On this day….(April 11)

On this day, 11 April 1907, Minoru Mochizuki, founder of the Yoseikan dojo, was born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

Mochizuki was one of the few men to have been a direct student of the three great Budo masters, Jigoro Kano, Morihei Uesiba and Gichin Funakoshi. An accomplished martial artist, Mochizuki held a 10th Dan in aikido; a 9th Dan in jujutsu; a 8th Dan in judo; a 8th Dan in kobudo; a 5th Dan in kendo; a 5th Dan in karate; and a 5th Dan in jojutsu.

It was Mochizuki’s believe that Japanese martial arts had become too fragmented into separate disciplines. To address this he established the Yoseikan dojo in Shizuoka, as a place where the major techniques found in Japanese martial arts could be consolidated.