Minoru Mochizuki

Minoru Mochizuki
Mochizuki c. 1930
Born	(1907-04-07)April 7, 1907 Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Died	May 30, 2003(2003-05-30) (aged 96) Aix-en-Provence, France
Occupation	Martial Artist

Minoru Mochizuki (望月 稔, Mochizuki Minoru, April 7, 1907 – May 30, 2003) was a

Believing that the martial arts had become distorted by specialization into separate disciplines or transformed into sports, Mochizuki achievement was to assemble back the major techniques of the Japanese martial tradition into a single structure, as it was once practised. He oversaw the development of the system from his home in Shizuoka, Japan, where his dojo, the Yoseikan, was often visited by martial arts practitioners from all over the world.

Early life

On April 7, 1907, Mochizuki was born in Shizuoka, Japan. Mochizuki, began by training in kendo at the age of five, at his grandfather's dojo in Shizuoka.

Career

In 1925, Mochizuki began judo and joined the

He was awarded two Daito-Ryu scrolls by Ueshiba in June 1932 ("Goshinyo no te" and "Hiden ogi no koto"). He spent eight years in Mongolia where he was an active educator and entrepreneur of projects to improve communications and irrigation. His idea of combating communism with the application of the principles of "mutual welfare and prosperity" and of "the best use of energy" of Jigoro Kano contributed to the development of his region. His irrigation project was completed after the Second World War by the Chinese authorities. Mochizuki was the first to teach aikido in the West when he traveled in France from 1951 to 1953 as a judo teacher.^[5] He was the 3rd Aikido Division head of the Kokusai Budoin-International Martial Arts Federation (IMAF Japan) after Ueshiba and Tomiki. He taught at the dojo of Shizuoka until nearly the end of the last millennium and spent the last years of his life in France with his son Hiroo.^[6]

Personal

On May 30, 2003, Mochizuki died in Aix-en-Provence, France at the age of 96.

References