Morihiro Saito
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The Saito Family mon |
Morihiro Saito (斎藤守弘) (
March 31,
1928 -
May 13,
2002) was an
aikido teacher with many students around the world. He began his
aikido training under the founder of aikido,
Morihei Ueshiba, in
Iwama in
1946 after having practiced some
kendo,
judo and
karate. Although other students such as
Koichi Tohei trained with Ueshiba for more years than Saito did, Saito's work allowed him to train almost as an
uchideshi, for long periods as the only student, from 1946 until Ueshiba's passing in 1969. During Saito
sensei’s period as a deshi he taught classes in the
Iwama dojo, while some other of Ueshiba's students taught at the
Aikikai Hombu. When Ueshiba passed on, he gave Morihiro Saito the responsibility of carrying on the teaching at the Iwama dojo and also the position of caretaker of the
Aiki Jinja located in Iwama.
In the beginning of the 1970s aikido
students from outside
Japan began traveling to Iwama to train under Saito sensei. Some of these are:
Ulf Evenås (7th
dan Iwama Ryu) - Sweden,
Paolo Corallini (7th dan Iwama Ryu) - Italy,
Lars Göran Andersson - Sweden,
Patricia Hendriks - USA,
Tristão da Cunha - Portugal,
Lewis Bernaldo de Quiros - The Netherlands,
Justin Christou 4th Dan - UK,
Miles Kesler - USA,
Tony Sargeant - UK,
Michael "Mic" Marelli - Australia,
Giorgio Oscari - Italy and many more. The kind of aikido that Saito's students do are often referred to as
Iwama aikido or
Iwama style. For a period of time, some of Saito's student's in the West formed a network of dojos called
Iwama Ryu and got their grades directly from Saito rather than in Aikikai, although they were often given the possibility to choose. Morihiro Saito, however, never left the Aikikai. After his death, his son
Hitohiro was requested by the Aikikai not to give out Iwama Ryu gradings. In order to continue giving out the gradings, Hitohiro formed the independent
Shin Shin Aikishuren Kai. Some of the Iwama Ryu network dojos joined Hitohiro, while others officially joined the Aikikai.
Morihiro Saito died on
2002-05-13 of cancer.
