This past Friday we engaged in our first Shinsa. Dai Ichi was officially concluded and we will be progressing to our next challenge, Dai Ni. This weekend was filled with opportunities to celebrate and reflect upon the growth we’ve personally and collectively experienced in our time together as Kenshusei. After post-Shinsa cleaning, just the Kenshusei celebrated -we shared favorite memories of the last Dai as well as goals for the next Dai over a long dessert outing.
Sunday, the entire dojo celebrated the success of the Shinsa along with the visitation of Aikidoka from Russia and Canada.
Then Monday, Andy Sensei guided us to a waterfall which was the crown of a 1.5 hour hike into the mountains near Arashiyama where we performed a ritual purification, Misogi.
The rest of this week the Mugenjuku Dojo Kenshusei will be assisting in the conduction of seminar classes for students and children new to Aikido before beginning our hard summer push of conditioning and extra classes to be held in August. Gambatte Kudasai!