Talk:Hitohiro Saito

message: Please provide a reference for Hitohiro Saito Sensei's use of the title "Soke."  He does not seem to be using this title anywhere on his own official website Tanrenkan.  Furthermore I do not believe he is affiliated with the Sensei still using the term Iwama Ryu such as Daniel Toutain or Michael Field.  Iwama Ryu has ceased to exist as an organization and is different and completely separate from Saito Sensei's Iwama Shin-Shin Aiki Shuren-kai Shin-Shin Aiki-juku organization, is it not?
I have corrected the entry until further references are brought to light.
I have been carefully following the progress of Morihiro Saito Shihan's students since his death in 2002 and this endeavor has proven to be a wonderful education on the structure of Japanese martial arts organizations.  I have a great amount of respect for the accomplishments of Saito Shihan's Yudansha and I think it is important for english speaking Aikido students to carefully research and understand the structure and logic behind Japanese Martial Arts' hierarchy and organization.  In any given Japanese martial art there can be only one "Soke" or "Doshu" (synonymous terms) who can only be appointed by the "Kaiso" or "Founder" of the martial art.  In the case of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba was the Kaiso, that is creator or founder, of Aikido, and he appointed his son Kisshomaru as the "Doshu" or inheritor and headmaster of Aikido.  After the Founder's death only the Soke can appoint the next Soke, and so on.
At this point it does not seem that Hitohiro Sensei has founded his own martial art separate from Aikido.  While many of Morihiro Saito Shihan's students regard him as the technical heir or "de facto" Soke of Aikido, and while he is one of the very few instructors with the knowledge, competence, and vision to be a proper candidate for this title, there is only one official Soke of Aikido, currently Moriteru Ueshiba, grandson of the Founder.  Returning to Hitohiro's position, his highest ranking in the Aikikai and under his own Father was 6th dan in Aikido.  This leaves at least two practicioners, Ulf Evenas and Paolo Corallini actually ranked higher than Hitohiro, that is 7th dan by Morihiro Saito Shihan, which implies that Evanas or Corallini are at least as qualified, if not more so, than Hitohiro Saito Sensei to be the de facto "Soke" of Aikido.  You can see how, from a Western point of view, if you are looking for the "technical heir" of Aikido, or the person who, in Japanese thinking, received "complete transmission" of the art, the situation is muddled indeed.  Furthermore, the head of every martial art should strive to ensure "complete transmission" of the art to as many qualified students as possible to avoid the risks involved in having only one person as the repository for all the institutional knowledge he or she has learned.  Considering this wouldn't all those students who were ranked 8th dan (Morihiro Saito's rank at the time of Ueshiba Kaiso's death) be likely candidates for "complete transmission" of Aikido?
Ultimately, the title itself is far less important than the person and the path.
Wavejay (talk) 17:12, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh, on what authority exactly? His website says "Hitohiro" not "Hitohira". Cesiumfrog (talk) 23:54, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Are there any reference sources for his personal history?
Was Hitohiro ever given a rank, even a kyu grade or a shodan? Or was he always treated as outside of the ranking system (even by the founder, before aikido even had a doshu)?
:"However, the divergences with the Aikikai foundation become deep as the organization did not accept the request from Hitohiro that it be stated in the official magazine of the organization that the Iwama Aikido was the original Aikido from Morihei Ueshiba. These divergences made him separate from the Aikikai in February 2004"
Really? The separation may have been triggered by the magazine editing, but it seems unlikely to be the root cause, and surprising that he would ever expect Aikido Doshu and Aikido World Headquarters suddenly to describe themselves as secondary and inferior to Saito-junior. Was there something else more substantial? Was it only afterward that Hitohiro was replaced as instructor at the main Iwama dojo?
More significantly, why had Hitohiro been motivated to build his own dojo so near by, back in advance? 
Cesiumfrog (talk) 23:05, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  History 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Hitohiro Saito. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071010052846/http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=95 to http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=95
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 14:18, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified