Ki Federation of Great Britain
Ki Federation of Great Britain [1] is an association founded by Kenneth Williams in Great Britain. It teaches ki aikido using Kenneth Williams insights and methodology, through 60 affiliated clubs worldwide.
History[edit]
Aikido was founded by Morihei Ueshiba in the 30's. In the 50's, a few of his disciples came to Europe to help spread its teaching worldwide, such as Kenshiro Abbe in the United Kingdom.
In 1954, Kenneth Williams started martial arts study. He met with Kenshiro Abbe in 1955 and specialised in Aikido. He became the first non-japanese assistant to a japanese aikido teacher at that time, and the youngest non-japanese 3rd dan afterwards. This is documented in "Positive Aikido" [2]book about early UK aikido history, at The Hut dojo in west London. There are not many publications about European Aikido history, the focus being on Japan.
His teacher asked other senior figures in Europe to come teach him (Mutsuro Nakazono, Masamichi Noro, Hiroshi Tada, Nobuyoshi Tamura).
Kenneth William worked on promoting the teaching of aikido in Great Britain[3] and become the National Coach for the British Aikido Council[4]. After Kenshiro Abbe's departure for Japan in the 60's, he kept teaching aikido and created the Aikido Society in England, applying Abbe's motto of "Minimum Effort, Maximum Efficiency".
In 1969, the founder of aikido died. The Aikikai technical director, Tohei Koichi, was also a practitioner of [5]japanese yoga and had been teaching aikido using its principles (coordination of mind and body, ki). He was asked to change his teachings about ki and left the aikikai to keep teaching about ki and aikido [6], founding the Ki Society.
In 1976, Kenneth Williams went to Japan and studied under Tohei Koichi. After which he created the Ki Federation of Great Britain. In 1986, he split from Ki Society to teach with his own methodology, for western minds.
On 6th March 1999, the Ki Federation headquarters were opened in Mark, Somerset (UK). Dan gradings for all Ki Fed members are held there, as well as advanced classes.
Teachings[edit]
Ki aikido is taught [7] - a martial art mixing aikido techniques with ki principles, to develop coordination of mind and body. It is about self-defense and personal development, as well as learning to handle conflicts more peacefully.
The aikido part is about techniques, kata with sword (boken), knife (tanto), stick (jo), standing or kneeling, being attacked by one or more opponents.
The ki part includes "ki development" exercices (breathing, stretches, test of coordination of mind and body, kneeling exercices).
The moves seen during ki class are used for aikido exercices.
Emphasis is put on aikido and ki principles, and on Kenneth Williams methodology.
- Aikido principles
- Extending Your Mind
- Know Your Partner's Mind
- Respect Your Partner's Ki
- Put Yourself In Your Partner's Place
- Perform With Confidence
- Ki principles
- Keep One Point
- Relax Completely
- Have a light feeling
- Extend Ki
External Links[edit]
This article "Ki Federation of Great Britain" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Ki Federation of Great Britain. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ "About the Ki Federation".
- ↑ Positive aikido,154 pages, Trafford Publishing (March 15, 2005) ISBN 1412046688 Search this book on
.] Positive aikido
- ↑ "History of Aikido in United Kingdom – Aikido Journal".
- ↑ Ellis, Henry. "British Aikido History ~ from 1955".
- ↑ "Shinshin-tōitsu-dō". May 30, 2019 – via Wikipedia.
- ↑ "Koichi Tohei's 1974 Letter of Resignation from the Aikikai Hombu Dojo | Aikido Journal Posts | Hombu dojo, Dojo, Resignation letter". Pinterest.
- ↑ "BBC Somerset Radio Interview - YouTube". www.youtube.com.
