On the 7th Day of the 10th IAF Congress & Seminar and International Aikido Demonstration was held at The Kumano Hongu Taisha. The bus set off at approximately 09:00hrs together with our hirugohan bento sets. We arrived at Kumano well ahead of schedule and thus did a bit of sightseeing before making our way to the venue. The Kumano Hongu Taisha shrine is listed as a World Heritage site thus we could not miss the opportunity for a visit.
We proceeded to the demonstration venue in good time and as we were looking for a nice patch of grass to sit on we saw some of the international demonstration teams doing their last minute rehearsals. After 5 days of attending seminars with various shihans the participants would have received some inspiration for their demonstration.
Before the demonstration commenced the Shinto religious rites were carried out, followed by Addresses from the Mayor of Tanabe city Manago Mitsutoshi, Doshu Ueshiba Moriteru, IAF Chairman Dr Peter Goldsbury, Kumano Hongsu Taisha Head Priest and IAF Demonstration Implementation Committee Chairman Kuki Ietaka and Governor of Wakayma, Nisaka Yoshinobu.
The first demonstration was given by Waka sensei, Mitsuteru Ueshiba who is the Assistant Dojocjo of Aikido Hombu Dojo. Therafter 9 dojos each from the Wakayama Prefecture Aikido Federation and Kansai Area gave their demonstration before it was passed on to the international participants. Representatives were from Singapore, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Great Britain & Scotland, Mexico, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, The Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand. Each demonstration lasted for approximately 90 seconds starting and ending with a beat of the drum. The penultimate demonstration was given by Hiroshi Tada shihan and the final by The Aikido Doshu Ueshiba Moriteru and both demonstrations lasted longer, for about 3 minutes.
It was truely wonderful to see a showcase of aikido from so many different perspectives and one can see how each has interpreted or developed aikido in its own practice.
The demonstration ended with the Naorai banquet before we boarded the bus back to Tanabe.
We proceeded to the demonstration venue in good time and as we were looking for a nice patch of grass to sit on we saw some of the international demonstration teams doing their last minute rehearsals. After 5 days of attending seminars with various shihans the participants would have received some inspiration for their demonstration.
Before the demonstration commenced the Shinto religious rites were carried out, followed by Addresses from the Mayor of Tanabe city Manago Mitsutoshi, Doshu Ueshiba Moriteru, IAF Chairman Dr Peter Goldsbury, Kumano Hongsu Taisha Head Priest and IAF Demonstration Implementation Committee Chairman Kuki Ietaka and Governor of Wakayma, Nisaka Yoshinobu.
The first demonstration was given by Waka sensei, Mitsuteru Ueshiba who is the Assistant Dojocjo of Aikido Hombu Dojo. Therafter 9 dojos each from the Wakayama Prefecture Aikido Federation and Kansai Area gave their demonstration before it was passed on to the international participants. Representatives were from Singapore, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Great Britain & Scotland, Mexico, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, The Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand. Each demonstration lasted for approximately 90 seconds starting and ending with a beat of the drum. The penultimate demonstration was given by Hiroshi Tada shihan and the final by The Aikido Doshu Ueshiba Moriteru and both demonstrations lasted longer, for about 3 minutes.
It was truely wonderful to see a showcase of aikido from so many different perspectives and one can see how each has interpreted or developed aikido in its own practice.
The demonstration ended with the Naorai banquet before we boarded the bus back to Tanabe.
As there were many pictures that were taken at on that day a selection of the pictures have been uploaded on Facebbok. Please click here to have a look at the photo album.
