“The Extraordinarily Talented Son of Morihiro Saito Displays his Remarkable Skills!”

Duration: 5:30 minutes
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Aiki Expo 2005 attracted some of the finest martial artists from Japan and the USA to Los Angeles, California where the event was held.. Among the famous aikido figures on hand was Hitohiro Saito, the son and successor of Morihiro Saito, who needs no introduction. Hitohiro Sensei was born in Iwama and trained at Morihei Ueshiba’s country dojo starting from a young age. He has many fond memories of O-Sensei from boyhood that still inspire him today.

Hitohiro Sensei learned from his father at an early age. Being of a strong disposition, extremely intelligent and hard-working, he mastered the vast array of technical skills of the Iwama curriculum under the tutelage of his father.

Following Morihiro Saito’s death in 2002, Hitohiro Sensei became independent of the Aikikai organization and founded the Iwama Shinshin Aiki Shurenkai. In recent years, he has continued his heavy schedule of foreign travel teaching the Iwama training curriculum and has an extensive network of dojos under his direction. He has continued refining and disseminating the taijutsu and weapons techniques devised by Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei and his father Morihiro Saito.

In his own words: “We preserve and share the great influence of my father Morihiro while remaining faithful to the technical and spiritual heritage left by the Founder Morihei Ueshiba. We continually try to improve ourselves through the intensive and systematic practice of kihon, and we believe each training session is a unique opportunity to feel closer to the Founder. I firstly apply this permanent training to myself.”

The demonstration in this video includes tachidori and taijutsu techniques. Hitohiro Sensei’s uke on this occasion is Vince Salvatore of Aikido of Reno.

Visit the Iwama Shinshin Aiki Shurenkai website