By Brad Adams

The event drew a wide variety of participants with a fair number of folks traveling as much as 2 to 4 hours to attend the seminar. More than a dozen mudansha and yudansha from a variety of arts including Tomiki Aikido and Kajukenpo Karate took part in the training.

Saturday day began with instruction from Sensei Ritacco on the Aikijutsu waza 'Sudori-Nage'. The technique should be effortless for Nage, and to Uke it should feel as if they're standing at the edge of a chasm and the empty space is drawing them into the void. This technique relies upon visual perception and behavior psychology to mislead Uke into voluntarily over-extending Uke's attack resulting in a lose of kazushi (balance) for Uke.

The morning continued with addition Aiki techniques such as Ki-nage, followed by a hearty lunch. (Special thanks to Patrick-San & Chanel-San of the Karatekai who kindly volunteered their time and effort to make sure the lunch ran smoothly and efficiently for all.)

Saturday afternoon training started with various iai-kata, and progressed on to kumi-tachi (striking swords) on various kissaki waza (tip techniques) along with waza like Gyakuto and Gyakutai applied to multiple attackers (tateki-geiko), followed by a quick review of the first 5 Gekken waza.

Sunday was devoted to answering individual questions from the Mudansha and Yudansha on various Aikijutsu & Kenjutsu waza. Sensei Ritacco kindly extended his training time, in spite of a long drive home, to answer numerous questions.

Instruction on the basics of Sudori Nage.

Sudori-nage applied...

Various techniques, entries, and evasions demonstrated by Sensei Ritacco.

Food! Hungry participants partake of a variety of healthy and tasty items at lunch.

The instruction continues covering various Kenjutsu waza of the Tenshin Ryu.

Technique In Action!

Sensei Ritacco demonstrates a technique with Amos Smith, and Amos Smith performs Hito-hi-me with Brad Adams.

The members of the Ohio Budokan and our fellow participants from various other Dojos would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Sensei Ritacco and Amos Smith (of the Koshi-no-Dojo) for taking time away for their own families and training to travel to Ohio and generously teach us. We eagerly look forward to their next visit.

Photo credits - all images courtesy of Bob Ensign 2008.