Miyamoto Tsuruzo shihan is a 7th Dan senior instructor at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. He has been traveling every year to France since 2006 to teach in its main Southern cities. Every year, more and more students attend the class in order to grasp Sensei's virtuoso technique and benefit from his highly refined pedagogic approach. We took the opportunity of a class he gave in Montpellier to have a chat with this kind and thoughtful gentleman and ask him about his technique and his views on teaching Aikido.

Olivier Gaurin is one of the most well-known French Aikido practitioners. His atypical path and his ease with words have made him one of the prominent voices of our martial art in France. Olivier Gaurin has been living in Japan for many years and he got the chance to practice with some of the greatest masters such as Seigo Yamaguchi and Kisshomaru Ueshiba Sensei. He speaks Japanese fluently and has a deep understanding of the Japanese culture, which he enthusiastically shares with other practitioners through a series of books that he wrote about the practice of Aikido. I met with Olivier Gaurin on a summer evening at his Tokyo apartment and we discussed during several hours about his martial journey and his views on Aikido while sharing a homemade pizza cooked by the "Captain" himself.

Last December, the beautiful city of Rome became the theater of an event that is to mark in our Aikido calendars. This course was in fact the occasion of a visit by William Gleason, 6th dan Aikikai and close student of Yamaguchi Sensei for his very first seminar in Europe. We took advantage of an informal lunch in the Italian capital to ask him many of the questions that had been going through our minds for a while. Rather than going through his Aikido journey, we decided to orientate the discussion towards more universal issues in terms of Aiki.

Joe Curran is the current president of the British Aikikai, the only remaining organization under the technical supervision of Kazuo Chiba Shihan after his departure from England. Joe Curran spent more than 30 years practicing Aikido and he is one of the most dedicated students of Chiba Sensei in Britain for putting us into contact during a seminar Curran Sensei gave in Tunisia. Sensei. He accepted to talk to us about his organization and his personal views on Aikido in and abroad. Many thanks to Mrad Medsouheil from the Association Sahéliènne d'Aikido.

Henry Kono (1928 - 2016) was a Canadian citizen of Japanese parents who decided during his youth to visit his country of origin. Nothing really remarkable so far, apart from the fact that he ended up spending four years studying Aikido with the founder of the art, Ueshiba Morihei. What made Henry Kono's experience truly special is that he was the only foreigner present at the time who was able to speak Japanese. According to Kono himself, it was this very capacity to understand both Japanese and occidental cultures which allowed him to reach a unique interpretation of what O Sensei was really doing. Henry Kono used to regularly visit Ireland to give seminars and it was during one of his visits to Dublin that I got the chance to sit down with him one afternoon and talk about it all. Henry usually stayed very quiet about his views but he kindly accepted to spend a few hours explaining me, one more time, what it was all about. We ended up spending over three hours together on a rainy morning of April, drinking gallons of Irish tea and smoking rolled cigarettes, with Henry never hesitating to get up to demonstrate his concepts, either on my good friend Daithí who hosted our meeting, or myself.

Cyril Lagrasta, 4th dan Aikikai, is the head instructor of the Dublin Aikikai Aikido, a group that he started over 10 years ago. It is important because it gives the opportunity to a real pioneer to express himself about all thdue work he has done to spread a certain conception of Aikido outside of France. Too few of these people make it to the pages of the French magazines so I guess that was my way to express all my gratitude to him for what he has done for me and my Aikido these last few years.

I had been trying to conduct an interview with Christian Tissier Shihan (7th dan Aikikai, head of the French Aikido Federation FFAAA) for quite some time now. Eventually, thanks to his good will and his kindness, things became possible. There are very few interviews of him published in English so I thought that this would be a great way to introduce Sensei to the English-speaking Aikido practitioners. He answered our questions with great precision and a disarming honesty which made the interview all the more interesting and enjoyable. We mainly went through the specificity of his teaching as well as the general organization and functioning of Aikido.

Alan Ruddock (1944 – 2012) was one of the few people who got the opportunity to train with O Sensei Ueshiba Morihei. He was the only Irishman to have done so, spending three years training at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. If that wasn't enough, besides being the first Irish aikido practitioner, he also single-handedly introduced karate on the island. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to call Alan both a teacher and a friend, and I decided to conduct this interview in order to introduce this kind gentleman and true budo master to the aikido community.

Meet Philippe Orban, 6th dan Aikikai and very close student of Christian Tissier for many years. Although he could have stayed in the comfort of teaching regular classes at the Cercle Tissier in Vincennes, Philippe decided to move abroad and open a dojo in Leipzig (Germany), almost ten years ago. In this interview, he kindly agreed to share his experience with us and to explain his conception of Aikido and how it fits in the way it is being practiced on the other side of the Rhine.

Philippe Gouttard started practicing Aikido in 1970. He quickly went on to study with top Japanese masters (Nobuyoshi Tamura, Masamichi Noro and Hirozaku Kobayashi Sensei) in France and abroad. He met Katsuaki Asai Sensei during a seminar taught by master Noro. This encounter was decisive as he traveled to study with him for 7 years in Germany. In 1978, he met Christian Tissier which finally put him on the tracks of his current Aikido practice. Since that day, he has constantly been studying under Tissier Shihan and progressed along with him. Philippe also met Yamaguchi Sensei whom he practiced with regularly during his many trips at the Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. He was technical director for the Rhône-Alpes region for 15 years and he now regularly teaches seminars in France and Europe. In this interview, Philippe unveils the concepts behind his practice. 

John Rogers (Seán Mac Ruairí in Irish) is the senior instructor of the Irish Aikido Federation – Ireland Aikikai. He holds the rank of 6th dan awarded on the recommendation by the Aikikai Hombu dojo. On the occasion of Ireland Aikikai's annual spring course, he granted me an interview and spoke of his involvement in Aikido and the history of Aikido in Ireland. This year, Kuribayashi Takanori shihan was the guest instructor of Ireland Aikikai on the occasion of its 30th annual spring course. 2007 also marks the 35th anniversary of Aikido practice in Ireland as well as the 20th anniversary of Rogers sensei's establishment of a full-time Aikido dojo in Dublin.

André Nocquet 8th Dan Aikido, 4th Dan Judo, was one of the pioneers of Budo in Europe. He was the first ever foreign uchi deshi of Morihei Ueshiba and the training partner of Tamura Nobuyoshi. This interview was conducted for the French radio station France Culture in 1988, following the publishing of Master André Nocquet's first book entitled "Morihei Ueshiba - Presence et Message". For the occasion, the journalist asked Nocquet about his experience in Japan, learning for almost three years as a live-in disciple of Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, and his subsequent work to develop Aikido in France and Europe. I have published here the full length audio interview with  added subtitles in English, as well as a full transcript of the piece for your reading convenience.