The 19th anniversary Spring Seminar for Aikido Shinryukan Canterbury was held on the weekend of 26/27 September. The seminar was held at St Bedes College Chanel Hall with a 126 tatami mat area constructed for training. The guest instructor was Yamashima Shihan from Tokyo. Over the weekend 62 people attended.

Yamashima Shihan concentrated on kuzushi [balance breaking] and as well as instructing he made a point of going around and throwing every participant. Yamashima Shihan's style is relaxed but unstoppable. His is very subtle in his movement and from a watchers perspective he seems to do very little but from an uke's perspective he totally destroys your stance and you end up falling to the ground.

Training was relaxed, but ukemi demanding & constant so that by the weekend's end everyone was tired but I think fizzing with ideas.

It was an excellent seminar and one that we hope to repeat with Yamashima Shihan in the near future.

Many thanks to those from outside ASC who attended; we enjoyed your company and training. We hope you can visit again soon.