Principal students of the Kobukan era
Noriaki Inoue, Wakayama Prefecture, 1902-1994
Noriaki Inoue is a nephew of Morihei Ueshiba and was raised for several years within the Ueshiba household, first in Tanabe and later in Shirataki, Hokkaido. Most of Inoue’s martial arts training experience was gained under the tutelage of Morihei Ueshiba while in Hokkaido, Ayabe, and Tokyo. Inoue was active in Tokyo as an assistant instructor under Ueshiba beginning in the mid-1920s, continuing through the establishment of the Kobukan Dojo. Later, from 1932 to 1935, he was a senior instructor for the Budo Senyokai, which was based in Kameoka. Inoue also taught aiki budo at various locations in Osaka.
Inoue distanced himself from Ueshiba Sensei following the events of the Second Omoto Incident and they met infrequently thereafter. He taught independently after the war in Tokyo, at first calling his art aiki budo. He later changed the name to Shinwa Taido, and then, finally, to Shinei Taido. He remained active teaching a small group of students until shortly before his passing in 1994.
Kenji Tomiki, Aikita Prefecture, 1900-1979
Kenji Tomiki began training under Morihei in 1926 in Ayabe and continued in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Tokyo. After becoming a junior high school teacher, Tomiki would spend his summer and winter vacations in Tokyo to train with the founder. Since he was well-educated and a good calligrapher, Tomiki also helped with the various administrative chores at the Kobukan. For example, he edited the 1933 technical manual Budo Renshu.
Tomiki relocated to Shinkyo, Manchuria where he taught at the Daido Gakuin and Military Police Training Hall, and later Kenkoku University. He was awarded the first 8th dan by Morihei in 1940. Trapped in Manchuria at the end of World War II, Tomiki was imprisoned in the Soviet Union for three years before being repatriated in 1948.
In 1949, Tomiki joined the faculty of Waseda University where he taught judo and later aikido. He also taught at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in the early to mid-1950s. Tomiki later devised a system of competitive aikido known variously as “Aikido Kyogi” and “Tomiki aikido.” He continued to refine his system from his base at Waseda University until his death in 1979.
Hisao Kamada, Wakayama Prefecture, 1911-1986
Hisao Kamada was from a family of Omoto believers. He entered Morihei Ueshiba’s private dojo in Sengakuji, Takanawa in 1929. He was one of the senior uchideshi at the Kobukan Dojo where he also performed various clerical functions. In 1932, Kamada was dispatched as an instructor to the Budo Senyokai in Kameoka and Takeda.
Kamada entered the Imperial Japanese Army in 1933. After his discharge from the army in 1936, he relocated to Shanghai where he worked as an ice dealer and assisted Hajime Iwata who operated a dojo there. No longer active in aikido after the war, Kamada lived in Osaka where he worked as a leather goods dealer. In 1977 he retired to Ueda City in Nagano Prefecture where he passed away in 1986.
Hajime Iwata, b. Aichi Prefecture in 1909 [also Kazuya and Ikkusai]
Hajime Iwata entered Morihei Ueshiba’s private dojo in Mejiro in 1930 through an introduction from Dr. Kenzo Futaki. He was an uchideshi at the Kobukan Dojo while pursuing his studies in law at Waseda University. After graduation, Iwata was employed by the Tokyo Gas company until 1939 when he departed for Shanghai where he edited a publication entitled All Shanghai. In 1940 he opened a branch dojo of the Kobukai, where he was assisted by Hisao Kamada.
After the war, Iwata returned to Japan and later began teaching aikido in Aichi Prefecture. He is a ninth dan and was one of the few active instructors from the prewar era to teach after the war. Iwata is also a recipient of a medal from the Nihon Budo Kyogikai for his contribution to martial arts.
Minoru Mochizuki, b. Shizuoka Prefecture in 1907
Minoru Mochizuki began his martial arts training as a boy, practicing both judo and kendo. He progressed rapidly and in 1925 entered the Kodokan where he became a top-level judoka. Under the tutelage of Jigoro Kano, Mochizuki became a member of the Kobudo Kenkyukai, an organization established within the Kodokan for the study of classical martial arts where he practiced Katori Shinto-ryu. Later, in 1930, he was sent by Kano to study aikijujutsu under Morihei Ueshiba. Mochizuki became an uchideshi at the Kobukan Dojo for a short time and then opened his own dojo in Shizuoka City in November 1931.
