Empoli July 1979

Seminar with Koichi Tohei Sensei

Tohei Sensei

From 1953 on Koichi Tohei was sent by Ueshiba Morihei to spread Aikido in western cultures. He started in Hawaii, where a significant proportion of the population was of Japanese descent. He later taught on the mainland of the USA. In 1978 he came to Europe for the first time to give seminars in Thonon and Rüsselsheim (D).
The Aikidoka from Florence managed to invite him to a seminar in Italy in 1979, at Empoli in the Arno valley, about 35 km west of Florence.
The seminar was organized by the vigili urbani, sponsored by expert, who gave large plastic shopping bags as a giveaway.
Tohei Sensei was accompanied by Kenjiro Yoshigasaki as Otomo. Yoshigasaki Sensei was 27 years old at the time, had been practising Aikido intensively for 10 years and was a 4th Dan holder. Also present was the then head of European Ki Aikido, Jean Claude Delgueldre (then 6th Dan), from Belgium.

Seminar

The seminar took place in a sports hall near the stadium. There was even the possibility of camping behind the hall. This meant that the student participants from north of the Alps could save on hotel costs.
Tohei Sensei taught in English and was translated into Italian by Maurizio Volpe.
Those who wanted, could have a photo taken with the master. A professional photographer came to the sports hall and brought the photos a day later. In this photo you can see Jean Claude Delgueldre, Tohei Sensei, Yoshigasaki Sensei, Yasuko Taniguchi from Strasbourg and Bernhard Boll from Tübingen with other aikidoka from Italy.
Tohei Sensei's handwritten signature copied from the back of the photo to the front reads:
昭和 五十四年 七月 二十七日 藤平光一,
i.e. in the year Showa 54, July 27th; which is 27.07.1979.

Group from Novara

The group from Novara also had their photo taken, without Master Delgueldre and without Yoshigasaki Sensei.
The photo shows Gianni Gioconto, Maurizio Volpe, Bruno Maule and Claudio Fasola, among others. Tohei Sensei's signature this time is:
昭和 五十四年 八月 一日 藤平光一,
i.e. in the year Showa 54, August 1rst; which is 01.08.1979.
In some places on the Internet this photo is incorrectly dated to 1978.

Tohei Sensei 1962

In this video, Tohei Sensei shows excerpts from his art in 1962, when Morihei Ueshiba was still alive. The demonstration takes place in the Hombu Dojo. Kisshomaru Ueshiba is an attentive observer.
What is striking is Tohei Sensei's nonchalant manner, as if he wanted to say "I do all that without any effort".