THE Heart of AIKIDO: Hikitsuchi Michio, 10. Dan Sensei

Michio Hikitsuchi (引土道雄 Hikitsuchi Michio?, July 14, 1923 – February 2, 2004) was an aikido instructor and was the chief instructor of the Kumano Juku Dojo, in Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, for fifty years.
 At nine years old he began kendo and later kenjutsu, jujutsu, bojutsu and karate.[1] Hikitsuchi trained extensively in Jūkendō (bayonet) as a young man, and was very skilled in both iaido and kendo.
When he was fourteen years old, he met Morihei Ueshiba for the first time. At that time there was an age requirement for studying budo with Uesiba, but they made an exception for Hikitsuchi. Hikitsuchi recounts a midnight, lights-out training with Ueshiba, in which he cut off the tip of Ueshiba’s bokken. The piece flew off, and he searched throughout the dojo for it.
Eventually, Ueshiba pulled it out of the folds of his kimono, praising him highly for his skill. Months later, Ueshiba gave Hikitsuchi a scroll entitled “Bojutsu Masakatsu Agatsu” - True Victory is Self-Victory.
The scroll was extensively illustrated by a famous artist, and contained Ueshiba's written explanations of techniques. Meik Skoss, who has viewed the scroll, wrote, “One of the phrases on the scroll is very interesting, ‘each of these pictures is the seed for a hundred techniques; study them well.’” Michio Hikitsuchi received his 10th dan in 1969, three months before Ueshiba's death.



The Heart of Aikido Part 2 The Heart of Aikido Part 3