A Message from Yamada Sensei

We just finished our New Year's annual Christmas seminar at New York Aikikai. Nearly three hundred people showed up. I was very happy to see people who came from other states and countries, including many Canadians who I remember from the old days. We had a lot of fun and I miss so many of the old members who used to come. Much time has gone by since then and everybody has family and other social responsibilities. Therefore, it's not as easy as it used to be to travel to N.Y., especially around Christmas time. It's very nice of you to attend the Christmas Seminar, but I feel very bad about the size of our mat area. I really envy the Midwest Aikido Center because it is a very big dojo. However, I feel it is important just to renew our friendships over the weekend.

I keep telling myself that I am going to reduce my seminars every year, but as you may have noticed, once again I have had a very busy year this year. When I finished my last seminar two weeks ago, I was so happy and relieved when I bowed out of the last class. In this particular trip, I went to six countries within three weeks. Actually it was seven countries, because I made a two-day stop in N.Y. between a trip to South America and Europe.

As for the USAF, in the past few years we have had several difficulties. One was the very emotional loss of Kanai Sensei. Also, there were the incidents of the independence of Birankai from the USAF, and the separation of the Midwest Aikido Federation from the USAF.

However, I'm very happy and glad to see a strong unity among the members. No matter what the reasons were behind these two incidents, a friendship should always remain. The year of 2007 will be the last year of my sixties and I'd like to finish this period of my life beautifully and successfully. I'd like to ask for your help, support and understanding in order to make my dreams possible.

I hope you have a wonderful New Year.

Yoshimitsu Yamada