Chicago Aikikai will hold its annual kagami biraki class on Friday, January 20, 2023, to celebrate training in the New Year.
Training will be from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm led by Marsha Turner Sensei, followed by a potluck dinner.
Members past and present, as well as fellow aikidoka from other dojo, are invited to join us for class.
Friends, family and visitors are welcome to observe and join in the party afterward.
If you are planning to attend and bring something for the potluck, please e-mail info@chicagoaikikai.org.
About Kagami Biraki
Kagami biraki (鏡開き) is the traditional kick-off for the New Year held in many Japanese martial arts dojo.
It means “opening the mirror,” and references the breaking of ceremonial rice cakes (kagami mochi) or the top of a cask of sake.
According to history, the fourth Tokugawa shogun (supreme warlord), Tokugawa Ietsuna, was the first to hold a kagami mochi ceremony 300 years ago. On the eve of war, he gathered the lords in his castle to break open a sake cask.