Steven Seagal
A famous and infamous name among the Aikido community . Steven Seagal is known for his hard , street effective style of Aikido . Born on April 10 , 1952 in Lansing Michigan . Seagal started training in Karate under Sakamoto Sensei . He developed a friendship with the famous Fumio Demura and soon got his blackbelt . Later , he started training in Aikido under Koichi Tohei . This interest in Aikido led Seagal to move to the Far east . He spent many years living and training japan with some of the direct students of Morihei Ueshiba . Such as Abe Seiseki and Hiroshi Isoyama . He also studied other arts such as Kenjutsu . Moreover , he took an interest in bone manipulation , japanese calligraphy and becoming a priest in Omoto Kyo . Seagal is famous for being the first Gaijin ( non japanese ) to be the head of the dojo . Seagal ran the Tenshin Dojo in Osaka which still stands today .
He took an interest in acting and movie making . This led him to produce and starr in many famous movies , which caused the Aikido boom in the early 1980s . Such as above the law , hard to kill and under siege . His school is known for its famous black belt test . In which there is a 3 on 1 randori where the attackers are free to attack in any way . Currently , he has many schools all over the US and teaches privately .
He took an interest in acting and movie making . This led him to produce and starr in many famous movies , which caused the Aikido boom in the early 1980s . Such as above the law , hard to kill and under siege . His school is known for its famous black belt test . In which there is a 3 on 1 randori where the attackers are free to attack in any way . Currently , he has many schools all over the US and teaches privately .