The following is an essay I created for a scholarship during my graduate career conveying an experience I had with mentorship. I related my first real experience with a shodan candidate and the process I underwent to best prepare the candidate for the test. Mentoring can occur in almost any situation, be it professional or … Continue reading The Value of Mentorship, or An Experience in the Senpai-Kohai Relationship
Andrew Wai is not your average aikidoka, for he cannot see. But this has not stopped him from recently achieving his shodan! He first began aikido while he enrolled in Princeton University and continued on from there. Without his sight, he focuses on the feel of the technique and his ukemi. Today, Wai took some … Continue reading Interview with Longtime Aikidoka Andrew Wai: Feeling is Seeing
The following editorial was submitted by George Kirby. It originally appeared in the January 2015 issue of his monthly newsletter, Kokoro. When a jujitsu student becomes a black belt, it means that they are a “sensei,” a teacher. That is one of the main reasons I will promote a student to shodan: because I feel … Continue reading The Sensei Conundrum: Shodan to Nidan by George Kirby
Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 