Honolulu, Hawaii – Oahu
Yasuo Kobayashi in Hawaii in 2008 the late Robert Kubo – Aikikai 8th Dan, Aikido Hawaii International, on the left “At that point in time, I was caught up in some of the political nonsense amongst various teachers residing in the States, and held forth on this one drunken night at one of the regular parties the dojo had, and Kobayashi sensei said, “X-sensei is … Continue reading Interview with Aikido Shihan Yasuo Kobayashi – Part 2
Happy New Year 2017 – the Year of the Rooster! Thank you all for your help and support over the last year. We had a great time training with everybody in 2016, and we’re looking forward to even more of us getting to train together in the coming year! Can you spot the rooster on our New Year’s card? The illustration here is from the cover of “Budo”, a 1933 … Continue reading Happy New Year of the Rooster 2017 from the Aikido Sangenkai
Yasuo Kobayashi (小林保雄) Sensei – what a happy guy! Yasuo Kobayashi was born in Tokyo in 1936 and started training in Judo in his fifth year of elementary school. He enrolled at Aikido Hombu Dojo in 1954, the same year that he entered Meiji University, becoming one of the early post-war students of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba. Now an eighth dan, he is the head of Aikido … Continue reading Interview with Aikido Shihan Yasuo Kobayashi – Part 1
Kenji Shimizu Sensei with Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba “You should think of ukemi as being the secret to aikido”. This is my personal experience. During my uchideshi time the founder made me fall without questioning, on top of this I was scolded mercilessly when my ukemi was bad. I had so many painful experiences, that I continuously worried about whether there would be ever any … Continue reading Interview with Aikido Shihan Kenji Shimizu – Part 2
Kenji Shimizu (清水健二) in 2007 Was O-Sensei irregular about coming to the dojo? Yes, he was. When I was actively practicing there he often came and went. When he showed up everyone immediately sat down. At first, I thought that people were being courteous toward him. However, it wasn’t only that. It was also that the practices we were doing were different from what O-Sensei … Continue reading Interview with Aikido Shihan Kenji Shimizu – Part 1