Kenji Shimizu is the founder of Tendo ryu Aikido style.
He was born in 1940 in Fukuoka, Japan.
He began training Judo in his childhood, discipline in which he reached the 4th dan.
In 1963 he became one of the last personal disciples of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido. For Shimizu it was a learning challenge, since it came from a martial art entirely based on agility and strength, with a high competitive character. However, he would soon discover the essence of this new martial art.
After the death of Ueshiba in 1969, Kenji Shimizu held the 7th dan of Aikido, and decided to found his own dojo in Tokyo, initially called Shimizu Dojo and later Tendokan (Tendo is the name of his hometown). It would be the beginning of what would later be known as a style of its own, the Tendo ryu Aikido (School of the Way of Heaven).
As of 1978, Shimizu makes diffusion in Europe of the Aikido, especially in Germany where Tendo ryu Society was founded in 1993.
The Japanese Budo Federation granted him the 8th dan of Aikido in 1998. In 2002, the Foreign Minister of Japan awarded him for his work disseminating Aikido.
He is co-author of the book “Zen and Aikido”, together with Shigeo Kamata.
