About Us

The Traditional Aikido Alliance (TAA) was established in February 2021 as a service focused organisation to support clubs that preserve and promote the Aikido of O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba as taught by the late Morihiro Saito Sensei.

TAA is a member of the British Aikido Board (BAB) and seeks to support the activities of Traditional Aikido Europe (TAE). TAE is a group of European and UK and allied Aikido dojos with over 400 active aikidoka from 16 dojos in 7 countries, sharing in the practice and study of Takemusu (Iwama style) Aikido, in the lineage of Morihiro Saito Sensei (9th dan Aikikai) and O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba.

Our Technical Director and dan grade examiner is Sensei Lewis Bernaldo de Quirós, 7th Dan, a former Saito Sensei approved dan grade examiner. Dan grades issued by Sensei de Quirós are Aikikai Hombu Dojo registered.

TAA is operated by an elected committee of board and officer members and in accordance with written governance arrangements. Membership of TAA is open to individual clubs that are sympathetic to our cause.

The TAA mission is to:

  • Coordinate the activities of the member clubs within the UK and towards TAE.
  • Organise training camps of shorter or longer duration at various places in the UK and various times of the year.
  • Act as a forum to facilitate collaborative activities as proposed by member clubs.
  • Develop and maintain an association website with a page to showcase each member club;
  • Maintain an insurance register and manage monthly insurance returns to the BAB;
  • Facilitate BAB accepted Disclosure and Barring Service ( DBS) checks;
  • Provide kyu grade passbooks to clubs that want them;
  • Early registration to TAA club organised events.

Takemusu Aikido

Our style or line of Aikido that is known as Takemusu Aikido and is a traditional form of Aikido that was passed on from O Sensei to the late Morihiro Saito Sensei (1928 -2002). He was a personal disciple of O Sensei for over 23 years and took over his dojo in Iwama Japan after his death, considering it his duty to preserve and pass on the the Founders original source techniques in as pure a form as possible.

Takemusu Aikido can be characterized and differentiated from other schools and styles of Aikido by it’s emphasis on the following three areas:

  • Emphasis on basic training and a clear distinction between basic and more advanced levels of practice and technique.
  • The integration of empty handed practice and practice with weapons (wooden sword, staff and knife).
  • Aikido as a martial art (Budo).

𝘗𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘊𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘮. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

– O Sensei, Morihei Ueshiba – Founder of Aikido