The name of our Vancouver West Aikikai Shodo group is Shishukai, which can be translated as ‘purple boat club,’ but which is also an acronym of the first names of our two main instructors, Shiko Kataoka Sensei and Ishu Ishiyama Sensei.

Of course, the image of the boat seems to be the 
perfect symbol for an art in which the cosmic
energy (or Ki) is the “current” that moves the
vehicle (or brush) across the surface of the water
(or paper), while purple, a combination or “union” of
red and blue seems to bring the opposites of fire
and water together in a hue that often is present   
in the sky at sunset and sunrise, i.e. during times
of transition, in which the opposites of night and day are balanced.

koginukete                         rowing through  
kasumi  no soto no             beyond the mist                
umi hiroshi                         the wide sea

          Haiku by Shiki Masaoka
          (1867 – 1902).

Umi, Kai - "Ocean"
otehon("template") by
Kataoka Sensei