Tomiki, Sport or Shodokan Aikido

Kenji Tomiki was born on March 15, 1900 in Kakunodate, Akita Prefecture. He began to learn under the Morihei Ueshiba in 1926 and was also a Jigoro Kanos (a founder of the Judo) student. He managed to get 8 Dan at Aikido in 1940 (and 8 Dan at Judo in 1978). He taught both of them in Waseda University, Tokyo and this is when he started a development of his own Aikido theories which crossed with what Aikikai was about to become.

Tomikis idea was to convert Aikido into a sport and this led to a split with the Morihei Ueshiba. In 1967, Tomiki opened a Shodokan Dojo which he used as a testing ground on aikido and competition.  After leaving the Waseda University in 1970 Kenji Tomiki controlled a first All-Japan Student Aikido Tournament.

In 1974 Japan Aikido Association (JAA) was created by the Kenji Tomiki and in 1976 he opened another Shodokan Dojo in Osaka which became a headquarters for the JAA. Here’s a greeting by Kenji Tomiki at the opening of the Shodokan.

So this is a story of how another Aikido style was born. It’s easy to remember this one by  having competitions.

After the Tomikis death in 1979 Hideo Ohba was left as a head of the JAA. He was also a 6th Dan in Judo and 4th Dan in Kendo and a student of the Morihei Ueshiba. You can find him in the next video or in the first video of the post as an uke .

Today a technical director of the Shodokan Aikido Federation (SAF) and a chief instructor of the Shodokan Hombu Dojo is Tetsuro Nariyama. He holds a 9th Dan in Shodokan Aikido and that’s a highest rank possible. Tetsuro Nariyama wrote an article about the teachings of his teacher Kenji Tomiki. He also lived as uchideshi to Hirokazu Kobayashi.

Some say that Tomiki is closer to a full contact than any other aikido style. Others say that this style is the best. It’s up to you to decide but now you at least know about it’s existence and seen it with your eyes.