Beginning of October and the weather is still very much fine in Tel Aviv. The flight captain reports no clouds and no wind with a temparature of 35 degrees celcius. It is perfect weather as
the humidity levels are also very low. Wouldn´t it be nice if all autumns could be like this!
I arrive a few days before the start of the seminar with Fukakusa shihan, hosted by Ze´ev Erlich and the Israeli Aikido Association in Rehovot. That gives me a bit of time to enjoy Tel Aviv in all its wonders (the night life, the beautiful heritage of Jaffa, the interesting diverse shops and, of course, the sandy beach along the coastline.
Before the arrival of Fukakusa shihan from Thailand, Ze´ev san kindly asked me to give two classes, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. So I decided to present two themes, one in line with Fujita shihan´s training method and the other with more stretching and exercises geared to opening the body and preparing for aikido movement. On Thursday morning, I woke up bright and early to join Ze´ev and a some of his more dedicated students to form a welcoming party at Ben Gurion airport, for the anticipated shihan to arrive to a warm greeting.
Fukakusa shihan with welcoming party at Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv.
(sitting with Ze'ev at café Lool).
Israel is one of my favorite places to train, not just becaused the training is of an excellent quality but also because the people are also of the highest quality. The members of the Rehovot aikido group also greet me with much friendliness and openess, it is always a pleasure to join them for Aikido. The additional attraction of Rehovot is the marvellous coffee bar, Lool, where one can order their tastey sweetcorn snack and have the best coffee in town.
The dojo, where Ze´ev teaches (local school near his house). The childrens class of Ze'ev is well attended and the kids show an amazing level of discipline and interest to learn Aikido.
Hanging at the Kamiza is a Japanese word of the month. This month's word hanging there was "Den" which means to transmit (knowledge, energy, etc). This is an appropriate word as I gave a lesson themed around Fujita shihan's passing on of his knowledge.
"Den" means to transmit.
During the next three days, Fukakusa shihan will transfer some his decades of aikido experience to the students of Rehovot. Wishing all participants a wonderful and enriching seminar.
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