https://x.com/i/status/1999658279060774918

There is an old photograph from Japan, taken in the late 1970s, that a lot of people share because of the young American man standing in it — a martial arts student who would go on to become a famous Hollywood action star.
But the most extraordinary person in that picture isn't him. It's the calm, formidable woman standing beside him...
Her name is Miyako Fujitani. And more than four decades later, she is still one of the most respected Aikido masters in the world.
Miyako was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1952, into a family steeped in martial arts. Her father was an Aikido instructor, and she grew up in and around the dojo, absorbing the discipline of the art from a very young age, long before it was common for a girl to do so. Aikido is a distinctly Japanese martial art whose name is often translated as "the way of harmony with energy." Unlike arts built around striking an opponent, its heart is not aggression but balance, redirection, and the peaceful resolution of conflict — it emphasizes ...