Christian Tissier was born on February 7, 1951, in Paris, France. He began aikido at the age of 11 under the Jean-Claude Tavernier in his native city and soon on moved to train under the Mutsuro Nakazono, 7 Dan Aikido Aikikai. In 1968 Christian received a 2nd Dan from Nakazono Sensei and made a plan to go to Japan after.
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Dang Thong Phong was born in 1935. He started his Martial Arts career from Han Bai Duong (Vietnamese Shaolin Kung-Fu) and Judo. From 1958 he added Aikido and Taekwondo to the list of his favorite activities and he continues to follow his choices up, after almost 60 years.
2 CommentsKoichi Tohei (20 January 1920 – 19 May 2011) was a first one to be promoted to a 10 Dan by the Morihei Ueshiba ever. He taught people like Hiroshi Tada, Seigo Yamaguchi, Mitsugi Saotome, Sadateru Arikawa, Kazuo Chiba, Yoshimitsu Yamada, Steven Seagal and many others.
Leave a CommentYoko Okamoto holds a rank of a 6th Dan in Aikido Aikikai, a status of Shihan. She is the most respected female-Sensei in Aikido and is very important in Japan.
6 CommentsAn interview was taken on June 9, 2018, during a seminar with the Shihan at Chisinau, Moldova. Hiroyuki Sakurai held 6 Dan at the time. During the 2020 Kagamibiraki ceremony, Sensei received 7th Dan from the Aikikai.
2 CommentsJoe Thambu was born on 24 March 1961 in Seremban, Malaysia. He’s an 8 Dan Yoshinkan Aikido Shihan. A student of Gozo Shioda and Aikido Shudokan founder in Australia.
Leave a CommentTameshigiri (試し斬) is a targeted cutting with a sword test. During Tameshigiri a swordsman skill is being tested these days. Different materials are used, mostly rice straw (Wara), the top layer of tatami mats (Goza), bamboo and much more.
Leave a CommentUlf Evenas Shihan was born on 3 November 1946 in Trollhattan, Sweden. His Budo way began with a Kyokushin Karate but soon after, in 1968, he switched to Aikido which he studied under Carl Hansson in Gothenburg who had a background in Judo, Ju-Jitsu.
Leave a CommentMinoru Kanetsuka (December 8, 1939 – March 8, 2019) was the official representative of the Aikikai in the United Kingdom since 1978. He had a big influence on Aikido in the West Europe as a Japanese master teaching the art abroad.
1 CommentHayato Osawa is an 8 Dan Aikido Aikikai Shihan. He is a son of the Kisaburo Osawa and one of the main instructors at Hombu just as his father was.
Leave a CommentHiroshi Tada was born on December 13th, 1929 and is the only living 9th Dan Aikido Aikikai holder. He entered Hombu Dojo in 1950 and doing aikido now for 67 years! He was just always there, he knows them all, and seen it all happened and changed with his own eyes.
1 CommentYoshinobu Takeda is an 8 Dan Aikido Aikikai Shihan. He had a chance to learn from the O-Sensei and Seigo Yamaguchi was his main teacher.
Leave a CommentMokuso is a Japanese term for silent meditation. The first kanji reads as “Moku” and means silence or stop and the second one is “So” and means to think or focus. Mokuso is a common way to start and to end a training session in the Japanese Martial Arts and especially Aikido.
Leave a CommentHitohiro Saito was born on February 12, 1957, in Iwama City, Japan. He is an Aikido instructor and a founder of the Iwama Shin-Shin Aiki Shuren-kai, a traditional Iwama style Aikido organization with about 60 Dojos around the world.
Leave a CommentHirokazu Kobayashi (February 14, 1929 – August 28, 1998) was an Aikido teacher with a rank of 8 Dan. He created the Kobayashi Aikido style that is still practiced around the world.
Leave a CommentYasuno Masatoshi was born on September 7, 1948, in Kanazawa city which is in the Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. Yasuno Masatoshi is a Hombu Shihan with an 8 Dan Aikikai rang and is considered to be Yamaguchi Sensei’s technique heir along with the Seishiro Endo, Yoshinobu Takeda and Christian Tissier.
Leave a CommentSteven Seagal is a well-known actor, producer, screenwriter, musician… Ukraine Bans Steven Seagal Over ‘National Security’, Steven Seagal asked to teach Aikido to Serbia’s special police forces, Steven Seagal granted Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin, Is Steven Seagal actually a police officer? Is Steven Seagal actually a martial artist? There are a lot of interesting and not much-known facts about his life and especially from the Aikido perspective.
8 CommentsSeishiro Endo was born on September 6, 1942, in the Saku city, Nagano prefecture. He is an 8 Dan Aikido Aikikai Shihan now and one of those who learned from the O-Sensei directly.
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