While a number of Morihiro Saito’s students preferred to remain affiliated with the Aikikai, others decided to follow Hitohiro Saito upon his break from the organization.
Today he teaches full-time at his own Tanrenkan and travels constantly inside Japan and around the world, instructing at seminars attended by hundreds of aikido students each month.
His Aikido is known for being precise, austere and dynamic; he emphasizes aiki-jō and aiki-ken. As a teacher he is demanding, always insisting in the deep studies of the basis of Aikido as the only way to get to understand the Aikido of the Founder and of his father Morihiro Saito.
Hitohiro Sensei is also a professional chef, calligrapher, painter, and sculptor. In his atelier he carves mostly traditional Japanese masks and shishigashira (獅子頭 lion mask).
His wife and children also practice daily at his dojo, and in 2016 his sons began teaching Aikido seminars internationally.
To be continued…
Source: Facebook/Aikido
