For us, in the post-Covid era, it is important to explore other ways of walking the path of Aiki. Much of what we have been living is no longer possible since the ban on Aikido in Bavaria (keyword: “contact sport”). Especially in the area of youth, the measures have caused considerable damage.

Here in the mountains, in remote nature, it is obvious to focus on other aspects of the Aiki way: closer to nature, more spiritual, but also more concrete in the manifestation of the possibilities of application.

Since nothing new has to be invented, we now also deal with the 1200-year-old tradition of the Yamabushi – the Japanese mountain warriors – and their philosophy and way of life. In doing so, we do not focus on the extreme ascetic exercises as they were practised by the northern Japanese Yamabushi. Rather, we see the life practice of the southern Japanese Yamabushi as more true to life and more in line with the Aikido philosophy: no forcing, not even of spiritual development; physical work through cultivation and (re)forestation in the middle mountain regions and spiritual work in the highest mountain regions.

Who knows, maybe this will result in a pre-paradise Aikido for us here!? At any rate, it seems to be a possibility.