P6 / Some Thoughts on Improving our KyogiErik DiVietro

P8 / Interview with Bob Dziubla, TAA ChairmanErik DiVietro

QUARTERLY UPDATES FROM THE TAATOMIKI NEWS

Volume 1, Issue 4 Autumn 2017

P3 / West Coast Regional TAA Seminar ReviewBob Mayer

P5 / Martial Arts as a Time CapsuleAlec Niccum

P12 / The Life of Kenji TomikiFumiaki Shishida (reprinted)

P18 / Update from Board of Directors, Promotions

After several years of inactivity, the new members of the Vassar Aikido Club were totally skeptical about what our Fall Aikido Festival would bring. After more than a year of practicing with only each other and our instructor, our exposure to Aikido had been limited to the focus of what we’ve had the time to study so far. For our students, the festival was a dream come true--we never imagined that we

would be able to hold an event of such caliber, or see our brand of Aikido being done at such a high level. No one could have predicted that we would have more than 10 black belts fly in from all over the country, from places as far as Phoenix, Arizona, to demonstrate and help us learn.

The majority of our students had never even seen the first 17 kata be

performed, let alone with such poise and grace. “The most impressive part of the kata demonstrations was the trust that the demonstrators held in each other. Despite being from different walks of life and places in the country, everyone was unified under the same 17 basic forms of kata and could perform them near flawlessly. To see people who are near strangers to each other be

Vassar College Tomiki Aikido Festival - Report by Danyal Rahman

totally comfortable attacking one another with a sword or jō reinforced the calmness and c o m p o s u r e t h a t A i k i d o i s representative of”, said Caroline Beech, the vice president of the Vassar Aikido Club.

Although the kata demonstrations were helpful, perhaps the most informative event for us were the randori workshops. Because of the relative newness of our members as a ik idoka , many spar r ing techniques and rules were entirely foreign to us. Despite this, our attendees were willing to help us improve our kata and our footwork, so that we could improve in areas that we may have overlooked on our own.

“It was a surreal experience to be able to receive personal instruction from so many high level aikidoka from all over the country,”, said Maggie Chen, the treasurer of the Vassar Aikido Club. “There wasn’t a s i n g l e p e r s o n t h a t w a s n ’ t constructive and helpful with their advice. It was almost like people traveled here with teaching being their number one priority.”

A Tribute to Dr. Yoji Kondo On October 9, Dr. Kondo passed away at the age of 84. Born in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, Dr. Kondo earned his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Pennsylvania and worked in numerous capacities for NASA. In 1979, he established the Columbia Aikido and Judo Club in Columbia, Maryland. The club continues under the leadership of Geoffrey Haynes. In 1990, Dr. Kondo was one of the founding board member of what is today the TAA. At the time of his passing, he held the ranks of rokudan in judo (USJA) and nanadon in Tomiki Aikido (JAA).

Beside his work with NASA and his martial arts, Dr. Kondo was also a praised science fiction author under the nom de plums Eric Kotani. He helped establish the Robert Heinlein Award, which is still given out at the Baltic science fiction convention.

I felt like I learned so many things! One aspect that was

particularly helpful was seeing different ways techniques

could be executed, and the effects small differences could

make.

It was lovely to meet so many people and be taught by

experienced practitioners of aikido, all of whom were so patient and enthusiastic.

The event made me feel motivated to learn more and work harder at aikido; I'm

excited for the future of the Vassar Aikido club as well. 

- Maggie Chen -

West Coast Regional TAA Seminar Review - Report by Robert Mayer, USC Shodokan

On October 7th and 8th the Bay Area Shodokan dojo of Berkeley, CA, hosted the first-in-a-long-time West Coast Regional TAA Seminar. Seminars were taught by home instructors Warren Pottebaum sensei and Ash Morgan sensei, as well as invitees TAA Technical Director Bob King sensei, TAA Chairman Bob Dziubla shihan, and Mark Colopy sensei (Instructor Emeritus USC Shodokan). Total attendance was about 22 by my count, a good mix of 15 dan and 7 kyu of all colors. The hosts provided a comfortable and inviting environment, with good weather, plenty of good food and drinks, and plenty of mat space. The Saturday and Sunday event had 3 seminars and a fun, education-oriented low-pressure randori competition.

After warm-ups, the first seminar session, led by Pottebaum and Morgan senseis, focused on extended principles of elbow control. Interesting variations of sumiotoshi, tenkai kotehineri, gyakugamaeate and other techniques were demonstrated and practiced. There was emphasis on inward, weak-line kuzushi setups, for example like using opposite-hand tegatana for jodan kuzushi waza (using cross-hand tegatana for mirror-hand, and vice-versa).

The rest of the event focused on randori. In Session 2 King sensei sought to advance the competit ive edge of the toshu player by

demonstrating taisabaki, not just to escape the tanto strike but to use the taisabaki to set up and be part of a counter-move. We paired up and drilled on a particular move that blocks the tanto from the inside with cross-hand tegatana, swings the extended tanto down as toshu quickly pivots to the outside of the tanto arm and forward, resulting in a position of control with left hand controlling tanto’s upper arm and right hand controlling the tanto wrist. This requires a lot of practice since quickness and timing are essential, but the resulting controlling position sets up toshu nicely with several options for gyakugamaeate, sumiotoshi, ushiroate, gedanate, etc. We also worked on a quick cross-step during that pivot to the outside that propels toshu forward quickly to that controlling position. Time to step up our game!

We then switched to a randori training competition, led by Dziubla shihan. This was a fun event, first with paired Junanahon competitions and then later switching to tanto randori (where you could try out your taisabaki-counter from Session 1 if you were a quick learner). This was not a full blown competition but rather a fun and low-key vehicle for deeper focus on teaching the rules and also an emphasis on training for future judges, scorekeepers and timekeepers. I enjoyed my first randori competition judging and timekeeping,

learning proper flag usage.The randori was interrupted by a particularly

good pizza lunch, I should mention. Plenty of variety, snacks and sports drinks. At this point things got loose and friendly as some stayed on the mat while others ate. Mingling, eating and mat fun

all co-existed. Eventually things once again tightened up, to finish the randori matches.

And finally, Colopy sensei led a seminar on the much-neglected use of idoryoku in randori competition. I strongly agree with Mark’s thesis that we don’t use enough idoryoku in randori. He led us in the use of idoryoku, not only in our techniques, but also in our escapes when locked up with an opponent. He demonstrated, and we practiced, several methods of escaping a lockup with idoryoku that sets up kuzushi and techniques (or tanto strike) nicely.

