Tai Sai Pizza Party Saturday April 29th at 12:30
- Please come and celebrate with us!
- Friends and family are welcome
- Pizza will be served
- Please bring munchies, desserts and beverages of your choice
- Aikido practice, demonstrations and testing in remembrance of the anniversary of the founder's passing
We look forward to seeing you!
Tai Sai is an Aikido event honouring O’Sensei Morihei Ueshiba
In Japan, the months of April and May are quite busy in celebrations. Within the Aikido world, there are also a few events that are worth noting such as the anniversary of the founder's passing on April 26th 1969, the Aiki Shrine Festival on April 29th and the massive annual All Japan Aikido Demonstration on May 22nd.
The first event of this series of commemorations is the Shinonukai. It is a special evening that takes place at the Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo on the exact date of the founder Morihei Ueshiba's passing (April 26th 1969). Every year, several archive videos featuring O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba and his son the second Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba are played on a big screen in the main dojo at the third floor. Although this footage has been around for a while, it is always a pleasure to watch it for its historical and inspirational values. For the occasion, a few people who have personally known the founder are invited to give speeches after the projection. Finally, sake and rice crackers are offered by the Aikikai to the people present. It is a very nice occasion to get together in the dojo and to talk to fellow students and teachers.
The second memorial event occurs on the 29th of April at the Aikido shrine in Iwama, the Aiki Jinja Tai Sai Festival. The Aiki Jinja is a Shinto shrine built by Morihei Ueshiba himself in the aim of receiving the "spirit of Aikido". As you head towards the sanctuary a large stone carved with the four Ai-ki Jin-ja kanji placed in front of a large Tori (gate) which symbolizes the entry on a sacred Shinto ground. The shrine itself is a small wooden building composed of two parts, the honden which will host the religious ceremony and the Dohsu's demonstration, and the okuden, the more sacred, less accessible area behind the honden.
‘a true martial art
must go beyond concerns of winning
and losing’
—O’Sensei Morihei Ueshiba