Icho Ryu Aikibudo (aka the TNBBC) is moving from our current dojo arrangement with Aaron Fields' Seattle Jujutsu Club to
Seattle School of Aikido.
In our new arrangement, Icho Ryu will be a subset of the general curriculum taught at Seattle School of Aikido. Full dues paying members of the dojo will be able to take classes in Aikido, Icho Ryu Aikibudo (with instructor's permission) and
Shinto Ryu Iai-Battojutsu.
It's our hope that this relationship will benefit the established Aikido community of SSoA and allow Icho Ryu to have a more public face in the greater Seattle Aiki community. More info below:
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Icho Ryu Aikibudo is the name given to the methodology that was developed by Bernie Lau, a Seattle Police Officer who worked undercover as a Vice and Narcotics detective, as well as in gang investigations in the 1970's and 1980's. Bernie was the second Aikido teacher ( Tom Katsuyoshi was the first, Yukihiro Hirata was the third) in Seattle and received his yudansha rankings for shodan and nidan in Japan directly from Ueshiba Morihei. Bernie's first Aikido classes were personally taught by Koichi Tohei in 1955 and his primary instructors were Kiyoshi Nagata, Takashi Nonaka, Yukiso Yamamoto, Meyer Goo, and Sadao Yoshioka.
Bernie felt that to better serve the needs of police officers, military, and civilian self defense, he needed to take what he found to be practical in his work as an undercover police officer (who often worked unarmed and needed personal defensive skills) and teach it in a practical functional manner. Icho Ryu is the result of that effort.
Bernie retired from active teaching in 2004, naming Neil Yamamoto as chief Instructor.
Classes for Icho Ryu at Seattle School of Aikido are Tuesday nights at 7:30 and Saturday mornings at 9 AM. Icho Ryu classes are private but any interested parties can start with the Thursday night classes taught by Chris Moses and Jeremy Hulley, or direct inquires to Neil Yamamoto for more information.
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