大東流合気柔術, 本部, Daito-ryu, Aiki-jujutsu

Kondo Katsuyuki, Somucho

(Kondo Masayuki Hombucho Sensei)

2025 New Year’s Greetings

2025 has begun. I hope that it will be a wonderful year for everyone.

First of all, this year we will have Katsuura camp in April. On the last day, we will have a celebration for Somucho Sensei’s award. And, we are planning a seminar in the Netherlands in October. We hope that many of you will participate.

In order to help you remember the techniques of Daito-ryu thoroughly, we have made it possible to learn through the teaching videos and the “Shoden Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Daizen” video, as well as through Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. This year, we will be uploading 4 and 5 kajo techniques to the teaching videos. We want to create an environment where it is easy to learn Daito-ryu even if you are far away. Please make use of them. We hope that your Daito-ryu will blossom greatly, and let’s keep “zekkocho” this year as well.

Event schedule for 2025

January 7th        First practice
January 26th      Invitational demonstration of the Tatsumi-ryu
Mid-April             Demonstration dedicated to Yasukuni Shrine’s spring festival
April 19th            Demonstration in Asakusa
April 21st-25th    Katsuura camp and promotion examination
April 26th            Celebration party for Kondo Katsuyuki Somucho Sensei’s award
Mid-July              Yasukuni Shrine Dedication to the Goryo Festival
During summer vacation　Domestic joint practice
September 28th  Osaka Expo Demonstration
October 4-5th　  Kashima Shrine Dedication Demonstration
October 10-13th  Netherlands Seminar
Mid-October        Yasukuni Shrine Autumn Festival Demonstration
November 3rd     Meiji Shrine Dedication Demonstration Japan Kobudo Promotion Association 90th Anniversary Ceremony
Mid-November    Domestic joint practice
December 28th   End of practice

*Regular online seminars held every second Sunday of the month at 21:00 (Japan time)
*Online seminars for each branch will also be held upon request.

Your continued support this year would be appreciated.

Kondo Masayuki, Hombucho

(Hasegawa Sumie Sensei)

I hope that the new year of 2025 will be a good one for you and your families.
Let’s go together as students under the guidance of our teachers and continue to practice diligently this year as well

Your continued support this year would be appreciated.

Hasegawa Sumie, Kyoju-dairi

<2> Report from overseas branch (New Year’s message)

Dear Daito Ryu friends,

The Dutch Daito Ryu branches wish you a happy new year! With pleasure we look back at a rewarding and inspiring training in Katsuura last August. As always it was great to deepen our practice, learn from one another, and further our understanding of Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu. The bonds of friendship that are forged on the tatami continue to strengthen, and it is these connections that enrich our training experience. As we reflect on the past year and look ahead to the new one, we eagerly anticipate the upcoming Katsuura seminar.  Also, we are very much looking forward to the seminar of Hombucho sensei and Fuku Hombucho sensei in The Netherlands. The seminar will take place from Friday 10 October to Monday 13 October 2025. We are looking forward to welcoming many of you! More information will follow in the coming months.
We wish you all the best for 2025 and are looking forward to meeting you again on the tatami.

Kind regards,
Robert, Niels, Anton, Ilse, Peter, and all Dutch Daito Ryu students.

<3> Information from Headquarters

・This year, the Katsuura camp (at the Nippon Budokan Katsuura Training Center) is scheduled to take place from the evening of Monday, April 21, 2025 to the morning of Saturday, April 26, 2025. Dan promotion examinations will also be held during the camp. Details on participation registration will be announced soon, but those who wish to participate should make sure to save the date in advance.

・After the Katsuura camp, a celebration party for Kondo Katsuyuki Somucho Sensei will be held at the Hotel Grand Hill Ichigaya from 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Hotel Information: https://www.ghi.gr.jp/en/index.html) Details on participation registration will also be announced soon, but those who wish to participate should make sure to save the date in advance.

・The Netherlands Seminar is scheduled to be held from Saturday 10th to Monday 13th October 2025. Kondo Masayuki Hombucho Sensei and Usuyama Hideto Fuku hombucho are scheduled to participate from Headquarters.

・ The deadline for payment of annual membership fees for 2024 has passed. Please notify us if you are a branch or study group that requires an extension. We will inform you again this autumn regarding annual membership fees for 2025.

・ Those who were promoted last year are as follows (in no particular order, titles omitted):

<Sho-dan> Kenichi Sekiguchi, Isonori Kawasaki, Yoshikazu Nakagawa, Maxwell Pohl, Kokoro Takada, Rintaro Shibata, Yusei Shibata, Rui Saito, Yuki Kuwayama, Sae Ogawa (Ryogoku), Keisuke Ito, Katsuichi Arahata, Hideaki Morimoto, Tetsuro Hirose, Tomoki Nishijima (Setagaya), Mirco Piccinini, Berni Francesco (Italy), Aleksandr Kokorinov, Aleksandr Petrenyuk, Egor Gavrenko, Gleb Kamfenkel, Roman Karpov, Lemysh Leonid, Angelina Yagudova (Russia), Marco van Katwijk, Jan de Jonge, Jaap Hagenaar (the Netherlands), Ryan Lokey (USA), Abdul Rehman Hasan Al-shaban (UAE)

<2-dan> Roman Alekseev, Munakata Minori (Ryogoku), Haba Osamu (Hamacho), Maurizio Testi (Italy), Pavel Tsvetkov, Ildar Gismatullin, Maksim Zharenov, Anna Serebriakova, Valentin Kraev, Mikhail Boev, Daria Shesternina (Russia)

<3-dan> Namai Mitsuhiro (Katsushika), Giulio Bussadori, Giorgia Butturi (Italy), Ishchenko Aleksei (Russia), Peter Hartung, Thomas Visser, Edward Vos (the Netherlands), Selahattin Ak (Switzerland)

<4-dan> Watanabe Kazuto (Sapporo), Luza Zanoli (Italy), Badan Pascal (Switzerland), Ajioka Katsuma (Urawa)

<5-dan> Stas Kopin (Russia), Niels van Willigen, Barendregt Anton (the Netherlands)

We sincerely hope that you will continue to enjoy good health and prosperity this year. In order to further develop Daito-ryu Aiki-Jujutsu, we would like to increase the number of students and improve their skills, based on our constant daily practice. Your understanding and cooperation would be highly appreciated.

(Edited by Usuyama Hideto, Fuku-hombucho)