Author: Wayne F. Tourda Sensei
Alternate names: Sensei Tourda; Tourda Sensei; Blue Eyes
Born: August 25, 1939
Died: September 5,2022
Bio: Last Edit: July 21, 2023

Virginia Tourda married Earl Lee Ballagh September 20th, 1947, in Detroit. Mr. Earl Lee Ballagh was then the young Wayne Tourda's step-father. Earl Lee Ballagh, 73, of Dearborn Heights, died April 23 in Oakwood Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. (source: Cass City Chronicle, May 2, 1985). Additional research indicates that the young Wayne F Turda enlisted in the US Marine Corps and reported to boot camp at MCRD San Diego in 1958. 

Wayne Tourda Sensei, born August 25th, 1939, was introduced to Yoshinkan Aikido while watching a demonstration here in the United States. In 1969, he went to Japan to study at the Yoshinkan headquarters, then under the direction of Shioda Sensei. He remained in Japan for four years - studying primarily with Kushida Sensei at the Tokyo Dojo. Wayne F. Tourda received his Aikido teaching license from Soke Goza Shioda, the founder of Aikido Yoshinkan. He is a graduate of the prestigious professional instructors' program as well as the Kenshu program. (source: Mumonkan-Do Aikido website)

Dearborn Michigan is the city where Kimeda Sensei opened the first Yoshinkai Dojo in North America prior to moving to and settling in Canada. According to the Yoshinkai website, Kimeda Sensei was instrumental in bringing Kushida Sensei to the United States. 

According to Wikipedia, Takashi Kushida (串田 誉司 Kushida Takashi, born on May 2 1935) is a Japanese aikido master and the chief instructor of Aikido Yoshokai Association of North America (also called AYANA). He began his study of Aikido under Gozo Shioda in 1955 and lived at the Yoshinkan Dojo as a professional student (uchideshi) for many years. In 1964 he became Shihan (6th Dan or above). While at the Yoshinkan Dojo Kushida handled many of Shioda's affairs and taught many of the Yoshinkan instructors in place today. 

Following this period of intense training and instruction, Kushida was made Senior Assistant Instructor at the Yoshinkan. Between 1963 and 1973 he served as Aikido teacher to the Japanese Air Force, the Tokyo Riot Control Police, and National Railway Police. He also accompanied Shioda-sensei in demonstrations in New Zealand and Hawaii as well as teaching at various universities, private companies, and at the Yoshinkan.

Kushida left Japan in 1973 after a request was made for an instructor in the Detroit area. In 1976 Kushida founded the Aikido Yoshinkai Association of North America. In 1991, Yoshinkai Aikido in Japan established a group called the International Yoshinkai Aikido Federation (IYAF). Their representatives discussed the mission, policies, and activities of IYAF with Kushida. However, Kushida did not wish to change AYANA's standards to conform with those of the IYAF. Later that December Kushida was dismissed by Shioda and his rank (8th dan) was withdrawn. It was then that Kushida changed AYANA's name to the Aikido Yoshokai Association of North America and began to work independently from Yoshinkai Aikido.

Kushida-sensei, assisted by his son Akira Kushida, teaches classes at the Genyokan Dojo, AYANA's headquarters facility, located near his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At the Genyokan, Kushida-sensei also conducts formal classes in Genbu Sotojutsu, a 200-year-old sword method once taught only to members of the Kushida family in Japan.

Kushida Sensei left Japan in 1973 and Tourda Sensei followed soon thereafter helping to spread the Yoshinkan style of Aikido in North America. The Yoshokai website states: "In 1973, Kushida-sensei traveled to the United States at the invitation of a small group of American Aikido enthusiasts in the Detroit, Mich. area. Originally scheduled to visit only a few months, the response to his teaching and the growing level of interest in Aikido convinced him to send for his family and stay in the U.S. to teach. In 1981, he was asked to give a demonstration for the President’s Council on Physical Fitness in Washington, D.C. 
In 1991, Kushida-sensei established his own school of Aikido, adopting the name "Aikido Yoshokai." The Yoshokai school stresses the philosophical and scientific principles behind Aikido—in particular, Kushida-sensei's emphasis on harmony and conflict resolution as the ultimate goal of Aikido practice." (Yoshokai website). 

