Saturday, Feb. 25th, there was a very touching memorial held for Yamada Sensei. For newer student who may not be familiar with him, he started Aikido in 1955 at the age of 18 and was one of the last living uchi-deshi of O’Sensei. He moved to New York in the 60’s and is largely responsible for bringing Aikido to the United State. Yamada Shihan touched the lives of people throughout the world and will be remembered well.
If you’re interested in knowing more you can look him up on wikipedia, visit New York Aikikai website at https://nyaikikai.com/sensei/, or watch the memorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWSt86sH99w&t=190s.