Murashige Aritoshi was
born on 7th January
1895, Also Aritomo. A judoka and
practitioner of Katori Shinto-ryu at the
Kodokan together with Minoru
MOCHIZUKI in the late 1920s. Began martial
arts training in 1908. Entered the KOBUKAN
DOJO where his monthly
tuition fees were covered by the Kodokan.
After training under Morihei
UESHIBA, he joined the OMOTO
RELIGION and participated
in BUDO SEN'YOKAI activities, in particular,
at the Takeda
Dojo in Hyogo Prefecture. Murashige taught aiki
budo in Manchuria together with Yoichiro INOUE in
1933. After the war, he taught aikido in Mandalay, Burma
for several years beginning in 1953. Murashige later relocated
to Belgium at the behest of Nyoichi Sakurazawa (Georges
Ohsawa), founder of macrobiotics, in 1962 where he established
a dojo in September. He spent his last years instructing
until his death in an automobile accident near Louvain.
He
died on 24th March 1964, aged 69.