Evans Sensei reflects on a year with Okajima Sensei, Thursday 3May 8pm

This Thursday Mark Evans sensei will be visiting our dojo. Mark Sensei is a senior instructor at Goshinkan dojo, the Aikido Yuishinkai headquarters and in 2010/2010 Mark Sensei and Lisa were soto-deshi students of Taikai Okajima Sensei in Osaka Japan. Okajima Sensei, is a 10-dan holder in Aikido Yushinkai and has been named as Maruyama Sensei's successor. During my last, albeit brief visit to Okajima sensei's dojo he said 'everything is Soutai' whilst still downing me with very effective Aiki. I have had the opportunity to visit Sensei's dojo on a number of occasions and learnt a lot from the small focused dojo he runs ( my thanks to Mark Sensei for helping with the most recent visit late last year)

I first met Mark sensei in Brighton, UK in the late 90's at Yoshigasaki Sensei seminar (we were all were in the Ki Society at that time) and got to know him at the Brighton Ki Society dojo in the coming year. Just a few years later he turned up in Byron Bay and have enjoyed a rich dialogue ever since. 

During the course of their years study with Okajima Sensei Mark and Lisa learnt from many of the arts Okajima is skilled in (some of which he holds lineages in). These include Aikido Yuishinkai, Goshindou and Soutai. 

I am looking forward to learning from his distillation of a year in Okajima sensei's dojo as well as what he thinks are the directions of study for the future. A last years national seminar in Byron his insights on tenkan from Okajima sensei, turned even the investigations of Sunter-san on its head a little I thought.