Washizu sensei, Minoru Mochizuki’s last assistant, was in France for an exceptional seminar in April. It was the first time Washizu sensei was teaching outside of Japan and he has been warmly welcomed by 300 practitioners from France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Canada and Hong Kong.
The program of the seminar has been particularly interesting and covered more or less all that one can find in the DVD: sutemi (including sutemi with chokes), te hodoki, futari gake, himo dori, hikitate and a discreet preview of the Hyori no Kata. Even though we didn’t approach the weapons part, it felt like a very large view of Yoseikan/Gyokushin ryu Aikido.
More than the technical aspect, Washizu sensei gave a lot of emphasis to the way to move, by being felt only by Uke at the last moment, not leaving him the opportunity to escape. In addition, everybody noted how enthusiastic Washizu sensei was and it was a pleasure for all of us to see him so happy to share what he learnt from Minoru Mochizuki.
Below are a few pictures that have been taken during the seminar, present on the day. All of them can be found here, and some more are also available here. Lionel from ImaginArts followed Washizu sensei during the seminar but also before and after, his photos can be found here
