Students of Koichi Tohei

Students of Koichi Tohei

These are some ot the more know students of Koichi Tohei.

Both before and during his position as head instructor at the Hombu Dojo, Tohei instructed many notable aikidoka. Several of these have since made lasting impacts on aikido in general.

Among these are:

Koretoshi Maruyama, former Chief Instructor and President of Ki Society, who has since founded the independent Aikido Yuishinkai International style of aikido.

Koretosi Maruyama Sensei

Shizuo Imaizumi (今泉鎮雄), 7th Dan Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, who founded the independent Shin Budo Kai style of aikido.

Calvin Tabata, 8th Dan Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido,and founder of the NW Ki Federation. He holds an Okuden Ki rank, is a full Lecturer in the Ki Society, and is the Chief Instructor of the Personal Kiatsu School. He began his training in Hawaii and is a lifelong direct student of Ki Society founder Koichi Tohei sensei. Tabata sensei has been teaching in the Northwest since 1970. He established the Oregon Ki Society in 1974 and the Personal Kiatsu School in 1993.

Koichi Kashiwaya, 8th Dan Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, head Ki-Aikido instructor for the USA.

Ken Williams, Founder of the Ki-Aikido Federation of Great Britain.

Kenjiro Yoshigasaki, 8th dan Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, who was a pioneer in spreading Ki-aikido in Europe and has since founded the independent Ki no Kenkyukai Association Internationale organisation.

Kenjiro Yoshigasaki

Fumio Toyoda, 6th Dan, founder of the Aikido Association of America and Aikido Association International.

Roy Y. Suenaka, founder of Wadokai Aikido.

Shuji Maruyama, founder of Kokikai Aikido.

Steven Seagal, 7th Dan, American action movie actor, producer, writer, director and a Blues singer-songwriter.

Steven Seagal

David E. Shaner, PhD, 7th Dan, Chief Instructor of the Eastern Ki Federation and chair of Furman University's philosophy department, where he specializes in Japanese philosophy and philosophy of science. Shaner is also principle of CONNECT, LLC and author of the recently released "The Seven Arts of Change: Leading Business Transformation That Lasts."

Kenji Ota, featured in a series of Panther Productions Ki-Aikido instructional videos, along with being a champion ballroom dancer and father of 5th Dan, Steve Ota.[2]

Roderick T. Kobayashi was a 20 year+ student of Master Tohei and was promoted to Rokudan (6th Dan) Aikikai in 1973. Rod then taught Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido world-wide until forming his own version of Aikido in 1981 which he named Seidokan Aikido.

Kochi Tohei

Koichi Tohei

Koichi Tohei (藤平光一 Tōhei Kōichi) (20 January 1920 – 19 May 2011) was a 10th Dan aikidoka and founder of the Ki Society and its style of aikido, officially Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (literally "aikido with mind and body unified"), but commonly known as Ki-Aikido.

Kochi Tohei 1962

Koichi Tohei 1974

Death of Koichi Tohei

Death of Koichi Tohei

Koichi Tohei died at 9:14 AM, Japan time (GMT +9) on May 19, 2011, after two weeks of being admitted in hospital due to a discomfort in his chest which proved to be inflammation in the lungs. Wataru Hatakeyama, of the Ki Society Headquarters, informed that "he went to intensive-care unit (ICU) twice and came back to general ward each time with his strength of Ki, however, his heart got weak little by little this morning and he passed away.

Master Tohei 1920-2011

Koichi Tohei Post-war years

Koichi Tohei Post-war years

In 1953, Tohei was sent to Hawaii to introduce aikido there. From then on, Hawaii became a center for the diffusion of aikido in the United States and, later, of Tohei's particular style.

In 1969, Tohei was asked by Ueshiba to accept the new rank of 10th dan,[1] which Tohei accepted, after having previously refused the same offer. The top rank in aikido had been 8th dan, but the ranks were expanded by Ueshiba for practical as well as political reasons.

Creation of the Ki no Kenkyukai

The events leading up to the split between the main aikido organization, the Aikikai, and Koichi Tohei were fueled with the death of Morihei Ueshiba in 1969. His son Kisshomaru Ueshiba would inherit the title of Doshu. At the time of Ueshiba's death, Koichi Tohei was chief instructor of the Hombu Dojo, the headquarters of Aikikai, a title he would retain until his official split from Aikikai in 1974.

