Greetings from the board of Shintaido of America! It’s time to renew your membership. This past year has seen many changes for our organization. The most important were the loss of our beloved co-founder, Ito-sensei on 30 December 2023, and the sad passing of our Treasurer Brad Larson in November 2023.
As we move forward in a world filled with an urgent need for peace, we rededicate ourselves to our practice of Shintaido.
The annual membership subscription of $60 has not changed for several years, and it now offers more benefits than ever.
Alternately, a check for $60 payable to SOA can be mailed to: Shintaido of America 426 Day Street SF, CA 94131
We strive to support our community of practitioners by providing members with:
Full access to the Shintaido of America Website. Check it out! New things are happening all the time! We now feature a media page that includes all our newsletter, YouTube and Podcast links.
Body Dialogue is now completely digital and appears in real-time as postings on the website.
Access to episodes of the Shintaido of America podcast. We are now in the third season of the Shintaido Podcast! The podcast is available on all the usual platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and many others. On the podcast, producer and host General Instructor David Franklin hosts interviews on Shintaido-related topics with various people around the globe.
General Instructor and SOA Board President Connie Borden hosts a monthly podcast discussion group on the last Tuesday of each month. Please contact Connie Borden at president@shintaido.org if you’d like to join in!
Several senior instructors – from the UK and the US – hold regular classes on Zoom which members can attend. A full listing of these is available on the SOA website.
Access to the most up-to-date changes to the curriculum, which continues to develop, especially the Kenjutsu curriculum.
Support to our instructors and the National Technical Committee.
Communication with International Shintaido Technical and Exam Committee (ITEC)
Leadership by SOA and ESC as the organizing and sponsoring organizations for international activities.
SOA examinations and SOA Diplomas.
Access to grants for travel and education scholarships for Shintaido events worldwide. British Shintaido is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and hosting an international gasshuku in August in England. Grants are available from SOA to help with the cost of attendance at this significant event. Please contact Connie for details.
For ALL of the benefits listed above, your annual membership works out to only $5 a month, or 16 cents a day!
We sincerely hope you will consider renewing your membership, and join us as SOA moves into the future!
Connie Borden, Chair SOA Board of Directors Robert Gaston, Chair SOA NTC Sandra Bengtsson, Treasurer pro tem Nancy Billias, Membership David Franklin, Podcast Michael Thompson, co-founder
Over the 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Pacific Shintaido hosted its annual Kangeiko workshop in the Claremont Middle School gymnasium in Oakland, California.
Master Ito Sensei died on December 30, 2023, just a few weeks before Kangeiko 2024, and his spirit infused the entire weekend.
General Instructor Connie Borden and Senior Instructors Robert Gaston and Shin Aoki were our instructors, guiding us through four keiko (two on Saturday, two on Sunday) and each, in their own way, developing and leading kenjutsu-based curriculum inspired by the theme “Finding Center.”
By inviting Connie Sensei, Rob Sensei, and Shin Sensei to instruct, the Pacific Shintaido board (Shin Aoki, Cheryl Williams, and Derk Richardson) was providing them the opportunity to share some of what they had gleaned from their recent international travels—Connie Sensei and Rob Sensei to British Shintaido Daienshu 2023 last August, and Shin Sensei to a gasshuku in Japan last October.
The PacShin board came up with the theme as a general, rather than prescriptive, concept, and in his opening remarks on Saturday morning, Derk mentioned a few ideas that came to mind when the Board conjured the theme: We live in increasingly polarized times when finding center is essential; Shintaido movement originates from the center and returns to the center; in kumite, we find out partner’s center, find our own center, and connect the two, becoming one; the center can be a slippery target, requiring our concentration, awareness, and sensitivity to find it; the sword (bokuto, bokken) can be a compass to help us find center; finding center is connecting with our true selves; finding center enables us to take refuge in stillness.
