hi, i am new. i am interested in learning aikido. I am wondering if anyone knows of a good school in Northern Virginia area, especially near Tysons Corner. traffic is so bad, venture out too far is just a waste of time. thanks jw
That's near DC, right? DC is the home of Capital Aikikai, Clyde Takeguchi Shihan's club. I've never been to the club, but Takeguchi Sensei is one of the best in the business. Beyond that, there's our friend Google.
My style has three dojos over there. Arlington http://www.asu.org/cgi-bin/display-dojo.cgi/i=NVA DC http://www.asu.org/cgi-bin/display-dojo.cgi/i=ASD DC http://www.asu.org/cgi-bin/display-dojo.cgi/i=GUA AikiWolfie's style has at least two. Falls Church. http://novakiaikido.org/ Merrifield http://www.easternkifederation.com/virginia.html Here's an Iwama dojo in Arlington. Can't go wrong with that. http://www.aikidoofarlington.com/home.html Here's an Aikikai dojo in Arlington. Can't go wrong with that either. http://www.aikidoka.com/index.htm
thanks hi, thanks for the replies and after some searching, the closest one to me is the the one in Merrifield. Northern VA Ki Aikido. Anyone has experience with them? thanks jw
If you have a little search around this forum you'll find that Ki Aikido is not held with much regard. Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole I think it would be worth the effort to travel to a club that would be more martial
Our school worked out with this group last weekend. They came down to our Dojo for a testing of some of our and their students. Their students seemed pretty good, but I have limited knowledge of Aikido (I have only been taking lessons for a couple of months).
I'm glad to hear that! "Aikikai" usually means "Federation" (as in USAF, the United States Aikido Federation), and indeed here that is exactly what it means. The Federation is the national representative to the main aikido dojo in Japan. Each country has one. Because it is the official representative of Aikido for the entire country, it is expected to be pure and blessed and all things good. That said, there are many other organizations also recognized by the main dojo in Japan. I bet your school is part of such a group. As I said above, I'm not Federation myself.
