July 2nd -9th, 2008
The pyramids loom in the background.
Alexandria Seminar
-
- Alexandria Aikido Group
-
- From left: Gawad Sensei, Riad Sensei, Homma Kancho, Uludag Sensei and Ziad.
-
- Homma Kancho explains bokken relationships to open hand movement.
Four hours by car north of Egypt’s capital city of Cairo is Alexandria; the second-largest Mediterranean city n Egypt. Alexandria is famous as the home of Cleopatra and the history of this city goes back to 334 BC.
My name is Gawad Adham, and I am the instructor of Alexandria Aikido here in Alexandria. A friend and student of mine, Ziad Ysuf Abuamer invited Homma Kancho to visit us. Ziad originally met Homma Kancho in East Timor where he was stationed as a member of the UNPOL. In February 2008, Ziad served as host for Homma Kancho’s second visit to East Timor, making all of Homma Kancho’s arrangements for this visit. Link here to Homma Kancho’s most recent visit to East Timor this past February.LINK #2 .
Homma Kancho came to Alexandria accompanied by his assistants, Nippon Kan Headquarters Instructors Bryon Hays and Jason Lowry on July 2nd, 2008.
My family owns a hotel in Alexandria called the Adham Compound Hotel. http://www.adhamcompoundegypt.com/ Our hotel is family run and has many amenities including the gym facility where our dojo holds practice. Homma Kancho taught classes here for about 30 students who practice Aikido here. Between practices, I served as host and guide for Homma Kancho and party, showing them the many wonderful historical sites of our city. I hope everyone enjoyed exploring our ancient and alluring city! Thank you to Homma Kancho and staff for coming to visit with us here in Alexandria.
Written by Gawad Adham
July 10th, 2008
Additional notes:
We met Homma Kancho in Alexandria after Homma Kancho returned from Iran with a short stop in Istanbul to work on book publishing projects. Gawad Adham Sensei’s family showed us the best in hospitality and the Adham Compound Hotel was a wonderful facility with a full sized gym and outside pool where you could even take scuba diving lessons! Many thanks for the wonderful experience and for showing us the rich and magical history of Alexandria.
Written by
Nippon Kan Headquarters
Bryon Hays
In front of the Pompei column, Homma Kancho, Instructor Jason Lowrey and Gawad Sensei.
Instructor Jason has a good appetite and an adventuresome spirit!
-
- A traditional way of making water cold.
-
- Large “condos” for pigeons can be found everywhere. Pigeons are a popular dish in Egypt.
Cairo Seminar
Cairo Shooting Club Aikido group photo.
After the seminar in Alexandria came to an end, Gawad Sensei drove Homma Kancho, Ali Uludag Sensei, Bryon and I, the four hours back to Cairo. The dojo in Cairo was located in the Cairo Shooting Club; originally a club designed exclusively for shooting. Now the Cairo Shooting Club houses many other sports activities.
The club currently has two open air dojos; one 300 tatami mat dojo and one 150 tatami mat dojo. The Cairo Aikido Club is instructed by Hisham Riad Sensei who practiced Aikido in Osaka, Japan and retains a very good command of the Japanese language. This second seminar in Cairo was scheduled by the Cairo Aikido Club after hearing from Gawad Sensei that Homma Kancho would be visiting them in Alexandria. The Cairo Aikido Club is in regular communication with Alexandria Aikido and they often practice together. Riad Sensei asked if Homma Kancho would consider teaching in Cairo and this second seminar was arranged.
-
- Homma Kancho and Hissam Riad Sensei.
-
- Practice in Cairo.
-
- Next to the aikido class, a senior’s exercize class was in session!
-
- Daily prayers are the first priority, a higher priority than practice.
Egypt is a very religious Muslim country, and practice in Cairo was stopped at specific times so that students could participate in their daily prayers. This showed to us the dedication of all of the Muslim students to their faith. The students in Cairo were very good at bokken and jo practice. This was because they used to be instructed by an Iwama Ryu JICA Instructor under Osaka Seiseki Abe Shihan.
Gawad Sensei took us to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Mr. Muhamed Elaskalany who practiced at the Cairo Aikido Club also took us sightseeing to many places we would not have been able to see as normal tourists. We were allowed a fascinating experience of the culture in Cairo and Alexandria, which was a very special experience.
-
- In front of pyramids, from left: Bryon Hays, Homma Kancho and Uludag Sensei.
-
- Homma Kancho in front of sphinx.
Ali Uludag Sensei also joined us on this trip to both Alexandria and Cairo from Istanbul, Turkey.
Currently Aikido practice in Egypt is organized under Kenji Kumagai Shihan of Wakayama, Japan, as is Aikido practice in Turkey. Thinking towards the future, the meeting of Instructors from both Egypt and Turkey who both practice under Kumagai Shihan was a positive development. We hope that this new relationship between these two countries will continue to develop in the future.
To all of the Aikidoka we met in both Alexandria and Egypt; many thanks for all of your generous hospitality. We were all awed by the wonders of your beautiful and historic country.
Written by
Nippon Kan Headquarters
Jason Lowrey
Photo Album of Old Cairo.
View of Old Cairo.
