June 1st-8th, 2009
Every year for the past few years I have come to visit Izim, Turkey on the Aegean Sea. Izmir has beautiful oceans and beautiful skies and is one of my favorite places on earth. Nippon Kan graduate uchideshi Cihan Karaogluol is from Izmir and I came to Izmir on this trip to attend his wedding. The wedding was a wonderful affair, attended by over 600 invited guests! Cihan surprised my by attending the seminar I taught while in Izmir the day before his wedding, and even more surprised me when he postponed his honeymoon for a couple of days to continue practice after his wedding day! That is most likely the reason why his new bride was applying Nikkyo to Cihan when this photo was taken!
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- Cihan and Bride Nikkyo!
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- Wedding reception with Cihan and his new bride.
I have practiced together with students from Izmir many times, so it feels like coming home to practice there. On this visit, Mert Sensei took me to visit his new dojo, and the seminar itself was held at Tolga Sensei’s dojo. Many students came from Istanbul and Ankara to attend the seminar as well as Ali Uludag Sensei, who came to Izmir to attend Cihan’s wedding and to share together in practice.
With Izmir Aikidoka
Written by
Gaku Homma
Nippon Kan Kancho