All of us thank the hosts and the visiting seminar instructors for creating this successful event. It gave us a lot to think about and practice, and gave us a lot of fun. We look forward to the next West Coast Regional!

The Martial Arts as a Time Capsule - Article by Alec Niccum, UNC Aikido Club

For six months I studied abroad and, without a local Tomiki Style dojo, I joined the Glasgow University Aikido club and studied Aikikai style. Of necessity, I became more adept at spotting the same Aiki principles hidden under a different varnish. That ability soon yielded a strange realization. I found myself noting that my techniques were not different just because I had studied Tomiki style, but because my American partner for a specific technique had been six inches shorter than I was. My kote gaeshi was too intense not just because I used a dynamic Randori method, but because my usual partner back home was double jointed.

None of those thoughts had a serious impact on me until I found myself exhausted at the end of a long practice and confused as to why we spent so much time chain bowing in the much more formal setting. You bowed to a picture, you bowed to a mat, you bowed to a sensei, you bowed to a partner, you bowed to a dojo, and you bowed to every correction and every piece of advice.

Then, recalling the ghosts of uke’s past who had been haunting during that previous lesson, I realized why we bow not just to our teacher but also our entire dojo. No one is the product of his own efforts. Every martial artist is moving forward under the invisible influence of many who went before them. More than being the sum of our own discipline, we are the hours our Sensei spent forcing us to re-learn how to walk and the effort they put into explaining the feeling a correct roll. Each technique is made from not only our days spent repeating and examining our own form, but the weeks sacrificed by loyal uke who fall and discuss and suggest and cajole until we reach the next stage in our development.

In a kata competition you can easily see if the competitors are from different dojos. You can read the fingerprints left on their techniques. And in an odd way, you can see their sensei’s habits and

mentalities in their actions. It is a strange, but I think rather profound gift.

Through our training we learn to see all those people whose movements are forged into our muscle memory. Wrestling with a sibling, sports with your parents, being thrown by a sensei you no longer get to see, even a person who has passed on but carved their technique into your reflexes - these and so much more are held within us.

It is crazy to think I would recognize a man I have never met by working with his students, but happens. Whether it is Doan Sensei’s precise stabs, Current Sensei’s not-as-simple-as-it-looks staff grip, King Sensei’s uniquely - shall we say “persuasive” - gedan ate, Stevens Shihan’s politely overwhelming face grabs, Ball Sensei’s thirty-components-in-half-a-second gyaku gamae ate, and Townsend Sensei’s you-think-its-your-idea-until-your-head-hits-the-floor ude gaeshi; you can see teachers in their students. That in itself is almost overwhelming but consider for a moment; if we travelled back in time, there is someone who would watch us and see Morihei Ueshiba, or Kenji Tomiki reflected back at them. That is why we still bow to their pictures.

We bow to acknowledge that, every time we step on a mat, we have a legion standing behind us. They support us, enrich us; and we represent them. Make no mistake, you are representing the people who have spent so much effort shaping you. Even in our own dojo we are not free from this responsibility. From every seminar, from every visit, from every one-week guest, and every online video we gain a new supporter standing behind us whose work needs to be validated; and there can only be one response to the kindness we have received.

As Aikidoka we justify them with discipline, we honor them with a bow, and we pay their effort forward each time we give or receive technique and take our place in the invisible legion urging another martial artist towards their next success.

Some Thoughts on Improving our Kyogi - Article by Erik DiVietro, Instructor at Merrimack Aikido and Director of Marketing (TAA)

I am not an international competitor - not yet. I should make that clear right up front. I joined the TAA in January 2016, coming from a non-competitive, kata-oriented, independent dojo. Being a part of the TAA has involved a huge learning curve for me. As a result, I have an “outsider’s perspective” on the kyogi side of things. This is an advantage and a disadvantage. It means that, as a teacher I admire once said, “One third of what I tell you is wrong, I just don’t know which third.” All of that being said, I think the outsider perspective gives me some insight into what I perceive as distinct inequities between the United States and other nations when it comes to competition.

With a few extraordinary exceptions, we tend to lag behind other national teams. Let me emphasize that this is not because we lack passion or knowledge or that our aikido is somehow defective. What we need to be honest about is that we face some training challenges that are unique to our particular situation.

You Can’t Get There From Here!

It is very easy to look at the British with a bit of envy, when they take home so many medals in every international competition. What we tend to forget is that Great Britain is roughly the size of New York and Pennsylvania combined, with a population density that is eight times greater than the United States.

To put this into perspective, you could fit thirty-one Great Britains inside the United States. What that means is that the BAA can have 90 training sites (http://www.aikido-baa.org.uk/club-venues/) that are never more than eight hours or so from

each other. By contrast, the TAA has 16 dojo on our website, spread over 3.1 million square miles! There is simply no way to compare the ability of clubs in metropolitan London and Leeds (a two-hour train ride) or Essex (a one-hour train ride) to get together and the coordination of clubs in North Carolina, Ohio and Southern California, which are thousands of miles and 6-8 hour flights apart from one another.

You Train Together How Often?

This higher dojo density means that there will always be a greater opportunity for British players to train together. This is a tremendous boon to them

JULY 26-28, 2018 NATIONALS!

August might seem like it is a long time away, but there are only nine (9) months until nationals! Planning is already underway and registrations will open in early 2018.

This year, we will feature the usual events: dan and kyu embu, individual and team randori. We will also be utilizing the updated international format for the Kongo Dan Taisen, which does not have a women’s tai sabaki and toshu randori portions. These are replaced with women’s tanto randori and kyu level tai sabaki.

Start practicing at your local dojo and picking up tips and reps at regional events!

as a national organization. Where there is a higher density and greater opportunity, skill will improve geometrically.

When Bob Jones Sensei shared the British training method with us at the 2016 TAA nationals, he made it clear that his teams train to win (https://tomiki.org/seminar-videos/). They train hard and they train often. They utilize methods and plans that have been developed over decades of close partnership. The temptation is to attempt to emulate this approach; but the realities of our situation in the US is that we do not have the prerequisites to do this well.

So What Should We Do, Wise Guy?

The answers to our challenges may not lie only in adopting the drills or behaviors of other organizations, no matter how successful those organizations might be. Here are three big practices groups like the BAA use that I believe will help us develop a stronger international approach.

