Daryl Muranaka (yondan, shidoin, Chief Instructor) began his Aikido training in Fukui Prefecture, Japan at the Fukui Aikikai under the direction of Michio Hayashi-sensei and Testuo Kasashima-sensei, and was promoted to shodan prior to leaving Fukui Prefecture. After leaving Japan, he trained at Wago Enten Aikido in Honolulu under Peter McNally-sensei, Art May-sensei, and Dave Johnson-sensei before moving to the East Coast and joining the Harvard Aikikai. In addition to Harvard, he was a student of the late Dick Stroud-sensei at the MIT Aikido Club. Muranaka-sensei, in keeping with traditions of his early training, is committed to fundamentals training as well as to exploring personal expression through technique.

Dolita Dannêt Cathcart (godan, shidoin, Chief Instructor Emerita), '81, is an associate professor of history at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. Cathcart-sensei began her study of Aikido in 1985 with Mitsunari Kanai-shihan, an uchi-deshi or disciple of Morihei Ueshiba or O-sensei, the founder of Aikido. Cathcart-sensei is an experienced Aikido instructor who has taught Aikido at Harvard University, Boston University, Milton Academy, Wheaton College, and New England Aikikai. Cathcart-sensei participates in the annual Arts First demonstration by the Harvard Aikikai. Cathcart-sensei brings a spirited sensibility to the study and practice of Aikido.

Dya Kaur Levitt (sandan, fukushidoin) has been practicing Aikido since 1996 at the MIT Aikido Club under Dick Stroud-sensei. She enjoys the continual exploration of the art of Aikido and the lifelong study it presents. She has been teaching Aikido at Harvard Aikikai since 2008.

Sally Joyce K. '11 (shodan) started Aikido as an undergraduate at Harvard under Sioux Hall-shihan in the spring of 2009 and has happily served the club ever since. After leaving the board, she became an instructor in spring of 2018 and takes particular joy in teaching at the dojo where she started Aikido. Sally tested for shodan at United States Aikido Federation summer camp in 2018 and later became a guest instructor at New England Aikikai. At Harvard she studied psychology and Celtic Language and Literature as a secondary. When not on the mats she is running, sailing, or climbing. Sally also enjoys playing traditional Irish music and almost any kind of partner dancing but depends on Aikido and its community to bring her back to her center.

Agnes Kamasi (shodan) started Aikido while an engineering student at Cornell under Yukiko Katagiri-shihan. After graduation, she moved to Boston for work, and continued in Aikido under Sioux Hall-shihan at Harvard Aikikai. She has served on the Officer Board of HA and joined the instructional staff in 2018. When not on the mats, she is taking pictures of pretty kitties, climbing up walls, crafting, and watching Eurovision. She is an undercover agent of the snow leopards and will one day return to her clan as they bring to fruition their ancient scheme to end humanity and claim the world in their glorious name.

Phil Chodrow (shodan) started his journey in Aikido in 2008 under Rick Berry-sensei and Nathaniel Nichols-sensei at Aikido Kokikai of Swarthmore. After a year training in Oslo, Norway, he joined Boston's aikido community in 2013. He currently trains at Aikido Tekkojuku of Boston under the supervision of Yasumasa Itoh-shihan, and also serves on that dojo's Board of Directors. Phil joined Harvard Aikikai as an instructor in 2017. He is deeply humbled and honored for the opportunity to contribute to development of the club and the promotion of Aikido at Harvard. When not on the mat, Phil can usually be found sipping tea, cooking, or working on his PhD in applied mathematics at MIT.

Sioux Hall Shihan (See page dedicated to Sioux Hall Shihan)

Amy Kipp (godan, fukushidoin) was a student of Mitsunari Kanai-shihan at New England Aikikai from 1989-2004. Kipp Sensei is an experienced instructor who regularly taught in the Childrens Program for many years under the direction of Kanai-shihan and has participated in and run demonstrations in the Boston area. Kipp-sensei continues to teach children classes and remains dedicated to the positive benefits Aikido provides to young people. She brings the skills she's learned from working with children to adult classes, such as a focus on the individual student, respect for personal learning styles and the joy in learning Aikido. She retired as an instructor for Harvard Aikikai in Spring 2017.

Peg Huben, after many years of service to the club, retired as an instructor of Harvard Aikikai in Spring 2017.

Andre Brown (sandan, fukushidoin) started his Aikido training in 1991 at New England Aikikai and also holds the rank of shodan in Kenpo Karate. Brown-sensei has studied a variety of martial arts since 1988 and has participated in numerous Aikido demonstrations, including Harvard Aikikai's annual demonstrations at the campus-wide Arts First festival. He has also been an instructor of both beginners and advanced students and children, has conducted self-defense courses, and participated in a martial arts instructional video at Emerson Film College. Brown-sensei brings dedication to study of Misogi (Heart of Aikido practice), in which Misogi will "reveal your true self."

