Your efforts must focus...on an invisible path, which only you can see and on which you allow yourself no excuses.
- Utada Kancho

Yukio Utada was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1948. The youngest of 9 children, he excelled athletically since a very young age. He was exposed to various Japanese martial arts but was determined to find an art that developed not only the body but also elevated the human spirit.

Mr. Utada discovered these qualities at the Yoshinkan Aikido Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. There he found a place radiating with energy and excitement. The dojo training was dynamic, magnetic in its pull. Mr. Utada committed himself wholeheartedly to aikido training, devoting himself fully to the art. He was fortunate in choosing as his teacher the founder of Yoshinkan aikido, Gozo Shioda Kancho, who had been a student of the great Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of modern aikido.

Mr. Utada immersed himself in the study of aikido, following as he would later refer to his own "invisible path." After training for only nine months, at the age of 19, Mr. Utada distinguished himself in an unprecedented fashion by attaining his first-degree black belt. In 1972, Mr. Utada journeyed to the United States accepting an invitation to teach Yoshinkan aikido in Detroit, Michigan.

The following year Mr. Utada was joined by Kushida Sensei who was the chief instructor of the Hombu dojo at that time. Mr. Utada assisted Kushida Sensei in establishing the presence of Yoshinkan aikido in the United Sates. He underwent traditional uchi-deshi (live-in student) training prior to relocating to Philadelphia.

Over the next seventeen years Mr. Utada maintained strong ties with Kushida Sensei. This student-teacher relationship allowed Mr. Utada to deepen his understanding of aikido and continue to grow as a professional instructor.

Mr. Utada was promoted to 7th dan and given the title of Shihan, master of the art by Gozo Shioda Kancho.  Shioda Kancho also appointed Mr Utada as the East Coast Chapter Chief of Yoshinkan Aikido in the United States.

With few resources but a vision of the Yoshinkan school he wanted to build, Utada Sensei opened his first Philadelphia dojo in 1974. From meager beginnings, the spartan school evolved in time into the Aikido Association of North America (AANA). In 1991, Utada Sensei saw an opportunity to move his school to its present location in Philadelphia. The Doshinkan Dojo, located in a freestanding structure, is one of the finest such facilities on the East Coast. This beautiful building and grounds serve as both school and headquarters for the AANA. The dojo is a superb space to showcase the dynamic aikido taught within.

Since its founding, the Doshinkan Dojo has continued to flourish establishing a multitude of affiliate schools in the greater Philadelphia area and beyond. In addition, Utada Sensei has been a faculty member of Temple University since 1974, where over the years, his popular classes have brought aikido to thousands of students in and around greater Philadelphia. Utada Sensei has also showcased aikido throughout several of the state’s higher education institutions including University of Pennsylvania, Beaver College, Haverford College, and Rutgers University to name a few. He has also conducted seminars and classes throughout the United States, Canada and abroad.

In his efforts to further his growth Utada Sensei founded the Doshinkan Aikido International as a way to preserve the original teachings and vision of Goza Shioda Kancho.

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