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Tomiki Sensei's Writings Tomiki Sensei, in addition to being a superb martial artist, was also a man of the letters and of arts. Tomiki Sensei was a graphic artist of a high caliber and his calligraphy and brush paintings are highly sought after by collectors to this day. (A picture of one of his calligraphic works is below.) As a man of letters, Tomiki published numerous articles on Judo, Aikido, the relationship between the martial arts and Eastern religious and philosophical traditions, articles on the proper place of the martial arts in the modern world, and of course articles on the technical aspects of various martial arts techniques. His masterwork is entitled Budo-ron, or The Theory of Budo. This book is widely acknowledged in Japan to be one of the the most significant 20th Century contributions to martial arts theory and thought. Unfortunately, it remains to be translated into any Western language. Below, however, please find links to two of Tomiki Sensei's more influential essays. These, fortunately, have been translated. The first essay, "The Fundamental Principles of Judo," should be read by every student of Tomiki Aikido because it is in this essay that Tomiki Sensei lists the fundamental concepts that enlighten not only his understanding of Judo but also his understanding of Aikido, and which therefore were his guiding lights as he developed his system of teaching and practicing Aikido. The second essay, "On Jujitsu and Its Modernization," deals with improving the practice methods of jujitsu by grounding its instructional methods in fundamental principles and by introducing safe but realistic sparring methods that would allow jujitsu practitioners to hone their skills against fully resisting opponents. While this essay was ostensibly written about reforming all of the old styles of jujitsu, one suspects that it was intended to be read as a reform manifesto for aiki-jujitsu and traditional aikido.
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