1. Emphasize regional training. We need to leverage our strengths. In order to do that, we have to be honest with ourselves about both strengths and weaknesses. We are spread out; but we have concentrations of dojo in certain areas. There is no reason we cannot have regional competitions focused on developing skills in a specific area.

If you take a look at the BAA’s national schedule, you will see regional events for adults and kids all year long; and the commitment the individual dojo in the BAA have to these events is serious. The competition inspires students to strive for excellence, which feeds into my second point.

2. Make competitive training a priority. These events should include some instruction, but primarily they should be focused on training skills and drills which can then be taken to the local dojo and worked systematically and repeatedly. Aikido looks like what you do all the time, not once in awhile. If we want to build solid skills, we have to develop solid practices.

Listen to Bob Jones talk about aikido for about five minutes, and he will emphasize the “martial sport” aspect of it. The BAA makes a big deal about training for the sport, and it shows. The same is true in Russia and Japan; and that is why these three national teams win almost all of the medals at international games. You will excel at what you make a priority.

3. Form long lasting partnerships. After the 2015 games in Australia, Charlie Hudson observed that the BAA embu teams work well together as a unit because they have been performing the same embu as partners for years. By contrast, our teams are often composed the day or morning before competition. I am convinced that we lack chemistry, not skill.

This can be combated by forming partnerships and training together. Find someone you work well with and work with them. Watch film of winning embu together. Share ideas. Place a priority on getting serious mat time together.

We cannot expect our situation to change simply because we want it to. In my line of work, I am always dealing with people who are waiting for change to happen to them. “When will it happen?” And my answer is always, “Only you can change you.”

Interview with TAA Chairman Robert Dziubla - Interviewed by Erik DiVietro, Merrimack Aikido

Tomiki News (TN): Tell us about yourself. Where is your family from? What interests do you have outside of aikido?

Dziubla Shihan (RD): I was born and raised in Chicago in a blue-collar family. My father owned a live poultry store where I started working when I was 8 – that continued until I was 17 when he sold the poultry store and bought an outdoor newspaper stand in downtown Chicago. I worked there until I went to Japan to study aikido for the second time in 1975 when I was 23. Both jobs were demanding and tough and inspired me (along with my Dad’s poignant advice) to pursue my education. Working at the newspaper stand, outside on the streets of downtown Chicago from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., summer and winter, left me no choice but to use my aikido (and karate) skills when street thugs tried to rob us, though I had first started studying aikido when I was 13 because a couple of older teen-age boys beat me up pretty badly.

I received my B.A. in East Asian Studies from Northwestern University in 1974, my M.A. in Political Science (China focus) from the University of Chicago in 1978, my J.D. (law degree) from Northwestern University School of Law in 1980, and my LL.M. (Masters of Law) in Asian Law from the

University of Washington Law School a few years later. After practicing law in Chicago for a couple of years and getting my LLM, I was awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Kyoto, Faculty of Law, in the early 1980s, where I researched and wrote on Japanese corporate and securities law – it was during this period that I traveled from Kyoto to Osaka several times per week to study aikido at Shodokan under Nariyama Sensei.

Though aikido is my lifelong passion at this point, outside of that I have a deep and abiding interest in flying (I received my pilot’s license when I was 17) and currently hold a multi-engine instrument rating. When I lived in Los Angeles, the LA County Supervisors appointed me to be a member of the Los Angeles Aviation Commission, which oversaw all flight operations in Los Angeles County.

I also greatly enjoy skiing and scuba diving, though both are now on a back burner given my multiple neck and back surgeries.

Teaching is another deep interest of mine. In addition to teaching aikido at University of California – San Diego (UCSD) and Mesa College, I have taught courses on International Finance Law and on International Business Transactions at both the USC Law School and the University of San Diego Law School.

TN: What is your current rank, and what associations or organizations are you a part of?

RD: I am an 8th dan and serve as the Chairman & President of the TAA. I also serve as the Deputy President of the Worldwide Sport Aikido Federation (WSAF) and as Chairman of the Board.

Over the next few issues, we will be bringing you a series of interviews with high-level aikidoka from around the Tomiki/Shodokan world. Our first interview is with our own TAA Chairman, Robert Dziubla Shihan. As the founder of the TAA and a direct student of Professor Tomiki, he is a vital piece to what makes our association what it is today.

TN: Who would you consider the teacher who has had the most influence on you? What was it about his/her teaching that impacted you so much?

BD: That’s easy, Tomiki Sensei!

Though I started studying aikido in Chicago in 1963 or so, my sensei there was not very good. I didn’t find that out, however, for many years because I was a wet-behind-the-ears teenager. In fact, it turned out that he had never really studied aikido; he had studied some judo, got bored with it, and then bought some books on aikido which he tried to use to teach himself. What he taught me was pretty useless stuff that I had to unlearn later. The bright side is that he lacked the rank to promote me to black belt, so he insisted that I go to Japan to get my black belt from Tomiki Sensei himself.

Tomiki Sensei was my first true Aikido Sensei, and he was amazing. He was a professor at Waseda University, one of the most elite universities in Japan where it is referred to as one of the “Four Jewels” of higher education in Japan (along with Tokyo U., Kyoto U. and Keio U.). Tomiki Sensei was a very smart and talented man, but also very humble. At the end of my first stay at Waseda in 1971, he took me out to dinner at the Waseda

University Faculty C lub, where he gave me my very first black belt with my name inscribed on one end and “Waseda University A i k ido C lub ” i n Japanese kanji on the other end. I still have that black belt, though it is well worn by now as you can see. (Smile)

As he gave it to me he said, “When you go back to America, please teach and spread Tomiki Aikido as much as you can because we Japanese are not very good dealing with foreigners.” I was deeply touched by that adjuration, and I still try to fulfill it! It

took a year for me to receive my certificate because Tomiki Sensei had not, he explained, previously awarded any black belt certificate in English, so it took him a while to develop the wording and format. We use that to this very day as the model for our TAA black belt certificates.

During that first visit, Shishida Sensei was one of my teammates on the Waseda Aikido Club, and we remain very close friends to this day. He, too, has had a strong influence on my aikido, and he was instrumental in guiding me in my readings in Japanese of Tomiki Sensei’s many writings.

Thanks to Shishida Sensei’s recommendation and introduction, I ended up spending about two years training at Shodokan under Nariyama Sensei. That’s an interesting story.

