After paying the registration fees, the young Iwata was admitted to the private dojo of Meijiro in November 1930. This house was in fact the temporary residence of master Ueshiba, before the opening of a real dojo in the district of Wakamatsu-Cho Ushigome .
The gradual move of the Ueshiba family and its boarding students, Noriaki Inoue and Hisao Kamada, to Ushigome, took place from December 1930 to the spring of 1931.
Thanks to the efforts of Admiral Takeshita and various patrons, the opening of an authentic dojo, in the commercial district of Tokyo, finally makes it possible to accommodate a larger number of students, in line with the growing reputation of Ueshiba sensei.
This new wooden building, about 120 square meters, is called Kobukan , “the dojo of the imperial warrior”. The training surface is made up of eighty tatami mats. The building also houses the housing of the Ueshiba family and the quarters reserved for the uchi deshis.
The official inauguration took place in April 1931, in the presence of Admiral Seikyo Asano , Admiral Isamu Takeshita, General Makoto Miura, Doctor Kenzo Futaki, the Ueshiba family and the first Uchi Deshi of Kobukan: Noriaki Inoue, Hisao Kamada, Hajime Iwata and Minoru Mochizuki.
Source: Aikido/Facebook
