INSTRUCTORS |
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Jim Tabor Sensei is the Chief Instructor and Dojo Cho at Crestwood Aikido. He began Aikido training at Fumio Toyoda Shihan's Shinjinkan Dojo in 1993 under the direction of Meido Moore Shihan. He has taught Aikido classes at Oakton Community College, along with Aikido and self-defense courses for the Tinley Park and Brookfield park districts. Jim also began Mugai Ryu Iaido training in 2015 with Brian Pettet Sensei. Jim holds the rank of Yondan (4th degree) in Aikido.
Crestwood Aikido Shinjinkan Dojo owes a great debt of gratitude to the following teachers, who without their lifelong commitment and sacrifice to budo, Zen, and fine arts, this dojo and the people who train here would not exist as they are.
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Meido Moore Shihan has studied martial arts and meditation since 1986. He spent 6 years as uchideshi (personal apprentice) training under Fumio Toyoda Shihan. Moore Sensei has been instructing Aikido and other traditional Japanese budo arts since 1991, nationally and internationally, and has founded and led several dojo. He holds the rank of rokudan, and has been certified as an Aikido Shihan (master teacher). Moore Shihan is also an ordained Buddhist priest and has received inka shomei. He currently serves as abbot of the Korinji Rinzai Zen temple in Reedsburg Wisconsin. Crestwood Aikido is grateful for the continued support and instruction Moore Shihan continues to provide.
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Lisa Tomoleoni Shihan holds the rank of Roku Dan (6th dan), received from Moriteru Ueshiba, Aikido Doshu. She spent over 14 years in Japan training at the Aikido World Headquarters and teaching Aikido professionally at a dojo in Tokyo. Tomoleoni Shihan is Director of the Aikido Shimbokukai, an organization Officially Recognized by the Aikikai Foundation and Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. She also has yudansha ranking in Judo and Iaido and is a member of the Kenshukan Dojo in Tokyo. Tomoleoni Shihanis a coauthor of the book "Along the Way", a collection of writings about training.
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Fumio Toyoda Shihan, (November 8, 1947 – July 4, 2001) was a Japanese aikido teacher and lay Zen master who taught extensively in the United States and Europe. He is one of few teachers to explicitly teach aikido from the perspective of Zen Buddhism.
Toyoda Shihan began training at age 10 with his first teacher Koichi Tohei, whose family land neighbored that of the Toyoda family. He was awarded the rank of shodan at age 17and also began training in the misogi methods taught at the Ichikukai Dojo in Tokyo. Toyoda would go on to live for three years at Ichikukai as a resident student, or jyoju. It was here that he began studying Zen as well.
At the age of 27 he moved to Chicago where he began the arduous work of spreading his Aikido, Zen, and methodology of teaching, forming several organizations including the Aikido Association of America and Aikido Association International. 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. Toyoda Shihan also founded the Japanese Culture Center (located in one of Chicago's central neighborhoods), where students learn an array of martial arts, including Aikido, Kendo, Shuri-Ryu karate, as well as take classes in Zen meditation and internal training.
On July 4, 2001 Toyoda succumbed to a bacterial infection, dying suddenly at the age of 53. His posthumous Buddhist name is "Tenzan Gensho Rokoji".
Toyoda Shihan began training at age 10 with his first teacher Koichi Tohei, whose family land neighbored that of the Toyoda family. He was awarded the rank of shodan at age 17and also began training in the misogi methods taught at the Ichikukai Dojo in Tokyo. Toyoda would go on to live for three years at Ichikukai as a resident student, or jyoju. It was here that he began studying Zen as well.
At the age of 27 he moved to Chicago where he began the arduous work of spreading his Aikido, Zen, and methodology of teaching, forming several organizations including the Aikido Association of America and Aikido Association International. 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. Toyoda Shihan also founded the Japanese Culture Center (located in one of Chicago's central neighborhoods), where students learn an array of martial arts, including Aikido, Kendo, Shuri-Ryu karate, as well as take classes in Zen meditation and internal training.
On July 4, 2001 Toyoda succumbed to a bacterial infection, dying suddenly at the age of 53. His posthumous Buddhist name is "Tenzan Gensho Rokoji".