raul rodrigo

Aikikai Hombu, led by Moriteru Ueshiba, has been sending its shihan and shidoin to the Philippines nearly every year since the early 1980s. You need their names too? It is the Camar group that chooses not to attend when these Japanese teachers from Hombu (Yokota, Yasuno, Endo, Sugawara, Kobayashi, Fujita, Seki and many others) come here to give seminars. And Filipinos from the Aikikai affiliated federations have gone and trained in Hombu Dojo under these teachers and others. I am sure even your Japanese friend knows who Seishiro Endo is.

There is no question that Manila Aikido once had an affiliation with Hombu. Just as there is no question that it no longer has an affiliation with Hombu. In itself, it's not a big deal. Training is training. Affiliation in itself is no indication of quality. As I am sure Doshu himself would say.