Buildout week 1

We were busy this week!

We purchased a ton of lumber to build two changing rooms, one office, and one storage closet. We also picked up several sheets of drywall, a bucket of nails, screws, and flooring for the parts of the dojo not covered by mats.

We purchased a moisture barrier to place between the bare concrete floor and the mats, along with padding foam. A monkey wrench was thrown our way when we discovered that the mats I purchased a year ago didn’t quite match the ones we inherited from Aikido of Harvard. Fortunately, a 1/4” plywood board is all we need to ensure the mats sit flush against each other.

After a week of work, we’ve raised the frames for the two changing rooms, the office, and the storage closet. We’ve also hung enough drywall to make the changing rooms usable. We’re aiming to hold informal class in our new space tomorrow evening!

Things left to do:
• Hang the remaining drywall on the outside of the changing rooms and office

• Install the flooring

• Lay the moisture barrier, plywood (where needed), padding, and mats

• Build the L-shaped wooden brace to keep the mats from shifting

Please enjoy the pictures of our space and wish us luck. We are going to need it!

Beginnings are difficult

June 2025 • Written by Erwin Lares

If you’ve been following my efforts to bring Aikido to the Janesville area, you probably know that our attempt to launch the dojo in October 2024 was, unfortunately, a complete flop.

To this day, I’m not entirely sure why the Rock County Historical Society backed out of our collaboration and canceled the project just two weeks before it was set to begin. I was never given a satisfactory explanation—and at this point, I think it’s pointless to keep looking for one.

I can’t overstate how demoralizing that was. I spent most of 2024 setting things up properly: I registered the dojo as a legal entity in Wisconsin, established it as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, purchased mats, and handled countless other preparations.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. At the end of January this year, the Capital Aikido Federation expressed interest in helping me get the dojo off the ground. That renewed hope led to a fresh search for a space, along with new business plans and proposals.

I’m happy to share that this week, we signed a lease for a beautiful open space that will become our dojo’s new home. It’s just a few minutes off the Highway 26 interstate exit. The space has high ceilings, plenty of room—and no columns!

We're planning to document the process of turning an empty space into the home of the dojo, so stay tuned.

Our first unoffical class

August 2024 • Written by Erwin Lares

A couple of weeks ago, I got access to the facility that will become our dojo come October 16th. Yup, hard to believe but we have an official day to open the doors of Capital Aikikai of Wisconsin.

I feel very grateful for the Wolfs (Wolves?) who came to help me all the way from Harvard and Scott Johnson from Aikido of Edgerton. They all generously volunteered their time to help me figure out how to best utilize the space.

We found the layout that works for the space. (It's tiny!) We managed to fit 14 tatami on the north side of the building. I think it would comfortably accommodate half a dozen people, which is incredibly optimistic. If more people join, we might have to also use the central portion of the room to accommodate the additional bodies.

Humble Beginnings

Here’s the crew proudly staring at the 14-tatami configuration

After cleaning the mats for the first time, we had a short class where we practice some kihon waza. At the very end gave tried ukemi for koshinage a try. We have a long way to go!

First trip to Japan

September 2024 • Written by Erwin Lares

I have been fortunate to train under a instructor who travels often. Leonard sensei has traveled to train in Japan ever since his own instructor, Akira Tohei sensei passed away in 1999. Over the years, Leonard sensei has forged a wonderful relationship with Funakoshi sensei in Yamagata.

This year I finally had the opportunity to join Leonard sensei on one of his trips. It’s hard to describe how transformational this trip has been for me. But’s here are some of the things that made this trip so memorable for me.

I had a superb group to travel with, all people who are accomplished aikidoists and whom I admire and follow. And I got to be their traveling partner! I had the rare opportunity to see how they conduct on and off the mat in a variety of circumstances. We trained, ate, and philosophize together for 2 weeks. I will treasure those memories forever.

I got to meet Funakoshi sensei, his family, and his students. I can honestly say I haven’t met more gracious hosts. Everyone went above and beyond with their efforts to make us feel welcome.

The training was arduous. I normally train twice a week. In Yamagata we did aikido four hours a day! Two hours in the morning and two in the evening. After the first class, Funakoshi sensei used Brandon and I exclusively as ukes as he demonstrated. I feel I learned so much in such a short period of time. The attention to technique and the change to train with so many highly-trained individuals pushed my aikido to its limits.

At the end of the first week, we traveled to Tokyo where Hombu Dojo, the aikido world headquarters are. The atmosphere was less familiar and casual. Everything felt very structured and organized with very little room to be spontaneous. I feel like that is to be expected; Hombu Dojo is, after all, the model dojo for what we all envisioned aikido to be. At Hombu Dojo I attended Waka sensei’s class. I also did Seki sensei’s, and Kobayashi sensei’s.