLD, who actually started trainig under a different shihan in England. There certainly are (unnecessary) politics. I don't pay much attention to them. (Interestingly, I'm related by marriage to a japanese shihan who outranks any practicioner in Australia). From what I have heard in the past, whenever there have been high-profile shihan visiting Aikikai Australia, other groups are welcome to attend on some days, but not on grading days. I imagine this would be the same for next January.
Shame really - was it Kermit the Frog who said "it's nice to be important, but its important to be nice?" |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
First off, thankyou for those links that you were good enough to post, that is very much appreciated and I am working through them at present. I am attempting to create a thumbnail sketch of Aikido in Australia and will post a version of it up here when I get it in a format that works and one that can be added to as I come across new information.
As for the discussion re the Aikido organizations we have the following here in Adelaide, I am not sure how they relate to one another, yet my mail is that its not uncommon for students in our city to attend seminars and so forth run by different organizations. Adelaide is a small city in Australia and maybe not as involved in the politics of it, I really am not sure, when I contacted some of these on this list, I found them nothing but helpful. Aikikai, Ki Society Budo Kan. (Aikido / Atemi Jujitsu) Yoshinkan Aikido Aikido Kenkyukai International (Affiliated to AIkikai) Traditional Aikido Australia (Affiliated to Aikikai) |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Ben,
From memory there is also an Aikido Yuishinkai affiliate in Adelaide, couldn't find a web page but found this listing http://www.aikidojournal.com/dojodetails?id=3194 If it helps, ones I know of in Melbourne are Yuishinkai Aikikai Yoshinkan Aikido Takemusu Iwama Ryu Aikido Australia And I what think may be indepandant dojos? Pure Aikido Ki Fusion Aikido Yoga Diana mentioned walking past a ki society dojo, but couldn't see one one associate with ki society on a quick search, maybe it was the ki fusion mentioned above. Also I remember there were people interested in starting a Kenkyukai dojo before I came to the states but not sure if that eventuated. |
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Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Hi Ben, all,
Here are a few organisations i've collated over the years might be a bit dated though http://www.aikidorepublic.com/aikido-australia FWIW some aikido orgs are more closed than open, some that were quite closed are now more open and vice versa over time. I have found though that regardless of organisation budo people serious about getting better end up congregating and so there are all these ura kind of relationships between individuals that transcend organisations. Hopefully what is happening in the USA (which is perhaps generationally ahead in aikido organisations) might be come more the norm here. Certainly when looking at smaller eco systems there is a lot of support for when a teacher comes out from Japan (or elsewhere) to visit them and being only 8hrs from Japan . I went to a seminar in Adelaide (back when it had a Yuishinkai dojo there run by a good friend) and witnessed a delightful budo network and to this day I'm not sure who organised the seminar http://www.aikidorepublic.com/trip-a...ikido-adelaide best to all and look forward to what you come up with dan |
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Some people just like to be independent while others choose that option to escape a paranoid organisation or Dojo-cho. However, getting back to the Hombu recognition issue, there are several Dojos in Victoria that conduct their own gradings under the direct guidance of the Aikikai Hombu who are not affiliated with Aikikai Australia. We did an estimate once based on independent dojo student numbers and figured there were as many people training in independent dojos in Victoria as there were in the affiliated organisations. That was a 10 years ago and I have since moved to another country so am a bit out of touch but it probably hasn't changed very much. |
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Alex |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Hi all,
This is a fascinating conversation. I am a member of a dojo that has been mentioned a couple of times in this thread (Brisbane Aikikai). I write this as an individual, not as a representative of the dojo. We chose to split away from Australian Aikikai and were an independent dojo for some time. We are now affiliated to Hombu through Aikido Shinryukan which has its head quarters in New Zealand. We are honoured that they accepted us. Hombu recognised gradings have taken place in our dojo recommended through our organisation. Hi Travers, I remember training with you. Our split from Australian Aikikai may have "created issues" however it was as a result of significant issues that led to the split. Some have been referenced above but there was more to it. Our choice had nothing to do with anyone in Queensland and we were consultative and respectful in our decision. It was not a decision taken lightly. Yet one that we are very pleased with. I would be happy to discuss this with you further and you would be welcome to train with us any time. As Robin mentioned above, insurance won't be major issue. I hope to see some of you on the mat soon! Paddy |
Re: The History of Aikido in Australia?
Ben
These might be interesting to look at from a historical point. Scroll to the bottom of the page in the link and you will find a bunch of old Ki Society Australia news letters (late 90s). http://www.northsideaikido.com/index...dojo-downloads Patrick, As Dan pointed out, more eloquently than I, for the grunts on the ground like myself, we are happy to train with like minded aikidoist regardless of affiliation, and make friends across organisations. Its at the organisational level things get sticky, competing ideologies for the same limited students. I think Dan James did some great sums at one stage working out how many dojos an area could support. Although I say its more open in the US, I still hear the friction, X shihan dosn't like us training with Y shihan because they split away, doesn't seem to stop anybody at the lower dan ranks though :) |
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