AAI-POLAND

The organisation was established in 1996 on the initiative and with the support of Fumio Toyoda shihan, President of the Aikido Association of America, who visited our country many times in the following years to teach aikido. It brings together clubs in Poland and abroad.

AAI-Poland is officially recognised by the Aikikai Foundation, Aikido World Headquarters Tokyo, Japan.

The President and Chief Instructor is Tomasz Krzyżanowski shihan 7 dan, assisted by experienced instructors with high master degrees. We regularly organise seminars, training camps both in Poland and abroad, as well as annual trips to the cradle of aikido in Japan. We host experienced instructors from Japan (including those from Hombu Dojo), Europe and America. AAI-Poland Aikido instructors are actively involved in the development of aikido both in Poland and beyond the borders of our beautiful country :).

Website: www.aai-polska.pl

POLISH AIKIDO ASSOCIATION "AIKIKAI POLSKA"

The Polish Aikido Association “Aikikai Polska” was founded in October 2004 by 36 clubs from across the country. The goal was to maintain contacts with Japanese teachers such as Katsuaki Asai, Yoji Fujimoto, Minoru Kanetsuka, and later Yukimitsu Kobayashi and Takeshi Kanazawa. Through these activities, the PSA gained direct contact with the Hombu Dojo. Currently, PSA President Piotr Borowski Shihan holds the rank of 7th dan Aikikai.

In 2013, by the initiative of Marcin de Noirmont, sensei Piotr Borowski, and the Polish Aikido Association “Aikikai Polska,” an aikido development project called AIKI MUNDUS was established in Kenya. The project aimed to impart knowledge from various areas of life. The Swiss organisation Sport Accord took an interest in this event, nominating it for the 2013 Spirit of Sport Award at its convention in St. Petersburg. PSA President Piotr Borowski was also nominated for an individual award. In 2022, EU Sport awarded the President of the Polish Aikido Association the #BeActive Local Hero award for promoting aikido worldwide.

The Polish Aikido Association has been involved in the technical development of aikido in various sections in Morocco for many years. It organises exchanges between PSA members and Moroccan sections and also supports instructor trips to Hombu Dojo.

Another important project was the initiation of cooperation with the Father M. Luther Evangelical Centre for Diaconate and Education Foundation School. The CEKiRON Wrocław Aikido Section was established for students of this school (young people with disabilities), with classes led by Sensei Jacek Olejarnik, Sensei Andrzej Ciewiertnia, and Sensei Krzysztof Kotuła.

The PSA ranks include instructors with high 4th and 5th dan ranks who actively teach children, youth, and adults. They also conduct internships in Poland and abroad.

The Association organises annual internships with Hombu Dojo shihans.

Website: www.aikido-polska.pl

ASSOCIATION AIKIKAI AIKIDO RYUSHINKAN POLAND

The Aikikai Aikido Ryushinkan Poland Association was founded in 2021 by Grzegorz Wojtaszewski and his closest students as a natural extension of their long-standing passion and practice of Aikido. The precursor of the idea was Shihan Hubert van Ravensberg, president of the Dutch association Aikido Aikikai Ryushinkan Nederland, whose vision and substantive guidance inspired the creation of an autonomous organization in Poland, focused on the pure transmission of Aikido in the Aikikai line. Shihan Hubert van Ravensberg has played a significant role in the development of Polish Aikido since 1989. He supported the Polish Aikido Federation and later the Polish Aikido Association, sharing his experience and advice. Among others, he assisted Shihan Minoru Kanetsuka during his training courses in Poland. It was he who introduced Polish practitioners to Shihan Kenzo Miyazawa, thus enriching the Aikido scene with new perspectives.

Grzegorz Wojtaszewski, acting as president, shaped the Association based on his own journey in Aikido, which began in 1996 and later evolved under the influence of the outstanding teacher Shihan Yoji Fujimoto, with whom he trained intensively in Milan, Laces, and during internships in Poland and abroad. After Shihan Yoji Fujimoto's death in 2012, his Dojo established close cooperation with the Dutch Ryushinkan in 2014, which ensured the continuity of teaching and technical supervision by Shihan Hubert van Ravensberg.

