Bermuda Aikikai Hosts Top Aikido Masters
[Updated with photos] Bermuda Aikikai under Collins Smith Sensei had the honor of hosting two top Aikido masters this past weekend. Shihan (master teacher) Hiroshi Ikeda and Richard (Rick) Stickles.
While Stickles Sensei blended the relationship between weapons techniques with the sword to open hand or weaponless techniques, Ikeda Sensei amazed the Bermuda students with often deft and seemingly magical touch. A great weekend of training was had by all, from beginner to advanced students alike.
Hiroshi Ikeda is the founder and chief instructor of Boulder Aikikai (http://www.boulderaikikai.org) a non-profit school of aikido in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He currently holds the rank of 7th dan through Mitsugi Saotome Shihan and the Aikido World Federation (Honbu Dojo).
Ikeda Sensei began his study of aikido in 1968, as a college student at Kokugakuin University in Tokyo. In 1978, he followed Saotome Sensei to Sarasota, Florida. In 1980, he moved to Boulder to establish Boulder Aikikai, an associate of Saotome Sensei’s Aikido Schools of Ueshiba. Ikeda Sensei is a good friend of Stickles Sensei and often featured instructor at ASNJ.
Stickles Sensei has been practicing and teaching Aikido and its related arts for 35 years, and is one of the few full-time Aikido teachers in the United States. Sensei Stickles is certified as Shihan (Master Teacher) by the United States Aikido Federation and the World Aikikai Foundation (Tokyo).
He is one of only a handful of teachers appointed Shihan outside Japan. A 7th-degree black belt, Sensei Stickles is one of the highest-ranking and most senior traditional Aikido teachers in the country. A distance runner for 10 years, Sensei Stickles attended NYU on a full athletic scholarship, receiving a B.A. in theater and communications. Shortly after graduation, he was introduced to Aikido.
Sensei Stickles began training as soto deshi (direct disciple) of Yoshimitsu Yamada Shihan, 8th Dan, chief instructor of the New York Aikikai. During his apprenticeship, Sensei Stickles traveled throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, studying with over two dozen of the principal disciples of Aikido’s Founder, Morihei Ueshiba.
Sensei Stickles is Bermuda’s Collins Smith Sensei’s teacher and more information on Bermuda Aikikai and Aikido is available here.
- Photos by John Manderson
