Iwama Dōjō

"[1][2] This dojo is also where Morihiro Saito, one of the founder's closest students, learned and taught aikido from 1946 until 2002 developing what is often referred to as the Iwama Style.

Iwama was a small farming village in Japan, located 100 km north-east of Tokyo and at the centre of Ibaraki prefecture.

The original Iwama aikido dojo, Aiki Shrine and the neighbouring Tanrenkan are now addressed in the Yoshioka district of Kasama city, Ibaraki.

In 1943 he built the first part of the current Aiki Jinja and an "outdoor dojo" where he lived a life of "Buno Ichinyo" (the union of agriculture and Budō).

This created a split among students of Morihiro Saito with some joining Hitohira Sensei's new organisation and others (most notably the three that Saitō had promoted to 7th dan, William Witt, Paolo Corallini, and Ulf Evenås) remaining affiliated with the Aikikai.

[1] Isoyama first began training in the Iwama dojo in 1949 at the age 12, as a direct student of the Morihei Ueshiba[4] and the registration documents that he signed stated the name: "Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu".

Aikido practice continued in the Aiki Shrine from 14 March until 17 September 2011 when the newly repaired dojo reopened for training.

[1][8] Aiki Jinja (合気神社) is the shrine built by Morihei Ueshiba in Iwama in honor of the deities of aikido.

Surplus material from this monument was used to make a bust of the founder which was unveiled at the newly rebuilt Iwama Station on 24 July 2012.

[1] When Morihei Ueshiba was alive, once a month he would preside over what was initially a small religious ceremony in the Aiki Jinja called Tsukinamisai (月並み祭), which lasted up to an hour.

[1] Every year on April 29 (the start of the Japanese Golden Week holiday), the annual shrine festival "Aiki Jinja Rei Taisai" (合気神社例大祭　"Grand Festival of the Aiki Shrine") is held by Oomoto priests in commemoration of Ueshiba's death on April 26, 1969.