UEC Aikido Club: Focus on flexible body and clear mind

"I decided to launch the UEC Aikido Club in 2007 when I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems at UEC," says Professor Kazutoshi Kikkawa. "At the time I did not have a lot of experience as an Aikido instructor. So I was pleased to meet Cheow-Keong Choo, an associate professor at the Center for International Programs and Exchange, who was more experienced than me and I asked him to take charge of the training sessions."

The UEC Aikido Club currently has about 20 members, who include domestic undergraduate and graduate students, international students from Senegal and Indonesia, UEC staff and faculty, and members of the public.

Members of the Club practice twice a week at the university dojo and once a month at the 'honbu-dojo' in Shinjuku with members of other clubs.

"Our training focusses on developing skills enabling flexible movements and a clear mind," explains Choo, who started to learn Aikido after graduating from UEC. "We do not train to destroy opponents. We follow the philosophy and spirit of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido."

Importantly, the members of the Club do to not participate in competitions. "We only take part in demonstrations," says Kikkawa. "Also, I give a one semester course on Aikido as part of physical education at the university. It's rare for universities to offer courses in Aikido in Japan."

Kikkawa is also conducting research on Aikido, in particular biomechanical analysis of throwing techniques employed in the martial art. In a recent publication Kikkawa and colleagues analyzed the efficiency of the so-called 'Tenchi-nage' throw for experts and beginners. "We hope that our research will be a useful for both teaching and learning Aikido," says Kikkawa.

Reference

Kazutoshi Kikkawa, Hidetaka Okada, Takuya Yamabe, Three-dimensional motion analysis of Aikido Tenchi-nage, Proceedings of the International Council for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance 2011 (ICHPER•SD ASIA, 2011).