Hiroshi Ikeda to Teach at Chicago Aikikai

The city’s oldest dojo for the Japanese martial art of aikido will host world-renown instructor Hiroshi Ikeda for the first in-person training seminar since the pandemic. He has been an annual guest instructor since the 1980s, last teaching in 2019. The three-day seminar from September 16 through 18 is co-sponsored by Aikido Shimbokukai, a dojo in Crystal Lake.

 

Aikido training is about blending with an opponent’s actions; akin to Chinese tai chi, but with dynamic moves similar to jujitsu and judo. In a normal year, more than 1.5 million practitioners train, exchange ideas and build relationships at seminars held weekly in 140 countries. However, the pandemic forced all dojos to shut down. Chicago Aikikai suspended classes in March 2020 and experienced a severe decline in membership the past two years.

 

Ikeda was born in 1950 in Tokyo, and spent most of his early years there, beginning his study of aikido in 1968 while attending Kokugakuin University. After graduation, he trained at Aikido World Headquarters and Reimeijuku Dojo, in Tokyo. A globally in-demand instructor, Ikeda is based at Boulder Aikikai. in Colorado.