Wayne Tourda would drive Kushida sensei around to many cities where he taught aikido in 1973 and 1974. He drove a VW Beetle that I'm sure was cramped for Kushida sensei as they went from Detroit to Flint to Wayne State to Wyandotte and other places. He was indispensable for sensei to go to all the cities until sensei got his own car. Wayne was an enthusiastic student that showed us how important and exciting it was to take care of his teacher. 

Tourda remained in Canada for approximately 4 years while also completing his Master's dissertation in 1975  on the power and influence of organized medicine on public policy. In 1977 he moved to Southern California to continue the spreading of Yoshinkan Aikido here in the United States. He originally taught for the UCLA Extension Program and in 1978 he began teaching Aikido at Orange Coast College. 

In 1983 he, along with one of his senior students at the time, established the Aikido Federation of California. His senior student at the time was named David Dye who went on to found his own school called the Shuyokan Ryu based out of the same dojo in Costa Mesa, California where the Aikido Federation of California had been located. Tourda Sensei and Dye Sensei published Basic Aikido and Intermediate Aikido together. 

Tourda Sensei has been teaching Aikido at various colleges and universities throughout Canada and the United States for more than 35 years, and invested a significant amount of time and energy teaching Aikido to students throughout South Orange County at campuses such as Saddleback Community College and Orange Coast College. With the Saddleback College Organization of Physical Education (SCOPE), he helped develop curriculum guidelines for the implementation of martial arts and Yoga programs in California community colleges. 

At the same time that he was pursuing his study and teaching of Aikido, Tourda Sensei was pursuing studies in Zen Buddhism - initially with Roshi Phillip Kapleau (Rinzai Sect) - later, and primarily, with the late Reverend Dr. Soyu Matsuoka (Soto Sect). He was formally ordained by Rev. Soyu Matsuoka, Roshi in the Soto Sect of Zen Buddhsim. In 1992 Professor Tourda was awarded the title of Roshi by his teacher, the late Soyu Matsuoka, Gondaikyoshi, of the Soto Zen sect. 

Tourda Sensei was strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism. He desired to bring the Zen element into his teaching of Aikido, as many martial artists before him had done. Tourda Sensei remained loosely connected to the larger Yoshinkan organization. But when he established the Aikido Federation of California in 1983, he did so in affiliation with the Zen Center of Long Beach rather than in affiliation with the Yoshinkan Organization in Japan. The Zen Center of Long Beach was Rev. Soyu Matusoka's headquarters in the United States. 

According to Wikipedia, Dr. Soyu Matsuoka (松岡 操雄, 1912—1997), along with Sokei-an and Nyogen Senzaki, was one of the first Zen teachers to make the United States his home, and was more than likely the first official representative of the Soto tradition to do so. He established the Chicago Buddhist Temple in 1949 (now the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago), and in the 1960s grew a substantial following comprised of Americans. In 1970 he left Chicago and moved to Long Beach, California, where he continued to preside over other communities. Somewhere along the line Matsuoka and the Soto school of Japan had some sort of falling out, and the two went their separate ways.

Soyu Matsuoka Roshi was born in Japan in 1912, in Yamaguchi Prefecture near Hiroshima. His family has a history of Zen Buddhist priests dating back over six hundred years. After the Reverend graduated from Komazawa University, he spent several years in Sojiji Monastery. He then was assigned a mission of establishing a temple at Karfuto, in the northern part of Japan. Matsuoka Roshi came to the United States in the 1930s, and spent time in the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. He founded the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago in 1949. At the time, Matsuoka Roshi was a gondaikyoshi (the equivalent of a bishop) in Soto Zen Buddhism, responsible for Soto Zen activities across all of North America.

Matsuoka-Roshi then received a special assignment to the United States, where he served as a Zen priest in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Zen Temples. He furthered his extensive graduate work at Columbia University with Dr. D.T. Suzuki. He finally established the Temple at Long Beach in 1971 where he resided until his passing in 1997. Matsuoka-Roshi was a great dynamic influence in both America and Japan, lecturing and providing true Zen training to all people. He is registered in the book of national treasures of Japan.

