One of the three pillars of Sanshinkai Aikido is the hojo no kata, along with aikido and genkikai. This kata is part of the 500-year-old traditional Japanese school of sword fighting, called Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu. Sander took and passed his exam for this kata in Japan. He now holds the title of mokuroku-den. We congratulate him wholeheartedly.
He did this at Hyakuren-kai, which preserves and passes on the main lineage tradition. While there are many differences between the hojo no kata and the version often practiced in Europe, the aspects associated with Sanshinkai Aikido are the same.
Sander has been attending Hyakuren-kai for over twenty years and has further immersed himself in Jikishinkage-ryu by also learning the to no kata and kodachi no kata. In 2024, he was appointed representative of Hyakuren-kai in the Netherlands. This makes Sanshinkai Aikido Utrecht directly linked to one of the few ancient Japanese swordsmanship schools still in existence today.