Morihei Ueshiba
In 1979, he discovered a 1935 16mm film of Morihei Ueshiba in a Tokyo film repository. That year Pranin interviewed Kenji Tomiki, creator of a competitive form of aikido, for a second time. In July 1981 he discovered "Budo", a 1938 training manual by Morihei Ueshiba, while interviewing Zenzaburo Akazawa. Pranin was promoted to 5th Dan by Morihiro Saito in 1983.