Dec 24, 2019
One of our member participated in a martial arts exchange even held in Belgium on August, 2019 as a representitive of Aiki Ishin-ryu.
In the mid-summer of 2019, an exchange event of martial arts were held in Belgium by International Traditional Budo Federation (ITBF). One of our fellow member, who was studying abroad in France, were invited to this event and joined their training session.
This is the second time for Aiki Ishin-ryu to be invited to a dojo in Belgium.
In the event, 49 participants practiced Aikido and Iaido of Aiki Ishin-ryu.
During the Aikido session, the basic moves such as manners, footwork and Ukemi (受身: techniques to fall safely) were taught in addition to some fightin techniques such as Tehodoki (手解き: escaping from grabs) and basic Katame-waza (固め技: grappling techniques). On the other hand, Nuki-tsuke, Kiri-tsuke and some basic blocking were taught during the Iaido session.
It was the first time for Aiki Ishin-ryu to join such a big event outside of Japan, and it is a great pleasure.
After the event was a fun time drinking Belgium beer with ITBF members, takling about Japanese culture.
I was surprised at the amount of fries in the meal, but I'm happy to have had a good time practicing, exchanging ideas, and eating delicious food.
ITBF will again hold an big event on April, 2020 in which various dojo from 16 countries will take part. Even though Aiki Ishin-ryu is not part of ITBF, the president Steve Clara had invited us to the event! It is a great pleasure to be able to discover new things together across styles, organizations and dojos.
UPDATE: The event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
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