One of world’s leading Aikido instructors featured on new DVD from Aikido Journal!

We would like to call to your attention our outstanding DVD featuring one of Aikido’s top instructors, Christian Tissier of France. This one-of-a-kind DVD presents an in-depth look at the life and art of one of Aikido’s preeminent masters, Christian Tissier, 7th dan.

We are pleased to announce an outstanding new DVD featuring Christian Tissier, James Friedman, Bruce Bookman, and Clovis Silva as they appeared at the recently-held San Francisco Aikido Project. These top Aikido and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors participated in the event hosted by the Suginami Aikikai in June 2009 in San Francisco, California.

We would like to announce the availability of a rare DVD featuring Noriaki Inoue, nephew of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba, one of aikido’s trailblazers. This new offering in both English and French is titled Noriaki Inoue: Aikido’s Forgotten Pioneer. Few people in the aikido world know of this incredible teacher who served as O-Sensei’s right hand man for some 20 years.

Noriaki (Yoichiro) Inoue was raised in the Ueshiba home in Tanabe in the early part of the 1900s. He was with Morihei when his uncle studied Daito-ryu Jujutsu in Hokkaido under Sokaku Takeda. Inoue also became a devout member of the Omoto sect having extensive personal contact with Onisaburo Deguchi, and developed a deep spiritual understanding paralleling that of Morihei. When Morihei taught his budo in Tokyo and Osaka during the 1920s and 30s, Inoue served as his senior assistant playing a pivotal role in the creation of Aiki Budo.

The article below has been selected from the extensive archives of the Online Aikido Journal. We believe that an informed readership with knowledge of the history, techniques and philosophy of aikido is essential to the growth of the art and its adherence to the principles espoused by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.

Morihei Ueshiba described his enlightenment experiences and spiritual understandings in a book called Takemusu Aiki. This work, based on a series of lectures by the founder of aikido edited and compiled by Hideo Takahashi, is an invaluable document for those seeking an understanding of the deeper meaning of the art. In this interview, Mr. Takahashi talks about takemusu aiki and his spiritual master, Masahisa Goi, the founder of the Byakko Shinko Kai and a close friend of Morihei Ueshiba:

As the holiday season approaches, we would like to offer you the opportunity to create your own special discounts that will allow you to get the most out of your investment in martial arts educational materials sold through Aikido Journal. Do you have someone in mind as the recipient of an Aikido gift? Perhaps you yourself… We now have a special interface that will allow you to easily choose the products comprising your special package.

If you would like a particular combination of products—books, DVDs, posters, etc.—which are not already offered as a set at a discounted price, this is your chance to tailor-make your own special purchase at a more affordable price.

Your response to our launch of the new Seigo Yamaguchi DVD has been nothing short of overwhelming! So we thought we would provide you with a further glimpse of the content of this exceptional program by uploading the entire text of the documentary section of the program. The information below will give you a much clearer idea of who Yamaguchi Sensei was and his pivotal role in the postwar spread of aikido. Enjoy!
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Seigo Yamaguchi Sensei was one of the most important of the first generation of aikido instructors in the postwar era. He taught at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo for several decades rising to the rank of 8th dan.

Yamaguchi Sensei influenced several generations of practitioners within the Aikikai system including many of today’s senior instructors of the Headquarters school.

This screen grab from “Divine Techniques featuring Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba will give you a good idea of what’s in store for you!

We are pleased to announce the availability of this outstanding DVD titled “Divine Techniques,” containing rare footage of O-Sensei. This is the fifth DVD of Aikido Journal’s definitive DVD series on the Founder of aikido. “Divine Techniques” is comprised of a collection of 12 films of O-Sensei—several of them in color—from the period of 1962 to shortly before his death in 1969. It also includes a heretofore unpublished audio recording of the Founder’s voice replete with complete English subtitles.

Click here for a detailed description of the DVD and for ordering information.

Click here for information on ordering the complete 6-volume set of DVDs at more than 30% off.

See below for screen shots of some of the action highlights:

The “Lost Seminars,” your Encyclopedia of Aikido Techniques!

We are pleased to announce the availability of another outstanding DVD by Morihiro Saito Shihan, 9th dan, the seventh instalment of the exceptional “Lost Seminars” technical series by one of Founder Morihei Ueshiba’s most famous students. Titled Morihiro Saito: Lost Seminars, Part Seven, this information-packed DVD presents never-before-seen footage of Saito Sensei as he appeared in 1994 while teaching a seminar in San Diego, California. With this new title, the accumulated seminar footage in the Lost Seminars” series comes to about 14 hours in length!

“Ellis Amdur’s writing on martial arts has been groundbreaking. In this volume, Amdur has radically reworked his iconoclastic essays first published on the website of Aikido Journal. Here, he attempts to establish the existence of something all but lost in Japanese martial arts — a sophisticated type of training, encompassing mental imagery, breath-work, and a variety of physical techniques that offered the practitioner the potential to develop skills sometimes viewed as nearly superhuman. Commonly referred to as “internal training,” and usually believed to be the provenance of Chinese martial arts, Amdur asserts that not only was it once common among many Japanese martial traditions, but elements of such training still remain, passed down in a few martial arts — literally “hidden in plain sight.” As always, Amdur reminds us that this is a human endeavor and he provides vivid, even heartbreaking portrayals of some of the great practitioners of these skills, men who devoted their lives to an obsessive pursuit of power.”

Click here for further information.

We are pleased to announce the launch of yet another outstanding DVD by Morihiro Saito Shihan, 9th dan, the seventh instalment of the exceptional “Lost Seminars” technical series by one of Founder Morihei Ueshiba’s most famous students. Titled Morihiro Saito: Lost Seminars, Part Seven, this information-packed DVD presents never-before-seen footage of Saito Sensei as he appeared in 1994 while teaching a seminar in San Diego, California. With this new title, the accumulated seminar footage in the Lost Seminars” series comes to about 14 hours in length!

With a runtime of a whopping 169 minutes, “Lost Seminars, Part 7” covers in great detail iriminage, kotegaeshi, and koshinage techniques from numerous different attacks including both basic and ki no nagare variations. Saito Sensei reveals the depth of Iwama Aikido in his own inimitable teaching style delivering an essential instalment of still more of the vast technical curriculum bequeathed by the Founder of Aikido.

We would like to remind you of the availability of our 7-part DVD series titled “Morihiro Saito: The Lost Seminars,” by one of the most recognized names among aikido teachers.

The “Lost Seminars” series now consists of approximately 14 hours of seminar footage that will allow you to experience first-hand, up close, one of aikido’s greatest instructors. Each DVD includes detailed English subtitles of all of Saito Sensei’s explanations allowing viewers to come to know this outstanding instructor and the nature of his curriculum.

Together with the launch of our newest DVD title “Morihiro Saito: Lost Seminars, Part 6,” we are offering a set of all six DVDs of this series for the incredible price of $149.95, a full 35% off the retail price. This set of DVDs contains literally hundreds of techniques explained in detail and demonstrated by Morihiro Saito Sensei, 9th dan, one of aikido’s most renowned instructors.