What is Banyu Hatten Aikido Yuishinkai and how does it differ from other styles?
Banyu Hatten Aikido is an organisation started in the late 1980's under the guidance of Geoff Flather Sensei (7th Dan). Flather Sensei has been practising martial arts for over 50 years achieving various ranks in a number of arts, he began his own Aikido organisation after being encouraged by his teacher to do so and the result was BHA.
BHA has its headquarters in Exeter, Devon and has various clubs all over the UK of which the Imperial College club is one.
BHA has its own unique syllabus and style of practice, it utilises the principles of Ki training developed by Koichi Tohei Sensei (10th Dan) which were derived in part from Tohei Sensei's observations of the founder of Aikido (Morihei Ueshiba, Tohei's teacher), and how he was able to do many of the incredible techniques he could because he was always very calm and relaxed. BHA also has a strong weapons tradition, deriving from the traditional weapons systems contained within the art of Aikido and also from Flather Sensei's own study BHA aims to teach in a progressive manner, learned entirely at the students own pace, regardless of size, strength, gender or disability. Recently in 2006 BHA has joined Yuishinkai International and it has become BHAY. With Maruyama Sensei (10th Dan) as the head of the organisation.

How does the belt system work?
The order of belts in BHA is:
7th Kyu - White Belt (the rank held by all beginners) 6th Kyu - White Belt with yellow stripe
5th Kyu - Yellow Belt
4th Kyu - Orange Belt
3rd Kyu - Green Belt (Senior (Kyu) Grade)
2nd Kyu - Blue Belt
1st Kyu - Brown Belt
1st Dan - Black Belt
2nd Dan - Black Belt
3rd Dan, etc....

The time between belts varies greatly and depends on how often you train.

Where do you Train?
The Sherman Lounge, Wilson House Rec Centre, St. Mary's Campus, Paddington.

Why are you all the way out in Paddington?
In 2005 the union decided to build a dojo for all its martial arts clubs that require mats. The Sherman lounge in Paddington had aleready been used by many martial arts and being close to one of the 1st year student halls it was chosen to become the new dojo for martial arts using mats.For students based in South Ken, the club will be happy to meet people at South Ken and show them the way, just email the club (imperialaikido@yahoo.co.uk) and let us know you want help with getting here and we'll arrange something.

How much does it cost?
Sessions cost £5 for two hours (£6 for non-students)

When do you Train?
First term time session is Wednesday the 6th of October and sessions are held Monday and Wednesday from 19:30 to 21:30.

What should I wear? Will I need a special training suit?
Wear loose fitting clothing, socks or bare feet, no watches jewellery etc. We do wear special training suits (gi) but these can be purchased as and when you feel you want to do so, we won't ask you to buy one.