Raffle Winner of the February 2014 Seki Seminar Is Revealed

Last February the three cooperating aikido federations — Aikido Philippines, FFA, and PAPA — ran a seminar for the entire Philippine aikido community. Shoji Seki Shihan, 7th dan, one of the premier teachers in the aikido world, flew in from Japan to lead the seminar.

For that event, the organizers introduced an innovation: an aikido-themed raffle. The prize consisted of an almost-new dogi and a brand-new tanto; and both items would go to just one winner. The rule was simple. Anyone who attended the seminar would be eligible to win the raffle, provided he or she participated in at least three of the six sessions of the seminar.

Dogi background

The prize dogi is described in the preceding paragraph as almost-new. Here is the background behind that characterization.

Every time we run a seminar, laundering the shihan's dogi is always a concern. Three training sessions typically make up each seminar day. The visiting shihan usually brings only two sets of dogi, owing to the weight and bulk of the garment. The shihan's sweaty dogi has to be immediately laundered after each class, so that it will be ready two sessions further on. The shihan uses his other (clean) dogi for the immediately following class. Thus the shihan uses his two dogi in leapfrog fashion.

This last February, someone at Hombu Dojo had a bright idea. Someone sent us word that Seki Shihan didn't want to lug a sweat-soaked gi in his suitcase on his homeward trip. So could the organizers please provide a dogi that Seki Shihan could use for his last session? Seki Shihan would use the dogi once, and then leave it in Manila.

So the organizers ordered up a brand-new gi for shihan's use. This, then, is the almost-new dogi that forms part of the raffle prize. The winner can take the view that the prize dogi takes on a special character and value by virtue of its provenance; if not, he can give it away to someone who takes that reverent view.

How the winner was selected

Each seminar participant was routinely assigned a unique number. Two hundred and one names were on the attendance listing, though of course not all had attended the requisite three classes or more.

The seminar organizers found a website that contained a random number generator. The organizers generated 10 random numbers between 1 and 201.

The first generated number produced a participant who had attended fewer than three sessions, and thus was not eligible to win. The second generated number produced a similarly impaired participant. The third generated number was that of a very senior instructor. Though she had attended all six sessions, delicadeza dictated that high-ranking instructors be excluded from participating in raffles. The fourth generated number belonged to a student who had attended four sessions; and we had a winner.

And so we congratulate the winner, Mr. Ares Alegre of Aikido Philippines. Please claim your prize from Atty. Rommel Miel.

The raffle prize for the Horii seminar (2014 April 24 - 25)

The Horii seminar on April 24-25 will again feature a raffle (Manila segment only). The winner gets a brand-new bokken. The rules are the same. Participants must have attended at least three sessions of the Manila segment to be eligible to win the raffle.