The first visit of a Ueshiba family member in South Eastern Europe
In September 2014, Cluj-Napoca, a Romanian city …
Located in the Western part of Romania, Cluj-Napoca is one of the largest cities of Romania and it has been the host of the biggest Aikido event ever organized in this part of Europe, between the 8th and the 14th of September 2014, as we mentioned before, through its specific national organization - Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation (RAAF).
The event drew, for sure, the attention of the entire Aikido community, but also of the entire martial arts community and it was organized in two main parts. The first part was the board meeting of International Aikido Federation (IAF), in order to debate and establish the organization’s strategies for the next 4 years to come. The second part was IAF’s International Aikido Seminar that had as a very special guest, none other than Waka Sensei, Mitsuteru Ueshiba , the great-grandson of Aikido’s Founder O’Sensei, Morihei Ueshiba. Waka Sensei lead, during the seminar in Cluj-Napoca city, 3 practices that will surely be impossible to forget for those that took part in the event, both Romanian, but also aikidokas from other 22 countries that attended the seminar.
And we all “spoke” Aikido
In the gym of the Sports College in Cluj, situated on Arinilor Street, number 9, all aikidokas and masters “spoke” Aikido, for 3 days in a row, through the basic elements of the Art. Waka Sensei presented the basic elements as: irimi, tenkan, circularity and kokyuho, but also all other 6 great Aikido masters insisted on the basics elements of the Art, although sometimes the “dialect” may have been different. What do we mean? Well, the specific terms may be different, but the principles are the same. We all know that tai no henko and soto tenkan mean the same thing, they illustrate the same principle.
During the seminar, practices have been lead by 7 of the biggest Aikido masters, worldwide known: Waka Sensei - Mitsuteru Ueshiba, Christian Tissier Shihan (France), Ulf Evenas Shihan (Sweden), Peter Goldsbury Sensei (IAF President), John Rogers Sensei (vice-president IAF), Kei Izawa Sensei (General Secretary IAF) and Wilko Vriesman (Member of the Board of IAF and also Chairman of the Dutch Aikido Foundation).
Everybody and we mean everybody, men, women, young, adults, children and seniors, all practiced with joy for all the 12 intense practices, during the 3 seminar days, on 12th – 13th – 14th of September 2014 and once again, we must say that we all “spoke” Aikido no matter the nationality.
On 14th of September, Sunday, after the ending of the practice sessions, there could be watched the live demonstrations of all the 7 masters. During the seminar, the audience had free access in the building, so that anyone interested in stepping on The Path of Harmony could watch and find out more about Aikido and its principles and start “speaking” Aikido once and for all! What for? For a more peaceful world!
Not only the presence in Romania and in this part of the world of a member of the Aikido Founder’s family and the IAF board meeting made of the Cluj city event the largest and the most important ever held in the region, but also the important number of aikidokas and the diversity of their nationalities.
465 aikidokas took part in the seminar, from different Romanian Aikido organizations and also from other 22 countries from 5 continents. We mention here the countries that had aikidokas on the tatami: Japan, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Taiwan, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, UK, South Africa, Slovenia and USA.