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 Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in a ...

, has written and published several books and many articles about aikido, Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu, and

Morihei Ueshiba was a Japanese martial artist and founder of the martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" or , "Great Teacher/Old Teacher (old as opposed to ''waka (young) sensei'')". The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Ueshiba st ...

and was an influential figure in the aikido world. Pranin originally began practicing

Yoshinkan Yoshinkan (養神館 ''Yōshinkan'' lit. "Hall of Spirit Cultivation") Aikido is a style of aikido that developed after World War II in the Yoshinkan Dojo of Gozo Shioda (1915–1994). Yoshinkan Aikido is often called the "hard" style of aikido ...

aikido in California in 1962, later switching to Aikikai. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he taught aikido in California. 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 Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and English. ''Aiki News'' evolved into ''Aikido Journal'', currently a web publication with resources on Aikido, Daito-ryu and related subjects. Stanley Pranin died of advanced stomach cancer on March 7, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Aikido career

Early years

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 (20 January 1920 – 19 May 2011) was a 10th Dan aikidoka and founder of the Ki Society and its style of aikido, officially Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (literally "aikido with mind and body unified"), but commonly known as Ki-Aikido. Aikido Koi ...

-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 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

in 1968, he began doctoral studies at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and shared teaching duties at the university's Aikido Club with

Robert Frager Robert Frager is an American social psychologist. He is the founder of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, now called Sofia University, in Palo Alto, California, where he is director of the low residency Master of Arts in Spiritual Guidance p ...

. 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 A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. He attended classes taught by Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Koichi Tohei, Kisaburo Osawa,

Seigo Yamaguchi was a Japanese 9th-dan aikido instructor and important teacher in the Aikikai. According to Mitsugi Saotome, before he was sent to Burma in 1958, he was the most prolific teacher at Aikikai Hombu Dojo. His personal students included Seishiro Endo ...

, Yasuo Kobayashi and Morihiro Saito, and practiced at Shoji Nishio's dojo in

Sugamo is a neighborhood in Toshima, Tokyo (ward), Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. It is home to , a shopping street popular among the aging of Japan, older generation, earning it the nickname "Granny's Harajuku." It lies at the crossing point of the JR Yamanote ...

. 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 Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The c ...

. Transferred after 18 months to the

Defense Language Institute The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution consisting of two separate entities which provide linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other f ...

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

, 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 The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

with

. 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 is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

school in Monterey. That year, he was promoted to 3rd Dan by the California Aikido Association. In May 1974, representing

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

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

Training and research in Japan

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 ''

, Founder of Aikido'', his Japanese-language biography of his father. Pranin interviewed Ueshiba more than ten times, the last in December 1996. 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 is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

. Pranin visited

Abashiri is a city located in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Abashiri is known as the site of the Abashiri Prison, a Meiji-era facility used for the incarceration of political prisoners. The old prison has been turned into a museum, but the ci ...

, 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. From 1985 to 1989 he accompanied Morihiro Saito abroad as an interpreter at Aikido seminars, primarily in the US and Europe. Pranin promoted his teacher in his magazines and events. His association with Saito, which included the publication of several books and videotapes, lasted until the latter's death in 2002. Pranin interviewed Noriaki (Yoichiro) Inoue, nephew of Morihei Ueshiba and an early Aiki Budo pioneer in Tokyo, several times in 1987–88. Inoue's father, Zenzo Inoue, married Ueshiba's eldest sister Tame. Zenzo and Ueshiba's father, Yoroku, influenced and financed Morihei Ueshiba during his early years. Inoue's uncle, Koshiro Inoue, was a longtime patron of Ueshiba before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Pranin's research into the relationship between the Ueshiba and Inoue families changed the historical account of Morihei Ueshiba's early years. During his 20 years living and researching in Japan, Pranin conducted over 200 interviews. The ''Aikido Journal'' audio archives house over 700 hours of audio recordings, much of which have been edited and published in ''Aiki News'' and ''Aikido Journal''. Pranin has collected hundreds of hours of film and video recordings, a portion of which have been edited and published. ''Aikido Journal'' photo collection includes over 100,000 images, including several thousand of Morihei Ueshiba.

