Iwama Dojo

Iwama Dojo

Coordinates: 36°17′36″N 140°16′52″E / 36.293408°N 140.281023°E / 36.293408; 140.281023

Iwama is an important historical location from the development of Aikido. It has a famous dojo of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, who lived there from 1942 until his death in 1969. It has become "a Mecca to the aikido community."

This dojo is also where Morihiro Saito, one of the founder's closest students, learned and taught aikido from 1946 until 2002. The lineage of aikido that has been passed on through Saito is highly acclaimed. It is often referred to as Iwama style.

Iwama was a small farming village in Japan, located 100 km north-east of Tokyo and at the centre of Ibaraki prefecture. Iwama was annexed into the city Kasama in 2006 (dissolving Nishiibaraki county, which had previously contained Iwama-machi). The Iwama aikido dojo are now addressed in the Yoshioka district of Kasama city, Ibaraki.

The Iwama dojo were significantly damaged in the 2011 earthquake.