Daito ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai North American Hombu Dojo

It is with a heavy heart that we share that the North American Branch of Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai has lost one of its pioneers this week. Sensei David Dahmen passed away on the night of May 10th. Dave was one of the founding members of the organization back in the early 1970s. He started the Cal Poly Aikido club when he was a student at the University in San Luis Obispo. This would eventually become the Cal Poly Daito-ryu Kodokai club at the university and lay the founda...tion for the North American Headquarters of the Kodokai as an organization. When Katsumi Yonezawa first brought Daito-ryu to the area, Dave was the students who helped to organize training sessions. Once the Kodokai Organization was established Dave, helped guide its direction, organize seminars, and maintain contact with all of the students. He eventually left the area, but wherever Dave ended up, he continued to train, set up dojos and touch the lives of everyone he met. Dave was a true champion of the art, he wasn’t in it for fame, fortune, or personal glory. All he wanted to do was train, gain a better understanding of Aiki, and help spread the art to people who were interested. For a few years, Dave’s training took a back seat to his family, as Kiyama Shihan said, Family always comes first and Dave took this to heart as he raised two wonderful children, Kyle and Stephanie with his amazing wife Kim. He was a great father, who volunteered his time, worked, and took care of his family. He was always in contact and trained whenever he could get a chance though we all knew it wasn’t as much as he would have liked to. In the last 4 years, Dave came back to the dojo and began to train again in earnest and help with guiding the organization forward. He made it his mission to reach out and train at each branch dojo whenever his job brought him to that area. He wasn’t just teaching, but also he mentioned how much he learned by visiting each dojo. Most people who have trained in Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai in North America over the years, don’t realize that they owe their own training opportunity to Dave, his lifelong pursuit of the martial arts, and the establishing of the Cal Poly aikido Club in the 1970s. We owe a lifetime of gratitude and more for all he has given us. He left us too soon and with so much more he could have taught us. Thank you for all that you gave to us Dave Dahmen Sensei, your spirit will remain in the dojo wherever we go. We’ll see you again in the big dojo in the sky.

The power of Aiki!!! Watch how the fingers are splayed in the method of Asagao or opening like a morning glory!!! Very telling here!!!! We should all aspire to this level. Just a bit of Aiki humor, I hope you are all training hard this year 2020!

Hatsu Geiko, or first training sets the tone for the rest of the year. This is our first new year's celebration at the Buddhist Church and things are a little bit different from previous years at a dedicated dojo. Still the same, after training, sensei and student share the o-miki or ritually purified sake, to help bring them closer to the gods and set their minds, skill, and body for shugyo (hard dedicated training) in the year ahead. Akemashiteomedetgozaimasu

Annual Daito ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai Autumn Kenshukai in Kitami, Hokkaido Japan. Group photo.