Morihiro Saito
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Morihiro Saito (March 31, 1928 - May 13, 2002) was an aikido teacher with many students around the world. He began his aikido training under the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba (also called o-sensei), in Iwama in 1946 after having practiced some kendo, judo and karate. Although other students such as Koichi Tohei trained with Ueshiba for more years than Saito did, he is the one of Ueshiba's students who trained directly as a live-in student of uchi-deshi, for long periods as the only student, under Ueshiba for the longest period of time: from 1946 until Ueshiba’s passing in 1969. During Saito sensei’s period as uchi-deshi for o-sensei he taught classes in the Iwama dojo when Ueshiba was away but also as well as while Ueshiba was present, while some other of Ueshiba's students taught at the Aikikai Hombu in the presence or absence of the founder of the art. When Ueshiba passed on, he gave Morihiro Saito the responsibility of carrying on the teaching at the Iwama dojo and also the position of caretaker of the Aiki Jinja located in Iwama.
In the beginning of the 1970s aikido students from outside Japan began traveling to Iwama to train under Saito sensei. Some of these are: Ulf Evenås (7th dan Iwama Ryu) - Sweden, Paolo Corallini (7th dan Iwama Ryu) - Italy, Lars Göran Andersson - Sweden, Patricia Hendriks - USA, Tristão da Cunha - Portugal, Lewis De Quirós - Spain, Miles Kesler - USA, Tony Sargeant - UK and many more. The kind of aikido that Saito's students do are often referred to as Iwama aikido or Iwama style. For a period of time, some of Saito's student's in the West were organised in an organisation called Iwama Ryu and got their grades in Iwama Ryu rather than in Aikikai, although they were often given the possibility to choose. Morihiro Saito, however, never left the Aikikai, but Iwama Ryu was continued through his son Hitohiro Saito.
Upon Saito's passing, the son, Hitohiro Saito, kept, for a brief period of time, the title of Dojo Cho (dojo head) of Morihei Ueshiba's dojo and as Caretaker of Aikishrine Aiki Jinja, a position he had been exercising for some years now, due to his father's aging. In February 2004 Hitohiro Saito Shihan officially separated from the Aikikai organization and set up a separate organization called Iwama Shin Shin Aikishuren Kai, with the puropose of preserving Morihei Ueshiba's original aikido and his father's teachings.ca:Morihiro Saito es:Morihiro Saito fr:Morihiro Saito