A dozen Shintaido practitioners, from the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and also from Oregon and Florida, participated during the weekend. Each keiko was taught entirely by one instructor. On Saturday morning, after Sandra Bengstsson led warmups, Shin Sensei led the class through tachi jumping, wakame kumite that involved sensing the layers leading to the partner’s center, and irimukae—stepping forward and backward holding the bokuto perpendicularly and “entering” the sword and letting the sword “enter” you. The keiko also included Tenshingoso with sword, both individually and facing a partner; stepping practice (steps number three, four, five, and six), adding chudan cutting with sword, and kumitachi—daijodan versus chudan kiriharai.
After a midday potluck brunch hosted by Shin Sensei and Robert Friedman at their home in the Oakland hills, keiko two began with Nao Kobayashi leading warmups. Rob Sensei introduced a form of renki kumite to foster connection, with one partner using an open palm to receive the other partner’s fist. After pushing back and forth, the receiver would draw and send the attacker away. The next stage was for the receiver to apply the other hand to the back of the attacker’s arm or shoulder while sending away. The keiko concluded with daijodan versus chudan kumite first with open-hand cuts and then with sword. The differing levels of Shintaido experience among the participants allowed for a wide variety of partner-pairing.
On Sunday morning, Sally Gaston led warmups (fulfilling one element of her Shintaido Assistant exam, which she would successfully complete the next day). Connie Sensei then led the group in tachi jumping with increasingly quicker partner changes, the frenzied pace had everybody laughing. She settled us down with standing meditation before instructing us in Diamond Eight cut sei, using bokken, both stationary in place and with a triangle stepping pattern. The final exercise Connie Sensei introduced involved the opening three steps of Okuden no Kata, receiving/avoiding a daijodan cut from behind.
After lunch at a local restaurant, Derk led warmups for the final keiko, which Shin Sensei taught as a kind of synthesis, summation, and extension of the preceding curricula. We again did renki kumite, this time stepping back and forth, remaining connected by the backs of our wrists, and searching for one another’s center. After individual open-hand toitsu kihon (daijodan, jodan kirikomi, and chudan kirikomi cuts), we proceeded to kirioroshi kumite with various partners. Following that, Shin Sensei led us in Kyukajo #2 (nikajo) and #3 (sankajo), two of the nine-plus techniques fundamental to classic Shintaido Kenjutsu practice. Kyukajo #2 is daijodan sword cut versus jodan, #3 is daijodan versus chudan.
Those of who had attended Pacific Shintaido Kangeiko 2020, “Rediscovering Kyukajo,” might have recalled that Master Instructor H.F. Ito had shared his understanding of three elements basic to formal Kyukajo practice: It should be done with bokuto; stepping sequences all end by drawing the feet into musubidachi stance; and each kumite begins with partners bowing to each other, drawing their swords into shoko position, lifting their swords in tandem into tenso, and returning together down to shoko. The partners repeat shoko-tenso and bow at the conclusion of kumitachi, as well.
The energy level of the keiko escalated dramatically with several rounds of Eiko Dai kumite with sword, partners running toward one another from opposite corners of the gym, one cutting with daijodan, the other cutting jodan or chudan. We concluded the keiko with Tenshingoso kumite, first in partner pairs and then all together.
Upon reflection, it is clear that every exercise and technique led by our instructors—Connie Sensei, Shin Sensei, and Rob Sensei—during Kangeiko 2024 advanced our understanding of and brought us physically closer to “finding center.” We extend our gratitude to them for deepening our understanding, polishing our techniques, strengthening our relationships within the Shintaido community, and inspiring us to take our practice out into the world in our everyday lives.
In the closing ceremony, Derk read a poem by the Chinese-American poet Ha Jin:
A Center You must hold your quiet center, where you do what only you can do. If others call you a maniac or a fool, just let them wag their tongues. If some praise your perseverance, don’t feel too happy about it— only solitude is a lasting friend.
You must hold your distant center. Don’t move even if earth and heaven quake. If others think you are insignificant, that’s because you haven’t held on long enough. As long as you stay put year after year, eventually you will find a world beginning to revolve around you.
