Shishida Sensei
Shishida, 8th Dan, Teaches at Vassar College
September 2003 through June 2004
Fumiaki Shishida, one of the world’s highest ranking Aikido practitioners and also one of Japan’s leading Martial Arts historians, taught Aikido at Vassar College during the 2003-2004 school year.
Professor Shishida was on sabbatical from his teaching duties at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. He was spending his year off spreading Aikido around the world, and taught seminars scheduled in Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad, and various cities in the USA during his trip. Fortunately for Vassar students, the vast majority of his time was spent in Poughkeepsie, teaching them Aikido.
Professor Shishida holds an 8th degree black belt in Shodokan (Tomiki) Aikido. As one of the two highest ranking practitioners of Tomiki Aikido, he serves as the Shihan for Eastern Japan (the Tokyo/Kanto area). He was also the man chosen to lead Tomiki Sensei’s dojo at Waseda University after Tomiki Sensei’s death in 1979, and is the co-author of Aikido: Tradition and the Competitive Edge.
We learned a lot from him and continue to send students to train with him at Waseda University.