The origins of the Association are deeply rooted in the history of Ei Mei Dojo, founded by Grzegorz Wojtaszewski in 2000 in Nysa. In this Dojo, which was later expanded to include Paczków in 2021, a group of close students formed who, together with Grzegorz Wojtaszewski, initiated the Association, seeing the need for a formal structure to promote Aikido in Poland.

A milestone in the Association's development was the addition in February 2025 of Ryu Jin Dojo from Strzelce Opolskie, run continuously since 1997 by Mariusz Trabuć, who also remained under the tutelage of Shihan Hubert van Ravensberg. This event expanded the organization's reach, integrating new Dojos and strengthening the network of practitioners in the Opole region.

On October 1, 2025, the Aikikai Foundation certified that the Aikikai Aikido Ryushinkan Poland Association is an organization in Poland recognized by Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. This significant distinction highlighted the Association's long-standing passion and commitment to promoting Aikido.

Currently, the Association brings together Dojos in Nysa, Paczków, and Strzelce Opolskie, with highly ranked instructors, continuing its mission to promote Aikido in Poland and build bridges with European partners.

Website: www.ryushinkan.pl

BIRANKAI POLAND

Birankai Poland, as an association, is part of the international Birankai International network, founded by Master Kazuo Chiba, a direct student of the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba.

The history of Birankai Poland dates back to 1979, as the association is the successor of the first Aikido group in Wrocław. Its members included the founding members of the Polish Aikido Federation, who later went on to form Birankai Poland. The first president of Birankai Poland was Andrzej Sobolewski, who was also the first chairman of the board of the Polish Aikido Federation.

Since the mid-1980s, Daniel Brunner Shihan (7th Dan) from Switzerland has played an important role in the development of Aikido in Wrocław. Thanks to him, in 1997, the Aikido teachers from Wrocław met Kazuo Chiba Sensei, who outlined a new path for the development of Aikido in the capital of Lower Silesia.

Inspired by Chiba Sensei’s vision for the Birankai school, his Polish students founded the Birankai Poland Association in Wrocław in 2008. On March 1, 2010, the organization was officially recognized by Aikikai Hombu Dojo, the World Headquarters of Aikido in Tokyo.

Thanks to the work of such outstanding teachers, Birankai Poland boasts a highly advanced cadre: Piotr Masztalerz Shihan (6th Dan), Renata Bohdanowicz Shidoin (6th Dan), Jacek Kochaniec Shidoin (6th Dan), Edmund Kaszewski shidoin (4 dan),Mateusz Waga Shidoin (4th Dan), Zbigniew Dudzic (5th Dan), and Dariusz Machalski (5th Dan).

Training includes both Aikido techniques and weapons practice, which holds special significance in the Birankai school. An important element of practice in Birankai is Iaido training.

Birankai Poland brings together Aikido clubs, creating a coherent and supportive community.

Website: www.birankai.pl

AIKIDO AIKIKAI CENTER

The Aikikai Poland Aikido Centre was established in 1998. It is currently an aikido organisation that brings together clubs and instructors from across Poland and internationally. The Technical Director of CAA Poland is Sensei Roman Hoffmann, 7th Dan.
Dyrektorem Technicznym CAA Polska jest Sensei Roman Hoffmann 7 dan.

We are directly affiliated with Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, hosting annual Hombu Dojo shihan seminars. We see contact with the Aikido Headquarters in Tokyo as the most important guide for our training and a path to future development.

Our goal is to develop and promote aikido in Poland and abroad, supporting the development of clubs and affiliated instructors through structured training, ensuring a high level of competence and quality of training, and providing support to clubs both at the national and local levels.

CAA Poland is made up of people for whom Aikido is a passion, a way of life, a path of personal development, and a method of education that respects the most important human values.