One of Tourda Sensei's first students in Orange County, California was Lori Parker Sensei. In 1990, he encouraged Parker Sensei to establish her own dojo which, reflecting the Zen element, was called Mumonkan-Do Aikido of California. The loose translation of "Mumonkan" is the "Gateless Gate" or the "Gateless Barrier." Mu translates as "no" or "does not have," mon translates as "gate." Also, according to the Mumonkan-Do Aikido website, "following in her teacher's footsteps, Parker Sensei, while studying Aikido and pursuing her Ph.D., also pursued Zen Buddhism with Rev. Soyu Matsuoka. She was ordained a Zen Buddhist Priest, by Rev. Soyu Matsuoka June 15, 1992. 

In Japanese, "mon" also refers to a family crest or loosely as a sign. This author likes to translate the meaning of Mumonkan-Do as "the way of the house with no sign." Looks for signs where there are none. 

Seperately, in 1991, Yoshinkai Aikido in Japan established a group called the International Yoshinkai Aikido Federation (IYAF). Their representatives discussed the mission, policies, and activities of IYAF with Kushida Sensei. Reportedly, however, Kushida Sensei did not wish to change AYANA's standards to conform with those of the IYAF.  If you have not seen Kushida-Sensei's aikido, you may want to take a look. https://aikidoyoshokai.org/genyokan-dojo/ It is the author's belief albeit ill informed that while the IYAF was reducing the number of exams required to achieve shodan, Kushida-Sensei was adhering to his existing curriculum and pedagogy. 

In 1990, Tourda Sensei left the Aikido Federation of California and began teaching at the Mumonkan-Do Dojo where he remained until he semi-retired in 1994. It was around this same time that representatives of the IYAF began concentrating their expansion efforts in the southern part of Orange County, including Huntington Beach, Irvine and surrounding areas. During the 1980s, Tourda Sensei had already began to incorporate Tai Chi and Yoga into his Aikido curriculum. Currently, this author believes that Tourda Sensei focuses almost exclusively on practicing and teaching these two arts for himself and his students even further south. Further research may be required however. 

Tourda Sensei is most definitely amongst the vanguard who are helping to usher Aikido - particularly the Aikido stemming from the heritage of Gozo Shioda particularly as embodied in Kushida Sensei's teachings - into the United States during the early 1970s while imbuing it with a distinctly American flavor of Zen!  This author does not know whether Tourda Sensei took ukemi from Kushida-Sensei, but must believe blindly that he was fortunate enough to experience Kushida's Aikido directly. 

Tourda Sensei continued to benefit his fellow men and women without bringing attention to himself. Some might say he' was a sort of modern day samurai - although he'd probably never suggest such a thing! Upon careful observation, you may notice Sensei Tourda's past affinity with pillars of the Japanese communities of Aikido and Zen Buddhism. Notably, both Kushida Sensei and Matsuoka Sensei embarked on their own paths of technical and spiritual development. Research into Phillip Kapleau Roshi will also reveal a thread of what I will call American independence. 

This notion of American independence embedded within the transformational traditions of Aikido and Zen is evidenced even more so particularly in the lineage stemming from Tourda Sensei's students. While you may find some of Tourda Sensei's students in plain view, there are countless others who continue to extend the spirit of selflessness into a wide cross-section of daily pursuits - seeking to make the world a better place not only for themselves but for others as well. Check out the latest edition of Tourda's textbook, "Harmony with the Movement of the Universe." 

As Tourda Sensei often reminded his students, "there are many ways." 

Wayne Tourda, our spiritual friend, and esteemed Monk [Thay Dang Ngo] and Roshi passed away passed away. He wanted cremation without either a funeral or memorial. He was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1939. He passed away peacefully in his Fallbrook home at 3pm on September 5 ,2022.   Namo Shakyamuni Buddha. See Sensei Wayne's Biography, plus more valuable information and photos regarding Dai Dang Monastery and Sensei's extraordinary man's life.  Visit his webpage at http://www.zensandiego.com/