“Regarding my interest to assist the development of sport judo as well as the Japanese Martial Arts in the U.S. in the early days, I am forwarding the attached package of bits of material for your review and research. I am sorry to send you my personal materials involving public relations, letters, etc.; however, you may need to evaluate the authenticity of other materials.
On future correspondence on the work you have in mind, I suggest you initiate contact with Donn Draeger, c/o CPO Box 270, Tokyo, Japan, as I personally feel he is the most qualified and best source to provide you much and authentic information on the Martial Arts, (world-wide) and no doubt provide accurate records on judo competitors, World Judo Tournaments. He has in his research much information from the beginning to the present on the development of Sport Judo internationally. On hand-to-hand combat, Wes Brown and Karl Kitt are also very reliable on past hand-to-hand combat history background in the U.S. With your contact sources there and other officials, you should do very well.”
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One of the big problems with many of the Aikido articles printed by westerners is that they are opinion articles, often with fuzzy interpretations of numerous Aikido or Aikido-related ideas. Sometimes the idea of “Aikido-related” is a far stretch indeed, getting into self-help, psychology, and other areas that Ueshiba never directily mentioned or advised on in his life.
Ellis Amdur has written a review of our recently-released DVD titled “Noriaki Inoue: Aikido’s Forgotten Pioneer” hosted at 
“Hi Tim
Save over 30% off retail price! We are offering a special set of 
“The technique sometimes substitues strength. It’s difficult for someone to defeat me until today.”
Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.
“I feel the integration of centering, breathing and projection are fundamental to effective movement in aikido, both for nage and uke. I say this because no matter how precise the alignment of your hanmi to the line of attack, the width of your stance or the maai (tactical distance) between you and your partner, an application may be a complete failure if you are not centered, your breathing is not focused and you are not projecting power through fully extended arms.
“If we look at our average uke, we notice that they have an internal structure made up of bones, joints and muscles. This structure in a static state has a high intrinsic strength in certain positions and is vulnerable and weak in others. Generally, forces along the bone line are easily absorbed and those applied at 90 degrees to the bone line require effort from the uke to maintain structural integrity. Joints too have varying degrees of movement and can be quite complex. Fortunately, all humans are roughly the same in their physical structure and so any questions we have regarding the easiest way to move a body can be answered through examination of ourselves.
A couple of mornings ago I was walking down the street toward the dojo. I had come for the usual morning practice, carrying something that felt unusual and a little uncomfortable. It was what is euphemistically called an “advance health care directive”—one of those papers you sign stating what measures, if any, you’d like taken when you’re dying.
“The outlining principle of Yin and Yang is easy enough to grasp in theory, but translating it into something physical we can repeatedly execute is usually another matter. The difficulty of this was reinforced for me when observing one of my student executing the basic ikkyo technique.
“I was a hydrologist for the U. S. Geological Survey for 43 years, and have been a hydraulic engineer for the South Carolina Department of Transportation for 4 years. I began Aikido in Atlanta in 1972. I studied with Rodney Grantham from 1972-79, Clyde Takeguchi and Gordon Sakamoto in Washington, DC, 1979-84, and have been sensei of Columbia Aikikai in Columbia, SC since 1984.
The finest in aikido instruction from Morihiro Saito, 9th dan!