Sorry for not responding to this. I only just noticed your question upon looking at your latest blog entry. Although I've never got around to asking Isoyama Shihan if he did any other arts, I suspect that as with Saito (his childhood friend) he probably did judo or karate at junior high school, just as the current generation of local aikidoka do now. Whatever the case, it seems to me that aikido was Isoyama Shihan's "core art" from a young age and the same probably goes for Saito Shihan.

Thanks for that Carl. He is truly the epitome of Sun Tzu's saying "To win without fighting is the highest skill". I'm just curious if Isoyama Shihan has trained in any Martial Arts other than Aikido? I thought Morihiro Saito Shihan trained exclusively in Aikido, but I read in an interview that he had trained a little in Shito-Ryu Karate-do, Judo, and Kendo, prior to entering the Iwama dojo.

He kicks the *?!:#$ out of me every Thursday. He doesn't need to fight. He uses aikido. He's also a very kind man.