Navigating Roles and Identity I met H.F. Ito (“Ito” to most of us) in May 1988 when I began practicing Shintaido in San Francisco. At first, I knew him through his students who were my teachers – Jim Sterling, Connie Borden, and Ben Schireson. When I came to know Ito better, we would talk about the cross-cultural kumite of Shintaido roles: the hierarchy of Japanese student-teacher and sempai-kohai relationships vs. the level playing field friendships common in the U.S. He liked to play across that canvas sometimes as the stern goreisha and at other times as a friend cracking jokes over dinner. While dancing that dance with Ito it helped to know both cultures and the cues to transition back and forth, up and down.
Photo by T. Nagai-Rothe
Ito brought Shintaido to San Francisco in 1975 and drove his first students with the intensity of his Rakutenkai* experience. (In Bela Breslau’s words, “One day I was so mad, I decided I would keep doing Daijidan Kirioroshi until I dropped – and that would be on him!”) As much as Ito taught Shintaido and the cultural forms associated with it, he was changed by living in the US. He described how his Japanese friends viewed him as less and less Japanese the more time he had spent away.
Neither was he American, though he made his home in San Francisco for more than 30 years. And though Ito had spent a great deal of time in France when he moved there to join his wife, Nicole Beauvois, in 2011 he was not French either. The role of traveling instructor and Shintaido ambassador was apropos. Ito navigated the edges, crossed boundaries and connected groups of people in Turtle Island (U.S., Canada), Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Germany Spain, Belgium, Italy, Romania, Australia, and Sweden.
Ito often spoke about his relationship mandala – the web of friendships and partnerships that he had woven over 50 years. He asked me to illustrate how his relationships had led him to teach in Switzerland and I made this graphic for his Swiss group.
Graphic by T. Nagai-Rothe
Ito moved between worlds and connected people. Though we often speak about how we are all connected to one another and Mother Earth, Ito actually spent much of his time doing things to build strong connections among us. He gladly hauled bo, bokuto, jo, tabi and all manner of equipment from continent to continent just to make our practice better.
In my family, we define peace as actively building connections. In that light, Ito was all about making peace – every day.
I know Ito well because he moved in with my family in 1998. Over time I was able to navigate through our roles with one another: older family member-younger family member, teacher-student, author-writing collaborator, chef-sous chef, friend-friend.
Building Community Ito loved to cook and invite people over to eat. The tempura fests and gyoza (potsticker) making parties at our 643 2nd Avenue house were epic. We would eat trays and trays of gyoza and Ito would produce yet another tray!
photo by T. Nagai-Rothe. 2010
Ito learned to make gyoza at the Chinese restaurant where he worked in Yokohama while part of Rakutenkai. Everyone contributed to the group in some way and Ito was assigned to work at the restaurant so his wages could support everyone. He would work at the restaurant, then get off his shift to join the Rakutenkai keiko at Nogeyama Park in the middle of the night.
At our house, Ito would start creating the gyoza filling early on party day because it took hours to mince the cabbage and garlic. I once asked him if he wouldn’t prefer to use the Cuisinart and he said, “It’s better to chop by hand. The energy in the gyoza isn’t the same if you use a food processor!”
photo by T. Nagai-Rothe
It was about building community, meal by meal. Food prep hour by food prep hour. My kids, Elli and Kai, formed their love of community meals from these gatherings. And when I think about the Shintaido of American examination criteria about building community – something I’ve never heard of in other martial arts examinations – I remember how Ito modeled this for us.
photo by T. Nagai-Rothe
In 1993 Ito began studying scuba diving in Hawaii. After one trip, he returned with a story about the examination process to become a freediving instructor. Ito had failed a written exam because the exam included trick questions that he was unable to register as a non-native English speaker. He said he was devastated because it meant he couldn’t progress any further in the program. The story continued, however, to include the class instructors’ response. They said, “No problem. We’ll work with you until you can pass the exam.” That completely stunned Ito: it was a completely different paradigm from competitive martial arts and the Japanese educational system. A new world: helping everyone be successful in practice! As a result, Ito completely changed his teaching style to focus on each student’s strengths and their learning style – not his agenda. He became adept at sensing which teaching approach would suit a student, based on his observations of them.
