Kagami biraki is a Japanese festival held in January to mark the start of the New Year. It's a time for opening the mirror of one's relationship with time... and breaking the komodaru, the sake barrel, as Morihiro Saito does here:

It was a cold January day in 1986 in Iwama, and Master Saito was filling for us - the uchi deshi - the bottles of sake that would warm us up for the coming festival, but he knew nothing of the events that would fill the new year for him. And no more than he did, at the time I took this photo, did I have any idea of what 1986 would bring for me of importance.

In southern Europe, Janus closes the door to the past and opens the door to the future every year. God of endings and god of beginnings, god of passage, god with two faces, one turned towards the missed opportunities of yesterday, the other towards the possibilities that tomorrow brings, the mistakes of the past never being a guarantee of the failures of the future.

In Japanese dojos, on the threshold of the approaching unknown, it is traditional to reflect on the achievements of the past year, and on the way in which the future sometimes emerges without warning from past events that we thought were too old. Everything is linked, the worst is no more certain than the best, and hope sustains life.

When TAI was born, it was a different organisation from what it has become. ITAF did not yet exist; it emerged later from TAI's womb in the same way as a child emerges from its mother's womb. The child grows up, acquires its independence. Nothing stays the same, everything changes, the mountain replaces the sea, and one day the plain replaces the mountain, one day the sea returns.

Today ITAF has a life of its own; it is an international organisation that brings together a number of countries around the teaching of Aikido based on the heritage of O Sensei, as passed on by Master Morihiro Saito. But ITAF owes its existence to the vision that TAI had when it was founded in 1992, more than thirty years ago.

TAI had to live its youth and grow up before ITAF could see the light of day. But ITAF also had to grow up to start bearing the fruit its roots were promising. That's all well and good, because time does not respect what is done without it. In no area should we be in too much of a hurry.

As for the men who have grown up within TAI, then ITAF, they have received - and also patiently conquered - a knowledge that has been passed on without too much alteration since the Founder of Aikido. They, in turn, pass on this knowledge in fidelity to its origins. They are the union, in the present, of the past and the future, a relay of the great Tradition.

In the dojos of Japan, this time of year is ritually the time of promotions, a time for recognising the progress made by individuals over the past year or years.

For this reason, I have decided today to make public the list of ITAF grades awarded at the start of 2024. I am publishing this list on the TAI website because ITAF is a daughter of TAI, and the success of children is a source of pride for parents.

Congratulations to all those whose names follow, because they have worked enthusiastically and consistently, sometimes for decades for the highest grades, in order to reach the level that is now theirs:

  • Mr Marc AIUB - 1st Dan - 13 May 2023 - Lebanon 1-031
  • Mr Joe NOUAIME - 1st Dan - 25 August 2023 - Lebanon 1-032
  • Mr Raymond NASSAR - 1st Dan - 25 August 2023 - Lebanon 1-033
  • Mr Victor NASR - 1st Dan - 08 November 2023 - Lebanon 1-034
  • Mr Mohamad M. HOTEIT - 1st Dan - 08 November 2023 - Lebanon 1-035
  • Mr Hassan ASSAF - 1st Dan - 08 November 2023 - Lebanon 1-036
  • Mr Serge TOOZE - 1st Dan - 14 December 2023 - France 1-037
  • Mr Sylvain RIOUX - 1st Dan - 01 October 2023 - Canada 1-038
  • Mr Mahdi HAYDAR - 2nd Dan - 15 February 2022Lebanon 2-022
  • Mr Kamal HUSSEIN - 2nd Dan - 12 May 2023 - Lebanon 2-023
  • Mr Elie SALEME - 2nd Dan - 21 January 2023 - Lebanon 2-024
  • Mr David SULABERIDZE - 2nd Dan - 02 December 2023 - Georgia 2-025
  • Mr Ramzi CHOUCAIR - 3rd - Dan - 25 August 2023 - Lebanon 3-018
  • Mr Mahdi HAYDAR - 3rd - Dan - 08 November 2023 - Lebanon 3-019
  • Mr Pavol SCHREINER - 3rd Dan - 14 December 2023 - England 3-020
  • Mr Dimitri ZVIADADZE - 3rd - Dan - 02 December 2023 - Georgia 3-021
  • Mr Bachir HJEIJ - 4th Dan - 21 January 2023 - Lebanon 4-009
  • Mr Missak OURFALIAN - 4th Dan - 21 January 2023 - Lebanon 4-010
  • Mr Toni CHIDIAC - 4th Dan - 21 January 2023 - Lebanon 4-011
  • Mr William KORBATLY - 4th Dan - 08 November 2023 - Lebanon 4-012
  • Mr Irakli KHANTADZE - 4th Dan - 02 December 2023 - Georgia 4-013
  • Mr Khalil HAJLAOUI - 5th Dan - 07 October 2023 - Canada 5-012
  • Mr Paata JAVAKHISHVILI - 5th Dan - 02 December 2023 - Georgia 5-013
  • Mr Jeff W. GOODWIN - 5th Dan - 14 December 2023 - England 5-014
  • Mr François M. CHIDIAC - 7th Dan - 14 December 2023 - Lebanon 7-003
  • Mr Marc VANBEGIN - 7th Dan - 14 December 2023 - Belgium - 7-004

In future, I will try to announce ITAF promotions in this way every January. I don't want those who have been promoted in previous years to be angry if their names don't appear today. Their names will be published when they reach their next grade.

I would like to finish by announcing the promotion to the rank of 8th dan TAI of Alain GRASON, who is both my sempai and my friend. He began studying Aikido in 1965, and his commitment to research has never lessened since. The TAI College awarded him this grade in recognition of his high technical skills and his contribution to the transmission of knowledge in Europe of the authentic Aikido of O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba.

Philippe Voarino, 11 January 2024