Koichi Tohei Sensei

Koichi Tohei was born in Shitaya, Tokyo, 1920. When he was three years old, he went back to his home town located in Tochigi prefecture. He graduated from Keio University.

He was very weak when he was young. Therefore, to develop a strong mind and body, he began to study Aikido and eventually received its highest level of 10th Dan.

From 1953, he started to visit the U.S. and Europe to teach Ki and Aikido. In 1953, he visited Hawaii for the first time. From 1953 to 1982, he visited twenty-one states throughout the U.S plus Guam, the Philippines and New Zealand, as well as Europe teaching Ki and Aikido and starting new dojos around the world. In 1971, he founded the Ki Society (formerly known as Ki no Kenkyukai).

In Japan, he also teaches Ki Principles and Ki-Aikido widely to individuals and companies. It is well known that he taught many famous sports athletes such as Sadaharu Oh who was a famous baseball player, Chiyonofuji who was a champion sumo wrestler and other such athletes in Japan.