Curriculum & Testing

Unarmed training (taijutsu / "body art")

Aikido body art fundamentals are relatively consistent across Aikikai schools around the world. However, there is vast variability in the amount of time and emphasis given to those dozen or so core techniques vs. practices beyond depending on the instructor and dojo.

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Weapons training

Weapons training is done at most dojos as well, using a short staff (jo), wooden sword (bokken) and wooden dagger (tanto).

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Burloak Aikikai practice emphasis

At Burloak Aikikai, we spend about half to two-thirds of our body art time on the core set of techniques in the orthodox Aikikai style demonstrated by the Ueshibas, Seki-sensei and Osawa-sensei, and about 10% of our time on weapon training. The remaining small fraction is spent on a variety of things from within the broader art of aikido and martial arts generally.

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Testing

Testing is per the Canadian Aikido Federation requirements, which mirror those of the Aikido World Headquarters (except for minimum hours). Students advance through white belt ranks of 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st kyu, then through black belt ranks of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th dan and up. In many dojo, the kyu ranks are distinguished by different colours and / or stripes, but at Burloak Aikikai, we follow the World Headquarters protocol of keeping a white belt until reaching 1st dan, when we change to a black belt and also start to wear a hakama (pleated traditional Japanese skirt).