This past weekend, a few of us from Toronto went up to see Mustard Sensei at the Seikokan Dojo in Windsor , as guests ... to learn more from this spectacular teacher.

Lemmon Sensei and his dojo are a spirited, ambitious and energetic group, whose aikido is getting stronger and stronger.  Mustard S ensei's incredible understanding of the riai of Yoshinkan Aikido, along with his brilliant teaching style has the potential to bring all of us closer and closer to understanding the core of Yoshinkan.

Personally, Mustard Sensei has made my aikido 10x more interesting and inspiring, and I can't get enough of him. He is willing to teach anyone that will give their effort and energy.  This is indeed, a special gift to all of us!

In short, we all know that aikido is about 'circles', which we use to go around our opponents power when we encounter resistance (or their 'power').  As Mustard Sensei says, "every pamphlet in aikido ever printed talks about using the opponent's energy to unbalance him, or using circles to redirect the opponent's energy …"

Yet, most of us make 'gears' or 'cogwheels', at best, according to Chida Sensei. If you want to make 'circles' rather 'cogwheels' in your technique, invite Mustard Sensei to your dojo.  As he says, he is the Kevin Costner of Aikido: 'if you invite him, he will come...'

Marcel Booth (November 2005)