Aikido Institute of San Francisco

Boom! Slam! I love this place, using people’s force against them. As a martial arts practicioner it is pretty fun to practice Aikido here I highly recommend any serious people to try it out!

I feel very lucky to have found the Aikido Institute of San Francisco. It is a very fine dojo.
I prefer this dojo over other Aikido dojos because the training is vigorous, martial and at a high level of standard. Nomura Sensei, the dojo founder is a Shihan (master instructor). I know I am receiving excellent instruction.
This dojo has a pretty traditional style of training and etiquette in the Japanese martial sense. The dojo is family oriented. There is a kid’s class. It has a good sense of community. The teachers are excellent. They care about your training and push you to do your best. The students are cool. We work together to learn and develop. The schedule of classes is good, good number of classes to take. The location of the dojo is close to public transportation and commerce. It’s easy to get to.
I would give this dojo a 5 in a heartbeat but it does have some cons:
— Dojo is on a very loud and busy boulevard type street.
— Sometimes it can be difficult finding parking depending on time and day.
— Dojo can be very cold inside during colder months due to weather in the area being foggy/​cold.
— Dojo size is small-​ish and narrow in space.

Family-​oriented dojo with extremely reasonable rates.
Nomura Sensei and Rob Sensei are the best martial arts mentors. They are practical and no-​nonsense.
The atmosphere is fun and friendly with a seasoning of seriousness that is to be expected in martial arts training.

This place is traditional style of teaching. For example, there are no competitions, and students have to clean the mat after practices. The classes are really simple: Teacher shows a technique and you copy. You pretty much learn at your own pace, but the teachers will always push you to do better.
pros:
Everyone at the dojo is really friendly, and the senior students are really helpful towards beginners.
The first couple days are kind of slow since they separate you from the rest of the class to learn how to fall and simple techniques. But after that, you can train with anyone.
I really enjoy the fact that classes are not divided by rank, everyone trains with everyone. I always like to train with people who are higher rank than me, especially black belts, since i get the a more intense training session.
It may be hard to do the technique at first, especially when the person your training with is stronger, but with practice it becomes easier.
Cons:
The biggest issue for me is that the dojo is kind of narrow, you have to be mindful about where you throw other people.
Classes are at night, around 6:30 with the exception of the weekends. so i can be difficult to come often if you work nights

The members and teachers here are so nice and cordial but at the same time the atmosphere still keeps a very «martial edge» feeling to it. Especially the training. This is NOT the «slow motion» Aikido you may be used to seeing. The training here stresses martial awareness and can work for just about anyone whether you have had any martial arts experience or not. When I first walked into this dojo I was greeted by an assistant instructor to watch the class and eventually the chief instructor came and talked to me a little during class as well. She gave me all the information I needed to sign up. Classes are taught in a traditional japanese style where the instructors show technique and students attempt to copy. This is an excellent martial arts school that has even trained police officers!
I highly recommend it for anyone that wants to learn self defense as well as a martial discipline.