At the end of my second period training at Waseda in the mid-1970s, my teammates took me out for my sobetsu-kai, a farewell party. After many, many rounds of beer and sake, they confided to me that “Bob-san, you are a henna gaijin [strange foreigner] and we’re impressed with your desire to train and master Tomiki Aikido. But most Americans are dumb, fat and lazy, so we’re not too worried about America every fielding an aikido team

that can compete with us.” That irked me, and I responded “Just wait and see. I’m going back to America, and I’ll put together a team that can give you a run for your money.” They laughed.

I returned to Northwestern University Law School in Chicago and, over the next many years, built a dedicated team that I took to Japan in 1982. We had arranged to have a tournament with Waseda, as Shishida Sensei was the coach of the Waseda Aikido Club at the time. Well, we had a 13-person team match (or at least I think it was 13, it might have been fewer), including Greg Linden, who still plays aikido and is one of our TAA Board members. At the end of all the matches, it was a tie. Stan Nevin, who was the deputy captain of our team, and I did rock-scissors-paper to see who would fight the tie-breaking match. I lost, so I had to do it. Fortunately, I was able to eke out a win, to the delight of my teammates and the chagrin of Shishida Sensei and the Waseda team. After that tournament, Shishida Sensei told me that I needed to take the entire team down to Osaka to train at Shodokan with Nariyama Sensei. I didn’t know Nariyama Sensei at that time, though I had seen him in passing once or twice during my prior stays in Japan.

So, we went to train at Shodokan. I was awestruck by the power, precision and beauty of Nariyama Sensei’s aikido techniques, and I vowed that I would find a way to train at Shodokan for an extended period until I could do the same.

In 1983 or so, I was awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship to study Japanese corporate and securities law at Kyoto University, Faculty of Law. I was delighted that it had worked out that way because Kyoto is a beautiful city, Kyoto University is a wonderful place and, best of all, Kyoto was only an hour and a half away from Osaka…so that I could commute to Shodokan several times per week and train under Nariyama Sensei, which I did for a couple of years. I made many close and life-long friends there.

TN: What would you say is your most significant achievement within Tomiki Aikido? Why?

BD: Well, I have been doing aikido for 53 years now, so there are several accomplishments that would, I think, make my first real sensei, Tomiki Sensei, happy. First, in 1990, with the help and cooperation of many folks around the US, we were able to create the TAA (our original name was Japan Aikido Association (USA), but we changed that to Tomiki Aikido of the Americas many years ago to better reflect our history and approach). Second, I won a gold medal at the 1993 World Championship in Japan – I was the first foreigner ever to do that – and it opened up the door to making Tomiki Aikido a more international martial art / sport. And most recently, with the help and support of the TAA Board, I was able to spearhead the founding of the Worldwide Sport Aikido Federation (WSAF), which just hosted the largest and most successful world championships in London in August 2017. Our friends at the BAA did a phenomenal job of organizing and running that tournament!

Though it likely won’t happen in my lifetime, I hope that the TAA and the BAA will help lead the WSAF so that we are successful in getting Tomiki Aikido recognized as an Olympic sport with the WSAF as the true worldwide governing body for that.

TN: How long have you been studying aikido? Have you studied other budo?

BD: 53 years. Yes, I have studied many other martial arts: karate, judo, kendo, iaido, tai chi, tai chi chuan.

Nariyama Shihan and Dziubla Shihan at the first national US event, Denver, CO, 1990.

TN: If you have studied other budo, what styles?

BD: I studied Shotokan Karate for a few years, with a smattering of Taekwondo. The other martials arts did not have particular styles that I knew of at the time.

TN: What is an area of aikido (or other budo) which is of great interest to you?

BD: I remain intrigued by the meditative aspects of aikido and all martial arts. A fundamental precept in most martial arts is having a calm heart and mind (i.e., ju no ri, the principle of gentleness; also, mushin mugamae, “No Emotion, No Stance”) so that your emotions do not impede your body, so that there is instantaneous response between your

consciousness and your body. If you let your emotions rule you, then you are trying to force your techniques upon your opponent. And that will slow you down and detract from the power, precision and, indeed, even beauty of the techniques. As I constantly tell my students, “Uke’s body is ALWAYS telling you where it wants to be thrown and how. Your job is to listen and understand.”

I often re-read the book Zen and Aikido by Shigeo Kamata and Kenji Shimizu to stimulate my thinking on this.

One item on my final to-do list is to translate into English, Tomiki Sensei’s lengthy book entitled Tai-iku to Budo, which translates as “Physical Education and Budo”, as it does a great job of explaining his views on this important topic.

Over the years, Dziubla Shihan has contributed a number of invaluable elements to our knowledge of Professor Tomiki’s aikido. He translated Professor Tomiki’s essay “On Jujutsu and Modernization” which appeared in the previous issue of “Tomiki News.” Currently, he is working with the Japanese publishing company which holds the rights to the English edition of Professor Tomiki’s book Judo and Aikido which has been out of print for several years. It is his hope to be able to reprint this volume and make it available to Tomiki practitioners around the world.

Filling Your Bookshelf

Kenji Shimizu was one of O Sensei’s last uchideshi. He cooperated with Shigeo Kamata of Tokyo University to put together this volume which looks at aikido through the lens of Zen and centuries of Japanese tradition.

Tetsuro Nariyama Shihan provides the authoritative resource on the method of teaching Tomiki’s aikido at the Shodokan in Osaka, Japan. Every aikidoka will be enriched by the guidance and practices he outlines here.

Saunders’ book is currently the only printed resource to include the Tegatana no Kuzushi and Goshin no Kata forms required for yondan and above.

Currently out of print, this volume discusses some of the teaching method of Yamada Sensei, who helped establish Tomiki Aikido in the UK. It is a worthwhile addition to your library if you can find it.

The Life of Kenji Tomiki - By Fumiaki Shishida, February 1980, translated by R.E. Hayman for Aiki News no 81, July 1989

The following essay is based on my collection of notes on the life of Tomiki Sensei kept over a period of more than ten years and which I combined into biography form in a short time at the end of 1979 after his death. Thus, seen from the present standpoint, it may appear to lack important facts and contain errors or areas necessitating further research. For this reason, I felt somewhat hesitant to accept the request of AIKI NEWS to allow publication of this article. However, at present since there are no other articles providing a brief introduction to the life of Professor Tomiki, I agreed to its publication after making some additions and deletions to the original text. Although I intend to clarify in more detail the life of Tomiki Shihan in addition to his profound theories on the martial arts at a future date, I hope that this text will serve as an interim introduction.

