Koichi 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.
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Yoko 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.
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An 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.
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Ulf 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.
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Minoru 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.
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Hayato 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.
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Masando Sasaki (February 1, 1929 – February 15, 2013) – was an 8 Dan Aikido Aikikai Shihan and a Shinto priest. Was an Otomo for the O-Sensei and been teaching in the Hombu Dojo.
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Hiroshi 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.
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Hirokazu 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.
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Yasuno 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.
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Steven 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.
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Seishiro 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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Masatomi Ikeda (April 8, 1940 – June 21, 2021) was born in Tokyo, Japan. He was a Japanese Aikido teacher with a rank of 7th Dan Aikikai and a status of Shihan. Through the course of life, he also achieved the 4th Dan in Judo and had success in Sumo.
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Patrick Cassidy is a 6th dan Aikikai Aikido instructor. He is a founder and a Dojo-Cho at Aikido Montreux in Switzerland.
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Hiroshi Ikeda holds a 7 Dan in Aikikai and is a Shihan based in the USA. He learned from the Misogi Saotome and is a founder of the Boulder Aikikai Dojo.
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Haruo Matsuoka was Steven Seagal‘s most important student for more than 20 years. He followed Steven to the USA from Japan, participated in the movies, was a Chief Instructor in Steven Seagal’s Tenshin Dojo in Los Angeles for 8 years…
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Yoshiaki Yokota Shihan was born in 1958. He was a Captain of the Judo Club in a Junior High School at the age of 12. He soon found more interest in Karate and joined an Aikido club in a High School.
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Mitsugi Saotome Shihan is one of the few former OSensei’s uchi-deshi’s still alive. He saw with his eyes all those things we read about. Sensei fully devoted himself to the Aikido and Ueshiba’s and you will learn why inside.
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Kazuo Chiba (February 5, 1940 – June 5, 2015) – has been an 8 Dan Aikido Aikikai teacher. He learned directly from the Morihei Ueshiba and his son Kisshomaru. Dedicated life to Budo where 50 years were about the Aikido in the first place.
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