Ken Cottier was a student of the Founder of Aikido, O-Sensei, from the early '60's who continued to live and train in Japan for almost 25 years. After a couple of years back in England in the mid '80's he went to Hong Kong where he has been the senior instructor to the Hong Kong Aikido Association for the last ten years. Ken is a member of the Superior Council of the International Aikido Federation for about 10 years and is one of the Aikikai foundations most trusted and respected 'old boys'.

This will be very disappointing for some of you, but it is a good reminder of why it is important to show support for aikido and attend courses. Without students, the whole thing dries up.

• Membership and insurance
• Where to get practice clothes and weapons
• How to join the mailing list, and stay up-to-date
• The basics of dojo etiquette
• About our grading syllabus
• Essential terminology
• An explanation of the dojo motto

this website will reamin a really good source of information and answers, but remember - if you're not sure about something, you can always ask one of the senior grades in the class, and they will be happy to help you.

Thanks to Hugh and Britta for producing the pamphlet.

Cambridge Aiki Dojo is pleased to announce that it is joining the Komyokan Aikido Association (KAA), under the leadership of Terry Ezra shihan.

Consequently gradings and curriculum in Cambridge will be conducted in accordance with KAA guidelines. Notwithstanding this, our dojo has thrived on freedom of expression and styles of aikido, as well as benefitting from the diverse range and depth its teachers, in addition to Chief Instructor, Simon Whittaker (Messrs Davies, Britta, Steve, Matt in particular). And this freedom will continue as we move under the umbrella of KAA.

It is important to make some comments about the UKA (the association to which we were previously affiliated), and in particular Keith Hayward sensei, who many of you know, and who has been head of our ‘house’ within the UKA. We are grateful for the support and teachings of Sensei Hayward in recent years, and our heartfelt thanks go out to him. Secondly it is expected, and encouraged, that we will continue our interaction with UKA and attendance at its many excellent courses. Equally we will continue to welcome instructors and students affiliated with UKA at our dojo in Cambridge.

We now looking forward to a new era in the development of our dojo, whose real strength comes from you all, its members, both in your training on the mat, and in the friendship and camaraderie off it.

After a fair bit of editing in Photoshop (making everyone slim and suntanned, with lovely white teeth... ), you can have a look at our first gallery. The selection of images is meant to show what an avergae class in our dojo looks like, and is aimed as much at newcomers, as it is at existing aikidoka. Hope you like it! (Thanks to James Bylett for the photos)

At the moment, we plan to make other ‘themed’ galleries - weapons practice, visiting teachers, perhaps "how to tie your belt", etc. If you have aikido photos from our dojo, or from a course somewhere else, pop a few good ones on a CD, and pass that on to Francis Rowland at class.

At a recent class, we were practicing the 13 jo kata. For those who want a visual prompt, have a look at our 13 jo kata step-by-step cheatsheet (PDF, 836kb), featuring Glyn Davies sensei.

Weapons: Those of you who have been coming along to Sunday classes will know that sensei wants us to work much more on bukiwaza (weapons techniques) this year, and that kata (forms) and suburi (cuts) are being taught much more.
*** From orange belt (4th kyu) gradings onwards, you will be expected to be able to demonstrate weapons kata and suburi. Have a look at the Training Syllabus to find out exactly what you are required to know.

Weapons class is Sunday evening, 7.30pm until 9.30pm.