Seishiro Endo

Seishiro Endo (遠藤征四郎, Endō Seishirō^?), born 1942, is an 8th dan ranked Aikikai aikido master teacher. Endō is among the few living people who studied directly under aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba.

He trained at Aikikai Hombu Dojo with master teachers including Hiroshi Tada, Mitsunari Kanai, and Yasuo Kobayashi.

When Endo was 30 years old he dislocated his right shoulder. According to an interview, that event brought him to a turning point. After the injury, Yamaguchi said to him, "You’ve been doing aikido for 10 years now, but now you have only your left arm to use, what are you going to do?" This prompted Endo to pursue a different direction in his Aikido. His Aikido eventually became a lot softer and more contact-based.

Endo teaches mostly principles on how to connect to your partner and how to move freely. There is less focus on learning a large number of techniques. He also emphasizes that each student must confirm his feeling during each part of an exercise or technique. He talks about concentration of ki, relaxation of the upper body, flexible movement and calmness of the mind at all times. He also encourages his students to be investigative and not to accept things that are taught without confirming it for themselves.

In 1993, he created the Aikido Saku Dojo in his hometown of Saku, Nagano, Japan.

After opening his own dojo, Endo started to document his Aikido through a series of instructional DVDs under the name of WayMastery Store. Some of the videos are covering certain basic principles, while others are exploring how to deal with a particular attack. A special series of DVDs showing Endo teaching at seminars abroad has also been released.

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