YOSHINKAN AIKIDO MALAYSIA

HISTORY of AIKIDO

CONCEPTS, PRINCIPLES AND METHODS

The Yoshinkan style of aikido was founded by Soke Shiodo Gozo, who was born in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in 1915. His father was a prominent paediatrician and medical academic, and it was he who encouraged Soke Gozo to take up various forms of exercise. As a result, Soke Gozo practised kendo, gymnastics and judo in his youth. It was in judo that he excelled, attaining a third dan by the time he reached his mid-teens.

A turning point in Shioda Sensei's life came at the age of 18 when his father sent him to the Kobukan to train under Ueshiba Sensei, a man who was rumoured to be invincible. On his first visit to the Kobukan, Shioda was invited by O Sensei to use his judo skills against him. Sceptical of his opponent's ability, Shioda launched an attack only to find himself through the air, head first. A dazed and bewildered Shioda was awed at what had taken place. The very next day, May 24th 1932, the young Shioda joined the Kobukan and began his aikido career under the guidance of O Sensei.

Shioda Sensei left the Kobukan in 1941 upon completing his university studies. After the second world war the practice of martial arts in Japan was banned by the occupying forces. Upon the lifting of the ban, Shioda Sensei performed his first public demonstration in 1954 at an exhibition of martial arts organised by the Life Extension Society in front of a crowd of 15,000 people. He was awarded the grand prize for best demonstration, and within a year, Shioda Sensei was heading his own aikido dojo, named the Yoshinkan, after his father's original dojo.

In 1961 Ueshiba Sensei awarded Soke Gozo Shioda the rank of 9th dan. Shioda's outstanding contribution to the promotion of aikido and of Japanese martial arts in general was further acknowledged in 1984 when the International Martial Arts Federation awarded him the rank of 10th dan along with the title of meijin, or grandmaster.

Yoshinkan aikido has a reputation as a strong style, concerned with practicality and efficiency of its techniques. As a consequence, Yoshinkan aikido is taught to an elite group of the Tokyo riot police as well as to the Tokyo women's police force. The riot police course has been running for well over forty years.

Soke Shioda Gozo died in 1994 leaving an organisation which now stretches all over Japan, the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. Soke Gozo was convinced that through the silent language of aikido, all differences between peoples and cultures would disappear making peace and a harmonious co-existence a reality rather than an ideal.