The following interview was published in the Swedish publication Iwama Ryu News in 1998 and is posted here with the kind permission of Joran Fagerlund. Few people know as much about aikido history as Stanley Pranin...
Archive - August 2002
Josh GoldInterview with Tetsuro Nariyama
Born 1947 in Yamagata Prefecture. Entered Kokushikan University in 1966. Met Kenji Tomiki there. After graduation, he devoted himself to aikido training under Tomiki and Hirokazu Kobayashi. Now teaches in the budo...
Interview with Mariye Takahashi Part 2
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...
Interview 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 Thomas Makiyama Part One
Thomas Makiyama started budo at the age of 18 in January 1947 after enlisting in the U.S. Army. He went to Japan from his home state of Hawaii immediately after basic training and was stationed in Yokohama, where he was...
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 Masaki Tani
The following interview was conducted at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo in 2000.
Interview with Hiroshi Isoyama by Stanley Pranin
Hiroshi Isoyama entered the Iwama Dojo of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba as a boy of 12. He is one of a few rare individuals—another being Morihiro Saito—to have been exposed to the founder during the period of...
My Career in Yanagi-ryu Aiki Jujutsu
We are sad to learn of the passing of Don Angier Sensei early this morning, October 9, 2014. I had an opportunity to meet Don on several occasions where we were able to talk at length about his extraordinary martial...
Interview with Kyoichi Inoue (2)
Kyoichi Inoue is the chief instructor of the Yoshinkan Aikido Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. Inoue was one of the early instructors in the Yoshinkan system having initiated his training in 1955. In this interview, Inoue Dojo-cho...