Mutsuro Nakazono


Mutsuro Nakazono was a Japanese acupuncturist, an Oriental medicine practitioner, a judo 6th dan and a 7th dan Aikikai aikido master. He studied under Morihei Ueshiba and Ogasawara for many years.
Born in the Kagoshima prefecture of Japan, he relocated to France in 1961 where he remained until the early 1970s as a representative of the Aikikai in Europe and North Africa. According to an article by his son, Jei Atacama, Mutsuro Nakazono "changed his name to Masahilo Mikoto Nakazono in his late fifties when he came to realize how his whole life was about his pursuit for 'the truth of life.' 'Masahilo' stood for 'searcher for the beautiful truth of life.'" During this period he was also Chief instructor of Aikido for the international Budo Council. According to Henry Ellis, a pioneer of UK Akido, Nakazonon Sensei's Aikido technique was "the first seen in the U.K. to combine the power found with other instructors, with the grace normally associated with Akido today." He operated the Nakazono Clinic, a natural healing center in San Diego, California. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1972 and lived there until he died on October 8, 1994.
Nakazono was an authority on kototama and wrote privately published books on the subject. His study of kototama was greatly influenced by his studies with Ōsensei Ueshiba who cultivated a spiritual outlook in his teachings. He is believed to have mastered kototama to a certain degree, yet few of his disciples demonstrated an interest in learning this aspect of aikido from him. The exception was Nakazono Sensei.
Nakazono was also deeply involved in the spiritual aspect of healing such as . Having descended from a long family tradition of healers he passed on both his interest in Aikido and his spiritual approach to healing to his son who practices spiritual healing in New York City.
In 2007 there was a series of memorial events in Rosfall, Switzerland and Neath, UK sponsored by Nakazono Sensei's students in memory of their beloved teacher.

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