I would also like to respond to a criticism directed at my article entitled "Aikido and Injuries: A Special Report" published in the last issue of AIKI NEWS. The criticism was that the research materials used in writing the article should have been clarified. All of these materials were clarified in Chapters I, II and III of the original text. Although this is done as a matter of course in the writing of academic theses, I omitted this section for the AIKI NEWS article because the materials themselves are usually hard for people in general to acquire. Therefore, it may have been that the partial publication of the article in this magazine has resulted in some misunderstanding, hence my offering the present comments.

Early Childhood Kenji Tomiki, the great Aikido and Judo master,

was born during the Meiji period on March 15, 1900 in the town of Kakunodate in Akita Prefecture. His family were landowners. Kakunodate was a samurai town where martial arts were popular; and from the age of about six, young Kenji was taught

to handle a wooden sword. It was also about this time that he entered elementary school in 1906. When he reached the fourth grade, young Kenji joined the local Judo dojo. This was the start of a career in Judo that was to span more than 70 years.

After finishing elementary school, Kenji wanted to attend junior high school, but his grandfather opposed the idea. As a result, he went to a higher elementary school, but after one year transferred to Yokote Junior High School. This school was a boarding school known for its discipline and each year more than 10 out of 60 students in each class failed. However, not only did Kenji always come in second or third in his class; but in the Judo club, which he joined as soon as he entered the school, he made rapid progress and was soon playing an active role as captain of the club. His efforts and accomplishments in both his studies and martial arts training were fully recognized by the school and, on his graduation, Kenji achieved the feat of winning both the academic excellence and physical education prizes.

After leaving high school, Kenji went to Tokyo to stay with an uncle in Tsurumaki-cho and prepare for his university entrance examinations. His intensive studies, however, were interrupted by a chest ailment that developed into lung tuberculosis and which took three years to overcome. Then, in his third year he developed intestinal typhoid, so that in fact he lost nearly four years due to illness.

Kenji spent most of this time at the country house of his maternal uncle, Hyakusui Hirafuku, the well-known painter, in the seaside town of Futtsu in Chiba Prefecture. By living with his uncle, watching his daily pattern of work, carrying his easel and tools for him when he went out sketching and sitting in on his monthly discussions with well-known figures such as the poet Mokichi Saito and the novelist Akahiko Shimaki, Kenji learned a great deal during this time.

The Young Man

The Young Man In 1922, Kenji enrolled in a preparatory course

for Waseda University and was admitted as a student there the following year. He immediately joined the Judo club eager to take up training again, and progressed quickly from first decree black belt, which he held at the time he joined, to 4th decree, moving up one rank each year. This was the golden age of the Waseda Judo Club and student Kenji Tomiki played a major role in its success.

He also went often to the Kodokan Judo headquarters in Tokyo, where he trained under the great master Jigoro Kano, whose lectures and direct instruction influenced him deeply.

Tomiki showed the same dedication to his studies at Waseda as he had done earlier in his career, and his friend Tsunesaburo Tokoyama, who later became university president, recalls that Kenji was nicknamed "the scholar from the sports section."

In 1926, a friend from the Judo club, Hidetaro Nishimura, introduced Kenji to Morihei Ueshiba, the great master of "Aiki Bujutsu", a kind of jujutsu. Kenji was fascinated by these techniques which he had never seen before. The following year, in 1927, he graduated with a degree in political science and entered graduate school to study for a master’s degree in economics. During summer vacation that year he also called on Master Ueshiba at his school in Ayabe and spent a month training under him.

Ueshiba's method of teaching was highly distinctive. During training he insisted that a student should not make great efforts, but relax and "learn naturally". In each session, without fail, he would go through an entire series of techniques. This consisted of the Master throwing his young students or controlling them by applying joint pressures, without however, one word of explanation about the techniques. Moreover, when the Master himself was not there, he disliked having students practice together and experiment with the techniques. He forbade them to train in his absence, saying that they would "pick up bad habits."

This method of teaching provided a good contrast to that of Jigoro Kano, who first explained

the essence of each technique and the Judo principles behind it, even to the point of elevating these principles into a way of life. Studying under Ueshiba, the young Tomiki was at first completely lost. However, he had made up his mind to fully master Ueshiba's techniques and subsequently went on to train enthusiastically as Ueshiba's top student.

At the same time, he continued his Judo training, and during the New Year's festivities at the Kodokan on January 8, 1928 took his place alongside Sumiyuki Kotani and others as a 5th decree black belt. In May of the following year, a martial arts championship [the Tenranjia1] on an unprecedented national scale was held in the Emperor Hirohito's presence. (The first All-Japan Judo championships were held one year later in 1930.) Tomiki had just started work the previous month at the Miyagi Prefectural Electrical Company in Sendai and entered the championships as a Judo representative for Miyagi Prefecture. He kept pace with the leaders until only 12 remained, but then suffered the bitter setback of a coastal strain injury which forced him to withdraw. A contemporary report gives an indication of his prowess: "Haraikawa was next confronted with his great foe Tomiki. Both opponents in the match fully displayed their technique, fighting desperately in what was again and again a close struggle. After belts were readjusted and the match resumed, Haraikawa rushed in for a bold attack, when Tomiki launched a lightning-fast tsurikomigoshi throw sending Haraikawa spinning up over him into the air and down." (Tomiki later became an 8th decree black belt in Judo in 1964.)

In Manchuria Tomiki's aim was to work in the field of

education, and in April 1931 he joined the staff of Kakunodate Junior High School in his home town. He taught there for the next three years, but each summer and winter vacation went regularly to Tokyo, eager to pursue training under his teacher Ueshiba. These years spent in his hometown were of great significance for it was during this time he met a man who, throughout his life, would become his greatest disciple, the young Hideo Oba.

In the spring of 1934, Tomiki resigned from Kakunodate Junior High School and went to Tokyo, his heart set on the distant horizons of Manchuria which was then under Japanese rule. After two years of preparation and training, in March 1936 he took up a post as lecturer at the Daido Academy in Manchuria. Just before his departure, Tomiki and a friend, Masami Takasaki, called on Jigoro Kano in the director's office at the Kodokan.

