Aikidomiljøet i Stavanger har etablert en ny dojo i nye lokaler. Aikido.no har gjort et epostintervju med hovedinstruktørene i klubben, Andrea Raviglione og Robert "Bob" Johnson.
Etter det jeg vet så har det vært flere dojoer i Stavanger, men det hadde ikke blitt etablert ett stabilt Aikidomiljø? Men det virker som om i de siste årene er etablert seg et fast miljø? Bob: This is a long story. Starting at the age of 10 with being sent to Judo classes for discipline and coordination. 50 years later I'm still trying, but that is the nice thing about Aikido - there is always the quest for understanding the many challenges to mind and body within our techniques. Back to the story. lliving in Southern England I trained in Judo and then Karate in local clubs up until leaving for University in Brighton. There I was introduced to the world of Aikido in 1969, attracted initially because of the use of weapons. Due to early development of Aikido in UK at the time, choice of training was limited and I learnt and practiced Tomiki aikido gaining Shodan in 1978.(Professor Kenji Tomiki obtained 8th Dan from ''O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba and later developedan Aikido form that concentrates on fixed Koryo-no- Kata and Randori competition.). During this period Aikikai also developed in Brighton under Kanetsuka Minoru Shihan and this introduced me into the world of Hombu dojo Aikiai . However, during mid 80's to 1996, Tomiki Aikido system and weapon training dominated for me. The martial arts of Iaido and Jodo were practiced together with Aikido in Seminars and clubs throughtout southern England. In particular, I was a founder member and instructor of the 'Yawara' Aikido dojo in London under the guidance of Dr Loi Lee. During this period studying under sensei Hideo Oba, Takashi Inoue, Tetsuro Nariyama, and Fumiaki Shishida.I was also involved at a national and international level with the competition side of Tomiki aikido within the JAA and European associations. Then came the big change - In 1996 I moved to Norway full time based in Stavanger. To my surprise no one had heard of my Aikido, but there was one Aikikai club running with connection to aikikan federation and this marked my return to the true path. Unfortunately within a couple of years the club closed due to instructors leaving the area. So rather than no Aikido I started my own dojo in 2000 within a local sport club called 'Stavanger Aikido at KI' . Due to the lack of Aikidoka in Stavanger, this was based on soft Tomiki Kata and no competition to introduce beginners into the world of Aikido together with basic elements from the older style of Aikikai practiced in Brighton. In 2004 Patrick returned to Stavanger and together we re-opened an Aikikai Aikido school in addition, however due to lack of local support and minimal students the school could not be sustained and closed in In 2005.
Og så flyttet Andrea til Stavanger, fra Oslo?
Bob: I met Andrea in 2006 on his arrival in Stavanger. Through his enthusiasm and will to travel away to seminars, I have been able to expand into the world of Aikido in Norway and shared the mat with many fine Aikidoka here in norway .
Andrea: After living for about 7 years in Trondheim, I moved to Oslo looking for more work experience. The date of the moving was quite special: I traveled from Trondheim to Stockholm for Christian Tissier sensei seminar at Vanadis dojo, with a huge backpack and bokken/jo, because my flight "back" had Oslo as final destination! The Monday after my first experience with Tissier sensei (april 2004) I started my work experience in Oslo. In Trondheim I lived excellent Aikido years, meeting people that by now are among my best friends. I learnt Norwegian (not enough it seems!) on the mats.. better than any boring language course. And I brought to Oslo, together with my luggage, my 1.kyu Aikikai from Tekisuikan NTNUI dojo, and the Aikido "style" that for many years has been a sort of trademark for Trondheim: a quite nice ukemi, a very open mind, a good knowledge of all the techniques and.. an extensive messiness in performing them!!! In Oslo I joined Oslo Aikido dojo, since two of my best friends from Trondheim, Karsten Sørbye and Pedram Bagheri, were in that club and Erik Vanem's Aikido and way to improve and practice Aikido have always been the best for myself. In Oslo I could share quite a few "adventures" of Oslo Aikido dojo, when we lost the first training place, when we practiced for one summer in a park, next finding the new place and basically transforming into the dojo that is now. I met and practiced with great people and experience first hand the growth of both the Aikido family and the real families of the people practicing in the dojo. I can say that in my 2 years in Oslo my Aikido really improve from a deep technical point of view, combining the great practice at Oslo Aikido with the many trips I took both in Norway and especially abroad for practice. During these 2 years, my Aikido reference expanded also from Kanetsuka sensei, with whom I graded to shodan in 2005 (the best graduation ever for myself, and according to friends watching, one of the best they had ever seen, where the evaluation was not based not only on a syllabus every shodan should know by heart but especially on the ability in facing new things from an Aikido point of view). In Oslo years I had a chance to travel a lot to Endo Seishiro sensei, Christian Tissier sensei seminars, and taking advantage of the extremely high level Aikido present in Oslo and Stockholm. But then, in 2006, I moved to Stavanger, again for work reasons. I joined at once the local Aikido club, Tomiki Shodokan Aikido and the main instructor, Bob Johnson, patiently taught me the basics of Tomiki Aikido never forcing me to forget my Aikikai way. And in some way I brought him closer to the aikido I love traveling together to some Endo sensei and Tissier sensei seminars. Furthermore, toether we went also to the summer schools of both NAF (Brandbu) and Aikikan (Moelv): it represented a sort of "coming out" for Aikido in Stavanger, even if Aikikan people had profound roots here, roots that needed anyway to be watered a bit, refreshed! And next, Bob always supported me when I organized two small seminars with Jørgen Nyhus (Grenland Aikido) and Erik Vanem, both my previous instructors and inspirations. And he still supported when together we organize the coming seminar with Ulli Kubetzek, 5th dan Aikikai (25-26 Oct.2008).  