Stanley Pranin

Pranin visited Abashiri, Shirataki and Engaru while researching Morhei Ueshiba's years in Hokkaido (1912–1919).

Ueshiba began studying Daito-ryu Jujutsu with Takeda in 1915, and modified Daito-ryu techniques are the basis of the modern aikido curriculum.

Ueshiba's association with Takeda lasted over 20 years, and Pranin's published research was instrumental in establishing the role of Daito-ryu Jujutsu in the creation of aikido.

Stanley A. Pranin (July 24, 1945 – March 7, 2017) was an American martial artist, founding publisher, and editor-in-chief of Aikido Journal (formerly Aiki News).

Pranin, a researcher and archivist of aikido, has written and published several books and many articles about aikido, Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu, and Morihei Ueshiba and was an influential figure in the aikido world.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he taught aikido in California.

Pranin originally began practicing Yoshinkan aikido in California in 1962, later switching to Aikikai.

In 1962 Pranin saw an aikido demonstration at his high school in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, and in August of that year he began practicing Yoshinkan aikido in Lomita with 2nd Dan Virgil Crank.

He continued his training in 1963 under Isao Takahashi and Richard Taylor at the San Pedro YMCA, following the Koichi Tohei-led curriculum.

Pranin passed tests for 1st Dan (in August 1965) and 2nd Dan (in 1967) given by Tohei.

After receiving a master's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1968, he began doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley and shared teaching duties at the university's Aikido Club with Robert Frager.

With a letter of recommendation from Rod Kobayashi, Pranin visited Japan for the first time in June 1969 and spent the summer practicing at the Aikikai Hombu dojo in Tokyo.

He attended classes taught by Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Koichi Tohei, Kisaburo Osawa, Seigo Yamaguchi, Yasuo Kobayashi and Morihiro Saito, and practiced at Shoji Nishio's dojo in Sugamo.

Inducted into the US Army in October 1969, Pranin was stationed in Eritrea (then part of Ethiopia).

Working as a translator, he set up an aikido club at the US Army communications base in Asmara.

Transferred after 18 months to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, Pranin worked as an assistant French instructor.

He audited Japanese classes at the institute and taught aikido at the nearby University of California, Santa Cruz with Robert Frager.

After his discharge from the army in October 1972, Pranin briefly returned to the University of California, Berkeley as a graduate student.

During the summer of 1973, he began teaching aikido classes at a judo school in Monterey.

That year, he was promoted to 3rd Dan by the California Aikido Association.

In 1974, Pranin founded the journal Aiki News; in 1977 he moved to Japan, living there for 20 years and continuing to publish his journal in Japanese and English.

Aiki News evolved into Aikido Journal, currently a web publication with resources on Aikido, Daito-ryu and related subjects.

In May 1974, representing Northern California aikido schools with William Witt, Pranin attended a meeting in Los Angeles at which Koichi Tohei announced his resignation from the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo.

Delegates were asked to instruct their organizations to remain in the Aikikai or join Tohei's Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido organization.

He and other Northern California instructors participated in the establishment of the Aikido of Northern California Yudansha Kai in 1974.

Pranin opened an aikido school in Monterey in 1975.

The following year, he turned its operation over to senior students and resumed doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

During this period, Pranin taught aikido at schools in Oakland and San Jose.

As a delegate of the organization, Pranin attended the first International Aikido Federation (IAF) congress in Tokyo in September 1976.

He received his 4th Dan certification in January 1977.

Pranin moved to Japan in August 1977, studying aikido under Morihiro Saito in Iwama.

In May 1978, he interviewed Kisshomaru Ueshiba for the publication of Morihei Ueshiba, Founder of Aikido, his Japanese-language biography of his father.

In 1979, he discovered a 1935 16mm film of Morihei Ueshiba in a Tokyo film repository.

That year Pranin interviewed Kenji Tomiki, creator of a competitive form of aikido, for a second time.

In July 1981 he discovered Budo, a 1938 training manual by Morihei Ueshiba, while interviewing Zenzaburo Akazawa.

Pranin was promoted to 5th Dan by Morihiro Saito in 1983.

Two years later, he interviewed Tokimune Takeda (son of Sokaku Takeda) for the first time during a trip to Hokkaido.

From 1985 to 1989 he accompanied Morihiro Saito abroad as an interpreter at Aikido seminars, primarily in the US and Europe.

Pranin interviewed Ueshiba more than ten times, the last in December 1996.

Stanley Pranin died of advanced stomach cancer on March 7, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada.