Minoru Hirai
Japanese aikidoka
平井稔
- Born
- March 1903
- Died
- 16 October 1998
- Citizenship
- Japan, Empire of Japan
- Sport
- aikido
- Occupation
- samurai, aikidoka
Minoru Hirai (平井 稔 March 1903 - 16 October 1998) was a Japanese martial artist and creator of the korindo style of aikido.
As a youth, he studied many different martial arts including Togin-ryu, Okumura Nito-ryu, Takenouchi-ryu, Kito-ryu and Saburi-ryu. By 1938, he became a master in iaido and jujutsu and established his own dojo, the Kogado dojo in Okayama.
In 1938, he met Morihei Ueshiba at Okayama, who told him about the technique of "aikibudo" he created and invited him to his dojo in Tokyo. Hirai found similarities in Ueshiba's art based on circular motions with his own style of jujutsu he was developing and decided to enter Ueshiba's Kobukan dojo.
During World War II, Hirai was the head of the jujutsu department of the Japanese Army's military police school and was instrumental in developing a new arrest technique employed by the military police.
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q1521329 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.