“The kind of techniques you have learned from Mr. Ueshiba are very necessary,” Kano told Tomiki on that occasion by way of encouragement. “In what was known as jujutsu in the old days, everyone used the same sort of techniques as Mr. Ueshiba. The problem, however, is how to incorporate them into training. That's the real difficulty."

The youthful Tomiki, just 35, was impressed by his teacher's words and strengthened his own resolve. "As long as we uphold your Judo principles," he told Kano resolutely, "I am sure we will succeed."

In the spring of 1938, when the new Kenkoku University was established in Manchuria, Tomiki was transferred to a position on its staff. In his lectures, he concentrated on two main areas of martial arts philosophy: the theory of peace as opposed to war; and methods for dealing with individual violence through the martial arts. His Aiki training was incorporated into the regular curriculum and became compulsory for all students of Judo and Kendo. Hampered by a lack of instructors, Tomiki sent for Hideo Oba from Akita Prefecture, now a 5th decree black belt, and set to work training instructors of his own.

In May 1940, Tomiki returned to Japan as manager of a 120-man Manchurian martial arts team to participate in a JapanManchuria Martial Arts Championship held in celebration of the 2,600th year of the establishment of the Imperial Era. Masami Takasaki introduced him to the second director of the Kodokan, Jiro Nango. Nango subsequently assembled all his top black belt holders, from instructor level down, and with Keiji Fujisawa, the Kodokan manager as his opponent, Tomiki gave a lecture on the relationship between

Judo and Aiki Budo, illustrating his talk with actual techniques.

This was a memorable year in Tomiki's Aikido career since it was on Empire Day, February 11, that he became the first student of Ueshiba ever to receive the 8th rank black belt.

On April 4, 1941, on the occasion of a memorial service to mark the third anniversary of the death of Jigoro Kano, a demonstration was held by former students of the Kodokan now practicing other martial arts. Upon seeing Tomiki's demonstration, Kodokan director Nango expressed great admiration and was obviously impressed. In the summer of that year, Nango set up a special research group called the Research Committee on rikaku taisei techniques headed by Kunio Murakami. The term rikaku taisei techniques - roughly translated as "techniques used when standing apart from one's opponent" - referred to the use in Judo of techniques and body movements for dealing with attacks by an opponent using strikes, punches, kicks or a weapon. The group concentrated chiefly on atemi or striking techniques and joint techniques to control and render the opponent powerless by applying pressure against his joints.

Each summer through 1943 and in the spring of 1944, Tomiki returned from Manchuria to lecture to the committee at a special training course. The committee membership comprised more than a dozen of the Kodokan's leading instructor-level Judo experts including, besides Murakami, such top names as Nagaoka, Samura, Mifune and Iizuka all of whom later became 10th dans. Nevertheless, the training course took the form of Tomiki - who was the youngest of the group - lecturing on the results of his research and the committee members taking careful note. Each time he returned to Japan, Tomiki also conducted a short course for members of the high school Judo instructors training center. Through these experiences, Tomiki became convinced that kata - the forms in which techniques are presented for training purposes - should not be a matter of display, but rather designed to develop genuine ability in the student practicing them. He embarked on historical research into the martial

arts, concentrating in particular on a thorough study of training methods using the bamboo sword.

As though in response to the positive stand adopted by Kodokan Director Nango, an article by Professor Tomiki entitled "A Systematic Study of Rikaku Taisei Techniques in Judo" was published by the graduate school of Kenkoku University in August of 1944. However, along with Japan's defeat in the world war and the fall of Manchuria, Tomiki's great efforts came to naught.

Post-War Activities For more than three years after the war ended,

Tomiki was interned in a prison camp on the shores of Lake Balkhash in the Soviet Union. Even here, his vitality and keen spirit of inventiveness were fully apparent. This took the form of his idea of Judo exercises. In an environment without a place to train or proper training clothes, Tomiki thought out exercises based on Judo that the men could practice during their breaks between labor. These were “derived from fundamental elements of the vast technical system of atemi and joint techniques according to Judo principles, and given broad expression in the form of powerful rhythms.”

On November 1, 1948, Tomiki landed at Maizuru on the Japanase coast and six days later returned to his hometown of Kakunodate. The following year, in 1949 - before the inauguration of the All-Japan Judo Federation - he went to Tokyo to enter the Kodokan and began working vigorously for the revival and development of Judo, which at the time was under purge. He promptly published a treatise, "Judo as a New Form of Physical Education," which appeared serially in the journal Judo of that year in the September to December issues.

On October 1 of the same year, Tomiki joined the Physical Education Section (now the Physical Education Department) of Waseda University as a part-time lecturer. He lectured on physical education (physical education supervision) which, with the inauguration of the new postwar university system, had become a compulsory subject.

The following year in 1950, Tomiki became permanent manager of the All-Japan Judo

Federat ion in addit ion to overseeing the administration of the Kodokan, and was active in an executive capacity through 1954.

In April 1951 he became a fulltime lecturer at Waseda and at the same time was put in charge of the Judo club. Under his leadership, the students of the Judo club including Shoichi Teramoto, Isamu Ishii, Gensuke Yuki and others, besides what was known as Judo itself, also studied techniques of Judo for use in the rikaku taisei or "separated" stance - in other words, Aiki techniques.

In April 1952, when the Waseda University Physical Education Department was inaugurated, Tomiki began teaching a practical course of "Judo exercises" for female students only (and from the following year for men and women combined) as well as the actual techniques of Judo. Tomiki taught this course based on his own ideas to male and female students for eight years, before its name was changed to Aikido in March 1960. A textbook, Judo Exercises was also published in 1954.

In October of that year, the All-Japan Student Judo Federation was established with Tomiki playing a major role in its foundation. In addition, from that year he began teaching at the National Police Academy in which capacity he continued for twenty-eight years until 1979.

According to Shoichi Teramoto, Tomiki was already teaching 12 Aikido kata during this period and had established a methodology which took the risk out of practicing the potentially dangerous techniques of Aiki Jujutsu.

In April 1953, Tomiki was made a professor and in June of that year, he travelled to the United States to teach Judo. He had been asked to teach by the U.S. Army and, with Sumiyuki Kotani an 8th decree black belt at the time, and Tadao Otaki a 7th decree black belt, and others journeyed to the U.S. Their instructional tour took them to fifteen states and one island before their return to Japan.

