Fumio Toyoda - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fumio Toyoda, was a Japanese aikido

Aikido

is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to...

teacher and lay Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

master who taught extensively in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Raised in Tochigi Prefecture

Tochigi Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the Kantō region on the island of Honshū, Japan. The capital is the city of Utsunomiya.Nikkō, whose ancient Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples UNESCO has recognized by naming them a World Heritage Site, is in this prefecture...

in Japan, Toyoda began training at age 10 with his first teacher Koichi Tohei

Koichi Tohei

was a 10th Dan aikidoka and founder of the Ki Society and its style of aikido, officially Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido , but commonly known as Ki-Aikido.-Koichi Tohei and aikido:...

, whose family land neighbored that of the Toyoda family. Toyoda was awarded the rank of shodan at age 17, during a test administered by the late Morihiro Saito

Morihiro Saito

Morihiro Saito was a teacher of the Japanese martial art of aikido, with many students around the world. Saito's practice of aikido spanned 56 years, from the age of 18, when he first met aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba, until his death in 2002.-Early life:Morihiro Saito was born in Ibaraki...

. At age 17, he also began training in the misogi

Misogi

is a Japanese mountain ascetic practice of ritual purification. This may be undertaken through exhaustive activities such as extended periods without sleep, breath training, standing under waterfalls, or other methods...

methods taught at the Ichikukai Dojo

Ichikukai Dojo

The Ichikukai Dojo is a place for training in Misogi-no-kokyu-ho and Zen meditation...

in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. Toyoda would go on to live for three years at Ichikukai as a resident student

Uchi-deshi

Uchi-deshi is a Japanese term for a live-in student/apprentice who trains under and assists a sensei on a full-time basis...

, or jyoju. It was here that he began studying Zen

Zen

as well.

Toyoda later enrolled as uchideshi at Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, and lived there for over two years. In 1974, when Koichi Tohei split off from the Aikikai

Aikikai

The Aikikai is the original school of Aikido. It is centered on the Aikikai Foundation in Japan, and its figurehead is the Doshu . It is represented globally through the International Aikido Federation....

Foundation to eventually form his Ki no Kenkyukai (Ki Society

Ki Society

The is an aikido organization founded by Koichi Tohei in 1971, while he was the chief instructor at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. The official Japanese name of the organization is Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido Kai , but it is more usually known in English-speaking countries as "Ki Society"...

), Toyoda followed. In that same year - now 27 years old and holding the rank of godan - he was sent by Tohei to Chicago, USA. Tohei would eventually promote him to the rank of rokudan. Disagreements between the two, however, led to Toyoda's departure from Tohei's organization. In 1984 Toyoda founded his own Chicago-based organization, the Aikido Association of America. Now independent and traveling extensively to lead seminars, a network of European students would also grow to form a sister organization, Aikido Association International. AAA/AAI would eventually re-affiliate with Aikikai Hombu Dojo in 1994.

In 1997, Toyoda was given inka

Inka

, is a term used in Zen Buddhism to denote a high-level of certification, and literally means "the legitimate seal of clearly furnished proof." In ancient times inka usually came in the form of an actual document, but this practice is no longer commonplace...

shomei, the certification of completion of his training in Rinzai Zen, by the late Tenshin Tanouye Roshi of Chozen-ji temple in Honolulu, Hawaii; the dharma name awarded was "Tenzan Gensei". Toyoda was active promoting Zen training in his network of Aikido dojo. For many years in Chicago he headed a betsuin (branch temple) of Chozen-ji, as well as International Zen Dojo Sogenkai, a lay Zen organization he founded to promulgate the teachings of the late Zen master, swordsman and calligrapher Omori Sogen

Omori Sogen

was a Japanese Rinzai Rōshi, a successor in the Tenryū-ji line of Rinzai Zen, a teacher of Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū swordsmanship, and a calligrapher in the Taishi school of Yamaoka Tesshū...

.

On July 4th, 2001 Toyoda succumbed to a bacterial infection, dying suddenly at the age of 53. His posthumous Buddhist name is "Tenzan Gensho Rokoji".

AAA and AAI continue to be active today, as affiliates of Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Japan under the guidance of Yasuo Kobayashi

Yasuo Kobayashi

is a Japanese aikido teacher holding the rank of 8th dan Aikikai.Kobayashi was born in Tokyo, and entered the Aikikai Hombu dojo as an uchideshi under Morihei Ueshiba in 1954. In 1969, he established his own dojo in Kodaira. He is also responsible for the aikido clubs at the Meiji University,...

. Several other martial art organizations and schools, founded by Toyoda's senior students after his death, are also active. The Zen organizations Toyoda helped build eventually coalesced to form Daiyuzenji

Daiyuzenji

Daiyuzenji is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple located on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.Daiyuzenji began in 1982 as the Illinois betsuin of Daihonzan Chozen-ji, a Rinzai headquarter temple founded in 1979 in Honolulu, Hawaii by Omori Sogen Roshi , a successor in the...

, a Rinzai Zen temple still active in Chicago.

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