“‘This is totally befuddling to me – I can’t tell you I expected it or wanted it,’ said Hans Goto, 59, of San Anselmo, who credited his students, family and colleagues for his promotion to seventh-degree black belt, known also as 7th dan black belt. ‘But it is a great honor, and the reality will sink in when I return to the U.S.’”
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 too, was told by Senseis Kobayashi Yasuo, Kanai Mitsunari, Fujita Masatake, and others, that the traditional understanding was similar to what Leyard Shihan alluded to. Anyone who was in good standing with Aikikai, was actively teaching the Founder’s Aikido, and was awarded 6th dan, were automatically considered ‘Shihan’. There were no separate certificates, no special announcements, and there was no need to maintain a formal hierachical classification that gave favored status to one individual or nationality over another.”
“Remember that training in class is not the same as ‘on the street’ combat. The Dojo is place to perfect your technique and discover a better way to achieve all things in life. It is a place of study and research, in which you need to throw all of yourself to make progress. Taking the position of the thrower and the thrown are both essential to understanding the mechanics of aikido.”
The article below has been selected from the 
Every time you go to learn some fighting art, as part of the propaganda spiel, you are told that; “It is character building.” At the same time you can smell the needy insecurity and see the dollar signs in the eyes of the teacher or whoever it is that’s trying to recruit you.
We would like to announce the availability of a rare DVD featuring Noriaki Inoue, nephew of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba, one of aikido’s trailblazers. This new offering in both English and French is titled 
“[Yoshio Sugino Sensei] was also very balanced in his character. By this I mean, he could be strict, in a nice way. Like a schoolteacher, he knew what you needed. This is what you need and he would point it out. But even in doing this, he was very kind. He corrected you when it needed to be corrected”