Chapter 6

Many people who practice in a dojo will never notice a lot from the organizational structure above their dojo. It will be limited to attending a seminar and receiving a passport, perhaps a newsletter and an insurance most of them will never claim from.

Still, the national organization fulfills a number of functions, both directly and indirectly.

Perhaps the most unnoticed function of national organizations is that through their shere existence they create an environment necessary for Aikido to be recognized at a national and international level. Its a bit of a vicious circle, but the early Aikido organizations actually faced this challenge.

If you practices Aikido and wanted to be recognized as anything, you needed some sort of validation. One form of validation was Hombu recognition. But this only had meaning within the Aikido community. To be recognized by local or national government these groups needed something else.

We are no longer there to question why, but somewhere in the late ’70-ies or early ’80-ies it was decided by Hombu and a number of Aikido organizations in countries to found the IAF, to become member of the International World Games Association and participate in the International World Games. This established Aikido as a sport in the international community, and it allowed governments to recognize national Aikido organizations. However, to enter IWGA and become a recognized organization, it needed to have a minimal number of members in different countries. So, these countries actually needed to cooperate to establish Aikido as a sport and maintain an international body to maintain that recognition*.

As Aikido participated in the World Games this cost money which the IAF did not have. The first World Games where Aikido participated were in Germany. The financial burden was carried by the German Aikikai under the leadership of Asai Sensei. To cover some of the expenses and make the most of the senior instructors attending, a seminar was organized.
The second time Aikido participated was in the Netherlands in 1993. Dutch Aikikai didn’t have the resources to cover all the expenses of hosting the event, and this was the first time the IAF had to provide the means to organize the event**. Again, a seminar was organized to cover some of the expenses.

These seminars slowly took on a life of their own. As the IAF started to organize its 4-yearly general assemblies it became a habit to organize a seminar as well. These seminars became so popular that over time they were intricately linked. In 2016 2000 participants attended the IAF seminar.

Participation in the World Games and participating in the seminars of the IAF were the earliest spin-off. As time passed more and more examples of that spin-off became apparent.

Virtually every national organization was looking for some form of justification of its existence, other than just being there. Simple things like organizing national training courses started happening. Developing instructors courses and getting them recognized was another step that was appropriate in the development of Aikido as well as just the right thing for a national organization.

As the list of topics grew, it reached a point where there was sufficient justification for national governments to start paying attention to Aikido:
– an international body, member of SportAccord
– participating in the World Games
– with a larger number of dojos covering a wider region in the country
– with national seminars
– with a recognized instructors course

Such a track record was just the boost Aikido needed as a phenomenon to be recognized in its own right. It went from ‘what is Aikido?’ to ‘we know Aikido’. And its unprobable that this would have happened without the national and international Aikido federations.

Today national Aikido organizations provide a larger number of services, ranging from supporting starting dojos with tatami, information, experience, instructors, etc. to special programs for gender equality, physically challenged athletes, Aikido for business, and so on.

So, if anybody asks what’s in it for dojos? Realize you wouldn’t be in the position to ask without the national and international organizations.

* Today some people question whether Aikido is a sport. We will discuss that at some point in the future.
** Since it didn’t have the funds Dutch Aikikai covered the expenses, and these were ‘repaid’ through an installment of its membership fees.