I am updating the website as of April 29,2008. Please send me any photographs and any stories of Saito Sensei's wife, whom we all know as "okusan. There have been requests to bring some light onto her supportive and possibly heroic role over the years.

Morihiro Saito, 9th dan, shihan, and our aikido Sensei and friend, was with us from March 31, 1928 until May 12, 2002.

Let's follow photographically how this strong young farm boy developed into the man who continues to inspire us.

PURPOSE OF THIS WEBSITE

Saito Sensei was extremely well photographed for his many books and videos. However, this is a central place for us to share more informal and personal photos and memories. Let's enjoy photos and stories that remind us of the many-faceted person Saito Sensei was and the many good times we shared along the aiki-michi.

Links to informal online YouTube of Saito Sensei coming soon.

SHARE YOUR PHOTOS

You may have a favorite photo of Saito Sensei, Hitohiro, Okusan, or others of the extensive Saito family. Please include the year and place, circumstances and names of individuals in the photo. E-mail your favorite Saito Sensei photographs and stories to Patricia Yarrow at pyarrow@well.com, or send them by mail:

    Patricia Yarrow
    Ryogoku 3-3-8--404
    Sumida-ku, Tokyo-to
    Japan 130-0026
    (cellphone) 090-1678-9441

IWAMA DESHI DATABASE

Soren Andersen in Copenhagen, Denmark has launched a database of people who stayed in Iwama. If YOU stayed in Iwama, please email Soren Andersen your name and the dates you were there. For those of us who were there many times, just do your best to be complete. The link to the database will be posted here soon.

SAITO SENSEI PHOTO GALLERIES

Alessandro Tittarelli of Aiki Shuren Dojo Ancona has a photogallery with pictures of Saito Morihiro Shihan and Saito Hitohiro Sensei,

SAITO SENSEI VIDEO CLIPS

Paul Durand of Aïkido Bordeaux is assembling video clips for free distribution on his webpage.

THEME PAGES

• Saito Sensei and Bill Witt: The Early Years

• Tenugui Series

NOTES

• Please include a link to this site (www.saitosensei.com)

if you post a photograph from here.

• The title "Sensei" is used with Saito Sensei. For simplicity, everyone else is referred to by name only.

• Photo recognition indicates the source (and photographer if known) of the photo and is not necessarily the kind person who sent it.

• The Takemusu Aikido Association

(TAA) generously supports www.saitosensei.com by providing server space and covering the annual domain name fee.

WEBSITE HISTORY

• August 1, 2002. Website launched.

• August 19, 2002. Pages added: "Tenugui" and "Bill Witt: Early Years".

• February 22, 2003. "Hitohiro Sensei" page added. My new address to mail photographs for this website.

• July 15, 2003. Remove reference to "under construction" for Andreas Wiemann's dojo. Update Hitohiro's webpage. Check format.

• June 6, 2004. Add photos from 1973 from Mary Bartlett, and two from 1989 from France. Added seminar links to Hitohiro page. Viewer count: 13,392.

• July 15, 2004. Add photos from 1970-1990 from Bruce Klickstein, and one from Roland Spitzbarth. Italicize all Japanese words. Updated Hitohiro page with his dojo website and email address. Added email link to Soren's "Iwama Deshi Database" project. Viewer count: 15,030.

• May 12, 2005. Add "Letters to the Website" page and two photos. Change link name from "Best Photos" to "Favorite Photos". Correct names, titles, and a few links. NEXT: Adding photos from Turramurra. Viewer count: 22,265."

• May 24, 2005. Added photos from Derek Minus of Turramurra, Australia. Special thanks for early photos of Hitohiro. Viewer count: 22,630.

• June 2005. TAA agrees to fund the domain name. Aviv Goldman had graciously paid for the name until this point.

• December 25, 2005. I wrote my thesis, completed my MA in Japanese language and literature, said fond farewell to UCAR aikido, and moved to the remote island of Awaji in Japan. Website connectivity is problematic. Updates: Photos added to 2001 from Jean Marc Serio. TAA of Italy weblink corrected. Request from Justin in London honored. Viewer count: 28,707.

• August 12, 2006. Now I am settled in Yokohama, Japan, enjoying the fruits of my recent MA, teaching English for a private high school, and contemplating my future research. I'll start visiting Iwama and Hitohiro in the Spring of 2007. Updates: Additional photos from Roland Spitzbarth (Suisse), Roy Vrijs, Greetz Roy (Holland), and Joerg Beile (Suisse). Bruce Klickstein page reintegrated into yearly pages. All links checked. Added Wikipedia links. Added kanji for names. Corrections and additions from Brian Lemko (California,USA), Michael Hacker, Richard Hutchison (Georgia, USA), and Christopher Li (Hawai'i). Viewer count: 36,230.

• March 28, 2007. Update copywrite dates. Minor corrections. Would like to revitalize the Hitohiro page. On homepage, launched links to Saito Sensei photo galleries and video collections. Viewer count: 43,945.

• April 19, 2007. Update all pages to 2007. Name correction from the person's now grown son. New server meant new logging on info. Viewer count: 44,553 .

• April 30, 2008. I've finally moved back into Tokyo! Next month I rejoin my friends at Yoyogi aikido. In the middle of updating the entire website now. Carlos Nogueira from Brasil sent many wonderful photos. I'm posting several. Adding links. Viewer count: 54,808 .

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