In September 1954, Professor Akamatsu became head of the Physical Educat ion Department and the following October he named Professor Tomiki the Director of Studies. Professor Tomiki was active in this post for the next six years until September 1960.

On February 26, 1958, the Physical Education Board approved the establishment of an Aikido club. Professor Tomiki believed that students of Judo should simultaneously practice the techniques of Aiki which are in fact techniques for Judo where the opponents are standing apart (the way to best use the power of mind and body.) He had been teaching students in the Judo club not only the techniques included in the Judo competition rules but also various techniques and kata outside the regulation techniques. However, there were limits to what he could personally teach to students who were already fatigued from hard practice in the way of comprehensive theory and techniques. So as to continue to further even more his long research, Professor Tomiki had the "Aiki group" - a nucleus of devotees in the Judo club - disband and took the step of establishing an independent Aikido club.

In Aikido circles at that time, there was of course no competitive sparring. The most difficult problem Professor Tomiki faced was how to establish a method of competitive combat. However, he and the Aikido club took upon themselves the task of resolving this problem. This was because the Physical Education Department Board had approved establishment of the new Aikido club on the condition that "Aikido be made competitive."

Professor Tomiki brilliantly resolved this problem by subsequently developing the bare-handed (toshu) and dagger (tanto) attack forms of competitive sparring. His followers today are continuing the work of research into this competitive Aikido which was Professor Tomiki's creation with the aim of developing a content which considered truly be called the Rikaku Taisei Judo to which he so fervently aspired.

Around October 1962 a preparatory committee was set up to establish a specialized course in physical education studies" in the Faculty of Education. Professor Tomiki participated in the planning as representative of the Physical Education Department. It was finally decided to begin the specialized course in 1964, and on April 1 of that year, Professor Tomiki was placed in charge of the new course transferring to the Faculty of

Education. Professor Kaoru Abe of the Faculty of Education admiringly describes Professional Tomiki as "both the founder and father" of the specialized course.

Starting in the mid 1950s , Professor Tomiki published the first of three books. His Judo and Aikido, published in English in 1956 and also translated into French in 1960, has been described as a historic work establishing the name of Aikido throughout the world. In 1958, his Introduction to Aikido also went out to the world. This book, continuing unrevised to the present day, shows the universal brilliance of Professor Tomiki's theory. In 1963 he published his New Aikido Textbook, a textbook for practical physical education training. In this book he also touches upon the subject of competitive combat.

In March 1970, Professor Tomiki retired from Waseda University, the stage of the main activities of his life. During the following decade, however, he showed himself at his peak, and his eager spirit of inquiry was never still. In October 1970, he published a collection of representative essays written following the war entitled "Physical Education and the Martial Arts."

In November of the same year, the much awa i ted F i r s t A l l Japan S tuden t A ik ido Championships were held. In 1979, the championship took place for the tenth consecutive time.

Professor Tomiki also had a colorful career in academic circles. Besides lecturing at Waseda and other universities on such subjects as physical education supervision, physical education history, and the theory and principles of physical education, he was an active member of the Physical Education Research Society's special working groups on physical education history and the principles of physical education. In particular, Professor Tomiki played a major part in the establishment of the special working group on physical education history whose preparatory council he was chosen to represent and acted as coordinator for physical education history researchers from all parts of Japan. In the closing years of his life, he was especially active in the special working group on

physical education principles, and in July 1979, only five months before he passed away, he gave a 30-minute research report entitled “The Strength and Beauty of the Japanese Martial Arts.”

The Japan Martial Arts Research Society was established in 1968. Moreover, Professor Tomiki also devoted his energies to the establishment of this society as a member of its founding committee. From 1973 up until the time of his passing, he was active as the vice-president of the Japan Martial Arts Research Society.

The number of essays and other writings Professor Tomiki published in academic journals, physical education magazines, Judo and martial arts journals, newspapers and various lexicons was overwhelming. His last work was an essay entitled "The Essence of the Japanese Martial Arts" (New Physical Education, October 1970), the latter part of which contains the "basic structure" concept that is a keyword for explaining Professor Tomiki's theory.

In December 1974, the new Japan Aikido Association was established with Professor Tomiki as its head. The Association was founded to be an overall body for the sport of Aikido based on the theories of Professor Tomiki and spread through the efforts of his followers, not only in Japan but throughout the world.

In February 1977, Professor Tomiki visited Australia with his wife Fusae and one of his followers at the invitation of the Australian Aikido Association led by disciple Mr. John Gay. The 77-year-old master was given a splendid welcome wherever he went.

Professor Tomiki’s Last Days In July 1978, Professor Tomiki's health

declined, and on August 15 he was admitted to Ogikubo Hospital where he underwent an operation the next day. It was then confirmed that Professor Tomiki's illness was colon cancer. This fact was kept strictly secret and even until the last Professor Tomiki himself was not told.

On October 17, 1979, Professor Tomiki underwent another operation following that of the previous year. He regained consciousness much sooner than on the previous occasion and was able

to converse as usual the morning after the operation. Even while his body was struggling against the disease, Professor Tomiki's mind was on the things he wanted to achieve after leaving the hospital. These included a variety of plans such as the completion of two volumes on Judo and Aikido he had been working on simultaneously and tours both within Japan and abroad to promote the spread of Aikido.

However, his illness stood in the way of all these plans. Professor Tomiki as virtually unable to eat because of nemesis, but still he exercised rigorously by pushing his arms and legs against his bed frame (isometric training). This was the effort he made to be able to get up, stand up and continue teaching. However, gradually as the days passed, the conversations of his early days in the hospital when he eagerly talked with followers who visited him about all kinds of things related to Aikido, Judo, jujutsu and the martial arts, became fewer in number.

On December 24 at 9 p.m., a group bearing candles from a nearby church came to the hospital garden to celebrate Christmas and the evening sky was lit with their sacred flame. It seemed as though, through God's grace, the tireless dedication of Professor Tomiki's wife Fusae over more than two months of selflessly nursing her husband would allow him the strength to see the New Year in. However, the next day, on December 25, at 4:10pm, Kenji Tomiki’s full life came to a close.

