In Japan, near Tokyo, there is a training hall named Ichikukai dojo, where once per month, for four days, senior and intermediate members gather with new initiates to enter the world of misogi-no-kokyu-ho, a form of body-mind-spirit purification. An important practice from the Shinto tradition, misogi-no-kokyu-ho may be translated as “purification through breathing.” In the four day “shogaku shugyo” (first-time experience) of misogi, students wear traditional martial arts practice uniforms and formal-wear called gi and hakama. Eating consists of three meals per day of a barley-rice mixture, soybean paste, salted plum, and radish pickles. Students sleep on tatami mats. With strong encouragement and pressure from senior members, new initiates sit in the kneeling posture of seiza, practice deep breathing exercises, and chant eight syllables with all of their might. Training is arduous, emotionally straining, and physically exhausting. Yet it is a unique opportunity to break through self-imposed limitations and egoistic personality defenses. With the intense stimulation of misogi, primal life force deep in the lower abdomen is activated and the potential to directly experience the root of one’s being is at hand.

Interested students now have the opportunity to have a taste of misogi training in America. At Brooklyn Aikikai we offer misogi practice several times a week.

Additionally, there are two ways to be considered for participation in shogaku shugyo. The first is to contact Sensei Kotaro Hiruta and apply directly to Ichikukai dojo. The second way is to be recommended by the chief instructor of Brooklyn Aikikai. A minimum of a year-long intensive training in the dojo in Brooklyn is required before a student will be considered for recommendation to Ichikukai dojo. Several students have found this training helpful in preparation for the trip to Japan.

Please contact the chief instructor directly if you are interested.