ss bio

Steven Seagal bio on A&E tonight 12-22-04 check times.

Other than the direct quote that he was "an uchideshi in Shinjuku," I thought the show was pretty good. I'm guessing the aikido clips are from the video he sells. Can anyone confirm that? If we take out all the bs, I still think that Mr. Seagal is to be commended for the things he has accomplished.

BTW, I believe that John Stevens founded his Tohoku Fukushi University dojo before SS founded his in Osaka.

Charles

For those in the UK, it's on the Biography Channel Sunday 16th January at 8PM.

http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk...showgroup=1377


rgds

Bryan

Charles:

"BTW, I believe that John Stevens founded his Tohoku Fukushi University dojo before SS founded his in Osaka."

I was under the assumption that the dojo was his wife's family dojo and that he became the chief instructor and was rapidly promoted from 1st to 5th dan. I don't recall reading he actually started his own dojo. I think his ex wife still runs it. Could be wrong.

Hi John,

I was responding to the tv show which stated that he was the first westerner to open a dojo. Also, his official web site says that he is the only caucasian to ever have run an aikido dojo in Japan!

Charles

John Riggs wrote: Charles: "BTW, I believe that John Stevens founded his Tohoku Fukushi University dojo before SS founded his in Osaka." I was under the assumption that the dojo was his wife's family dojo and that he became the chief instructor and was rapidly promoted from 1st to 5th dan. I don't recall reading he actually started his own dojo. I think his ex wife still runs it. Could be wrong.

It was his wife's dojo originally - her mother took out a mortgage on a building that she owned in order to build a new dojo for Seagal after they were married. The wife run's the dojo currently.

Best,

Chris

Dammit!! I just caught the tail end of the show .....(about 45 seconds)

Lan

I caught the tail end of this two nights ago at 1:09 AM central time. So I missed the first ten minutes of it. It was pretty good. There was a fair amount of aikido and I thought it looked pretty good. YMMV

The program was largely "journalism light" in my opinion. Many of the issues surrounding Seagal Sensei were just touched upon, if at all. A good portion was dedicated to his new CD coming out and the new movies he's making. I really enjoyed the segments that dealt with his stunt planning in the movies and the short segment with his original teacher. Most of the aikido shown was clips from his own film, "The Path Beyond Thought". A&E could have done a much better job of examining a very complex person. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

I finally got to watch this last night. I quite enjoyed it, it is the first time I've seen Aikido footage of Seagal other than the clip on the front of Nico. Thought he wasn't half past bad , the aiki was good, although I thought he looked a bit stiff, very little body movement, but it didn't look like he was using strength to compensate, a minor quibble. Interesting to see the footage of him with Isoyama Sensei talking about their adventures in Juso. He talked about training with the masters in Tokyo, but never mentioned anyone or where, like Charles, the thing that stood out for me was the statement that he became an uchi deshi in Shinjuku, I'd be interested to know who with.

Over all, I thought it was an interesting program, although I do wish he'd do something with his hair, it often looked like he had a bad wig on.

He's got a pretty reasonable singing voice too, no I'm not joking.


Regards

Bryan

This is what I found on the web,but I have also heard it confirm through other senior students. regards John

Steven Seagal began training karate at the age of 7 under Fumio Demura, and later began practising aikido in the late 1960s at the Orange County Aikikai in California under Harry Ishisaka.
Seagal Sensei received his 1st Dan from Koichi Tohei in Orange County in the summer of 1974 and traveled to Japan shortly thereafter at the tender age of 19. Seagal separated from Tohei's organization and assumed direction of the Aikikai-Hombu affiliated Tenshin Aikido Dojo in Osaka which was owned by his Japanese wife's parents.

Thanks John,

No disputes there, but it doesn't mention anything about Shinjuku or being an uchideshi, that's the bit I'm interested in knowing. Incidentally, that's purely out of interest, not trying to shoot the guy down or anything.

rgds

Bryan

I will give Sensei Segal credit for helping to get aikido into the mainstream through his movies and such. I've heard some interesting stories about him both good and bad. Are they true who knows......
I've seen some footage of him at a seminar in Japan and to be really honest I wasn't impressed. He seemed very stiff. All he really did was atemi. Maybe he was having an off day, lord knows I've had those more than a few times. No offense intended for you die hard fans out there.