Welcome to the Tenchi Ryu Aikido Clubs and Societies West Midlands website.

Introduction by Shihan Graham Bachelor

The Senior coaches of Tenchi Ryu are proud to be able to trace their lineage via their own chief instructors back to Morihei Ueshiba the founder of Aikido. Although syllabuses and training regimes have been adjusted to bring us into the 21st century, we strive to honour the age old etiquette, loyalties, and principles that the samurai warriors of feudal Japan are still known and respected for.

I see one huge difference between what Morihei Ueshiba passed on to all Aikidoka with his martial art, and what went before his development of Aikido. This is, Aikido is first and foremost a martial art dedicated almost totally to self defence - even the name aikido literally translates from Ueshiba’s writing to, harmony, spirit, way.

This does not mean it is a soft option to either teach, train or learn, or that its techniques are not effective. Since it is a martial art that was developed to efficiently and effectively neutralize any armed or unarmed attack, from single or multiple assailants (with the least possible force being used), it is an ideal system for both Men and Women to learn, so helping all to prepare against the almost unbelievable acts of violence we see reported daily.

Tenchi Ryu Aikido however is not just a simple system of self defence, one of its aims and objectives is to instruct all students how to balance both body and mind to become a means of chanelling the spirit that Ueshiba often spoke and wrote about, and the samurai practiced diligently to acquire.

Shihan Graham Batchelor