Who are the martial arts world's masters

Irrespective of whether they're currently deceased or still alive,
who for you was and / or still is or are, the master/s of the martial arts world and please say why ?

You may not be satisfied with the answers you get to this question. In Aikido (to paraphrase Ledyard Sensei), the term "master" has no meaning and no one uses it.

I have read where others have called Koichi Tohei "Master Koichi Tohei". However he does not call himself that. At the most, he might call himself "Sensei". Master is a term others might call you, but you do not use for yourself.

Before he died, Kokyushin's founder Mas Oyama said, "I really thought I could master Karate." I would say he came awfully close.

Sho Nuff

Grandmaster Hiang The' has always been an idol of mine. He is the grandmaster of Shaolin kung fu and he also teaches tai chi and stuff. I got to meet him last night when i tested for my blue belt in shaolin (i passed woo!). But i think hes just awesome and he has so much respect for other arts including aikido.

Try "Aikido Masters" by Stanley Pranin.

I'm reading the "Prewar" volume right now. It's incredible!!!

Bill Duncan wrote: Irrespective of whether they're currently deceased or still alive, who for you was and / or still is or are, the master/s of the martial arts world and please say why ?

In no particular order:
The Japanese, the Chinese, the Americans, The English, ,The Koreans, The Canadians, The Germans, The French, The Russian, The Indonesians, and every single other country were some one practiced or did combat.

Gene