Aikido in Japan

I practiced aikido in Japan in years 2015 and 2016, and I'm practicing here again from 2022. If you are planning to train in central or Eastern Japan (Chūbu/Kansai regions) or if you like Endō Seishirō shihan, Ariga Kaname shihan, or Kuribayashi Takanori shihan, you may also find the following useful.

I’ve also written some blog posts about aikido (mostly in Czech).

Note: In the following text I sometimes use the standard Japanese suffixes -ken (県) for prefecture, and -shi (市) for city. Thus “Nagoya-shi” is “Nagoya (city)”, etc. Sometimes, names of places, dōjōs and teachers spelled in Latin characters are preceded by the same names in Japanese characters.

Dojos and teachers in Nagoya and Aichi (and also Amagasaki:-))

• 名古屋市・尼崎市: 青志会, 森崎 雅之 先生

  Nagoya-shi and Amagasaki-shi: Aoshikai, Morisaki Masayuki sensei

  The dojo follows the seminars of Endō shihan and Kuribayashi shihan and organizes seminars of Ariga shihan.

• 豊田市: ゆうき館道場, 藤井 学 先生

  Toyota-shi: Yūkikan, Fujii Gaku sensei

  In addition to ordinary trainings, there is a Saturday morning kids’ class. Kids of any age and parents take part:-).

Dojos in Nagano-ken and in the Kansai area

• 奈良県 橿原市: 合気道さざ波, 渡邊 清志 先生

  Kashihara-shi (Nara-ken): Aikidō Kaguyama, Sameshima Yūji sensei

  Sameshima sensei is also one of Endō shihan's pupils, and organizes regular seminars for Ariga shihan.

  This is quite a large dōjō that offers classes for both kids and grownups.

• 滋賀県 草津市: 合気道さざ波, 渡邊 清志 先生

  Kusatsu-shi (Shiga-ken): Aikidō Sazanami, Watanabe Seiji sensei

  In addition to aikido, Watanabe sensei practices tai-ji quan. See video with him from the 54th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2016).

  Most members practice very mindful, soft and fluent aikido. Practicing with them is at times challenging but really enjoyable.

• 長野県 佐久市: 佐久道場

  Saku-shi (Nagano-ken): Saku dojo.

  More information at Endō Seishirō shihan’s web site. The person in charge of the dōjō is Ariga shihan.

Shihan (teachers)

I frequently go to seminars of the following teachers.

• Ariga Kaname shihan

• 遠藤 征四郎 師範

  Endō Seishirō shihan’s web site (Japanese and English) with information about upcoming seminars, some of them held in his home dōjō in Saku (Nagano-ken).

• 栗林 孝典 師範

  Kuribayashi Takanori shihan is a honbu dōjō instructor. Relatively young shihan, powerful and compact aikidō.

Equipment

My recommendation is to go for Tōzandō, you can either order online or visit their shop in Kyōto.

• 東山堂 (京都)

  Tōzandō (Kyōto). Good value/price, has both Japanese and international web shop.

  Note for future myself: I’m buying the #4 size AG60W keikogi (pants and jacket) set. Pants shrink by 6 cm, the top almost doesn’t shrink. #4 is just about right for me (I’m about 177 cm, rather slim, but this keikogi would work for sturdier guys too, and the white obi that comes with it is actually a tad too long for me). It usually takes just three or four days from ordering for an emroidered gi to arrive.

  Note that Tōzandō also ships internationally and is very English-speaker friendly.

• 岩田 (東京)

  Iwata (Tōkyō). Iwata is more expensive/traditional (and has an awful web site).

• 伊藤繁吉商店

  Itō Shigekuchi Shōten (Nagoya). Sells martial arts equipment (especially kendō equipment). The cheapest aikidō (jūdō actually) gi they have is an ubleached one made in China (4500 JPY including tax, looks as cheap as it is and shrinks a lot). I bought it as a quick solution just after my arrival and still use it as a backup gi now and then. Open daily except Sundays and national holidays until 18:30.