Peacemaking: Inner & Outer Iin 2001 Rob Gaston and I organized a meditation workshop with Ito in the Bay Area for September 23-30 – a weeklong in-person and virtual international practice. The early registration date was September 9 and our flyer said, “Please join us in the early morning to clear yourself and begin each day mindful and refreshed.” And then came September 11.
After 9/11, I remember a week of collective vulnerability and openness – the kind that we experience in Daijodan Kirioroshi – but because that isn’t a generally valued state of being, the anger and ugliness followed shortly after.
Ito, Rob and I didn’t know if we should postpone the workshop or continue as planned. We had to process what had happened ourselves before we could reframe the workshop. After some reflection and conversation, we decided to stay on track with the workshop, and frame it as practicing Taimyo Kata to create a ring of connectedness and love around the world. And though we were challenged to stay connected at a distance with email but no Zoom, it was a powerful experience. We needed that practice.
That week Connie Borden wrote, “One way to learn the value of human life is through practicing a body movement that requires you to fully give up your life and from this place of release the sense of holding on to life is even more important.”
This was the beginning of the International Taimyo Network practicing inner and outer peace, now known as the Global Taimyo Community.
Graphic by T. Nagai-Rothe
18 months later Ito was home in March 2003 and we watched U.S. tanks invade Iraq on tv, completely aghast. We were both sad and speechless. Ito said he was pained that the U.S.had created a legacy of violence for its young people. He talked about how younger generations in Japan have suffered from the violence it perpetrated during World War II.
One of Ito’s earliest memories was seeing the mushroom cloud rise over the hills that separated Kure from Hiroshima and hearing the deafening sound – on August 6, 1945. He was at his grandparents’ house in the mountains where his mother was about to give birth to his brother Yoshitaka (Juguro). Ito was marked by his experience of the U.S. Occupation of Japan as a young boy. Though there were some good interactions with U.S. servicemen, the feeling of being controlled by another country was dark and disempowering. He majored in law at Chuo University because of his deeply felt sense that he wanted to ensure justice in the world.
In 2007 Ito and Masashi Minagawa traveled to Nanjing, China to attend an international conference on the Nanjing Massacre that his friend, Kazuaki Tanahashi had co-organized. Ito had talked about the lingering guilt and shame of being Japanese without acknowledging the horrible violence unleashed on Nanjing residents in 1937, and the conference was an opportunity to make a public apology. He was very anxious about visiting China, and especially about going to Nanjing as a Japanese national.
He told the story of getting away from an apology media event and finding his way to the edge of the river with M. Minagawa. It was where residents had been killed by Japanese soldiers or chased into the water to drown. Ito and M. Minagawa bowed deeply and sat by the river in meditation.
Derivative work of photo by Moriyasu Murase, 村瀬守保 (Wikimedia Commons)Photo by M. Minagawa
Ito could feel those who had drowned in the river. They were sad yet offered forgiveness. He felt drawn to the water to get closer, but his scuba training mandated a clear return plan and he couldn’t imagine how he would return to the beach, so he stayed on shore. M. Minagawa said he could feel Ito being pulled toward the water, so he focused on energetically anchoring Ito to the beach. (A 32 min. video interview about the Nanjing trip with Ito and M. Minagawa with Japanese and French subtitled versions.)
In a world filled with violence, there are few stories of feelings of remorse, apology, reconciliation and making amends (repentance) on the part of individuals or nations responsible for the violence. No one wants to take responsibility, to face feelings of shame, or simply to apologize. This is why Ito and M. Minagawa’s Nanjing trip and their time at the river stands as a model for opening the door to connection – and peace.
As Ito grew older, he changed his idea about his practice and his teaching. He studied Tai Chi with Master Ma and evolved his practice toward Taimyo Kata, meditation and Tai Chi. He made peace with his aging body and continued to grow and change – the opposite of most of us who tend to hold onto what we have. In equal measure his connection to Ten (“heaven”), the Universe and the Divine grew and deepened as he released earlier conceptions about his practice.
