Revisiting New York Aikikai, May 2022

It is already the month before last, but in early May I visited New York Aikikai (https://nyaikikai.com/) and was kindly allowed to join their practice.
The class was taught by the dojo-cho, Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei.

Yamada Sensei moved to the United States in 1964 and built up what is now New York Aikikai; he is a leading pioneer in spreading aikido overseas.
He contributed to the spread of aikido not only across the Americas but in Europe as well.

I (Katoh) studied in New York in 2004–2005, and for a time I was allowed to live in the dojo itself.
Fresh out of high school, abroad and away from my parents for the first time, so clueless that I finally understood what “not knowing left from right” really means, I was welcomed warmly by this dojo simply because I practiced aikido, and I have many memories of the place.

It had been a full 16 years since I last visited New York Aikikai.
I had been to New York in the meantime, but somehow never managed to come to the dojo with my dogi.

Sixteen years on, apart from a slightly refreshed interior and a different banner outside, the dojo was almost unchanged and practice went on just as it always had.
The ground floor is a parking garage, and as I climbed the stairs to the second floor I was struck by a strange sensation of having gone back 16 years, and I felt a little nervous.

Yamada-sensei, New York Aikikai

with Steve sensei, New York Aikikai

Back then the third floor held Sensei’s office and a number of rooms where the uchideshi (live-in students) lived, but the uchideshi program was disbanded because of COVID.
I loved the very American feel of students coming from all over Europe and the Americas, so this is a real shame.

To my surprise, Yamada Sensei turned 84 this year.
Watching him teach, he looked the picture of health and full of energy… I resolved to come back again soon.