I attended the celebrations at Goshinkan, Byron Bay on the weekend where we
spent some time doing some of Koretoshi Maruyama's Yuishinkai aikido
syllabus followed by an amazing dinner prepared by Val and then the
inevitable speeches which turned out to be quite good.
The warm up exercises are slightly different to KS (Ki Society) and while
there are good reasons for some of the variations the of the best things
that they do for me is that I have to put 100% into doing them or face
getting muddled up with KS warm ups. Technique wise there seems to be some
emphasis on Zagi (kneeling) techniques, principally to develop power from
the tan den (one point). 'Ura' and 'Omote' or 'appearing' and 'hidden' are
positions that form part of the syllabus while other aikido styles use
these as well, they are probably most familiar to KS aikidoka as 'shikaku'
and 'hantai'. There are also some difference in various kokyu techniques as
well. Shomenuchi kokyunage for example has a nifty tenchi-nage finish.
Sensei Andrew Sunter gave a really nice biographical speech about Sensei
Michael Williams which I thoroughly enjoyed. The development and journey of
KS aikido to Australia was really interesting. He then went on to read some
certificates presented to Sensei Williams from Sensei Koretoshi Maryuma
awarding him hachi-dan and chief Instructor of Yuishinkai Australia.
Sensei Williams then spoke of his hopes for Yuishinkai aikido and extended
an invitation to all aikidoka of any style to train with him in Byron Bay.
He also announced he was organizing a seminar in Byron Bay later in the year.
Following this the remainder of a huge cask of Sake was consumed, whilst we
were entertained by a variety of aiki-musicians. Those of us from out of
town were invited to sleep in the dojo that night- but I chose the tent to
avoid some legendary snorers and the protracted lullabies of the
aforementioned aiki-musicians.