After Nicole’s brother Philippe died, Ito began a meditation “requiem” for him and other friends who had transitioned in that period. Ito said that he could see Philippe and his friends in front of him as he practiced. He was very comfortable in the thin place between this life and what lies beyond. Ito was preparing to move between worlds, and the practice of life and death.
Ito navigated his last boundary in this life smoothly, and continued his requiem practice in his mind in late December until he died. Nicole says that Ito was enjoying a continuous state of Fang Song – part of the mantra from his Tai Chi teacher Master Ma – “relax, relax, just relax.”
photo by H.F. Ito
When Ito’s friends transitioned, he would always laugh and say, “Now she is OMNIPRESENT!” So now Ito is able to completely span all roles, places, cultures, and forms.
When I spoke to Lee Seaman on December 30 I mentioned how sad I was that we didn’t have more time to listen, and ask for more details about his life and practice. Lee said, “Don’t worry. Part of Ito is alive in each of us who studied with him.”
I felt bad that I was unable to complete a project for Ito that I’d planned this year, but knowing Ito I’m equally sure that my real gift to him is ultimately who I have become through his nurturing and what I will do with it. Each of us has received something from Ito and is part of his legacy.
I wonder, “What will we do to pay it forward?”
…
The beauty of the Shintaido community is that we are all over the world. For this reason, we publish Tomi´s personal remembrance also in French and Japanese.
Feel free to share this article, and the translations to anyone who might wish to read about HF Ito´s life. Thank you.
Notes & links
* The arts/martial arts group organized and led by Shintaido founder Hiroyuki Aoki.
I started my Shintaido practice in 1975 in San Francisco. I studied Shintaido under Master Ito and Michael Thompson for 5 years, then taught it for 10 years in Massachusetts. For the past 30 years, I have done Shintaido for and by myself. Shintaido is in my body, and I find joy in expressing it. Shintaido has made me a better person in life, in my relationships, my work, my tennis and my sailing. I am open and empathic toward others, can focus, learn and adapt to change and take risks due to my Shintado experience. After all these years, it is still animating my life.
Today, my Shintaido practice is about opening, stretching and quietly expressing my energy and imagination. I find power spots where I can let Shintaido open the world around me. My practice starts by stretching and warming-up slowly with soft and steady progressions of stretching and squats. Nature is my Shintaido partner.
What I do is based on Tenshingoso, the essence of which is the simplicity of the five forms. As we all know, Tenshingoso can be done alone, sitting or standing, with a partner, in a group, or with nature. The 5 movements are a distillation of karate movements, with an overlay of 5 universal vowel sounds. The initial “Ah” is unique to Shintaido. Each movement starts with a sound and the result is a powerful and almost infinite sequence of movements, sounds and variations. Studying these movements lead to deep insight into one’s physical and spiritual development.
Using my imagination, I practice with elements of nature, such as trees or wind in a fluid, dynamic kata. I have developed three main katas for my practice. I often start with a compass-kata, just simple Ah-A, where I cut into the furthest and tallest tree in the distance, then move to the right 10 degrees, and cut again, until I complete a 360 degree embrace of the world around me. I extend my energy and touch the world around me. If I feel a connection with a tree, I do tree-kata, where the tree is my partner. I follow the flow of the trunk, the branches. I start with Ah and then relax and open wide into an Oh, feeling the shape of the canopy of trunks, branches, and leaves, then move into A, cutting down through the trunk, and continue into E, feeling the roots, then oh, to embrace the whole tree. If it is windy , I do a wind-kata. I let the wind talk to me, and it becomes my partner. I turn toward the wind and embrace it with an open Ah, and then I cut with A into the wind with my arms as swords, vertically, diagonally and horizontally. At this point, I have moved beyond form, I just let my body flow into a feeling and go with it. For example, I might open up with an E and that flows into an A. I also study sequences such as E-A, and Ah-E.
