Stephen Colville Sensei
He started his Martial Arts training when he was 15 years old, in an old railway hut, in Ayr, Scotland. Along with Judo and Karate he saw Aikido for the first time. Aikido fascinated him with its circular movements. It became his main focus and has continued to do so after all these years. The local Aikido teacher was Sensei James Moffat . He studied at the Ayr Dojo until he joined the Royal Navy in 1976. On returning home after 5 years in the Royal Navy, he started his own Aikido Dojo. He received his Shodan (1st Dan), in 1984 from a group called Nippon Dai Budo Kan. Due to a conflict of interests, he left this group to further develop his Aikido, eventually joining Sensei Peter Wilson in Glasgow. It was after a couple of years that he was introduced to Iwama Aikido by Sensei Gerry Hinton. In 1990 he tested for his Shodan in Iwama Ryu with Tomita Sensei, who was Saito Sensei’s representative in Europe until 1992. In 1993 he visited Iwama, Japan for the first time, there he tested for his Nidan (2nd Dan) directly under Morihro Saito Sensei. He returned to Iwama and Saito Sensei in 1997 and tested for his Sandan (3rd Dan) and in 2001 he returned again and on this occasion, he tested for his Yondan (4th Dan).
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In the intervening years he travelled to America and a great deal throughout Europe, training at seminars with Morihro Saito Sensei, Hitohiro Saito Sensei, Paolo Corallini Sensei and Daniel Toutain Sensei, over the years he has had the privilege to developed a friendship with these Sensei’s, that ensues to this day.
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During this time, he invited various teachers to Scotland, Daniel Toutain Sensei, Paolo Corallini Sensei, Miles Kessler Sensei and Stephanie Yap Sensei. Thus, allowing his students to experience a variety of different teaching methods.
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He had known Sensei Toutain since 1995 and they had become good friends. After the death of Morihiro Saito Sensei in 2002, he was looking for an aikido teacher that he could follow. Knowing Sensei Toutain was always studying and experimenting with his training in aikido, He was the obvious choice so in 2003 he asked Sensei Toutain if he would except him as one of his students which he agreed to. He then spent the next 12 years following Sensei Toutain, going to summer camps and Uchi Deshi camps in Rennes, France and Aywaille in Belgium. In 2008 he received his Godan (5th Dan) and then in 2015, he received his Rokudan (6th Dan) both from the FAA under Daniel Toutain Sensei.
Kamawan Kai
Kamawan Kai has come about after many years of diligent training, studying and looking for answers to the many questions that had arisen for me. I now believe that all the techniques of aikido, we study and learn, are to teach us how to move, in a real-life situation.
‘O’ Sensei, once said that aikido was like the universe, the principles of the universe never change, but the universe is constantly changing. I feel that aikido has become stagnant, in the beginning we must follow our teacher’s guidance and try to learn the principles of this wonderful art. Our teachers must also give us the chance to explore and experiment with these techniques, to stop us from becoming clones. We are all individual, with different thoughts, heights, size and sex, so its impossible to be like our teachers. The principles of aikido should never change, but aikido on a personal level, should be constantly changing as our understanding changes. As I have already said, I feel some teachers stifle a student’s individuality, the principles are very important, but a student should be allowed the freedom to experiment and explore these techniques.
To this purpose, I have decided to change the way and what I teach, it will still be based on the Iwama principles with an emphasis on body movement and that allows to move into the modern world. So that there is no conflict of interest with anyone, about what I am doing, I have decided to call this new way Kamawan Kai. This name has many meanings, it’s alright, don’t worry, it doesn’t matter or even we don’t mind. All of these meanings are at the core of Kamawan Kai. If you make a mistake or you can’t make training, “it doesn’t matter” “ don’t worry” “ it’s alright”. We don’t mind, Not everyone will understand our journey, that’s fine, its not their journey to make sense of, its ours.
I look forward to meeting you on the mat and seeing your development with this new way.