Kochi Tohei 1974

 One of the major causes of the conflict arose from Koichi Tohei's emphasis on his principle of ki in aikido. Tohei wanted aikido to focus on these principles, using exercises to both cultivate and test ki in the daily aikido practice. He had already started teaching his new ideas during his own training sessions at Hombu dojo, but the majority of the other instructors would not. There were some who agreed with Tohei's approach, but Tohei's actions were not welcomed by Kisshomaru and most of the senior instructors. They strongly encouraged him not to teach his principles and techniques in the Hombo Dojo. Tohei replied that he had the right to teach it outside Hombu Dojo, which he did.

But the tensions remained among the senior cadre of instructors, who still did not approve of Tohei's focus upon ki. These brewing tensions together with Tohei's general dissatisfaction with the situation culminated in 1971 when he created the Ki No Kenkyukai, with the purpose of promoting the development and cultivation of ki inside aikido, but outside the Aikikai "umbrella". The years of conflict would finally cement Tohei's decision to break away from the Aikikai and teach his own 'ki' style of aikido. So, on 1 May 1974, Koichi Tohei officially left the Aikikai organisation to concentrate on his newly created Ki-aikido and Ki-society.

On the 15th of May in 1974, Tohei sent a letter in English and Japanese to the majority of the dojos both in Japan and abroad, explaining his reasons for the breakaway and his plans involving Ki-aikido and the Ki-society. This breakup came as a shock to many aikidoka throughout the dojos of the world. Tohei was well regarded by many instructors and students. He was seen as the foremost sensei of Aikido after Ueshiba's death. This, in turn, led to several dojos breaking with the Aikikai and joining Tohei in his new style. Tohei's new objective was to coordinate all the dojos who joined him and incorporate them into the organisation of Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido: "Aikido with Mind and Body Coordinated". This branch of aikido is still active today even though Tohei himself retired from the day-to-day business of the Ki-aikido section and then concentrated solely on the Ki-society and further personal development of ki.

Koichi Tohei 1995

Koichi Tohei War years

Koichi Tohei War years

Like so many other Japanese youths at the time, Tohei was drafted into the Imperial army in October 1942. He saw action in China and was stranded there at the end of the war until his repatriation in 1946. According to Chinese records, Tohei's tendency to treat captured Chinese soldiers well led to Chinese authorities avoiding his unit when they attacked[citation needed]. Tohei is said to have left China with more soldiers than he started with.

Koichi Tohei and aikido

Koichi Tohei and aikido

Koichi Tohei was born 1920 in Shitaya ward (下谷区), presently Taitō, in Tokyo. As a boy he was sickly and frail, leading his father to recommend Tohei for judo studies. He trained hard and his body prospered, but soon after he began his pre-college studies at Keio University, he developed a case of pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining of the lung cavity which causes pains when breathing. This forced Tohei to take a year off.

Tohei was distressed at the thought of losing his newfound strength of body and his means of training it, so he decided to replace his judo studies with Zen meditation and misogi exercises. As with his judo studies, Tohei entered the training of the mind with fervor and soon excelled despite his serious health issues. After his recovery from pleurisy, of which the doctors could find no trace, Tohei became convinced that it was his efforts in training his mind and cultivating his ki that had helped him to heal and recover. This stimulated his later development of Kiatsu, a system of treating physical illness by pressing with the fingers and extending the ki into the ill persons body[citation needed]. Tohei describes this as "priming the pump" allowing the person to heal themselves.

After recovering from pleurisy he returned to judo, but Tohei wanted more than just physical training and did not think that judo was the right art for him to practise, although he did continue with studying judo until he started with aikido.

In 1940, when he was 19, Tohei's judo instructor, Shohei Mori, recommended that Tohei meet with the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba.

According to Tohei himself[citation needed], when he first met with an aikido instructor and practised some techniques at the Ueshiba dojo, he had doubts about aikido and its value to him. That changed however, when Ueshiba entered the Dojo and started to perform his techniques on the instructors. Tohei was still not entirely convinced until Ueshiba asked Tohei to step unto the mat and try to grab him. Tohei's attempts were unsuccessful, and after this personal demonstration by Ueshiba, Tohei asked to enroll on the spot. Tohei would also continue to train his mind as well as his body with meditation, misogi and aikido.

Tohei trained with Ueshiba for six months before being sent as a representative (dairi) to teach at the Shumei Okawa school and the military police academy[citation needed]. This was before Tohei was ranked as either dan or kyu. Ueshiba would present Tohei with the rank of 5th dan after Tohei had begun his military service.

Kochi Tohei with O Sensei Ueshiba