Jan 6th, 2015 All of Aikido Nippon Kan Beginner’s Classes start for the year in January. Since Nippon Kan began recording Beginner’s Class attendance, over 25,000 students have attended these courses. There are three Beginners Class sessions to choose from, each six week course beginning in consecutive weeks. For the three January classes, 53 beginning students enrolled this year. Starting …
Dec 7th, 2014 January is always the best time for enrollment in our new Beginner’s Aikido classes, so this year in December, we held an open house. Envesco Field stadium where the Denver Broncos play their home football games is very near Nippon Kan. From our parking lot it is about a 15 minute walk to the stadium. For home …
November 20th, 2014 There are two famous Buddhist festivals for the people of Myanmar called the Songkran and Khahtain festivals. Domo Restaurant has about 10 people from Myanmar working at the restaurant and every year Nippon Kan supports the celebration of these festivals in Denver. At the Khantain festival, elaborately decorated “trees” are made from money to take to the …
November 19th, 2014 Every year for the last 24 years, in both the spring and the fall, Nippon Kan has volunteered in partnership with the Denver Parks Department to work on projects to beautify Denver parks all over the city and front range areas. Over the years Nippon Kan volunteers have helped turn flower beds, created bike and hiking …
October 16th, 2014 Nippon Kan General Headquarters has been located at its current facility for almost 20 years. In 2014 over 700 elementary and middle school students and their parents and teachers have come to Nippon Kan for a cultural fieldtrip tour. These tours are usually set up in the spring but this year …
Oct 4th, 2014 “Putting the Beds to Bed” is a funny name for a project but every year the flower beds in the Denver city parks must be turned for winter. In the fall, if the plants go to seed it will affect the blooming arrangement of the flowers in the beds the following …
June 12th, 2014 The Minoru Yasui Foundation, the well respected organization of leading Colorado lawyers and legal professionals in Denver was formed originally to honor the human legal rights activities of the late Minoru Yasui. This year, Minoru Yasui has been nominated for a Presidential Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States. The annual Inn of Court …
June 7th, 2014 Most of the Denver Parks Department parks are located in downtown or suburban Denver areas, but the City of Denver does manage parks in the front range of the mountains just west of Denver. This year, our Nippon Kan Spring Volunteer Project with the Denver Parks Department was in O’Fallon Park, about an hour drive west of …
May 18th, 2014 Since 1991, Nippon Kan has been serving meals to the homeless on the 3rd Sunday of every month. In December 2013, we passed the milestone of funding, preparing and serving 70,000 meals. For decades, Nippon Kan served meals to the homeless at the Denver Rescue Mission in lower downtown Denver. Currently we are serving “lunches to go” …
May 18th, 2014 Joko Ninomiya Shihan, Founder of Enshin Karate, celebrated his sixtieth birthday with family and students in the Nippon Kan gardens on May 18th. The party was planned by generations of senior students, and the foods and drink were provided by Domo Restaurant. Over 70 of Ninomiya Shihan’s students from all over the world were in attendance to …
May 17th, 2014 The Japanese martial art of Kendo is popular in the United States, and the US Ito Cup Competition was held in Denver this year. After the competition a dinner reception was held at Nippon Kan General Headquarter dojo for about 150 competitors and guests. Kendo shares similarities with Kenjutsu which is the foundation for Nippon Kan Aikido. …
May 10th, 2014 On May 10th, 2014 a very special AHAN Milestone Celebration was held at Nippon Kan Headquarters to celebrate many of AHAN’s milestones over the years and Homma Kancho’s 50 years of practice. The celebration was attended by over 350 guests. The celebration began with the national anthems of Japan and the USA and reports on AHAN Milestones …
March 8th-9th, 2014 On March 8th-9th, 2014, I traveled to Princeton on the East coast to attend the “45th Anniversary of Bringing Aikido to Philadelphia” Celebration for Shudo (formerly Shuji) Maruyama Sensei. Maruyama Sensei was my first Aikido instructor when I was young in Japan. Originally Maruyama Sensei was an instructor for Aikikai Hombu founded by Founder Morihei Ueshiba. As …
April 20th, 2014 We had a late freeze this spring in Denver when all of the flowers in the Nippon Kan garden were just coming into bloom. The garden has crabapple, yellow cherry, forsythia and Japanese magnolia that bloom every year. This year the time to enjoy the new flowers of spring was cut short by the return of “old …
April 8th, 2014 An article was written by the Associated Press about Domo Restaurant and Nippon Kan titled, “Go for the Food; Feed Your Soul at Denver’s Domo” that was released on April 8th, 2014. The article was picked up by news outlet on line and in print around the country and the world. Link here to the Denver Post …