I also have an active meditation based on a combination of breathing exercises and mantras. My breathing is the basic technique of a long exhale, quick inhale, and pause for a random number of seconds, letting the rib muscles relax and allowing my lungs to settle down into the diaphragm. I pause here, and then breath out slowly to a count of 10. This process of Inhale-Hold-Exhale process is repeated over and over. centers and calms my mind. I do it at any time of day, as needed. During the day, when I am under great stress, I will make a gentle humming sound. In the afternoon, under the guise of taking a nap, I meditate for about 45 minutes, getting to deep relaxed state for about 10 minutes, and then I am refreshed. And at night, I do it to fall asleep. I find some combination of Japanese sounds, such as Ah-A-E-O-Um, counting in Japanese, or the Zen mantra, nam meoto renge kyo, will always calm my mind. Sometimes while falling asleep, I will feel Ah, and my body will relax, or I hold one sound, like E for an extended period of time, until I forget and fall asleep.
Ito was my instructor in San Francisco starting in 1975, assisted by Michael Thompson. I respected Ito as my Sensei and learned a great deal from him about Zen, Japanese culture, and martial arts in general. Friends of mine, including Jim Sterling, Pamela Olton and Steven Pizzella, started practicing with Ito, and eventually I joined them. Richard Rappaport and Bela Breslau started to practice along with many others. Over the years, we had a moderate group of about 50 serious students.
Ito used to say, the body needs to warm-up before it is ready to do Shintaido. We had 3 dojos, a small dance studio on Clement Street, a big open room at the American Can Factory, and a baseball field in Golden Gate Park, near 7th Ave. Ito developed a distinct practice for each dojo. A typical Friday night class with Ito started with pure karate, stretching, hoping, jumping, and various kata. Once our body had burned-off excess energy, our egos had relaxed, and spirits opened-up, we were ready for Shintaido, starting with Tenshingoso, at first standing individually, and then, sitting in kumite with partners. Then, we would progress into standing Tenshingoso partner kumite, cutting and rolling. It was timeless. After most classes, we would find a place to eat on Clement Street, or sometimes, Ito would cook a Japanese stew for everyone.
I moved back to Massachusetts in 1980 with my wife, Adrienne, who also did Shintaido. I had graduated from SF State with a degree in Sociology, and we wanted to start a new life together grounded in nature. Adrienne aspired to become a full-time potter with a studio, wheel and kiln. I got a job in Worcester, Mass., and we bought a house in Holden with 20 acres at the end of a dirt road. I approached the local, Greendale YMCA about teaching a new martial art, and they said yes, and offered me an underutilized studio, twice a week. This became my dojo for 10 years. At the peak, I had 25 active students. I loved every minute of it.
Serious students emerged, such as Joe and Deb Zawielski, Kesh and Annelie Narayanan, along with Bill Burtis and Michelle. Eventually we moved classes outside in summer months to practice on a large field, next to a lake outside the Y, where we could do Eiko-dai. We did occasional weekend retreats, where Ito or Michael would teach. I taught seminars on Shiatsu for Couples to raise money so I could travel to gasshukus in England and France. It was a dynamic time of my life. Eventually, one of my students found an apartment in Cambridge for Michael, and he moved east, and started teaching at Harvard, and doing weekend seminars.
Shintaido is a tool to release a powerful, creative and imaginative energy, but as a Shintaido Instructor, it was a challenge to explain it. I would compare it to other practices that people knew about. For instance, Shintaido is a blend of Karate, Tai Chi, Aikido, Yoga and Sword. I would explain the connections, that karate has katas, TaiChi the soft hand, and Aikido the dynamic partner kumite. I would say, Shintaido is a dynamic, moving yoga. Shintaido is based on sword practice, but without the sword. Shintaido uses the wooden sword and a long wooden stick, because real, metal swords are too dangerous. Shintaido used an open hand, and the arm becomes a sword. The open hand is stronger than a closed fist.
Shintaido evolved out of Shotokai Karate, into a practice that was beyond fighting, but still grounded in karate warm-up techniques and kata. It is not really a martial art any more. Tenshingoso kumite with partners is based on cooperation rather than competition. Taking a partner’s wrists to follow their lead enables a leader and follower relationship, that can be reversed, and become very dynamic. As a sword-based practice, students stretch their arms out as if they were a sword, with open hands the blade, and extend energy out to cut into our partner’s bodies, feeling for their center. We cut without effort, and without ego. The follower allows themselves to be cut, to be vulnerable, letting go of resistance, fear and insecurities.
