We’ve met Morito Suganuma Shihan earlier on the site in a post with the warm-ups but he really deserves more… He was born on July 27, 1942, in Fukushima, Japan. He knew about the Aikido from an early age and heard about O-Sensei a few times but only at Asia University in Tokyo, he was able to join a Nobuyoshi Tamura‘s Aikido class. He continued at the Hombu Dojo, where future Sensei was surrounded by the greats with the Morihei Ueshiba as in charge.
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Shoji Nishio (December 5, 1927 – March 15, 2005) was an 8 Dan Aikikai Shihan. He was one of Morihei Ueshiba’s post-war-era students in the Hombu.
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Yasunari Kitaura Sensei was born on May 25, 1937. Since 1967 he is an official representative of the Aikido Aikikai in Spain where he lives constantly. Kitaura Shihan is the 8 Dan Aikikai holder.
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Morihei Ueshiba (December 14, 1883 – April 26, 1969) founded Aikido as a martial art. He is often called O-Sensei which literally means the great teacher.
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Kisaburo Osawa (1910 – May 28, 1991) was one of the first 9 Dan Holders and has been a great inspiration for the deshi’s he was teaching in the Hombu Dojo for many years.
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Morihiro Saito (March 31, 1928 – May 13, 2002) was born in the Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. He practiсed Aikido for 56 years and been one of the few 9 Dan-holders in the Aikikai.
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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.
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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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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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Yoshinobu 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.
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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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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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Yasuo Kobayashi is a Japanese 8 Dan Aikido Aikikai Shihan. He is chief of the Aikido Kobayashi Dojo organization with more than 100 Dojos around the world.
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Kenji Shimizu is one of the last direct students of the O-Sensei. He made his own school and named it Tendoryu Aikido after the death of a founder.
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Rinjiro Shirata (March 29, 1912 – May 29, 1993) was a 9 Dan Aikido Aikikai Shihan also known as the Kobukan Prodigy because of the strong body.
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