My first recollections are, at three-and-a-half years of age, of fighting for my breath because I had bronchial asthma. I was always the runt in grade school, because with my condition, I was much smaller than the other...
Archive - November 2002
Josh GoldProfile of a Shihan: Mitsunari Kanai, by Kazuo Chiba
They call him “Hambei,” but no one knows why. For many years one of his character traits has been to annoy people by appearing in unexpected places at unexpected moments. If I remember correctly, it was one...
Interview with Kisshomaru Ueshiba and Daitokan, Part 2 by Stanley Pranin
War with Russia broke out in February of 1904. Morihei was stationed in Manchuria, but the year and a half he spent there is shrouded in mystery. Despite vague references to a distinguished service record, it seems that...
Interview with Kisshomaru Ueshiba and Daitokan, Part 1 by Stanley Pranin
In Fukushima Prefecture, a bandit was terrorizing the populace, but despite their best efforts, the police failed to apprehend him. One morning the outlaw was discovered dead in the field with his neck nearly wrenched...
Interview with Yukiyoshi Sagawa by Stanley Pranin
Yukiyoshi Sagawa Sensei was born in Yubetsu, Hokkaido in 1902. He began formal study of Daito-ryu under Sokaku Takeda at age 11. He received an instructor’s license from Takeda in 1932. After that he traveled with...
Seigo Yamaguchi: In Memoriam
At the kagami-biraki ceremony this last New Year’s, you told me that my dedication demonstration seemed very natural, very myself and lacking in pretention. It was while this lovely comment was still vivid in my...
Interview with Kazuo Chiba, Part 2
In creating a path that advances personal development and harmony, aikido tends to reject the destructiveness and inhumanity that are essential aspects of most martial arts. But inherent in this rejection is the danger...
Interview with Mitsugi Saotome, Part 1
Mitsugi Saotome Shihan is well-known in the United States as the founder of the Aikido Schools of Ueshiba. In the first half of a two-part interview, Saotome Shihan recalls his fifteen years as uchideshi at the Hombu...