death_date birth_place martial_art birth_date rank article_title name death_cause
9 september 2005 hawaii , united states keijutsukai aikido 1928 '' shihan '' , 8th '' dan '' thomas h. makiyama
 thomas h makiyama of cancer
thomas h. makiyama

thomas h. makiyama -lrb- 1928 -- 2005 -rrb- , born in hawaii , was an aikido teacher and founder of keijutsukai aikido and the keijutsukai international federation -lrb- keijutsukai kokusai renmei -rrb- , based in tokyo .
the organization teaches keijutsukai aikido and keijutsu -lrb- a specialized method of defensive tactics for law enforcement personnel -rrb- .
makiyama started budō at the age of 18 in 1947 after enlisting in the u.s. army .
he was sent to japan and was stationed in yokohama , where he was assigned to the 8th army 's military police criminal investigation division .
at the isezaki-cho police station in yokohama he started to train in police judo .
over the years , he studied judo , jujutsu , gōjū-ryū karate and aikido among other budō arts .
in aikido , he achieved eighth dan -lrb- 1977 -rrb- in yoshinkan aikido and a certification as shihan .
he is believed to be the only american with that distinction at the time .
he also contributed to a number of articles for martial arts publications such as black belt magazine .
makiyama was the author of one of the first books in english on aikido in 1960 and the book keijutsukai aikido in 1983 .
in hawaii , makiyama was instrumental in forming the first official branch of the aikido yoshinkai outside of japan , at the personal request of the late gozo shioda , a close friend and professional acquaintance since 1948 .
makiyama created the keijutsukai -lrb- police/security techniques association -rrb- in february 1980 after training as an independent system commenced during the early part of 1979 .
he was the keijutsukai director until his death on september 9 , 2005 .