Publishing

''Aiki News'' and ''Aikido Journal''

In Monterey, Pranin and Katsuaki Terasawa began translating Japanese-language serialized articles about Morihei Ueshiba published in the ''Tokyo Times'' in 1966. Positive response to the translations led to the creation of ''Aiki News'', a small newsletter combining the translated articles with local aikido news, in April 1974. For the next three years, Pranin published early interviews with Morihiro Saito, Kisaburo Osawa, Frank Doran and William Witt, translations of Japanese aikido documents and US-related events in ''Aiki News''. After moving to Japan in 1977 he continued publishing the newsletter, adopting a bilingual Japanese-English format in 1978. In 1991, Pranin's publication split into two magazines: ''Aiki News'' in Japanese and ''Aikido Journal'' in English. The latter was published until spring 2000, ending 26 years of print publication with issue 119. ''Aiki News'' was published in Japanese until 2005, when it was renamed ''Dou Magazine'' under editor-in-chief Ikuko Kimura and its focus shifted from aikido coverage. ''Aikido Journal'' became an online publication at aikidojournal.com in 2000. The website contains extensive content (much from print editions of the magazine) and many Aikido-related photos and videos.

Books

* ''The Aiki News Encyclopedia of Aikido'' (Aiki News, 1989 and 1991, Tokyo): Reference work, now out of print. Much of its content, with minor updates, is at aikidojournal.com. * ''Aikido Masters: Prewar Students of Morihei Ueshiba'' vol. 1 (Aiki News, 1993, Tokyo): Interviews with 14 students of Morihei Ueshiba between 1926 and 1942 by Pranin and the ''Aiki News'' staff * ''Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu: Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters'' (Aiki News, 1996, Tokyo): Traces the history of Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu through interviews with seven masters and an overview of its history and founder, Takeda Sōkaku * ''Aikido Pioneers – Prewar Era'' (Aiki News, 2010, Tokyo): Revised, expanded version of ''Aikido Masters'' with 20 interviews by Pranin over a 30-year period with students and associates of Morihei Ueshiba. * 1994–2001 ''Takemusu Aikido'' (six volumes): Series of comprehensive technical volumes by Morihiro Saito published by Aiki News. The first volume is co-authored with Pranin, who wrote a historical introduction to the sixth volume.

Events and teaching

Athletic Circus

In July 1963, Pranin was a member of a YMCA committee which organized an Athletic Circus with aikido, powerlifting and a bodybuilding exhibition by Bill Pearl. The event took place in San Pedro, with Pranin participating in the aikido demonstration and

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift eff ...

events.

Friendship demonstrations

In April 1985, Pranin organized the first ''Aiki News'' Friendship Demonstration in Tokyo. Six aikido teachers participated in the event. The demonstration was controversial, since it was organized by ''Aiki News'' (a private entity). Additional demonstrations were organized in 1986, 1987 and 1988.

Shinei Taido demonstration

Pranin organized a 1988 public demonstration in Tokyo of Shinei Taido, created by Noriaki (Yoichiro) Inoue—a nephew of Morihei Ueshiba, an early collaborator with Ueshiba and a prewar pioneer.

Aiki Expos

Aiki Expos were martial-arts seminars, organized by Pranin, which assembled high-ranking teachers of aikido, Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu, classical Japanese martial arts,

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

and Systema. The expos, which included demonstrations, encouraged participants to cross-train in other disciplines. They were held in 2002 and 2003 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

and in 2005 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

Films, videos and DVDs

Since beginning his research, Pranin has collected and filmed many hours of film and video of aikido teachers beginning with founder Morihei Ueshiba. The ''Aikido Journal'' archives include more than 30 films of Ueshiba. Other teachers documented by Pranin are Morihiro Saito, Shoji Nishio, Noriaki (Yoichiro) Inoue, Koichi Tohei, Seigo Yamaguchi and Rinjiro Shirata. Pranin's major events are recorded on video, and he has collected and filmed many hours of footage over several decades from the All-Japan Aikido Demonstrations sponsored by the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. Edited footage has been marketed by ''Aiki News'' and ''Aikido Journal'' in a number of formats.

Lectures and seminars

Pranin has lectured on aikido history and the life of founder Morihei Ueshiba in the US, Mexico, France and Japan. He has conducted aikido seminars, and released an online video course (''The Zone Theory of Aikido'') in 2013.

References

External links

Aikido Journal
* Facebook Aikido Journal page (http://www.facebook.com/aikidojournal) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pranin, Stanley 1945 births 2017 deaths American aikidoka Martial arts writers American publishers (people) University of California, Los Angeles alumni