I believe that Shintaido leads to deep insight into the body. The student learns that the body is stronger than the mind. Shintaido opens the body by releasing the grip of the unhealthy ego, and has the potential to burn away the trauma, drama and pain of being human.
I loved teaching Shintaido but there came a point after 10 years, where I had to stop teaching. I needed surgery on both knees to clean-up torn cartilage. It was hard to stop teaching Shintaido, but I was ready to make Shintaido mine, to bring it into my body directly, to become my own student. I lived on the edge of an open space, and I would run in the woods and cut the trees with a stick. I was mad at Shintaido for ruining my knees, but eventually came to accept that they were my knees, and I got good use of them doing Shintaido. I now understand that knee problems are common across all martial arts. I recovered enough to resume being a healthy and active person, playing tennis and sailing.
Eventually, in 1992, Adrienne and I decided to move back to California and I pursued a new career in technology in Silicon Valley. I joined a Men’s 4.0 Doubles Tennis Team and loved competing in doubles. And I started to learn to sail with my father.
Adrienne passed away in 2014, after losing her battle with early-onset of Alzheimer’s. I retired shortly thereafter and sailed more than 12,000 miles, to Hawaii three times and to Tahiti. I am now living in Alameda, and working as a sailing instructor. I still do Shintaido every day. I had knee replacement surgery in July, and my Shintaido practice has been the key to my recovery.
This article is a result of thinking about what Shintaido means to me. I moved beyond Shintaido, but Shintaido still flows out of me. My life has been informed and enhanced by Shintaido. It is my private practice and my secret weapon in life. Even though my body is now 70+ years old and I can’t run any more, I feel it…
I feel ready to re-connect with the larger Shintaido community again.
With great sadness, we announce that H.F. Ito died peacefully at home in Cuy, France on Dec 30, 2023. He was born in Hiroshima, Japan on May 23, 1942. He is survived by his wife, Nicole Beauvois, his sister Hiroko and his brother Yoshitaka Ito.
*Haruyoshi Fugaku Ito was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1942. He attended Chuo University in Tokyo, and in 1965 graduated with a degree in law. At age 18, while at university, he began training in Shotokai Karate with Shigeru Egami, and at 21, after less than four years of practice, he was awarded the top Shotokai rank of 5th Dan.
He collaborated closely with Hiroyuki Aoki throughout the early 1960s, researching methodologies for creating a sogo budo (“comprehensive martial art”). In 1965, H.F. Ito was one of the founding members of the Rakutenkai group in Japan. In 1971, he founded the Sogobudo Renmei, which became the Shintaido Kyokai.
In 1975, Ito moved to San Francisco and developed what was eventually to become Shintaido of America. He has been Shintaido’s most energetic itinerant teacher, travelling the globe in his tireless quest to spread Shintaido on the world stage. In 2006 he suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalized in the SF Bay Area. He surprised hospital staff, with the speed of his recovery, and was soon instructing them on the best ways to rehabilitate him.
After his recovery, he continued to travel the world to fulfil his busy teaching schedule. He led seminars in Shintaido, Life Exercise, Amma massage, Wu style Tai Chi, in France, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Romania.
In 2001 he founded the Taimyo Network for World Peace, which he regarded as one of his most significant achievements.
An update since the writing of Ito Gaiden: the Taimyo Network for World Peace (now called The Global Taimyo Community – GTC) formed after September 11, 2001 as a peaceful and compassionate response to the violence of 9/11 and subsequent retaliatory invasion of Iraq. As we practice, we see ourselves standing around the globe holding hands in a protective embrace.
GTC believes that Taimyo Kata can function as a movement through which we can search and/or heal our inner world as well create better relationships with our neighbors, community, and Nature — beyond time and space.
A memorial fund has been established for Ito on the Shintaido of America website. To donate using Credit, Debt, or PayPal please go to the Shintaido of America web store and choose “Donations“.
*Excerpt from Ito Gaiden – compiled and edited by Andrew Stones
