Iwama is an important historical location from the development of Aikido. It has a famous dojo of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, who lived there from 1942 until his death in 1969. It has become "a Mecca to the aikido community."[1][2]
This dojo is also where Morihiro Saito, one of the founder's closest students, learned and taught aikido from 1946 until 2002. The lineage of aikido that has been passed on through Saito is highly acclaimed.[2] It is often referred to as Iwama style.
Iwama was a small farming village in Japan, located 100km north-east of Tokyo and at the centre of Ibaraki prefecture. Iwama was annexed into the city Kasama in 2006 (dissolving Nishiibaraki county, which had previously contained Iwama-machi). The Iwama aikido dojo are now addressed in the Yoshioka district of Kasama city, Ibaraki.[1]
The Iwama dojo were significantly damaged in the 2011 earthquake.[3]
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Ibaraki branch dojo (茨城支部道場 Ibaraki Shibu dojo), also known as Ibaraki dojo or Ibaraki branch, is a small aikido dojo run by the Aikikai Foundation.[1]
This dojo was originally called Aiki Shuren Dojo (合気修練道場, lit. harmonising drill dojo).[1] It was built by Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido, and completed in 1945. At first it did not include tatami mats, and students received training directly upon the wooden floor.[4] Eventually 24 mats were installed. The dojo was later relocated to the present day location and expanded to 60 mats.
Saito Morihiro Shihan was the caretaker and chief instructor at the Iwama Dojo after the Founder died. After Saito Shihan died, the dojo has been renamed the Ibaraki Shibu Dojo by the Aikikai. The current head instructor is Hiroshi Isoyama 8th dan. Isoyama first began training at Aiki Shuren Dojo in 1949, at age 12.[4]
Ibaraki branch has about ten instructors in total, and there is training held for an hour every day of the week.[5]
Aiki Jinja (合気神社) is the shrine built by Morihei Ueshiba in Iwama in honor of the deities of aikido.[6] (Jinja is the Japanese term for a shrine.) The shrine grounds include a dojo (training hall).
The first small shrine building was built in the 1940s. The second bigger one was erected in front of the small one in 1962. They were both renovated by the Saito family in 2001-2002 with the approval of Dōshu Moriteru Ueshiba. This renovation also included a fence set up around the compound, and a huge stone with the carvings "Aiki Jinja" designed by Seiseki Abe, a master of both calligraphy and Aikido who was the calligraphy teacher of Morihei Ueshiba.
In the aiki jinja once a month, Ueshiba would preside over what was initially a very small religious ceremony called Tsukinamisai (月並み祭), which lasted up to an hour. Food offerings of fruits, vegetables, and fish - but no red meat - adorned the shrine.[7] Eventually, the Saito family took responsibility for hosting the ceremony every month on the 14th. Later, a small party with all the uchi deshi (resident students) and the Saito family was held inside the old dojo. This tradition is kept up by current Dōshu Moriteru Ueshiba.
Every year on April 29 (the start of the Japanese Golden Week holiday), the annual shrine festival is held by Oomoto priests in commemoration of Ueshiba's death on April 26, 1969. Through the years, the Saito family developed this event, transforming it into a very big day for the small town of Iwama. Hundreds of Aikido practitioners come to Iwama to participate in the event. A religious celebration is held inside the shrine and ancient music is played. Before finishing, a small ritual demonstration of Aikido, hōnō embu (奉納演武) is held.[8] To finish, all of the visitors are invited to a huge lunch in the dojo compounds.
Tanrenkan (鍛錬館, which means "Hardening hall") is an aikido dojo located next to the Ibaraki branch dojo (and opposite to Aiki Jinja). It is run by by Hitohiro Saito, who is the son of Morihiro Saito. It is the main dojo of the Iwama Shin-Shin Aiki Shuren-kai.[9]
Tanrenkan dojo was built in 2000.[10]
Hitohiro's organisation was formed as a reaction to political friction between Morihiro Saitō (who had been designated by the founder as caretaker of the shrine and instructor responsible for the training at the dojo) and the Aikikai (inheritors of the property, including the dojo and shrine) and particular the Aikikai's reassertion of control of the facilities upon Saitō's death in 2002. However, some of Saitō's other followers (most notably the three that Saitō had promoted to 7th dan, William Witt,Paolo Corallini and Ulf Evenås) have remained affiliated with Aikikai.[11]
It is generally not permitted to train at both Tanrenkan and at Aikikai Ibaraki branch.
There are also further aikido dojo in Iwama: