Master aikido instructor Morito Suganuma will teach at Aikido of Hilo’s upcoming fall seminar during the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-7, at the organization’s dojo.
Master aikido instructor Morito Suganuma will teach at Aikido of Hilo’s upcoming fall seminar during the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-7, at the organization’s dojo.
Aikido is the Japanese martial art of peace and reconciliation.
Suganuma, who was born in Fukushima, Japan, attained the title shihan, master teacher, and has an eighth-degree black belt. He began studying aikido in 1963 under the martial art’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba, and Ueshiba’s son, Kisshomaru. In 1967, Suganuma received the honor of becoming the founder’s last uchideshi, a full-time, live-in student at the aikido headquarters in Tokyo.
After Morihei Ueshiba’s death in 1969, Suganuma was sent to Japan’s southern island of Kyushu to represent the aikido headquarters in that area. In Kyushu, Suganuma founded and is the leader of the Aikido Shoheijuku Dojo, which today encompasses about 80 dojo and 4,000 students.
Suganuma also is a noted master in Japanese calligraphy and a practitioner of Zen meditation and yoga.
“In aikido there are only two eighth-degree black belts in the United States and only a handful in the world,” said Aikido of Hilo chief instructor Barbara Klein. “Having someone of Suganuma shihan’s stature come to Hilo and teach is an incredibly rare opportunity.”
The Aikido of Hilo dojo is located at 29 Shipman St. For more information about aikido and classes, call 935-2454 or visit www.aikidoofhilo.org.