Instructors

Instructors

Aikido is transmitted I Shin den Shin
from heart to heart
from instructor to student

O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, the Founder of Aikido

Morihei Ueshiba is the Founder of Aikido. He was born December 14, 1883, in Tanabe, in the Kumano area. He trained hard for numerous years and received deep and precious teachings in martial arts and in the spiritual realm.

He spent all his life fostering the path of harmony—Aikido—and extending it throughout the entire world. Through his teaching, he wanted to bring peace to all humanity. His defining feature was to give Budo the direction of the way of love.

He had a strong bond with the Kumano area and made many spiritual retreats there. He asked Hikitsuchi Sensei to build a Dojo in Shingu. After that, he taught many times in this Dojo.

He died on April 26, 1969. His grave is now in Tanabe, in the Kojan-ji temple area. After his death, he received the name of Aiko no Mikoto (Kami of the shining love).

Michio Hikitsuchi Sensei

Michio Hikitsuchi Sensei was the Dojo Cho of the Aikido Kumano Juku Dojo.

He was born July 14, 1923, in Shingu, in the Kumano area, Wakayama Prefecture. He followed O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba’s teaching since the age of 14 and had a very close relationship with him. In 1954, he built a Dojo in Shingu at O Sensei’s request.

On January 10, 1969, he received the rank of 10th dan Aikikai Tokyo directly from the hand of O Sensei.

He died on February 2, 2004. He left in the heart of all aikidoists who had met him the imprint of sharp severity and great generosity.

Seeing himself as “the open book of O Sensei”, he kept wide open the doors of his luminous knowledge for all his students in Japan and the world, and they remain deeply grateful to him.

Motomichi Anno Sensei

Motomichi Anno Sensei is the Dojo Cho of the Kishu Kumano Aikikai Funada Dojo.

He was born May 14, 1931, in the Kumano area. At the age of 23, he was received at the Kumano Juku Dojo by Hikitsuchi Sensei. For more than 40 years, he remained his faithful student until the death of his master. Now he is the Funada Dojo’s chief instructor.

Anno Sensei was also O Sensei’s student for 15 years. He received from him the rank of 6th dan Aikikai Tokyo.

Since 1978 he has held the rank of 8th dan. He has taught many seminars in the USA and in Europe.

With great generosity, he still transmits O Sensei’s teaching in the Kishu Kumano Aikikai Funada Dojo. This teaching is deeply rooted in the spiritual tradition of the sacred Kumano area. With infinite patience and tremendous goodness, he leads his students to the realization of harmony and love.

On January 12, 2009, he received the Japan Martial Arts Association Distinguished Service Award for Aikido from the Nihon Budo Kyogikai (Martial Arts Association of Japan), for the 55 years he had devoted to Aikido.

Jean-Pierre Kunzi Sensei

Jean-Pierre Kunzi is the Dojo Cho of the Aikido Geneva Takemusu Dojo. He now holds the rank of 5th dan Aikikai Tokyo.

He has trained many times at the Kumano Juku Dojo in Shingu, Japan. Now, he still receives O Sensei’s teaching through Motomichi Anno Sensei at the Funada Dojo in Japan. With rigor and kindness, Jean-Pierre Kunzi Sensei makes this teaching accessible to his students.

Thanks to his professional experience as a sports teacher since 1983 in Geneva, and as assistant director of a public school for some years, he possesses deep knowledge in pedagogy and human relations.

Answers to the most frequent questions