Koichi Tohei Sensei's passing

A sad day for aikido today as we learn of the passing of Koichi Tohei Sensei. The first student of O'Sensei to be issued with a 10th dan and a man largely responsible for the spread of aikido to the West. He founded the Ki Society and Shin Shin Toitsu style of Aikido and his principles of Ki are widely adopted by several aikido schools today. Our own link to Tohei Sensei comes through following the Ki Society until the early 2000's through the work of Williams sensei.  Our teacher today, Maruyama Sensei, founder of Aikido Yuishinkai was originallya student of the founder of Aikido and followed Tohei Sensei to the Ki Society at its inception and was for a time its Chief Instructor. From the Aikido Journal.

We received this message from David Shaner Sensei about the passing this morning of Koichi Tohei Sensei at the age of 91.

“Dear Aikido Friends, it is with great sadness that I share the passing of Koichi Tohei Sensei at 9:14 this morning in Japan. He was 91 years old. A closed family funeral will occur soon and in some weeks time a formal funeral will be planned in Tokyo where members and friends my be present. With deep gratitude for all his teaching helping many throughout the world to realize their true potential.”

This just received from Ki Society Headquarters in slightly edited form:

“Dear Chief Instructors,

We regret to inform you that Koichi Tohei Sensei passed away at 9:14 this morning. He was 91 years old.

Two weeks ago, he had sense of discomfort on his chest and it was found that he had inflammation of the lungs, so he had been receiving treatment. He went to intensive-care unit (ICU) twice and came back to general ward each time with his strength of Ki, however, his heart got weak little by little this morning and he passed away.....

read more at  http://blog.aikidojournal.com/blog/2011/05/19/koichi-tohei-sensei-passes-at-age-91/#comments

His son Shinichi Tohei is the current headmaster of the school and the current chief instructor Kataoka Sensei is scheduled to make his last visit to Australia in June (See Kataoka Sensei’s Last Visit to Australia.)