With great sadness, we announce that H.F. Ito died peacefully at home in Cuy, France on Dec 30, 2023. He was born in Hiroshima, Japan on May 23, 1942. He is survived by his wife, Nicole Beauvois, his sister Hiroko and his brother Yoshitaka Ito.
*Haruyoshi Fugaku Ito was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1942. He attended Chuo University in Tokyo, and in 1965 graduated with a degree in law. At age 18, while at university, he began training in Shotokai Karate with Shigeru Egami, and at 21, after less than four years of practice, he was awarded the top Shotokai rank of 5th Dan.
He collaborated closely with Hiroyuki Aoki throughout the early 1960s, researching methodologies for creating a sogo budo (“comprehensive martial art”). In 1965, H.F. Ito was one of the founding members of the Rakutenkai group in Japan. In 1971, he founded the Sogobudo Renmei, which became the Shintaido Kyokai.
In 1975, Ito moved to San Francisco and developed what was eventually to become Shintaido of America. He has been Shintaido’s most energetic itinerant teacher, travelling the globe in his tireless quest to spread Shintaido on the world stage. In 2006 he suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalized in the SF Bay Area. He surprised hospital staff, with the speed of his recovery, and was soon instructing them on the best ways to rehabilitate him.
After his recovery, he continued to travel the world to fulfil his busy teaching schedule. He led seminars in Shintaido, Life Exercise, Amma massage, Wu style Tai Chi, in France, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Romania.
In 2001 he founded the Taimyo Network for World Peace, which he regarded as one of his most significant achievements.
An update since the writing of Ito Gaiden: the Taimyo Network for World Peace (now called The Global Taimyo Community – GTC) formed after September 11, 2001 as a peaceful and compassionate response to the violence of 9/11 and subsequent retaliatory invasion of Iraq. As we practice, we see ourselves standing around the globe holding hands in a protective embrace.
GTC believes that Taimyo Kata can function as a movement through which we can search and/or heal our inner world as well create better relationships with our neighbors, community, and Nature — beyond time and space.
Join the community in sharing tributes for HF Ito at: Tribute to Haruyoshi Ito, 1942 – 2023 (muchloved.com)
A memorial fund has been established for Ito on the Shintaido of America website. To donate using Credit, Debt, or PayPal please go to the Shintaido of America web store and choose “Donations“.
*Excerpt from Ito Gaiden – compiled and edited by Andrew Stones
Links
Tribute page to Haruyoshi Fugaku Ito
https://ito.muchloved.com/
Memorial fund for HF Ito
http://www.shintaido.org/store/
Thank you so much for this obituary.
With Love,
Nicole
Ito est parti enseigner le Shintaido au Paradis.
Garance Denaux
France
RIP Ito Sensei