List of aikidoka
This is a list of famous and well-known aikido practitioners (aikidōka) sorted by area of primary residence.
For a list of direct students of Morihei Ueshiba, please see his legacy.
Use of the term
The term aikidōka (合気道家) is rarely heard among native speakers of Japanese, in spite of its common use as a loanword in other countries. In the Japanese language, the suffix -ka (家, -ka), when added to the name of certain activities, indicates an expert or professional in that field. Consequently, the meaning of the term in the ears of Japanese, especially when the field is martial arts, takes on a connotation of one who is exceptionally accomplished and highly respected. Further, because of the connotation of respect, this is a term one would never use with regard to oneself, even if deserved. There is no other word in Japanese carrying the same meaning that aikidōka has acquired as a loanword, namely that of a person practicing the art, regardless of their degree of accomplishment.
Japan
The Ueshiba family
- Morihei Ueshiba - founder of Aikido, often referred to as Ōsensei.
- Kisshomaru Ueshiba - son of founder, second Doshu
- Moriteru Ueshiba - son of Kisshomaru, third and current Doshu
- Mitsuteru Ueshiba - son of Moriteru and presumed successor
Other Japanese aikidoka
- Seiseki Abe
- Tsuneo Ando
- Sadateru Arikawa
- Seishiro Endo
- Michio Hikitsuchi
- Takuma Hisa
- Kazuo Igarashi
- Masatomi Ikeda
- Kyoichi Inoue
- Noriaki (Yoichiro) Inoue
- Hiroshi Isoyama
- Hiroshi Kato
- Hirokazu Kobayashi
- Yasuo Kobayashi
- Koretoshi Maruyama
- Shuji Maruyama
- Minoru Mochizuki
- Tetsuro Nariyama
- Shoji Nishio
- Hideo Ohba
- Kisaburo Osawa
- Hitohiro Saito
- Morihiro Saito
- Fumiaki Shishida
- Kenji Shimizu
- Gozo Shioda
- Morito Suganuma
- Kanshu Sunadomari
- Hiroshi Tada
- Isamu Takeshita
- Bansen Tanaka
- Kiyoyuki Terada
- Koichi Tohei
- Kenji Tomiki
- Seigo Yamaguchi
Non-Japanese in Japan
Australia
Europe
North America
- Kazuo Chiba
- Frank Doran
- Terry Dobson
- William Gleason
- Patricia Hendricks
- Gaku Homma
- Hiroshi Ikeda
- Mitsunari Kanai
- Harvey Konigsberg
- Takashi Kushida
- George Leonard
- Donald N. Levine
- Thomas H. Makiyama
- Robert Mustard
- Robert Nadeau
- Mutsuro Nakazono
- Kenji Ota
- Mitsugi Saotome
- Steven Seagal
- John Stevens
- Richard Strozzi-Heckler
- Roy Y. Suenaka
- Seiichi Sugano
- Jon Takagi
- Akira Tohei
- Fumio Toyoda
- Yoshimitsu Yamada
South East Asia
South America
Literature
- Pranin, Stanley A, ed. Aikido masters: prewar students of Morihei Ueshiba. Tokyo: Aiki News. 1993. ISBN 4-900586-14-5 This volume contains 14 in-depth interviews with direct participants in the early days of Aikido publisher
- Stone, John and Meyer, Ron (eds.) Aikido in America North Atlantic Books 1995. ISBN 1883319277 Interviews limited to 13 aikidoists in the United States from 1990 to 1994; not meant to be comprehensive, Japanese teachers not covered. Editors were primarily interested in how Americans have responded to, changed, and expanded Aikido in the United States.