“Ueshiba’s techniques were truly alive, whether he was empty-handed or holding a staff or sword. You could almost ‘see’ the ki flowing from his hands.”

Yesterday, we made available to our readers a wonderful article titled “The Last Swordsman: The Yoshio Sugino Story, by Tsukasa Matsuzaki. This piece is an extraordinary read. Sugino Sensei was involved in many aspects of aiki history, the film industry, and a 70-year martial arts teaching history. His story is truly awe-inspiring.

The article is a lengthy one and must reading for anyone interested in the early history of aikido, Kurosawa samurai flicks, and a plethora of other budo-related topics.

The photo above is one I thought you would find it interesting. Here you see Sugino Sensei instructing Toshiro Mifune in the use of the sword on the set of “Yojimbo”–an absolute must-see-film–while famous director Akira Kurosawa looks on.

The whole article is freely available through Monday, March 5th, so please take advantage of this opportunity!

Aikido Journal Members Site subscribers: If you are already a subscriber, click here to login and read this definitive article of famous swordsman Yoshio Sugino, an early student of Morihei Ueshiba

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