People ask me all the time what actually separates the different dan grades in Aikido. The honest answer is that technique alone doesn't explain it — and most people asking the question are already sensing that something else is going on.
That explained it — but it also confirmed what I look for when deciding to test someone for a dan grade: not more, or more complicated, techniques, but depth. A dan grade reflects a shift in how you organize yourself, not just what you know.
The jump from one dan to the next isn't necessarily about harder techniques. It's about doing techniques fundamentally differently, and beginning to embody the principles inside them. At one level, practitioners are still refining technique. At another level, you start to disappear into the technique.
The margin for error shrinks, and partners attack with more sincerity, speed, and precision — so your lines and entries need to be cleaner and your movement smoother. Connection replaces control as the organizing principle. At the beginner and shodan level we're doing techniques on people. By yodan, techniques start happening through us instead of by us.
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Lia Suzuki
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• Mastering The Shoto
Director: Aikido Kenkyukai International USA
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2026
- August 29-30
Shanghai Xijiao Aikido Dojo 15th Anniversary Celebration
Lia Suzuki Sensei & Others
Shanghai, China - September 4-6
Aikido of San Diego
Lia Suzuki Sensei
San Diego, CA, USA - September 14-15
PSV Heidelberg Aikido Sansuikai Dojo
Lia Suzuki Sensei
Heidelberg, Germany - September 16-20
Bewegung & Lebenskunst Bonn
Lia Suzuki Sensei
- - September 16-17: Yudansha Seminar
- - September 18-20: Mixed Levels Seminar
Bonn, Germany - September TBD
Aikido Shinboku e.V.
Lia Suzuki Sensei
DĂĽsseldorf, Germany - September 25-27
Aiki Dojo Sehnde
Lia Suzuki Sensei
Sehnde, Germany - October 2-4
Mountain West Aikido - Livingston
Lia Suzuki Sensei
Livingston, MT, USA - November 6-8
Redlands Aikikai
Lia Suzuki Sensei
Redlands, CA, USA
2027
- September
Ima Juku Aikido
Lia Suzuki Sensei
Baarn, Netherlands - More Seminars added soon...
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