1900 Born to a samurai land-owning family

1910* Starts judo in 4th grade

1914* Starts junior high and becomes captain of judo club

1915-1921 Graduates from high school; loses four years of training after contracting tuberculosis and then typhoid

1922 Enters prep course at Waseda University

1923 Becomes a student at Waseda; Joins the judo club and earns his shodan

1926 Nishimura, a judo friend, introduces him to Morihei Ueshiba (O Sensei)

1927 Graduates with degree in political science, while training under Kano at Kodokan; reaches yondan

1928 Enters Waseda graduate school in economics; Promoted to godan in judo; With Kano’s blessing, he begins training with Ueshiba in Ayabe during summer breaks

1929 Starts work at Miyagi Prefectural Electric Company in Sendai

1931-1934 Starts teaching at Kakunodate Junior HS; Continues training with Ueshiba during vacations; Meets Hideo Ohba Sensei

1934-1936 Moves to Tokyo and begins training for the army

1936 (March) Moves to Daido Academy in Manchuria

1938 Begins teaching at Kenkoku University in Manchuria; teaches courses focusing on the theory of peace instead of war and dealing with individual violence through martial arts; Summons Ohba (now godan in judo) to come help

1940 (February 11) First people to receive hachidan from Ueshiba

1940 (May) Travels to Tokyo as head of 120 person Manchurial Martial Arts Team

1941 Kodokan establishes committee to study rikaku taisei techniques

1943-1944 Returns to Tokyo each summer to teach this committee

1944 Tomiki’s essay on rikaku taisei techniques is published by Kenkoku University

1945 (September 2) Japan surrenders to Allied Forces

1945-1948 Is interred in Russian POW camp at Lake Balkhash in present day Kazkhstan

1948 (November 1) Returns to Japan

1949 Again begins teaching at Kodokan

1949 (October 1) Becomes part-time lecturer in PE department of Waseda University

1950-1954 Serves as permanent manager of All-Japan Judo Federation and oversees Kodokan administration

1951 (April) Becomes full-time lecturer at Waseda and takes over leadership of judo club

1952-1960 Teaches “judo exercises” which is renamed as aikido in March 1960

1953 (April) Becomes full professor at Waseda; (June) Visits the 15 states and one island of the USA

A Timeline of Tomiki Kenji Sensei

1954-1979 Begins teaching at National Police Academy

1955-1960 (October) Serves as Director of Studies for Waseda PE Department

1956 Judo and Aikido is published

1958 (February) Waseda Aikido Club approved on condition that “Aikido be made competitive”;

Introduction to Aikido is published

1963 New Aikido Textbook is published

1967 Establishes the Shodokan in Osaka; building is completed in 1976+

1969 Commissions Nariyama to begin teaching randori rules at universities in Osaka; makes his first appearance in Black Belt magazine+

1970 (March) Retires from Waseda; (November) First All-Japan Student Aikido Championship is held

1972 Attends Second Japanese Budo Festival, the only time three 2nd generation aikido teachers were present (Kisshomaru Ueshiba and Gozo Shioda also attended)+

1973-1979 Serves as Vice President of Japan Martial Arts Research Society

1974 Establishes Japan Aikido Association

1977 Visits with John Gay in Australia

1978 Health Begins to Decline

1979 (December 25) Passes away

A Timeline of Tomiki Kenji Sensei - Continued

This timeline was prepared by Robert Dziubla based on personal discussions with Tomiki Sensei and further personal research. Items marked with + were added as supplements by Erik DiVietro based on research into the lives and work of Tomiki Sensei, Shishida Sensei and Nariyama Sensei.

After Professor TomikiComing issues of “Tomiki News” will continue to

flesh out Professor Tomiki’s legacy as it has come down to us. For now, just a couple small notes should suffice to bring us to the present.

Prof. Fumiaki Shishida became the head of the aikido program at Waseda University after Tomiki Sensei retired, and later became a tenured professor there, teaching courses on martial arts.

Hideo Ohba Sensei became chairman of the JAA after Professor Tomiki’s death. Ohba Sensei was chairman until his own passing in 1986, pioneering the use of the Koryu Kata as vital components of training in the period. Prior to his passing, Ohba Sensei and the JAA promoted Nariyama Sensei and Shishida Sensei to the rank of hachidan.

Upon Ohba Sensei’s passing, the two of them became co-Shihan of the JAA. In 1989, the JAA hosted the first international tournament in Nara, Japan.

In 2012, Nariyama Sensei withdrew from the JAA and formed the Shodokan Aikido Federation (SAF). Both organizations have extensive networks of affiliated dojo and clubs in Japan and internationally.

Tomiki Aikido of the Americas is an independent, national association which maintains a cordial relationship with both the JAA and the SAF; and hosts teachers from both groups regularly. Regardless of the organizations and acronyms, all practitioners owe a tremendous debt to our great teacher, Professor Tomiki.

Spencer June, Orange AikiQuresh Bora, Intel Santa ClaraCheryl Chi, Intel Santa Clara

Moving Up On behalf of the Board of Directors and senior instructors, congratulations to everyone who was promoted in the past quarter! Never stop improving your skills through careful attention to instruction, constant participation in training. How do you get better? You show up and train!

Testing Fees

If you have not yet done so, remember to go on tomiki.org and pay your testing fees. These fees do more than pay for your certificate. They go toward the development of better teaching resources that can be used across the organization.

A Note from the Board of DirectorsThe last few months have seen some changes to our Board of Directors. We believe these are all positive changes which will advance our mission of providing exceptional support to Tomiki Aikido dojo across the nation.

After a number of years of service, Antonio Gonzalez has stepped down as Treasurer. This was a change which he anticipated, freeing him up to spend more time with his family. Greg Linden, one of our founding board members and a member of the first American team to defeat the Waseda team, has come on board as treasurer. To focus on his campaign for state senate in California, Sean Flynn has elected to step down as Director of Marketing. Erik DiVietro was asked to take up this role. Erik will fold his current role as website and social media manager back into the marketing directorship. In October, Mark Colopy elected to step down as Director of Communications. Erik Townsend, who was serving as Director already, will assume Mark’s responsibilities.

Robert Dziubla, 8º DanShihan, Chairman and President

Moe Stephens, 7º DanShihan

Bob King, 6º DanTechnical Director

Wade Current, 6º DanDirector of Events & Activities

Greg Linden, 4º DanDirector & Treasurer

Jeff Davidson, 4º DanDirector

William Ball, 4º DanDirector

Ari Reinstein, 4º DanDirector

Erik Townsend, 4º DanDirector

Carlos Teuscher, 3º DanDirector & General Counsel

Erik DiVietro, 2º DanDirector of Marketing

Board of Directors