In 1960, a vivacious young Japanese woman joined the old Aikikai Hombu Dojo and fell under the spell of the charismatic Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. Mariye (Yano) Takahashi gradually became a confidant of the...
Archive - August 2002
Josh GoldInterview with Minoru Inaba
It was one of Master Ueshiba's suggestions that aikido not have competitive matches. One explanation is that we don't want to make a champion or "number one" person. It's more important that individuals reach...
Interview with Robert Kubo
Tohei Sensei first came to Hawaii in 1953 under the auspices of the Nishi Kai health group. His first classes took place on the lawn of a teahouse and it was from these roots that aikido first grew outside Japan. When...
Interview with Moriteru Ueshiba by Stanley Pranin (Part 2)
Originally Published Fall/Winter 1999 During the 1970s there were a number of people who left the Aikikai organization for various reasons, but who have later wanted to come back and have been allowed to do so. It seems...
Kenji Tomiki: “The Second Jigoro Kano”
Among the many distinguished disciples of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido, Kenji Tomiki stands out for his intellectual stature and skill in articulating the historical and ethical rationale of the art. Whereas...
Morihei Ueshiba and Onisaburo Deguchi
If Sokaku Takeda can be said to have provided the technical basis for the later development of Aikido techniques, it was Onisaburo Deguchi who offered the key spiritual insights which struck a responsive chord in the...
When is Aikido Not Aikido?
Arguments about the “martial effectiveness” of aikido are a popular feature of Internet bulletin boards. Unfortunately, many posts show an abysmal ignorance of the premises on which the art was founded by...
Kata Training and Aikido
Non-aikidoka are often confused when I talk about kata in aikido—“You mean like what they do in karate?” Even most aikidoka are aware of kata only as a term referring to form as opposed to application...
Everything in Black and White
Our dojo scored a world-first the other day when two high-ranking Japanese senseis conducted a class wearing ordinary street clothes, while all the students wore dogi and hakama!
Has Aikido Journal Lost its Focus?
We recently received a letter from a gentleman in Argentina. The writer expresses the view that Aikido Journal has abandoned aikido as its main focus while making a number of other rather strong assertions. Since I have...