Takemusu Aikido Society

Today we were proud to represent Takemusu Aikido Society at the 17th Annual May Day Parade hosted by the wonderful team at Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre (RICC). We gathered at the Community Centre and marched through the local streets, sharing in the festive spirit of our community. Then we presented elements of Aiki-Ken and Aiki-Jo on the main stage, including: Aiki-Ken Suburi Ken Awase 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Kumitachi Aiki-Jo Suburi – Tsuki no Bu 6-no-Jo Kata and Awase 13-no-Jo Kata and Awase 31-no-Jo Kata As there were no mats available, demonstrations focused solely on Bukiwaza (weapon techniques), offering the audience a glimpse into the precision, harmony, and depth of traditional Aikido weapon practice. A heartfelt thank you to RICC for the invitation, hospitality, and all the amazing work they do to keep community spirit alive in Ringsend and Irishtown. It was an honour to be part of this joyful and inclusive celebration. Join Us! We welcome people of all ages and level...

Takemusu Aikido Society performed today at the Experience Japan Festival in Phoenix Park, where we presented the structure of Aikido through a 20-minute demonstration. It was important for us to show that Aikido starts from the sword, so we began with Aiki-ken, demonstrating basic suburi exercises and the first five Kumitachi. This introduced the core principles of distance, timing, and body movement. We then moved into Tai-jutsu (empty-handed techniques), focusing on the progression of throwing techniques — starting from Shihonage, moving through one technique to another, developing towards Kokyunage. During this part of the demonstration, a young boy threw a well-built adult, illustrating that correctly applied Aikido techniques can be used by everyone, regardless of size. Afterwards, we introduced Aiki-jo, demonstrating basic Jo suburi, the 6 no Jo Kata, the 13 no Jo Kata, and their paired forms. We concluded the Jo section with five Kumi-jo. At the end, we demonstrated that the sam...

 🍀 St. Patrick’s Day Parade – A First for Takemusu Aikido Society! 🍀 Today, we proudly stepped onto the streets of Balbriggan, joining the St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the very first time! The atmosphere was fantastic, with local clubs and societies filling the streets, and the crowd cheering on every performer. We marched with our club banner in hand and bokken at the ready , demonstrating suburi as we walked. At each parade stop, we performed ken awase , giving spectators a glimpse of the precision and discipline of Aikido weapons practice. Our club was introduced by the MC, and Eric, one of our longest-attending members, gave a short interview, sharing our passion for Aikido with the community. Spectators especially loved the sound of clashing swords as we moved through the streets! To top it off, we did a short demo at the central stage . 💚 This was our first time joining the parade, but certainly not the last! We’re excited to share Aikido with more people and hope t...

Today we participated in the Balbriggan Beach Festival. We had an information stand and performed demonstrations. #findyouroutdoor #embraceyourspace  #aikido #todaypractice #aikidobalbriggan #aikidodublin #aikidoireland #balbriggan #iwamaaikido #iwama #aikidoaikikai #takemusuaiki #ourpractice #takemusuaikidosociety #bukiwaza  #outdoorpractice www.aiki.ie

On the 2nd of May we had our very first demonstrations at the 14th Annual May Day Parade in Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre. Unfortunately, we got extremely short notice, and have no time for the proper preparation. But thank you to the diligence of our members, demonstrations went as smooth as possible under these circumstances.

There are no matches in Aikido. Instead, its exercises are occasionally demonstrated for public assessment of skills acquired in day-to-day practices. Until a decade ago*, Aikido was barred from public view for fear that its techniques may be stolen. The situation has changed now. Public demonstrations provide an extremely valuable opportunity to popularize Aikido. The Founder would not unveil Aikido to the public in former days. His sentiment in those days, as I recall it, was not a mere apprehension that Aikido’s techniques may be stolen as a result of their public debut. Uppermost in his mind was probably the fear that that techniques may be subjected to warped interpretations with the popularization of Aikido and handed down to posterity as such. It is important for us to remember this at a time when Aikido has become accessible to the public. The instructors are therefore called upon to observe carefully how their trainees perform at public demonstrations and use their finding...

Yesterday was the International Women's Day. We send our greetings to all Aikido women. Please enjoy the self-defence demonstration of women from Ibaraki Shibu Dojo - the dojo of Aikido Founder.