Find out the beggining of the story HERE.
A diligent practitioner, Katsuaki was promoted to the rank of 3rd dan on the occasion of the 1962 New Year (kagami biraki) after seven years of practice.
In September 1965, the Doshu Kisshomaru UESHIBA, asked him to replace, at short notice, a teacher who had to leave for West Germany and who had canceled his stay at the last moment.
4th dan and only 23 years old, Katsuaki is very hesitant. After a month of reflection, he made the decision to give up his job and left for a three-year stay in West Germany (FRG) with the title of official representative of the Aikikai of Tokyo.
After a one-week trip, ASAI Senseï arrived in the city of Münster on October 21, 1965. The next day, he conducted his first training in the dojo of the city’s Police Academy.
Like his friend Masamicho NORO, a teacher in France, his beginnings in Europe were very difficult. Overcoming spartan living conditions, Master ASAI also had to put up with the leaders of the National Judo Federation, the Deutscher Judo Bund (DJB).
He directed the Aikido section of the DJB for a year. Deeply disappointed by the role of “assistant” that the leaders offered him, he founded, with Dr. Karl-Friedrich LEISINGER , an independent structure. This organization is registered with the district court of Munster on November 7, 1967 under the term Aïkikaï Deutschland.
Despite the dissatisfaction of the judo leaders and their threats of total exclusion from their dojos, Master ASAI defends his independence and refuses any compromise.
Source: Facebook/Aikido
