was an aikido instructor and was the chief instructor of the Kumano Juku Dojo, in Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, for fifty years. Career Aged nine, Hikitsuchi he began kendo, and then later kenjutsu, jujutsu, bojutsu and karate. Hikitsuchi trained extensively in Jūkendō (bayonet) as a young man, and was skilled in both iaido and kendo. When he was 14, he met Morihei Ueshiba. At that time there was an age requirement for studying budo with Ueshiba, so his formal study had to wait; in one of his interviews with Stanley Pranin published in Aikido Pioneers (Aiki News 2010), Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Morihei's son, mentions that "It was sometime about 1925 or 26 that my father went to Shingu. Mr. Hikitsuchi was not there at that time. He began studying under my father around 1953 or 54." Hikitsuchi recounts a midnight, lights-out training with Ueshiba, in which he cut off the tip of Ueshiba's bokken. The piece flew off, and he searched throughout the dojo for it. Eventually, Ueshiba pulled it out of the folds of his kimono, praising him highly for his skill. Months later, Ueshiba gave Hikitsuchi a scroll inscribed with "Bojutsu Masakatsu Agatsu" (True Victory is Self-Victory). The scroll was extensively illustrated by a famous artist, and contained Ueshiba's written explanations of techniques. Meik Skoss, who has seen the scroll, wrote, "One of the phrases on the scroll is very interesting, 'each of these pictures is the seed for a hundred techniques; study them well.'" According to Clint George, one of Hikitsuchi’s former students who trained in Shingu for 15 years, "Shingu bojutsu" consisted of four levels: Ikkyo — a fundamental solo form Nikyo — a solo form that explored circular movement Sankyo — a solo form that explored three-dimensional, spherical movement Yonkyo — Jiyuwaza — free, un-choreographed movement Michio Hikitsuchi received his 10th dan in 1969, three months before Ueshiba's death. It should be noted, however, that in a 1982 interview with Stanley Pranin published in Aikido Pioneers, Minoru Mochizuki stated that the Hombu Dojo rejected Hikitsuchi's claim to having received his 10th dan as a result of a casual conversation with Ueshiba: Hikitsuchi brought his claim "to the Hombu and asked for certification. The family refused, saying that they did not give out gradings on that sort of criteria". Hikitsuchi taught as chief instructor of Kumano Juku Dojo in Shingu, Japan until his death in February 2,