City Dojo, Wellington
News:
Phew, back on Alert Level 1, so:
- Monday, Wednesday and Saturday classes back to normal, for adults and teens, including beginners
- Kids class we’ll restart with Term 4 on 12 October
- We’ve suspended Sunday classes (but will reinstate them if there’s enough interest)
And of course:
- If you’re sick, stay home, or getter still go and get tested
- Hand/forearm sanitisation before getting on the mat – we have plenty of it
- Tracking: please use the NZ COVID Tracer app to register yourself on our QR code (download it if you haven’t already!)
- Until Auckland is back on Alert Level 1, if you or a close family member have travelled from Auckland in the past week, please take a short training break 🙂
Training at City Dojo – 35th Riai Aikido Festival with Nadeau Shihan, 8th Dan. Our mat space is even better now
Riai Aikido Wellington has being going strong since 1993, a friendly club with internationally certified aikido teachers.
Our City Dojo in Kaiwharawhara is a well-appointed and beautiful dojo, with a huge tatami mat training area.
We welcome beginners to black belts, and run adults, teens and kids classes, as well as periodic seminars.
If you are a beginner, now is always the best time to start learning the fascinating, beautiful and powerful art of aikido: check out our Adult beginners, Aiki Teens or Aiki Kids pages.
We maintain close ties with our ‘sister’ dojo Riai Aikido Belmont in the Lower Hutt.
This page covers non-routine events at City Dojo. See our main page for routine training times, and see the Riai Aikido events page for events happening elsewhere.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| August | |
| Monday 3rd | Yudansha meeting after class |
| September | |
| October | |
| Monday 5th | Committee meeting after class |
| Monday 12th | Start of school term 4 |
| Saturday 17th (election day) | Wellington High Grade Retreat (HGR) for 2nd kyu and above |
| November | |
| Weekend 14th/15th | 39th Riai Aikido Friendship Festival – Auckland |
| December | |
| Saturday 12th | Workshop and grading with Henry Lynch sensei 6th Dan, with end of year celebration on the Saturday night |
| Wednesday 16th | Last class of 2020 |
We welcome beginners with our without prior aikido or other martial arts experience.
The first free lessons are free: the best way to find whether aikido is right for you is to try out a class, so come along and have a go, 6:30pm Mondays and Wednesdays. Please contact our Dojo Cho Conrad on 021 843 467, or just turn up and say hi.
We have loan gis (the white pyjamas), or just wear comfortable clothing like track pants and top.
We run a focused beginners course, next one starting Monday 12 October – see our flyer. If you miss the start of the course, simply join part way through it, or contact us for when the next one will start. The cost of the beginners course is $150 which includes all costs up to and including your first (yellow belt) grading, typically 3 or 4 months if training regularly. For unwaged or students, $100. Expires after six months.
Membership entitles you to train at City Dojo in any class, grading or seminar open to your grade, as often as you like. Some seminars may require an additional fee.
For existing members, please note that the fees below apply from 1 June 2020. For more details see our members-only page here.
| Adults (graded) | Membership is by annual fee of $650, or $325 if unwaged or a student. Annual fees are to end March and must be paid by end June. The annual fee is pro-rated if you start part way through the year.
Your annual fee can be paid in monthly instalments, by automatic payment only: $60 per month, or $30 if unwaged or a student |
| Juniors | Aiki Kids and Aiki Teens $80 per school term. The same rate applies to youths in the adult (graded) stream, while still attending school. |
| Family | A 10% discount applies where there is more than one member (junior or full adult) from the same immediate family. It does not apply when a member is using the adult beginners package or are unwaged or a student. |
Your fees cover rentals for our dojos plus equipment costs: our instructors give their time freely.
Our bank account number is 03 0502 0283 995 00
At City Dojo we offer a fun, educative and popular Aiki Kids class for children. Learn a non-aggressive self-defence, and improve your co-ordination, fitness and confidence.
Students can be aged from 8 to 12. Sometimes we start students younger, at the teacher’s discretion, safety being our primary concern. Elder children can graduate to our Aiki Teens classes.
Or Aiki Kids class is held at 5:30 to 6:30pm every Monday during school terms. Parents are invited to join in to both help the kids and learn some aikido themselves. Our Aiki Kids Manual describes our syllabus and more.
For more information contact the our Aiki Kids teacher Jason on jayf.t@xtra.co.nz, or just turn up and ask.
The first three lessons are free so join in and see if you like it. Then, the cost is $80 per term. There is also a 10% family discount for two or more club members (whatever age).
Our school terms timings are:
| 2020 | First class - week beginning | Last class - week ending |
|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | 3 February | 27 March |
| Term 2 | 15 April | 3 July |
| Term 3 | 20 July | 25 September |
| Term 4 | 12 October | 18 December |
Here’s an interesting article Riai Aikido – A gentle art for kids from our Auckland dojo.
Come and join us!
At City Dojo we offer a fun, educative and popular Aiki Teens aikido classes for elder children. Learn a non-aggressive self-defence, and improve your co-ordination, fitness and confidence.
Students can be aged from 13 to 17. Sometimes we start students younger, at the teacher’s discretion, safety being our primary concern. Elder children can graduate to our adults classes.
Or Aiki Teens class is held at 5:30 to 6:30pm every Wednesday during school terms. Parents are invited to join in to both help their children and learn some aikido themselves.
For more information contact our Aiki Teens teacher Victor on 021 959 068 or victor@aikido.org.nz, or just turn up and ask.
The first three lessons are free so join in and see if you like it. Then, the cost is $80 per term. There is also a 10% family discount for two or more club members (whatever age).
Our school terms timings are:
| 2020 | First class - week beginning | Last class - week ending |
|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | 3 February | 27 March |
| Term 2 | 15 April | 3 July |
| Term 3 | 20 July | 25 September |
| Term 4 | 12 October | 18 December |
Come and join us!
Visiting aikido from all aikido styles and clubs are welcome. We have changing rooms in the dojo, and if you’re travelling without your gi we have loan gis too.
No charge for occasional visits, but if you’d like to come more regularly we’d appreciate a $10 mat fee per class.
Apologies our map isn’t displaying at the moment – in the meantime try this. Our dojo entrance is at the south-east corner of the building, the corner you turn around to get to Animates pet shop.
Please contact us using the form below, phone our Dojo Cho Conrad on 021 843 467, or just turn up and say hi.
Conrad has been practising aikido for 27 years and is dojo cho of Riai Aikido Wellington City. He loves everything about aikido, but especially the ‘neuroscience’ of aikido. That is, how to take an attacker’s centre without engaging your muscles, or theirs – to operate below the radar of their consciousness.
Victor is passionate to explore the dynamic relationships in aikido producing effective yet flowing techniques.
Riai Aikido Wellington hosting the 35th Riai Aikido Friendship Festival with Nadeau shihan at City dojo, October 2016