Founded in 1967, Kenji Tomiki built a Shodokan dojo in Osaka, Japan. Shodokan Aikido is a competitive branch of Aikido that places emphasis on free form sparring (randori) and competition (shiai), as well as the practice of formal technique (kata) and competitive demonstration of kata (embu). There are regular competitions held in this country and internationally. 

Competition is not the sole focus of the club. However, everybody is welcome to come and train with us, and there is no pressure to compete. With its focus on responding to an attacker, rather than being the attacker, Aikido is a great martial art to learn for self defence, especially the Shodokan style. It's also great if you want to do martial arts for fitness. Full participation is possible at a wide variety of fitness levels, but it's always possible to push yourself to move a little faster and more precisely, meaning there's plenty of opportunity to build up a sweat.