Bonita Veysey (rokudan, shidoin) began her Aikido career in 1980 in Albany, New York. She led Albany Aikido for several of its formative years. Clearly within the lineage of Yamada Sensei (New York Aikikai and head of the United States Aikido Federation), Veysey Sensei was senior student of Irvin Faust (shidoin and dojo cho of Albany Aikikai) for nearly 20 years. Veysey Sensei briefly led Albany Aikikai from 2000 through 2002, and is currently the Head Instructor of Helderberg Aikido Club. She is a certified instructor in the United States Aikido Federation. Veysey Sensei serves as a Harvard Aikikai instructor based upon a long and strong relationship with senior students of Kanai Sensei and a belief in the need to keep Kanai Sensei's vision of Aikido alive for future generations.

Eugene Taylor (yondan, Founder and Chief Instructor Emeritus of the HAC) holds a BA and MA in general/experimental psychology and Asian studies and a PhD in the history and philosophy of psychology. He is on the Executive Faculty at Saybrook Graduate School and at the same time holds appointments as a Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and as a Senior Psychologist on the Psychiatry Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has been a student of Aikido for twenty-seven years. He was first introduced to Aikido by the California transpersonal psychologist Robert Frager and began his formal training in Dallas, Texas in 1975. He earned his kyu ranks in Ki-Society Aikido under William Sosa, Roy Suenaka, Rod Kobayashi, Fumiyo Toyoda, and Koichi Tohei, occasionally trained as a wandering student in Arizona with John Takagi and in California with Robert Nadeau, and finally took his black belts under Mitsunari Kanai-shihan in Hombu style Aikido. Presently, he holds the rank of yondan (4th degree black belt). He founded the Harvard Aikido Club in 1981 and is a shidoin (instructor) in the United States Aikido Federation. Aikido, a non-violent martial art, the goal of which is universal disarmament and world peace, is his answer to William James's call one hundred years ago for a moral equivalent of war. Taylor-sensei served as chief instructor of the HAC until 2005, and the Harvard Aikikai would like to thank Taylor-sensei for all of his valuable contributions and sacrifices he made during the 20 plus years of his tenure.

Eugene Chang (sandan) began training in 1969 in Honolulu, Hawaii under Sadao Yoshioka, the first American to be promoted to shihan. He trained in Honolulu until 1972 when he moved to Cambridge to attend MIT. In Cambridge, he trained under Mitsunari Kanai-shihan and has received his black belt ranks from Kanai-shihan. He joined the Harvard Aikido Club as co-instructor in 1986.

Jeff Bayliss (godan) started practicing Aikido in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, in 1989. He later relocated to the city of Sendai and joined the Aikido club at Miyagi University of Education, where he was enrolled in a master's program. He successfully tested for the rank of shodan with the MUE club in 1993, under Satoshi Okazaki-shihan of the Aikikai. He entered the graduate school at Harvard in 1995, at which time he joined the Harvard Aikido Club under the guidance of Eugene Taylor-sensei and Eugene Chang-sensei. From 1998 to 2001 he lived in Tokyo in order to carry out research for a dissertation in Japanese history, and while there had the accidental good fortune of living very close to the dojo of Yasuo Kobayashi-shihan, under whose guidance he tested for the rank of sandan in 2000. Jeff joined the faculty at Trinity College in 2004.

Michael Pak (yondan), with previous training in taekwondo, hapkido, judo, wrestling, and boxing, began aikido at Harvard, in the fall of 1997, under the guidance of Taylor-sensei and Chang-sensei. Subsequently, he began attending aikido classes at the MIT Aikido Club regularly as well, thus receiving additional instructions from Dick Stroud-sensei. In May 2002 Michael tested for shodan in Montréal and was granted the rank by Kanai-shihan and Yamada-shihan. Michael has a doctorate in history from Harvard and taught at Harvard and Massachusetts College of Art, Boston. He founded and teaches at the KAIST Aikido Club in South Korea.

Richard LaPorte joined Harvard Aikikai in 2015.

Christof Gebhardt

Oliver Hauser (shodan) is a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University and an instructor at the Harvard Aikikai Club. He has been practicing martial arts all his life, beginning with judo at the age of four for over a decade in his hometown, Innsbruck in Austria. He began practising Aikido in 2004, initially as an exchange student in Texas, but quickly made it his main practice. He joined the Harvard Aikikai Club in 2010 when he moved to Cambridge to start his doctoral studies. Currently, he is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Exeter Business School.