Fra seminaret med Erik Vanem, Andrea til venstre for O´Sensei bildet og Bob til høyre.Så dere samarbeidet bra, og miljøet vokste, men dere var missfornøyd med lokalene? Andrea: The environment in our previous location was never ideal for a martial art club: the place is basically a music-based aerobics kick-boxing center, where most of the classes are (loud) music based and there is no real division between the training areas. Investment for a more dojo solution had been promised, many times, but nothing was never done, and the last year the situation became worse when our training area was occupied even during our classes by people stretching or warming up for earlier and later sessions. And the word "respect" seemed to be unknown especially for the young ones attending some of the more funny, acrobatic and less martial classes. So we needed a new place, since we were losing members because of this situation. Begynte dere å lete etter nye lokaler? Eller hva skjedde? Andrea: The bad situation was not affecting only Aikido classes, but also other activities pushing one of the instructor to invest for realizing his own dream: to own his dojo. So Hanspetter Pettersen MMA instructor, started this project with keen support from Bob and myself. We were involved in mat and dojo layout and together with Hanspetter wanted to create a Budo atmosphere. Hvordan er de nye lokalene, og hvordan trives dere? Andrea: The new dojo is in the big red building (the old rubber factory) under the town bridge, right by the Kjelvene skating park. The address is: Harald Hårfagres Gate 15. The location is great, being easy to reach by foot, car or bus. The high ceiling in the dojo allows bokken and jo practice (in the future we hope maybe to start practicing again Iaido and Jodo, a common passion for both Bob and I).  Den store røde bygningen. Andrea trener Iaido. Hvordan har treningene vært i de nye lokalene? Andrea: Considering that is a "new born" project and we are all learning on the way, we cannot complain for the training area, the mats are very good, much better than before, especially for the knees and toes. We got quite good training times,. covering all week days, at an acceptable price.
Jeg forstår det slik at dere nå vil trene Aikikai Aikido, og du vil være hovedinstruktør?
Andrea: Bob and me together decided that the new club should be Aikikai, in order to get closer to the main "Norwegian" style and orientation of the federations (NAF and Aikikan). Being myself 1.dan Aikikai with all my Aikido background coming from this style, I am the main instructor and technical adviser for the club and Bob is instructor and board leader. We are going to practice and teach Aikikai Hombu dojo basics. And Bob, who is actually graded into Aikikai system too, is going to refresh those basics and teach them too!
Furthermore, since we maintained the core group from our previous location and it would be stupid to cancel more than 40 years of Tomiki Aikido experience for Bob, we will always have one advanced Tomiki Shodokan Aikido class, open only to the people Bob and me think are enough advance to not mix the basics. After a certain level I saw myself that Aikikai and Tomiki style have a lot in common, and the combination of some elements of the two style is an improvement.. for both styles.. but this is maybe topic for another issue! :-) Så forholdet mellom deg og Bob er fortsatt strålende? Andrea: I think so ;-) I am not an easy person, but Bob is, thanks God, much more mature than me and with more patience. Dere har funnet et nytt navn på dojoen, kan du ikke si litt om meninga bak JūShinKan? Andrea: Bob from his experience in judo, 柔道 ( じゅうどう, jūdō) and Tomiki Aikido is very fond of the term yawara, やわら, that is the kun-reading of the kanji 柔 [jū]. Also Inaba sensei at the Kashima seminar in Norway used this word a lot! In a way our experience here in Stavanger has been based on being open minded, and it is the same spirit my closer teachers have always transmitted to me… Therefore the name is: 柔心館 - Jū Shin Kan and the kanji we choose are: 柔: -ジュウ [jū], やわ(ら) [yawa(ra)] - tender; weakness; gentleness; softness 心: シン [shin], こころ [kokoro] - heart; mind; spirit 館: カン [kan], やかた [yakata] - building; mansion; large building; palace.. intended as school.. "Jū Shin Kan" then means "Soft (flexible) heart (spirit) school", converging toward the feeling I receive from Endo Sesishiro sensei practice. For more information: Aikido.no ønsker dere lykke til videre, og håper at Aikido-miljøet virkelig slår rot i Stavanger. Det fortjener dere. Andrea: Thanks with that and we hope we will receive visit from many other Aikidokas from all over the country! Our target is keeping an alive environment and trying to organize seminars with instructors maybe not too well known in Norway but great people we had a chance to meet and know during our trips to seminars especially abroad. So, if you are in Stavanger for work or vaccation, just visit us: visitors at practice are not charged anything! This is our policy, a bit more "American" dojo style! Welcome to Stavanger Jūushinkan Aikido!    For redaksjonen: Erlend Hove Lillebø Bilder: Andrea Raviglione September 2008 |
