Essential information
Training times
Training is every Tuesday and Thursday evening, 6.00 – 7.30pm.
Venue
We train at Poppleton Community Centre, Main Street, Upper Poppleton, York, North Yorkshire, YO26 6JT (see the map on the contact page for directions).
Costs
The monthly cost is £20 (for 8 lessons), alternatively, you can pay for each lesson individually at a cost of £4 per lesson.
Club History
The club has been in York since 1988 and has well-established roots within the city. As the club has a varied student base, many other disciplines and styles are often taught to develop student's insights and skills.
Aiki Jujutsu is suitable for men and women alike; size and strength are not important factors in applying a technique.
For any further details phone or email us, alternatively, please feel free to come to any training session where you will be most welcome to join in or watch.
Clothing
Beginners may wear loose comfortable clothes without belts or buckles. We would like you to cut your toe and finger nails, and to remove any jewellery before getting on the mats. Long hair should also be tied back.
If you have a gi, please bring it.
The gi we wear at York Aiki Jujutsu is a judo or jujutsu gi which consists of white trousers and white jacket. All beginners wear a white obi (belt). All female practitioners must also wear a vest or t-shirt under their gi jacket.
You can purchase a judo or jujutsu gi from £20.00 - £40.00 from the following suppliers (click on links):
Leeds Martial Arts Shop http://www.leedsmartialarts.co.uk
Nine Circles http://www.ninecircles.co.uk
Playwell Martial Arts http://www.playwell.co.uk
Equipment
The two main weapons we concentrate on at York Aiki Jujutsu are the Bokken and the Jo:
• The Bokken (bok, "wood", and ken, "sword"), is a wooden Japanese sword used for training, usually the size and shape of a katana (Samurai sword), but sometimes shaped like other swords, such as the wakizashi and tanto.
A bokken is used as an inexpensive and relatively safe substitute for a real sword, and is used in training to develop technically correct movements.
• The Jo is an approx 1.276 m (4.18 foot) long wooden staff which combines the techniques of the spear, sword and the naginata.
Several traditional Japanese koryu ("old schools" of martial arts) used the jo like a sword. The added length of the jo was meant to give it an advantage over the sword. Further, its wood construction allowed a fighter to improvise a jo quickly from a tree, branch, or other pole.
You can purchase an oak Bokken for approx £10.00 and an oak Jo for approx £12.00 from the following suppliers (click on links):
Leeds Martial Arts Shop http://www.leedsmartialarts.co.uk
