Sotenjuku dojo is part of the United Kingdom Aikikai
Photos in our header are of our members and instructors training, taken by Penny and Roy
If any of us are going to courses or special classes at other venues, we typically post them up on our Facebook page.
If there's a UKA or other course that any of our members are planning on attending, we also try to remember to drop it here too. Often these are easy to get to because we travel up together. If you’ve got any questions, get in touch or ask at the end of a class.
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28th February — 1st March
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UKA Winter School 2020
Guest instructor:
Hino Terumasa sensei from Aikikai hombu dojo, Tokyo
If you're planning on going (you should be!) ask before/after classes at Sotenjuku for car-sharing/accommodation plans.
You will need:
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See the UKA website for details of upcoming courses by UKA instructors.
In February, Sotenjuku members made a good showing at the seminar organised by North London Aikido with Sugawara shihan from the aikikai hombu dojo (the world HQ of aikido). He's the instructor who gave our dojo its name.
In March we welcomed Hino sensei from hombu dojo in Japan to the UKA National Spring Course in High Wycombe, which was his first trip to the UK. We had a great course and he taught six varied sessions over the weekend. Here's the poster from the event.
The UKA Summer School took place in Worcester this year with Katsurada sensei over from the Aikikai HQ dojo (hombu dojo) in Japan. Sotenjuku was well-represented: a good number of our students were on the mat. Neil and Penny taught classes there, and two Sotenjuku members, Rob and Roy, took and passed their 2nd and 4th dan gradings respectively.
As usual, some of our members also attended classes in other parts of the world. So far this year, Sotenjuku bodies have tumbled onto mats in Poland, Thailand, Spain, Singapore, France, Lithuania, and Japan.
As usual we attended national courses throughout the year, with some members travelling to other countries to train too: Lithuania, Poland and Japan being some highlights. Sotenjuku was represented at the gradings in this year's UKA Summer School: our Stu passed his 2nd dan, woo!
Our members attended various UKA national courses in 2016, of course — including the Winter and Summer Schools (where one of our members graded shodan, yay us).
As usual, we attended UKA Winter School and national courses. This year’s Summer School went well, with three of members promoted there this year (yay Sotenjuku!).
Earlier in the year, some of us attended Sugawara sensei’s course in North London. And Neil was a guest instructor for a class at Bedford Aikido supported by some of his students.
International training this year has seen Sotenjuku members bowing onto mats in (no particular order) France (Strasbourg and Brittany), Scotland, South Africa, Thailand, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, and Lithuania.
The first UKA national course of the year, in Dudley, was well-attended, with twelve members from our dojo on the mat. In March, lots of our members trained at the UKA Winter School in High Wycombe.
Our instructor Neil taught at the UKA National Courses in May and October as well as some classes at the Summer School.
The UKA Summer School in 2014 saw three of our members gain promotion in the gradings. The day after Summer School, Sugawara shihan 7th dan from the Aikikai Foundation in Japan, led a special class in Egham to celebrate our club’s tenth anniversary.
In October, we returned to High Wycombe for another UKA National Course.
As usual, some of our members also have been training on mats around the world. This year’s foreign mats: (in no particular order) Thailand (Bangkok), USA (Washington and Orange County), Mexico (Mexico City), France (Lesneven), Chile (Santiago), Scotland (Edinburgh), Lithuania (Vilnius).
Sotenjuku members started the year with a good showing at the London (UCL dojo) course taught by Steve Magson 5th dan. Some of us attended Sugawara shihan’s course in North London in March, and later the same month even more went to the UKA Winter School in Walsall.
We attended the UKA Summer School, where one of our members, Louise, passed her shodan grading.
Some of our members attended the UKA national course in October, and joined the Bedford club’s 5th anniversary practice.
Some members packed their keikogi when they went travelling: we’ve been bounced on mats in Thailand, France (Lesneven), Chile, Japan, USA (California) and Singapore.
We "hosted" the UKA Winter School (at the High Wycombe Judo Centre) this year, which was well-attended. Some of us also went up to Edinburgh for a course led by Sugawara shihan from the aikikai headquarters in Tokyo. There was also a trip over to the UKA group in Strasbourg for a seminar run by Kobayashi shihan (also from the Tokyo HQ). And a little later, a couple of our seniors flew over to St Petersburg for another course with Sugawara shihan.
We’ve also run some special classes: a seminar with Gordon Jones 6th dan shihan of the UKA, with Paul Robinson 5th dan from Birankai, and a class with Mimuro sensei who was on his way back to Yokohama.
Many of our members attended the UKA Summer School this year, but we also ran a special class immediately afterwards so that those of us who could not attend could see what we’d missed.
Our members also travelled to aikido courses in Malaysia and Lithuania this year.
We’ve attended classes and courses at other dojo already, including the first and last UKA national courses of the year in Dudley, and the UKA Winter School in March. This year, members of our dojo have been to a variety of courses taught by UKA shihan, as well as training in Edinburgh, Strasbourg, Lithuania, Bangkok, and Tokyo (hombu dojo) for instruction with senior instructors from Japan.
Two of our seniors passed gradings at the UKA Summer School in August, which is a testament to their hard practice over the years and the quality of the training at our little dojo. This year the summer school was overseen by Kobayashi shihan from the Tokyo hombu dojo, and several members of the Sotenjuku club attended for the whole week.
Most of us went to the UKA Summer School in August with Sugawara shihan from the Tokyo hombu dojo. We had a good week of training, and both members from our dojo who were entered for grading passed their demanding examinations, which makes all of us very proud!
We hosted a special class in the Tatsumaki Dojo in Slough. We invited two guest instructors, Gordon Jones 6th dan shihan (UKA) and Paul Robinson 5th dan (Birankai). It was a good day of hard training — photos have been posted in our Facebook group.
Sotenjuku dojo is part of the United Kingdom Aikikai
Photos in our header are of our members and instructors training, taken by Penny and Roy