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Monday, August 29, 2016

Parts of an Aikido Dojo


Parts of an Aikido Dojo

The image above shows the parts of a typical Aikido Dojo.  
  1. Shomen-the front of the Dojo. The portrait of O'sensei is found here. The students bow into this direction upon entering and leaving the mat, and during the ceremonial opening and closing of the class. 
    If possible this should be facing the main door, and the students should bow to this direction upon entering and leaving the dojo.
  2. Kamiza-The upper seat or the senior side of the dojo. This is where the instructors and honored guests sit.
  3. Shimoza -  Opposite the Kamiza is the Shimoza or the lower seat. This is where the students enter and sit during instruction. The higher ranked students sit on the right most side of the mat and the lower ranked students on the left.
  4. Embujo-  The middle part of the mat, where the demonstration and training takes place.
  5. Joseki - The upper side or upper seat.  Located on the right side facing the Shomen, It is reserved for the more senior students and instructors and is not a place for lower ranks to loiter.  is where they bow in.
  6. Shimoseki - The lower seat, located opposite the Joseki. This is where the lower rank students bow in. Visitors and spectators observe the instruction from this area as well.
The layout described above is a typical or traditional layout of an Aikido dojo. Although some dojos, specially outside Japan does not (or can not) follow this layout due to different reasons. In our case, we are currently renting the room which use as a dojo and we are sharing it with another group, thus our shomen is on the  same side of the main entrance.

Hopefully though, we could have our own dojo and follow this layout. 

Note: I will be referring the information here in my future posts.

References:

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