Yoshimitsu Yamada was a Japanese-American aikido instructor credited for bringing the defensive martial art known as aikido to the United States and also encouraged his students to develop their own understanding and meanings of it. Yamada was born in Tokyo, Japan and in 1955 at age 17 he entered Ueshiba’s dojo to train in aikido as live-in student. He stayed there for 7 years training and teaching aikido to American service members stationed in Tokyo. In 1964 he went to the United States to do ... moreYoshimitsu Yamada was a Japanese-American aikido instructor credited for bringing the defensive martial art known as aikido to the United States and also encouraged his students to develop their own understanding and meanings of it. Yamada was born in Tokyo, Japan and in 1955 at age 17 he entered Ueshiba’s dojo to train in aikido as live-in student. He stayed there for 7 years training and teaching aikido to American service members stationed in Tokyo. In 1964 he went to the United States to do an aikido demonstration at the 1964 World's Fair in New York. He soon took over as the head instructor at New York Aikikai, a dojo but struggled for several years to attain any students interested in learning aikido. With time his group of students grew, he even inspired others to open up aikido dojos all over the country. Yamada was president of the United States Aikido Federation and chairman of the Latin America Aikido Federation. He continued to teach at his dojo well into his 80s.
