Thank you for the wonderful comments. This essay became part of Dueling with Osensei, my first book. The only thing I would add, now, is a paragraph on the idea that aikido is a manifestation of the sword. People...
Archive - November 2011
Josh GoldVideo: Introduction to “Aikido With KI” featuring Koichi Tohei, 10th dan
One of the most important Aikido instructors–a man known worldwide for his early efforts in disseminating the art–is Koichi Tohei, 10th dan. Tohei Sensei’s contributions to the art are legion:...
“Challenging the Status Quo,” by Stanley Pranin
Originally published in Aiki News #98, 1994 The role and direction of Aiki News has periodically shifted in the twenty years since its inception. We began our research focusing on the life of the founder and evolution...
Historical Photo: Morihei Ueshiba in front of Shimbuden Dojo in Manchuria, 1942, by Stanley Pranin
This photo was taken in 1942 in front of the Shimbuden Dojo, part of the campus of Kenkoku University in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Seated in the center are Kenji Tomiki and Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba. Standing in...
Proficiency and Aikido, by Francis Takahashi
Perhaps not quite common knowledge, but it is no secret that the Founder, and Aikikai Foundation, the organization developed by the late Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba, remained committed to maintaining appropriate and...
Transmission, Inheritance, Emulation 2, by Peter Goldsbury
In the next few columns of this series, I plan to examine in more detail the activities of teaching, learning and ‘stealing’, especially as these applied to Morihei Ueshiba and his immediate disciples, and also the...
“Interview with Katsuyuki Kondo (1),” by Stanley Pranin
Born in Tokyo in 1945, Katsuyuki Kondo, Sensei first learned Daito-ryu while still a child from Tsunejiro Hosono of the Shineikan dojo. He began studying under Tokimune Takeda Soke in 1961 and under Kotaro Yoshida in...
Video: Hiroshi Tada at the 1986 All-Japan Demonstration
“One of Aikido’s Most Dynamic Senseis in Top Form!” Hiroshi Tada Sensei is the last of the high-ranking instructors of the postwar generation within the Aikikai system. He started practice at the Hombu...
Reading the Forest
When a professional protector turns out to do his job, there is no fear, no life or death, no ideas about this or that and no orchestra in the sky. It just a job and you do it. Whether you live or die is not at issue...
Aikido’s “Library of Alexandria” Beckons You!
Hi Folks! WE WANT TO ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS… What if you could hear the revelations of the world’s leading aikido experts: 1. How they began their training and with whom they practiced 2. How they developed...