Later, Mochizuki spent eight years in Mongolia where he received training in karate. In 1951, he traveled to France to teach judo and also aikido and was the first to spread the latter art in Europe. Mochizuki is the originator of a composite martial system called Yoseikan Budo which includes elements of judo, aikido, karate, and kobudo. He authored a book entitled Nihonden Jujutsu in 1978. Mochizuki was awarded a tenth dan by the International Martial Arts Federation and until recently remained active at his private dojo in Shizuoka. He now resides in France with his son Hiroo.
Kaoru Funahashi, Tottori Prefecture (c. 1913-c. 1940)
Also from a family of Omoto believers, Kaoru Funahashi enrolled at the Kobukan Dojo in 1931. He was a relative of Morihei Ueshiba. Of short stature, he was one of the senior uchideshi at the dojo and was known for his skilled ukemi. He was one of the models who posed for the line drawings that appear in the 1933 Budo Renshu manual.
Funahashi was active as an assistant instructor at Budo Senyokai branches, including the large dojo in Takeda. He also taught in Osaka in the mid-1930s after which he ceases to be mentioned. Funahashi died from a lung illness around 1940.
Shigemi Yonekawa, b. Ibaragi Prefecture, 1910
Yonekawa entered the Kobukan as an uchideshi in 1932. He taught at various locations as an assistant to Morihei Ueshiba both in the Tokyo and Osaka area. In 1936, Yonekawa was Morihei Ueshiba’s partner for the series of technical photographs taken at Noma Dojo. This collection constitutes the most complete record of Morihei Ueshiba’s prewar techniques.
Yonekawa moved to Manchuria in 1936 where he assisted Kenji Tomiki in the instruction of aiki budo. He was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army in 1944 and saw action in Okinawa before being repatriated in 1946. No longer active in aikido after the war, he settled in Tsuchiura, Ibaragi Prefecture where he is engaged in agriculture.
Tsutomu Yukawa, Wakayama Prefecture, 1911-1942
Tsutomu Yukawa entered the Kobukan Dojo in 1931 after graduating from middle school in Wakayama Prefecture. He had a background in judo and was known for his great physical strength. About 1934, Yukawa married a niece of Morihei and relocated to Osaka. There he taught aiki budo at the Sonezaki police department and later operated a private dojo in Osaka.
He appeared with the founder and Gozo Shioda in a demonstration before the Imperial family in 1941. Yukawa accompanied Morihei to Manchuria in 1942. Shortly after his return to Japan, he died tragically in Osaka as a result of an altercation with an army soldier.
Gozo Shioda, Tokyo, 1915-1994
The son of a noted pediatrician, Gozo Shioda enrolled in the Kobukan Dojo in May 1932, prior to entering Takushoku University. He became an uchideshi while still a university student and served as a teaching assistant to Morihei Ueshiba in the Tokyo and Osaka areas. Shioda trained under the founder until he left Japan in 1941. During the war, he worked in a civilian capacity in China, Taiwan, Borneo, and the Celebes.
After the war, Shioda spent a brief period training under Ueshiba in Iwama. Later, in 1952, he began teaching aikido to employees of the Nihon Kokan Steel Company and various police departments. In 1955, with the support of prominent businessmen, he established the Yoshinkan Aikido Dojo in Tsukudo Hachiman. Shioda launched the International Yoshinkai Aikido Federation to further the worldwide spread of the Yoshinkan style of aikido in 1990. He is the author of numerous technical books on aikido and an autobiography entitled Aikido Jinsei [An Aikido Life], published in 1985. Shioda held the rank of ninth dan and is the founder of Yoshinkan aikido.
Kiyoshi Nakakura, Kagoshima Prefecture, 1910-2000
Kiyoshi Nakakura started kendo as a boy and entered the Daidokan Dojo at the age of seventeen with the goal of becoming a kendo professional. Later, in January 1930, he moved to Tokyo to enroll in the Yushinkan Kendo Dojo of Hakudo Nakayama. Through his marriage to Morihei Ueshiba’s daughter Matsuko, he became the adopted son of the aikido founder and designated successor and was known as Morihiro Ueshiba during his five years at the Kobukan Dojo. He later abandoned his position and marriage and left the Ueshiba Dojo to pursue his kendo career.
