Thank you for sharing the news about Murashige Sensei's passing last month.
He would not encourage me to say so, but I feel compelled to point out that Murashige Sensei was in fact a shihan in Aikido, recognized as such by Hombu dojo. He held the post of assistant instructor at San Diego Aikikai (with T.K. Chiba Sensei as chief instructor) for many years.
He was teaching the 5:30 pm class on weekdays when I first began training at SDA. Every day just before 5, Murashige Sensei would drive up in his red truck, go get a broom, and start sweeping the sidewalk in front of the dojo. That is the kind of teacher he was.
An interview with him from some years ago may be of interest to those wanting to learn more about Murashige Sensei. He talks about his training with O-Sensei and Yamaguchi Sensei in Japan, among other things. [
http://birankai.org/blog/?p=399]
It is impossible to express how much he will be missed.