Seminar 17: Sensei Yoshmitsu Yamada 8 dan aikido aikikai St Petersbur, Russia, june 2017

Yoshimitsu Yamada (山田嘉光 born February 17, 1938)[1] is an aikido instructor. He is ranked 8th dan in the Aikikai and is the chief instructor at the dojo New York Aikikai. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Yamada became interested in aikido through his father’s cousin, Tadashi Abe, who trained at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo and was a friend of Koichi Tohei. He entered Hombu Dojo as an uchi deshi in 1955 at the age of 17. His exposure to westerners and ability to speak English made him a natural choice to teach to Ame