Website: www.centrum-aikido.org.pl

POLISH AIKIDO FEDERATION

The Polish Aikido Federation (PFA), also known as Aikikai Polska, was officially founded on August 1, 1990, when the Provincial Court in Warsaw entered it into the register of associations under the number RSt7″B. Its establishment was a formal continuation of an earlier initiative of the same name, which had been unsuccessfully registered in the 1980s. The organisation was founded by five clubs from Warsaw, Wrocław, Zielona Góra, Nowy Sącz, and Opole. The first board consisted of Andrzej Sobolewski (president), Bogdan Rumas and Witold Kirmiel (vice presidents), Jerzy Pomianowski (secretary general), and Antoni Chełkowski (treasurer).

From its inception, the PFA maintained contacts with the World Aikido Centre in Tokyo (Aikikai Hombu Dojo) and the International Aikido Federation. On December 1, 1991, the Federation was officially recognised by the Aikikai Foundation, and a year later, during the 6th Congress of the International Aikido Federation in Taipei (September 30–October 4, 1992), the PFA was accepted into its ranks.

A significant moment in the history of the PFA was the General Assembly in 2002, which set the main directions of activities for the coming years and introduced the position of PFA President, responsible for representing the Federation to domestic and international institutions. In 2004, the PFA Technical Council was also established, responsible for training and examination matters, and overseeing the board’s decisions in these matters.

The activities of the Polish Aikido Federation are based on a long tradition, international contacts, and the commitment of its master instructors. It organises seminars and training internships with the most distinguished teachers from Japan and Europe, ensuring a high standard of teaching and continuous technical development. Its mission remains not only the development of aikido as a martial art, but also as a way of life consistent with the principles of budo.

Website: www.aikido.org.pl

POLISH AIKIDO UNION

The Polish Aikido Union located in Nowy Sącz is the continuation and culmination of a lasting 40-year cooperation between aikido clubs from southeastern Poland.

Aikido in Nowy Sącz was established on March 4, 1982, on the initiative of Marian Górka, who was the first instructor, and the dynamically developing aikido club in Nowy Sącz was one of the largest in Poland at that time. Over time, new clubs emerged: in Nowy Sącz, Marian Górka ran a club for students at ANS, Dariusz Łęczycki started the Gorlice Aikido Club in Gorlice, and in 1995, Magdalena and Dariusz Łęczycki founded the Aikido-Alton Club with branches in Nowy Sącz, Limanowa and Stary Sącz.

The Polish Aikido Union was established on February 27, 2010, in Nowy Sącz. The PAU’s founders were aikidokas from six cooperating clubs operating in Nowy Sącz, Limanowa, Gorlice, Jasło and Stary Sącz. From the beginning of its activity, the Polish Aikido Union has been closely cooperating with the Aikikai Foundation in Tokyo, the Scottish Aikido Federation (Shihan Matthew Holland 7 dan and, from 2023, Shidoin Alan McKay 6 dan) and other Polish organisations. On May 1, 2017, the Polish Aikido Union received official Hombu Recognition.

The aim of the Polish Aikido Union is to promote physical culture, in particular Aikido as an active, healthy and ethical way of life.

Currently, PZA conducts Aikido training in 10 affiliated clubs:

• Aikido-Alton Nowy Sącz Club (instructors: Magdalena Łęczycka 5 dan, Jacek Łęczycki 5 dan),
• Aikido-Alton Nowy Sącz Club (instructors: Magdalena Łęczycka 5 dan, Jacek Łęczycki 5 dan),
• Limanowa Aikido Association (instructor: Tadeusz Kordeczka 4 dan),
• Aikido Mszana Dolna Club (instructor: Tadeusz Kordeczka 4 dan),
• Aikido Gorlice Club (instructor: Rafał Wrona 3 dan),
• Aikido ANS Nowy Sącz Club (instructor: Marek Śledziński 3 dan),
• Aikido Podegrodzie Club (instructor: Grzegorz Bodziony 3 dan),
• Aikido Brzezna Club (instructor: Grzegorz Bodziony 3 dan),
• Aikido Chomranice Club (instructor: Grzegorz Bodziony 3rd dan),
• Bobowa Aikido Club (instructor: Adam Mierzwa 2 dan).

Website: www.aikido-pza.pl