Nakakura had a long and highly successful career in competitive kendo and iaido which lasted into his seventies. Nakakura was a ninth dan hanshi in both kendo and iaido and one of Japan’s leading swordsmen. He was active as the head kendo instructor at Hitotsubashi University until his death.
Aritoshi Murashige, 1895-1964
Aritoshi Murashige was originally a judoka and practitioner of Katori Shinto-ryu at the Kodokan together with Minoru Mochizuki. He entered the Kobukan Dojo about 1932 having been sent from the Kodokan. Murashige’s main emphasis was on weapon training rather than jujutsu techniques.
Murashige later became an Omoto believer due to his association with Morihei Ueshiba and participated in Budo Senyokai activities. He engaged in intensive training at the Takeda dojo in Hyogo Prefecture and later served as an instructor for the Omoto organization. Later, Murashige taught Manchuria in this connection in 1933. After the war, Murashige taught in Burma in the 1950s and then in Belgium where he died in a car accident in 1964.
Rinjiro Shirata, Yamagata Prefecture, 1912-1993
Rinjiro Shirata entered the Kobukan Dojo in 1933 through a family connection to the Omoto religion. He became one of the leading uchideshi of Morihei Ueshiba, serving as a teaching assistant to the founder and instructing at outside dojo in the Tokyo and Osaka areas until conscripted into Japanese Imperial Army in 1937. Shirata was stationed in Manchuria and Burma during the Pacific War and, upon being repatriated, settled in his native Yamagata Prefecture.
After a training hiatus of more than 20 years, Shirata resumed teaching around 1960. He held several technical and administrative posts within the International Aikido Federation and traveled abroad to teach and attend organizational meetings on several occasions. In 1984, a training manual based on the technique of Shirata was authored by John Stevens. Shirata was awarded a 9th dan and was active teaching in Yamagata until shortly before his death.
Takako Kunigoshi, b. Shikoku Prefecture, 1911
Takako Kunigoshi entered the Kobukan Dojo in 1933 just prior to her graduation from Japan Women’s Fine Arts University. One of the few female students at the Kobukan Dojo, she trained seriously and gained the full respect of both Morihei Ueshiba and his uchideshi. A skilled artist, Kunigoshi did the technical illustrations for the 1934 book Budo Renshu, which was given to students in lieu of a teaching license. She later trained at the private dojo of Admiral Isamu Takeshita for several years and taught self-defense courses to various women’s groups.
After the war, Kunigoshi was no longer active in aikido. She is now retired and resides in Ikebukuro where she gives instruction in the Japanese tea ceremony.
Zenzaburo Akazawa, b. 1919, Ibaragi Prefecture.
Zenzaburo Akazawa is from a family of Omoto believers and first came into contact with aiki budo because of the existence of a Budo Senyokai group in Iwama, Ibaragi Prefecture. Also a relative of Kobukan Dojo uchideshi Shigemi Yonekawa, Akazawa entered the Tokyo dojo in April 1933 after graduating from middle school. After a short period of training at the Kobukan, he spent two-and-a-half years of intensive training in Takeda, Hyogo Prefecture at the large Budo Senyokai dojo. Following this, he returned to Tokyo where he continued as an uchideshi until leaving for Manchuria at the age of 18. Morihei Ueshiba and Akazawa formally enrolled in the Kashima Shinto-ryu school in 1937 as the aikido founder became absorbed in the study of weapons, especially the ken and jo. Akazawa practiced Kashima Shinto-ryu for about a year at the Kobukan Dojo when instructors from the ryuha visited each week.
Later, Akazawa entered the Imperial Navy and was at sea for three years. During the latter part of his naval service, he was assigned until the end of World War II to teach aikido at the Naval Academy in Etajima in Hiroshima Prefecture. Akazawa’s father assisted Morihei Ueshiba in purchasing land in Iwama and then was instrumental in the construction of the Iwama Dojo and the Aiki Shrine. No longer active in aikido, he resides in Iwama.