Interview with Thomas Blair: Takahiko Ishikawa and Growing Judo in the Modern World

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This is a transcript of an interview with Thomas Blair of Main Line Judo from the spring of 2019. In it, we discuss his time under Takahiko Ishikawa, judo in the Philadelphia area, and growing the art in today’s social climate. Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Hello Thomas Blair Sensei! I would like … Continue reading Interview with Thomas Blair: Takahiko Ishikawa and Growing Judo in the Modern World

COVID-19 and the Aikido Community: The Aiki Extensions Initiative

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On April 16th, Aiki Extensions hosted what would become the first of many conferences, bringing together aikido practitioners from all around the world. In an effort for solidarity, event organizers Robert Kent, Jamie Zimron, and Quentin Cooke invited speakers from Israel, Turkey, Greece, Poland, and other locations to convey the effects of the recent COVID-19 … Continue reading COVID-19 and the Aikido Community: The Aiki Extensions Initiative

Changes in Aikido’s Curriculum: Is it Really Warranted?

~ Antonio Aloia ~ 2 Comments

In an intimate room, painted with large wall posters and filled with recording equipment and small computer monitors, two men sit at opposite ends of a table donning headphones and conversing through microphones. To one side sits Joe Rogan, the comedian/martial arts podcaster and on the other, sits neuroscientist Andrew Hill. In the course of … Continue reading Changes in Aikido’s Curriculum: Is it Really Warranted?

Reflecting on Irvin Gill’s Key Principles and Rules of American Kenpo Karate

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Gill, Irvin B. American Kenpo Karate: The Key Principles and Rules of American Kenpo Karate. Spring House, PA: Tambuli Media, 2019. Irvin Gill was on a journey. In discussions with various Kenpo masters, founders and high-ranking practitioners in Filipino-based martial arts, and an aikido fifth dan, he found the blueprints to his answers. The blueprints … Continue reading Reflecting on Irvin Gill’s Key Principles and Rules of American Kenpo Karate

The Way of Harmony in a Western World by Michael Aloia

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A short essay on aikido and budo in the Western world. There are those things in life that often are a self-contained conundrum – where what you see isn’t what you get; where what you think you have is actually something completely different, and where things actually get harder the longer you do it. Aikido … Continue reading The Way of Harmony in a Western World by Michael Aloia

More Than Just Falling: The Art of Self-Preservation

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A short piece discussing the concept and the practice of ukemi, usually translated or defined as "the art of falling." Here, we try to look past this surface definition or translation. This originally appeared in jujitsu pioneer Geroge Kirby's Kokoro newsletter in March 2019 issue. In the traditional Japanese martial arts, many practitioners learn that ukemi … Continue reading More Than Just Falling: The Art of Self-Preservation

Interview with USJA President John Paccione: Current State of American Judo

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John Paccione Sensei, current president of the United States Judo Association, began his judo training, along with jujitsu and karate training, in 1979 in Staten Island, New York. Around 2003, Paccione Sensei relocated to Cape Coral, Florida, opening a school there. A nationally recognized coach that produces high-level competitors, Paccione Sensei took some time in … Continue reading Interview with USJA President John Paccione: Current State of American Judo

Interview with Aikido Shihan George Kennedy: Rodney Grantham and Southeastern Aikido

~ Antonio Aloia ~ 7 Comments

This is a transcript of an interview with the United States Aikido Federation’s Chairman of the Board of Directors George Kennedy Shihan in the summer of 2017 for research of my upcoming American aikido history book. In it, we discuss his first aikido instructor, Rodney Grantham, as well as Yoshimitsu Yamada and his role in … Continue reading Interview with Aikido Shihan George Kennedy: Rodney Grantham and Southeastern Aikido