I want to thank you very much for inviting me to come today. I became very interested in learning more about your background when I read the newsletter you sent me describing your beginnings in aikido. To begin with, I...
Archive - June 2004
Josh GoldDaito-Ryu and Omoto: The Two Pillars of Aikido by Stanley Pranin
The figure of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido, is an elusive one for chroniclers of martial arts history despite the fact that there are still hundreds of first-hand witnesses to his life and work, including his...
Interview with Kisshomaru Ueshiba, 1978: Part II
This is the conclusion of a two-part interview with Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba regarding the recent publication of his book entitled The Founder of Aikido, Mo-rihei Ueshiba, the long-awaited biography of his father.
Interview with Bill Witt
I started training in July of 1967 and after I had been in Japan a couple of months, a friend, Julian Jacobs, asked me if I ever went to Sunday class. I was training six days a week and resting on Sunday, so I told him...
Yoichiro Inoue: Aikido’s Forgotten Pioneer by Stanley Pranin
“That such an important contributor to the development of the art has been given such short shrift in aikido histories is an inexcusable omission” Yoichiro’s father, Zenzo, was born in Tanabe about...
Happy Black Hakama–Aikido with a Smile
Retired to the country, a hundred miles from the Auckland dojo I supervise, I only get to train once or twice a week. But I do have time to think, and to present some of these thoughts, for better or for worse, in...
The Expansion of Aikido Abroad by Kisshomaru Ueshiba
Recently, relations between Japan and a number of other countries have grown close in many respects. Everywhere Japanese products are overflowing in foreign markets. No matter where you go in the world, you can find the...
Why is it Different on the Street? by E.C. Estrella
“It turns out that the “flow” of Aikido can be VERY EASILY adapted to law enforcement as long as you train like you mean it.” “But I do stuff different on the street than in the dojo.” How many of us who...