The Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, through its members, transmits and promotes Aikido, the martial art created by O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. Aikido is not just a martial art; it is also a spiritual Path, which helps those who follow it to grow.

But Aikido is not the only Path to follow in order for people to grow; there are other ones too, not necessarily in the field of martial arts. Most certainly though, there is a suitable Path for everyone and there is need only for aspiration towards progress so that it can be searched and found.

Because in aikido we try to transmit the fundamental moral values together with the technique, the leadership of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation decided to award three kinds of distinctions to those people who make a difference in what they do day by day, whether they are members of this organization or not.

The first kind of distinction, addressed only to members of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, is the Diploma for Lifetime Achievement. So far, this distinction has been awarded only once, to Viorel Dan Sensei, dojo-cho of Bucharest Rakuten Dojo.

The second kind of distinction – the one of the Honorary Member of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, is awarded to Aikido practitioners who have outstanding achievements, regardless of their affiliation, as well as to those who donot practice Aikido, but have outstanding achievements in their field of activity. So far, this distinction has been awarded to seven people: Fujita Masatake Sensei - Aikikai Hombu Shihan, Technical Director of the R. A. A. F. and also Mentor of the organization, Fukakusa Motohiro Sensei - Aikikai Shihan and President of Aikikai Thailand, Yamada Jun - Aikikai Shihan and President of Aikikai Malaysia, Fujii Koichi Sensei - Aikikai Shihan and Technical Director of Aikikai Hokkaido, Agostino Pagano Sensei – Master of Aikikai Italy and a great friend of the R. A. A. F., Igor Shmygin Sensei - President of Aikikai Ukraine and a very good friend of the R. A. A. F. and Master Dan Puric - actor, writer, director, man of culture and laureat of the annual award of the R. A. A. F.

The third kind of distinction is the Annual Award of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, given to those personalities who have outstanding achievements in their field of activity and do inspire those around them, thus contributing in an essential way to what we call the revival of our national, European and universal spirit. This distinction was awarded for the first time in 2010 to Master Dan Puric and this also conferred him the quality of Honorary Member in the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation.

All the distinctions mentioned above are absolutely honorary and they are awarded by the decision of the leadership of the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation. These distinctions can be accepted or not by the nominees. The acceptance of these awards does not involve any obligations towards the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation as they are only the proof of our apreciation towards these persons we consider to be all-important. There are
critically opinions in what considers this initiative and one of them I really think it is worth beeing mentioned about: it has been said that awarding these distinctions to personalities who are better-known to the public than our foundation, we actually try to take advantage of their notoriety and, at the same time, we emphasize the lack of public impact of our own organization. Although I have rejected this idea at first, after further investigation I was almost to agree this point of view. There was this simple fact that prevented me from sharing it: the impact that we look for aims at members of our organization; they are the ones we want to be inspired by these personalities, these paradigms in their field of activity and/or in practicing Aikido. If amongst those who follow the activity of R. A. A. F. there are people who appreciate what we are doing, the better.

After this long introduction which is meant to present the distinctions awarded by the R. A. A. F. and the filosophy these awards are built upon, it makes me a great pleasure to announce that the Annual Award for 2011 is given by the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation to a business personality, with a most impressive contribution to promoting the Romanian intelligence, not only in our country, but also all around the world. I cannot reveal the laureate’s name as this privilege belongs to the website of R. A. A. F., but I can say that this distinction will be awarded during the seminary from Cluj, when Kobayashi Yukimitsu Shihan has been invited to come. We hope to hear a motivational speech from the laureate of 2011!

I am also pleased to let you know that this year the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation decided to nominate three great personalities in Aikido for the distinction of Honorary Members, as these persons have the privilege to be called pioneers in Aikido in Romania. Again, I shall not reveal their names, but for those who are familiar to the history of Aikido in Romania, there is no great mistery. The posts can be found on www.aikikai.ro, the official website of the Foundation. Through these awards, which we hope that are going to be accepted by these personalities, we wish to convey our message of appreciation to these people and their work, we try to build or mentain relations as cordial, all in the spirit of Aikido, as it has been created by O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba.

Adrian Bunea