2022 Yamate-ryū® Taikai Retrospective

WONDERFUL…Wonderful...wonderful.

A gentle breeze permeated the dōjō.  The sharp crack of the hyōshigi called attention. With martial precision we sat, covered and aligned; still and alive. Nature's orchestra filled the silence. 

For fifty four years the San Diego Budōkan has forged deshi of our traditions. Although the walls of the Hōshin dōjō are new, the kami is palpable. 

Yamate-ryū Aikijutsu is not simply a collection waza, but a way of developing spirit and the impact of that on another. It is raw potential and the perception thereof. Surrender, then service.

It is not possible to recapture the event in words.  

For three days, together; alive and learning.  We expressed gratitude to those who lit the way and committed ourselves to practice. There were no gaps and no center to compare or compete. We cut. We pulled each other up.  We moved from control to order.  

Over the weekend we experienced directly the journey of a deshi of the Yamate-ryū.  From mudansha to nanadan and beyond.  From jūjutsu to the ethereal realm of aiki, returning to the empty-beautiful-violence of Shōmen-uchi Udea-osea.

The event culminated with our traditional formal dinner, and it was joyous!

We celebrated into the night, our sore, tired bodies wrapped in tuxedos and evening gowns.  We remembered absent companions, we toasted, “us and those like us”, we were alive, we were together, one.

back to the practice…Back to the Practice…BACK TO THE PRACTICE!