The next years were somewhat difficult. Arthur was gradually cutting back on his Aikido commitment and management of Caulfield underwent a turbulent time. In short, the partners fell out. A new teacher was introduced to us, Joe Seagle, an American graded shodan by Tohei sensei on one of his visits to the US. Joe assumed …
The history of Aikido in Melbourne and, I would argue, Australia cannot be written without recognition of the role of Arthur Moreshead sensei (1931-2010): Aikido was first taught in Melbourne by Arthur at the then Caulfield Judo School – now Caulfield Judo Centre- from the mid 1960s. Arthur emigrated to Australia from the UK with …
The follow up to the First Summer School was our attendance at Winter Training on Mt Banks, in the Blue Mountains, NSW. A small group of us Tony, Keith, Bruce Hatfield and me took the overnight train from Melbourne to Sydney on Friday evening. In those days, before Standard Gauge was introduced, you had to …
The History of Aikido in Melbourne – Mt Banks 1972 Read More »
A monumental turning point for Aikido in Victoria was the first Summer School, held at Monash. Tony began talking about the idea some time beforehand and was key to its coming to fruition. Sugano sensei was invited to teach and he accepted. A small but extremely welcomed contingent of students including, I believe, Roger Savage …
The History of Aikido in Melbourne – First Summer School 1971 Read More »
In the same year as a young aikido master arrived in Australia, television sets across the nation were tuned to an unlikely series that became a national phenomenon. Boys and girls were swapping their cowboy outfits to black ninja suits, waving improvised swords and flicking fake star knives (with ‘whwit, whwit, whwit’ sound effects) just like the …
