Body Dialogue Newsletter

by Shin Aoki The year 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of Hiroyuki Aoki Sensei introducing Shintaido to the world. To commemorate this milestone, a 60th Anniversary Gasshuku was held October 10-14, 2025, at Kujukuri Beach in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture. A venue for many...

by Connie Borden and Sarah Baker Sixteen people attended a six-Keiko workshop on Kenjutsu with guest instructor Pierre Quettier, 5th Dan Kenjutsu and Shintaido General Instructor. Assisting him were Shintaido Kenjutsu Yondan’s Connie Borden and Robert Gaston. The...

by Byron Russell Over the 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Pacific Shintaido hosted its annual Kangeiko workshop in the Technology Middle School gymnasium in Rhonert Park, California. General Instructors Shin Aoki and David Franklin led the four keiko, guiding us...

By Connie Borden, Shintaido of America President As a year ends, it is often time to reflect on what has been accomplished. Here are some highlights from Shintaido of America for 2024. 2024 was a year of transitions, starting with the death of Ito Sensei at the end of...

by Robert Gaston Dokan 2024 International gasshuku, in a significant way, started for us at different times. For the organizing team and Director of Instruction it began several years ago after the 2021 exams. Plans and theme ideas began percolating in their heads,...

By Rob Gaston Here is a brief report of my trip to Macon France to attend the ETC boh workshop in which Alain Chevet presented Shoshi no kon boh kata that Ito developed over the last 15 years. This kata had as its starting point as Sueyoshi-no-kon kata, the sho-dan...

by Derk RichardsonOver the 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Pacific Shintaido hosted its annual Kangeiko workshop in the Claremont Middle School gymnasium in Oakland, California. Master Ito Sensei died on December 30, 2023, just a few weeks before Kangeiko 2024,...

by Connie Borden I travelled to France in early November 2023. HF Ito and Nicole Beauvois me for the first 5 days to enjoy their new house in Cuy France. The second half of the trip was to Limoges France to study Kenjutsu with Shintaido General Instructors and Yondan...

By Bela Breslau Shintaido practitioners in New England were lucky during their October workshop. We were lucky to study with Senior Instructor Lee Ordemann who came up from Washington DC and led two keikos on Saturday that focused on the Jissen Kumitachi program. It...

by Connie Borden and contributions by Rob Gaston, Sarah Baker & Peter Furtado (the Daienshu reporter) Thirty-three people attended the British Shintaido Daienshu 2023 held at Worth School from the 18th of August to the 20th of August 2023. Daienshu literally means...

By Derk Richardson It had been three years since Pacific Shintaido was able to host its annual Kangeiko gathering in person. But, after two years of surprisingly successful virtual workshops, with participants from all over North America and Europe interacting via...

September 2022by Connie Borden From 16 September to 18 September 2022, fourteen of us gathered in Quebec City, Canada for a Gasshuku. Now that it has ended, we have returned home with a sense of enrichment. Here are some impressions and remembrances.  First...

by Connie Borden Rob Gaston, Senior Instructor, ranked Sandan in Shintaido bojutsu had an inspiration to hold a Shintaido of America boh workshop in 2022. Post COVID, it would be an in-person gathering in the San Francisco Bay Area open to all Shintaido bojutsu...

by Lee Ordeman Pacific Shintaido 2022 Kangeiko: “Cultivating Compassion”Held January 15-16 via ZoomDirector of Instruction: Shin AokiInstructors: Shin Aoki and Ula ChambersGasshuku Managers: Derk Richardson and Cheryl WilliamsZoom Manager: Sarah BakerCommunications:...

by Connie Borden I was extremely fortunate to teach Shintaido exercises during the week-long calligraphy course presented by Zenbrush at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA from March 8th through March 12th. Fifteen people, along with Sensei Kaz Tanahashi participated...

From September, 2021 A few words from Sarah Covid-19 made its effects felt around the world in 2020 with most gatherings being cancelled, including Shintaido events. As vaccines became available and more adults were able to get vaccinated, small slits began to open in...

by Connie Borden, Shin Aoki and Derk Richardson New for Shintaido in 2021 was PacShin Kangeiko via Zoom. PacShin offered three keiko on three separate days via Zoom so that Shintaido practitioners could deepen their study during this time of COVID pandemic....

By Connie Borden & Robert Friedman of Fearless Branding Have you found yourself struggling to explain Shintaido? Wondering how to express yourself to others so that they might come to a class?  Well you are not alone. The SOA board and SOA NTC members had the...

By Jim Sterling After many hours of filming and editing we are happy to provide a series of 12 videos that show some of the movements practiced during Pacific Shintaido Kangeiko and the National Technical Committee’s Advanced Workshop in January 2020.  Many...

By Dan Raddock & Mark Bannon Last September (2019), Master Instructor Ito led, and Shintaido Quebec, hosted a Shintaido Kenjutsu Master-class followed by a weekend Shintaido open-hand workshop including examinations for Shintaido Graduate and Shintaido Kenjutsu...

By Derk Richardson When Pacific Shintaido invited Master Instructor H.F. Ito to be the special guest instructor for the PacShin Kangeiko 2020, it was with a poignant sense of historical import. We knew, given Ito sensei’s plans to cut back on international travel from...

By Mark Bannon and Connie Borden The European Shintaido College (ESC) held their fall gasshuku from Wednesday 31 October 2019 to Sunday 3 November 2019 in Reims, France. Reims is in the heart of the Champagne region. The beautiful Cathedral in the center of the city...

During the workshop last weekend held by Québec Shintaido Doshokai, Master Instructor H. F. Ito gave the following demonstration of the Shintaido kenjutsu kata, "Chuden no Kata" with the naked blade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R1Y95OFeIM

By Derk Richardson and Connie Borden On Saturday, August 17, at Marin Academy in San Rafael, California, Master Instructor H.F. Ito led Bay Area and visiting Shintaido practitioners—12 in the morning session, 10 in the afternoon—through two keiko based on the theme...

By Shin Aoki and Derk Richardson Over the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, January 19–21, Pacific Shintaido hosted its Kangeiko 2019 at Marin Academy in San Rafael, California. Master Instructor Masashi Minagawa traveled from his home in Bristol, England, and, as...

31 October to 4 November 2018 By Connie Borden and Shin Aoki For five days, sixty Shintaido Practitioners practiced in Tirrenia, in the Italian region of Tuscany. From pasta to wine, from early morning meditation to late evening meetings, the group was united in the...

by Constance L. Borden I returned 24 March from my trip to Lisbon, Portugal where I presented Tenshingoso at the 1st Global Conference on The End of Life Experience - Dying, Death and Culture in the 21st Century. The conference was attended by 25 people from around...