Kyokan Dojo of Bacolod, located in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines, is a relatively young dojo. It gained formal recognition as an Aikido dojo in the year 2000 but has been a home practice area for about two years prior to that. Later, it started accepting young children and adults willing to learn the art Aikido. Formal Aikido sessions were then rendered to the said participants/ applicants.

Kyokan Dojo is under the instruction and guidance of two yudanshas --- Stella Fuentes Sensei and her brother, Noel " Nonong" Fuentes Sensei.

Kyokan means, "the ability to relate to others, to see clearly from their perspective." Thus, this dojo's mission is to practice the art of Aikido to help its practitioners open up or widen their perspective and understand other people's point of view.

Kyokan hopes to achieve this by forging young, patient, sincere, and upright individuals through the practice of Aikido. Through the principles of Aikido, the students can relate to real life situations and deal with them in a calm, competent, and peaceful manner.

Most of all, Kyokan hopes to "practice the Art of Peace in a vibrant and joyful manner," as what the founder himself had said.


INSTRUCTORS:

- Noel Fuentes Sensei (Sensei Nonong) - Nidan
- Stella Fuentes Sensei (Sensei Stella) - Nidan

AFFILIATION:
- Aikikai Hombu Aikido
- Aikido Alliance of the Philippines

ANNUAL ACTIVITIES:
- Regular Aikido trainings - View SCHEDULE / VENUE
- Join scheduled seminars
- Interclub Aikido sessions / Fellowships
- Family day / Thanksgiving
- Summer Aikido program (Children & Youth)
- Christmas party / Pot-luck party
- Aikido demonstrations

HOW IT ALL STARTED (Our History)

At first there was no dojo.

We just needed a place to practice aikido soon after we decided to come home to Bacolod. At that time, there were only two other existing dojos located here. They were very warm and welcoming, and open to our attending their classes, but they did not meet our practice needs fully. We needed to practice with our own curriculum and with our own vision. We needed mats, but we had no money to buy them…so we started out with one rubber mat, the ones that line the cracked floor under the foam mats you use today…

We practiced at the back of the house near the kitchens trying to make perfect rolls so they wouldn’t hurt so much. (** If you want to have good rolls, I still suggest you practice on harder surfaces. You’ll know for sure if you’ve done a good one or made a bad one by the pain you get upon landing).

Sammy (Mr. Samuel Fuentes) joined us when he had the time. He brought Mikee and Rap-rap (Sammy's sons) along. Di was there too. Soon, Patricia Zuñiga, residing beside the dojo, was looking over the wall to see what was going on, also joined up.

As more and more people kept signing up, the need for a bigger and better mat space and materials had to be met.

Mamang (Our senseis beloved mother) lent us the start up money to buy the mats we needed to fill up the present practice area we have now. But we had to pay her back as soon as we had our own money. The only way to pay her back was to have some sort of monthly mat fee. But we also didn’t want to discourage interested parties because of mat fees. So we devised a plan that students pay minimal fees, only to maintain the mats and for electricity. Instruction was for free since we liked aikido practice all the time anyway. One of our teachers in Manila commented that we shouldn’t be teaching for free, but we believed that if we built a good dojo based on good instruction, it will take care of itself. So, we put out a one time only public flyer advertisement somewhere and a few responded. Among our first students were Sammy, Rap-rap, Mikee, Jason, and some others who have since moved on to other things but still check in every once in a while…

From there, word of mouth from student to student increased dojo attendance and population. There were now the records of attendances and promotions to document accompanied by the headache of records keeping…

Your being here today, most probably came about because you heard from someone who attended aikido here to try it or to observe a class. Perhaps you’ve heard of it from another dojo….

It is important to consider how we have maintained happy and healthy relationships with other dojos everywhere. We are not better off or worse off than them. We experience the same things; and go through the same cycles.

These relationships are built on and based on respect and a sincere intention to share knowledge or opportunities.

In reference to other aikido dojos here in the Philippines, we consider ourselves newbies. I think it is a healthy way of always maintaining an open and sincere attitude, so we never get too big for our belts. There will always be something to learn from and appreciate from everyone you meet inside or outside Kyokan. Keep an open mind and a willingness to learn, we are ALWAYS starting over.
Kyokan Dojo of Bacolod - Kyokan Info