ABOUT OUR DOJO

Founded as the Illinois Aikido Club in 1961, Chicago Aikikai started out as a leisurely pursuit for a small group of Japanese-American professionals. Inspired by a book about Aikido, the founders and original students were interested in Aikido for its mental discipline, motivated to learn how to keep calm, harness ki, and follow the principle of nonresistance. Joe Takehara Sensei, who continues to teach twice a week, was one of the dojo's first members.

The group met in the 12- by 15-foot basement of a storefront, training on a marble floor. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling - and whenever it got broken, well, class was over for the day. The dojo's first instructor, Chester Sasaki Sensei, was an Aikido nidan from Hombu Dojo and a student as the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Sasaki Sensei commuted the 150 miles to Chicago each weekend to hold classes all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Students quickly learned to appreciate his focused and disciplined approach: Sunday morning kiai and misogi training began at six a.m. sharp, and Sasaki Sensei locked the door to prevent latecomers from joining the class.

In 1962, the club was able to relocate to a storefront on Clark Street that was more than twice the size of the first dojo. Here, club members would finally get a mat, which they creatively constructed from two-inch-thick ether foam. The resulting surface was much admired by other martial arts groups in the area and became the model for mats in several other dojo.

The dojo's students also got to train with Koichi Tohei Sensei during his two visits to Chicago. "Early on, we were impressed with the 'feeling' of Aikido, a sense of personal growth and strength that is hard to describe in words, but becomes natural in the body," recalls Takehara Sensei. "We were fortunate in the beginning to have teachers who emphasized to us the feeling and spiritual aspects of this art we were struggling to understand."

In 1970, the dojo relocated again, this time to Bryn Mawr Avenue. Here, members would gradually renovate a bowling alley that had been vacant for twenty years, giving the dojo an extensive training space. Akira Tohei Sensei, then a godan from Hombu, taught at the school until his departure in 1975.

It was a turning point for Chicago Aikikai. "Our dojo sent Charles Tseng and a van full of young students to Saotome Sensei's first Winter Camp in Sarasota, Florida," recalls longtime dojo member Yuki Hara. "This is when we asked Saotome Sensei to lead us. The president of the club at the time, Lester Katsura, told the driver of the van, Herbert Diaz, to drive extra carefully because he was carrying 'precious cargo.' The 'precious cargo' he was referring to were the eight young students who were the future of the club."

Thus the school came under the direction of Mitsugi Saotome Sensei, the supervisory instructor for more than a hundred affiliated dojo of the international association Aikido Schools of Ueshiba (ASU). Saotome Sensei had trained for fifteen years as an uchi deshi under O Sensei and had taught as head instructor at Hombu Dojo. After the Founder's passing in 1969, Saotome Sensei decided to move to the United States. "This country is a great experiment; a melting pot of people from many different cultural backgrounds living together, the world condensed into one nation," he explains. "The goal of Aikido and O Sensei's dream is that all the peoples of the world live together as one family, in harmony with each other and their environment. The United States has the opportunity to set a great example."

In 1976, Saotome Sensei assigned one of his students from Japan, Shigeru Suzuki Sensei, to teach at Chicago Aikikai. After five years of highly regarded instruction, Suzuki Sensei returned to Japan in 1981, leaving his student, Kevin Choate, to become chief instructor under the direction of Saotome Sensei. For several years, Saotome Sensei split his time between Chicago and his home in Washington, D.C., to continue to teach the dojo's students and to groom Choate Sensei for his new, highly responsible position.

Throughout the years, Saotome Sensei has made constant and extensive visits to Chicago Aikikai, teaching innumerable classes and seminars. In the early 1980s, he personally designed and built the school's unique shomen, which houses the shrine that he brought back from Japan - a symbolic and spiritual connection to the Aiki shrine that O Sensei built in Japan. This shomen was carefully dismantled and moved in 1988, when the dojo relocated to Howard Street, and again in 1993, when the school came to its present, 2,000-square-foot training space in Lakeview. In addition, many of Saotome Sensei's calligraphies grace the dojo's walls with their beautiful and uplifting messages.

An inviting and artistic atmosphere has always been a hallmark of Chicago Aikikai. In addition to the shomen designed by Saotome Sensei, the current training space houses elements from the rock garden first built in the Bryn Mawr location and wooden panels used on the walls in the Howard Street space, contributed by Takehara Sensei and others. Choate Sensei gave the Lakeview dojo its finishing touches by adding traditional shoji screens, graceful tree branches, and the koi pond.

Choate Sensei also brought consistency and stability to Chicago Aikikai by teaching six days a week, year after year, while continuing to train as a student of Saotome Sensei and Hiroshi Ikeda Sensei. Under Choate Sensei's leadership, the dojo became known as Chicago Aikikai in 1988. A few years later, when the dojo celebrated its 30th anniversary, the logo was modified: the now-familiar cloud-and-wave motif was incorporated into the original circular logo to symbolize unity between the dojo's past and its future. In 1998, Saotome Sensei awarded Choate Sensei his sixth-degree black belt in recognition of his skill and dedication to Aikido.

The ever-evolving Chicago Aikikai continues to build upon a history that is deeply rooted in the city. Despite its humble beginnings in the basement of a store, the school has grown over the years not only in its physical size and number of students but in its commitment to providing the highest quality in Aikido instruction. At the dojo's recent 40th anniversary celebration, Choate Sensei said: "It is my hope that this dojo, with its history and experience, can become an inspiration for Aikido dojo in the United States and around the world - that our dedication to the vision of our teachers will be a model for others and set a standard for bringing Aikido to the community-at-large and the community to Aikido."