By José Veiga
Last month, on the 15, 16 and 17 of November 2013, the II International Seminar of Dento Iwama Ryu took place at the Seville town of El Viso del Acor (Spain). Saito Hitohira Jukuchô taught the seminar.
Locally, it was organized by La Escuela Nacional de Aikido of the Spanish Federation FEDAMC Y DA , under the direction of D. Manuel Medina Vaquero as Director of the National School of Aikido and with the support , supervision and council of Jose Veiga, Dojo Cho of Galicia Aikishuren Dojo and Territorial Delegate of the National School of Aikido to Northern Spain .
The event took place at the Municipal Sports Pavilion Antonio Perez Nero of El Viso del Alcor – Seville – Andalusia – Spain.
This seminar was open to all styles of Aikido and as such about 120 people attended from various provinces of Spain, and from countries like: Portugal , Italy , France , Germany , United Kingdom , Argentina , Moldova , Uruguay and Slovakia .
The schedule of the activities for the seminar included 4 bukiwaza and 4 taijutsu keiko and 1 Special Keiko for yudansha and higher kyu.
The event started on Friday 15th of November in the afternoon with a welcoming speech to Hitohira Saito Jukuchô, to the Alessandro Tittarelli y Tristão da Cunha Shihan and to all the participants.
This is what we trained:
Friday 15th fo November
1. Bukiwaza Keiko – Ken Suburi
2. Taijutsu Keiko – Kihon waza: Ikkyo
Saturday 16th of November
• Special Keiko – Kumijo 1 to 4
3. Bukiwaza Keiko – Ken Awase + Kumitachi 1, 2 and 3
4. Taijutsu Keiko – Kihon katame waza until gokyo
5. Bukiwaza Keiko – Jo Suburi + 31 no Kata + 13 no Kata
6. Taijutsu Keiko – Kihon Hanmihandachi
Sunday 17th of November
7. Bukiwaza Keiko – Jo 31 no Awase
8. Taijutsu no Keiko – Kihon Ushiro waza
As usual, the agenda of the Koshukai allowed for a time for Dan examinations. This time the candidates were for shodan, sandan and for yondan. Mr. Iván Ruiz Orejon of Tarragona was approved for Shodan. Congratulations, Mr. Iván!
Hitohira Saito Jukucho was lodged in a comfortable weekend house in a remote community away from the madding city crowd and where you could hear the birds singing, roosters in the morning, and the sound of other farm animals such as sheep, goats and turkeys. In that place Sensei and entourage house enjoyed several BBQ and paella, and many good times.
During the time Sensei was in Spain, we also went sightseeing to:
Malaga – which is the capital of the Costa del Sol of the Mediterranean Sea and is the second largest city of Andalusia where we visited the museum of Pablo Picasso, the birthplace museum of Pablo Picasso, after which we enjoyed tea at a local famous tea-house; then we visited The Alcazaba which is a fortress palace of the Muslim era (XI century), built on an ancient fortification of Phoenician- Punic origin and located at the foot of Mount Gibralfaro, in an elevated position near the Roman amphitheater.
For lunch we ate in a typical restaurant in Málaga where we tasted a delicious variety of dishes from the region.
In Sevilla visited:
• Museum and Plaza de Toros of the Royal Maestranza of Seville
• The Cathedral of Seville
• Walked along the Guadalquivir River
• The Torre del Oro
• La Giralda
We also took Sensei to the famous local horse farm “ La Ronquera” owned by Mr. Ricardo Navas, who is a horse trainer and prepares horses for shows and dressage. Here we had the opportunity to see an incredible show in which a well-trained pony attacked the Torrero’s cape as a Toro (bull) would! At the end we enjoyed a very special moment with the cante flamenco and flamenco guitar by two Andalusian professionals of the art, who have made shows in USA and Japan. Whilst we heard the flamenco music, the owner of farm offered some delicious olives, local hams and “chorizos” and fine wine. In all, we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon.