Organisational structure

General
The Dutch Aikikai Foundation has its headquarters in Amsterdam and is that part of the Dutch Aikikai which is directly linked to the Aikikai Foundation in Tokyo, Japan, the international centre of Aikido where highest authority is the Doshu, Moriteru Ueshiba.

 The Guild
The Dutch Aikikai Foundation is a guild of professional and semi-professional people, with the Technical Director, Wilko Vriesman, at its head. The Guild ensures that the quality of Aikikai Aikido in the Netherlands has a constant and uniform standard. The Guild members are expected take a substantial interest in, and encourage and help the development of, aikidoka’s, and to stimulate the development of the organisation as regards Aikikai Aikido, both as a martial art as well as its applications in different areas of society.

Technical Director
The Technical Director is responsible for the general technical development of the Dutch Aikikai Foundation. He maintains national and international ties with other Aikikai organisations as well as with the direct students of Yamaguchi Sensei, Christian Tissier Sensei and Endo Sensei.

The Technical Director of the Dutch Aikikai Foundation is Wilko Vriesman. He holds a degree in Human Movement Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He started practising Aikido in 1982. After two periods of prolonged and intensive training at the Hombu Dojo in 1990 and 1991, Yamaguchi Sensei advised him to become a deshi of Christian Tissier. He was Christan Tissier’s deshi during the period between 1992 and 1997. In 1997, he was appointed within the framework  of the NCAF asTechnical Representative for  the Netherlands. He has been the Technical Director of the Dutch Aikikai Foundation since 2001, and  became the technical director of the Aikikai of  Slovenia and the Aikikai of Dubai since 2004.