07/17/2026
Today we commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the death of Shioda Gozo kancho, the founder of Yoshinkan Aikido. Kancho was the 'little giant' of the aikido world, known for his uncanny power despite his small stature.
After growing up learning judo from his father in their home dojo, kancho was a live-in student of the founder of aikido, Ueshiba Morihei O'Sensei, in the 1930s, and again briefly after serving in the Japanese occupational government in Indonesia and Taiwan during World War II when the war ended. He gave an award-winning demonstration at the All Japan Kobudo Demonstrations in 1954, which brought aikido into the public eye and connected kancho to financial backers which allowed him to establish his own dojo, the Yoshinkan.
With a 40 year legacy of teaching top-tier aikido, kancho had many brilliant students. He established a training course for the Tokyo Riot Police, which later expanded to also train foreigners with the goal of them becoming tough and competent instructors. Kushida Takashi and Inoue Kyoichi who helped him systematize the Yoshinkan kihon Waza curriculum and kihon dosa basic movements to facilitate group instruction in aikido. Through the efforts of these men and later uchideshi like Takeno Takefumi and Chida Tsutomu, the curriculum evolved into its present form. Many other brilliant uchideshi joined and learned over the years, with a golden era of Yoshinkan Aikido occuring during the 1980s and 1990s at the Musashi Koganei and Ochiai hombu dojos.
Despite his teacher, O'Sensei, passing in 1969, kancho was never satisfied and continued to learn, hone, and refine his aikido skills, such as private study sessions with Horikawa Kodo, a later top student of O'Sensei's teacher Takeda Sokaku of Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu.
At KW Yoshinkan Aikido, we celebrate this legacy and strive to continue to learn and improve under the guidance of Robert Mustard shihan, who spent many years at the Yoshinkan hombu in Musashi Koganei and then in Ochiai learning from Takeno sensei, Chida sensei and kancho.
