Bartosz Ciechanowicz born 4.12.1976 in Kolobrzeg. He graduated from the Institute of Physical Culture at the University of Szczecin. During his studies he was a multiple scholarship holder. He obtained a diploma of a physical education teacher. He was professionally associated with the Department of Human Anatomy of the University of Szczecin, where as an asisstant and lecturer he taught courses in human anatomy and exercise pysiology at full-time studies of the Institute of Physical Culture at the University of Szczecin, including Public Health education. A passionate teacher of aikido and enthusiast of Japanese culture and art, expecially bonsai. He became interesstede in aikido in high school. He has been training aikido continuously since 1993. After a few years of training at the Polish Aikido Federation, he began to practice aikido in Szczecin, in the Polish Union of Aikido, as a student of master Jacek Wysocki (8th dan). Since 2005, he has been teaching aikido and conducting trainings at the Pomeranian Academy of Aikido in Kolobrzeg and Koszalin. He is the author of several scientific publications in the field of physical culture, incuding publications on aikido.

Contents

From the author
Chapter 1 The samurai
Katana
The main stages of making a katana
Stage I Steel melting
Stage II Forging the blade adn the tang
Stage III Hardening the blade
Stage IV Grinding, polishing and sharpening the blade
Stage V Binding the sword
Eelments of the construction ofthe sword
Tang
Hilt and fastenng elements
Sword guard
Scabbard of the sword
Chapter 2 Bokken
The elements of bokken constructin
Types of bokken
Jigen ryu
Itto ryu
Niten ichi ryu
Kashima shin ryu
Katori shinto ryu
Jiki shinkage ryu
Kurama ryu
Yagyu shinkage ryu
Iwama ryu
Chapter 3 O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. The samurai in the service of peace
The Ueshiba family and Morihei's childhood
Adolescent yars
Time in Tokyo
Illness and return to Tanabe
Service in the army
Return toTanabe
Time on Hokkaido
Meeting master Sokaku Takeda
Meeting Onisaburo Deguchi
Moving to Ayabe
Leaving for Mongolia
Return to Ayabe
Moving to Tokyo
Opeinig of the Kobukan Dojo
Visits to Manchuria
The foundation of Kobukai and the creation of the aikido name
World War II and time in Iwama
The period after the end of the Second World War
Morihei in films
State decorations of Morihei
Morihei and shodo
The last years of O'Sensei's life
Profiles of O'Sensei's students
Main schools of aikido
Evolution in the message of aikido
Students of master Morihei Ueshiba
Seikyo Asano
Wasaburo Asano
Makoto Miura
Isamu Takeshita
Kenji Tomiki
Aritoshi Murashige
Yoichiro Inoue
Minoru Mochizuki
Hisao Kamada
Ikkusai, Hajime Iwata
Takuma Hisa
Kenji Tomita
Kenzo Futaki
Minoru Hirai
Saburo Wakuta
Yoshio Sugino
Shigemi Yonekawa
Kiyoshi Nakakura
Yasuhiro Konishi
Kaoru Funahashi
Tsutomu Yukawa
Rinjiro Shirata
Takako Kunigoshi
Bansen Tanaka
Gozo Shioda
Itsuo Tsuda
Zenzaburo Akazawa
Koichi Tohei
Shigenobu Okumura
Kisshomaru Ueshiba
Kisaburo Osawa
Kanshu Sunadomari
Tadashi Ab
Morihiro Saito
Hiroshi Tada
Sadatru Arikawa
Hirokazu Kobayashi
Hiroshi Isoyama
Fukiko Sunadomari
Seiseki Abe
Mutsuro Nakazono
Kenshiro Abbe
Hiroshi Kato
Reishin Kawai
Anno Motomichi
Yasunari Kitaura
Kenneth Cottier
Iwao Tamura
Andre Nocquet
Michio Hikitsuchi
Seigo Yamaguchi
AkiraTohei
Shoji Nishio
Masando Sasaki
Yoshio Kuroiwa
Masamichi Noro
Nobuyoshi Tamura
Yasuo Kobayashi
Masatake Fujita
Katsuaki Asai
Yoshimitsu Yamada
Seijuro Masuda
Kazuo Chiba
Nobuyuki Watanabe
Seichi Sugano
Mitsunari Kanai
Yutaka Kurita
Shuji Maruyama
Koretoshi Maruyama
Mitsugi Saotome
Terry Dobson
Shizuo Imaizumi
Kenji Shimizu
Norihiko Ichihashi
Seishiro Endo
Morito Suganuma
Minoru Kurita
Robert Nadeau
Tomio Ishimoto
Roy Suenaka
Takeji Tomita
Fumio Toyoda
Virginia Mayhew
Robert Frager
Alan Ruddock
Henry Kono
Gaku Homma
Shogo-master classification
The historical background of aikiken
The genesis of aikiken
Times of conflicts and wars
Times of peace
Sources of knowledge for aikiken
Yagyu Shinkage ryu
Daito ryu
Kashima shinto ryu
Katori shinto ryu
Kendo
Shouchikubai-a sword in harmony with nature
Ume no tachi (ume no ken)
Matsu no tachi (matsu no ken)
Take no tachi (take no ken)
Chapter 6 Basics of the practice. Kihon aikiken
Choosing a bokken
Awareness of dangers and methods supporting the organization of classes
Training forms and group formations
Reigi. What is traditional in aikiken
Bokken handling
Chiburi and noto
Uke and tori
Areas of improvement of aikiken techniques
The hilt grip
Advantages of hanmi-lateral body position
The distance between tori and uke in the context of hanmi
Field of view, perception and elements of combat psychology
the guard ofthe body
Coordination of breath and body work
Hibuki
Lines and directions. Zones and goals
Suburi. The road toperfectin
Basics of defence. Static and dynamic defence
Defence with distance
toma
maai
chikama
Defence with raction
Irimi
Furi komi
Katsu hayabi
Aki harmony. Otanashi no ken
Chapter 7 Positions with a sword. Bokken no kamae
Triangle
Square
Circle
Bokken no kamae
Seiza
Shizentai
Jodan no kamae
Chudan no kamae
Gedanno kamae
Uke nagashi no kamae
Waki no kamae
Hasso no kamae
Chapter 8 Moving with the sword. Tai sabaki aikiken
Movement n straight lines (omote)
Movement in curves andcircles (ura)
Tsugi ashi
Ayumi ashi
Kaiten
Tenkan
Irimi tenkan
Chapter 9 Sword techyniques. Aikiken waza
Jodan tsuki
Tsuki variants
Ushiro tsuki variants
Kesa giri variants
Shomen uchi
Shomen uchi variants
Ushiro shomen uchi variants
Yokomen uchi
Yomenuchi variants
Uke nagashi
Uke nagashi variants
Epilogue
Dictionary of Japanese terminology