Aikido of Hilo

Today in the dojo

2026 SAKURA TOUR- Part IV
The final week of our trip took us to Tokyo where we planned to practice at Hombu Dojo's 6:30am class each day. The first morning we trained with Doshu and were able to take a group picture with everyone in attendance. That afternoon we we nt to Shinjuku aGyoen, a large park with many beautiful sights including many more cherry trees of various types. We were joined by two friends from Hilo who arranged a picnic under the blossoms. Becky took a sakura shower as the petal rained around us. Next day was training with Dojo-cho, then a trip to Kamakura to visit the Daibutsu there. This is the world's largest bronze buddha. More sakura too.
The following evening we went to class with some good friends at Arakawa Aikikai. Class was 2 hours, first with special training for women, youth and beginners. The second hour the children left and everyone trained together. Afterwards, we were treated to a great dinner and drinking which went late into the night. The following day we journeyed by train to Iwama, to take class at Ibaraki Branch dojo with Inagaki Sensei. We visited the Aiki Shrine, adjacent, originally constructed by the Founder. A couple more days of training and we arrived back from a great trip with great satisfaction and considerable jet lag,

2026 SAKURA TOUR- Part III
En route to Tokyo, we stopped at Hiroshima. We hoped to visit nearby at Miyajima (Shrine Island) but the weather was poor so we instead visited the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. It's a sobering reminder of the horrors of war. The A-Dome, pictured here, was directly beneath the nuclear blast and remained standing while all surroundings were devastated.
There were many more cherry blossoms to appreciate. At night we had Okonomiyaki for dinner. This is a famed regional dish which is better experienced than described. Becky Bond posted some details of dinner.
The next day, from the Shinkansen, we got a brief view of Mt. Fuji. With rainy, overcast weather, it was not as beautiful as other times, rather like our own Mauna Kea on Hawaii Island,

2026 SAKURA TOUR - Part II
We moved on to Fukuoka where we planned to train for 4 nights with Suganuma Shihan. Unfortunately, travel was delayed so we arrived too late to practice the first evening. We visited Kushida Shrine, Tochoji Temple and other sights. We trained at Shohei Juku Aikido Hombu dojo. The next day we were joined by Lauren Mizuba, a dojo member who has been living in the area for several years. She joined us for the next two nights of practice at the Fukuoka dojo and the Takasago dojo. She guided us to an ocean park and a nature park outside of town. After our final class, there was a party for us, a few other visitors and many of the local Shohei Juku Aikido members.

We've returned from a great two weeks of travel and training in Japan. We had 4 stops and I will make a separate post for each location. I'll try to arrange the pictures in order but sometimes Facebook seems to re-arrange them...
We called this the 2026 Sakura Tour and we were fortunate to see cherry blossoms throughout our trip.
First stop was Nara, the first capital of Japan established in 710 AD. We just did some sightseeing (no aikido) and recovered from jet lag. We visited the Daibutsu (Great Buddha), housed in the largest wooden building in the world.
Next stop will be Fukuoka...

Today concluded our 3 day seminar with Oyama Shihan. The folks in the group picture made it to the end. Afterwards we had a farewell lunch.

Second full day of training with Oyama Shihan. Techniques getting progressively more interesting and complex but shown so clearly that all can understand, Pictures show the morning and afternoon groups, plus some of the Aikido of Hilo members.

Our first day of training with Oyama Shihan is completed. Members from numerous dojos are having a great time training together. These photos are after the morning and afternoon seeions. Two more days of practice to go!

Pre-seminar training with Oyama Shihan, last night. He participated in class, training vigorously with our members. Seminar begins with three classes today.