Tada Hiroshi Shihan is one of the last living students of O Sensei Ueshiba Morihei. He has taught some of the greatest teachers in activity, both in Japan and abroad.
He Shihan currently holds the rank of 9th Dan, which makes him the highest ranking instructor in the Hombu Dojo’s hierarchy.
Tada Shihan is know for the extraordinary dynamism of his demonstrations even though he is now 90’s.
Hiroshi Tada (多田宏) is one of the most influential instructors to come out of the post-war Tokyo Hombu dojo. Born in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan December 13th 1929, he began training at Aikikai Hombu Dojo on March 4th 1950.
Budo beginning
He encountered budo when he was a small child. People before the Second World War all did. They started practice in primary school. Furthermore, in his family a style of archery was transmitted. At the back of his house there was an impressive makiwara. He had the red and black bow that belonged to his father when he was as a child and he learned the basics with it.
It was always like that. The style was called Heki-Ryu Chikurin-ha Ban-pa It was a very rare school. It was taught in Tsushima to the upper class Samurai who earned more than 500 koku of rice per year. Although they had a shooting range in their home, they didn’t accept outside students. It was part of their family education. Everybody used to do this.
To be continued…
Source: Facebook/Aikido
