“I would hear a piping voice say, ‘It’s old Grandfather Ueshiba here, is young Shioda there?'” It is somewhat embarrassing, after thirty years of aikido, not to have anything truly profound to offer...
Archive - 2012
An Aikido Life, by Gozo Shioda: Part I
From Aiki News #72 (September 1986) Gozo Shioda began his aikido training under Morihei Ueshiba in 1932, enrolling as an uchideshi. After serving in various administrative positions during the Second World War, Shioda...
Interview with Yoshimitsu Yamada by Stanley Pranin
Interview Conducted by Stanley Pranin, Winter 1992 Editor: You were one of the earlier uchideshi at the Aikikai. What year did you start? When I joined as an uchideshi only Tamura Sensei and Arikawa Sensei were there...
Interview with Hiroshi Tada, 9th dan, by Stanley Pranin
From Aikido Journal #101 (1994) AJ: Sensei, I understand that you began aikido after entering Waseda University? Tada Sensei: Yes, but because of the war I was unable to enroll in the dojo until March of 1950. I also...
“The Martial Artist on Stage,” by David Lynch
“Aikido demonstrations should have a clear purpose; they should be educational; they should reflect the actual daily training of a dojo; they should not be merely for entertainment or the promotion of a school...
Touching the Absolute: Aikido vs. Religion and Philosophy (1), by Peter Goldsbury
Part One: The Footsteps of the Master… The title of this essay has been chosen mainly for aesthetic reasons and does not really give an accurate indication of the contents. I propose to consider aikido in opposition to...
“Whose Aikido Are You Practicing?” by Stanley Pranin
Today’s world of aikido bears the stamp of Second Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba more than any other person. There is no other figure who is more influential, not even the Founder Morihei Ueshiba himself. I realize...
Aikido Training in Las Vegas: “Aikido and an Empty Mind,” by Paul Barrett
I’ve been doing various martial arts for well over 35 years and concentrating on aikido for about 20. I found aikido while searching for a martial arts style that was ubiquitous enough that I could easily slip from one...
Historical photo: “Morihei Ueshiba’s remarkable physical development,” by Stanley Pranin
This is quite an interesting photo taken in the early 1960s at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo which would put the Founder in his late 70s. O-Sensei’s body development was quite remarkable, and the Founder took pride in...
Stanley Pranin’s Autobiography: Koichi Tohei and Training in Japan, Part II
This article is the second in a series of four autobiographical articles by Aiki News Editor-in-chief Stanley Pranin and was first published in 1990 in Wushu, a Japanese-language magazine dealing with Chinese martial...