Bernie Lau

United States
7.7

Also known as

Bernard M. Lau

Description

American aikido teacher and Seattle police detective, from Hilo. He trained under Koichi Tohei from 1955, started the first yudansha-led aikido club in Seattle in 1968, and later developed aikido-based police defensive tactics.

Teachers (1)

  • Koichi Tohei
    swordsAikidō Probable
    Probable
    Two articles, not independent of each other.
    The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.
    (1955)
    fact_checkassessed by FSMverified
    Frederico Muñoz
    Researcher, Martialis
    3 sources expand_more
    fact_check
    Two articles, not independent of each other.
    “In 1955, at the age of 14, Bernie Lau began training in aikido under Koichi Tohei.”
    — Svinth, Joseph R.. (2001-11). Aikido: Seattle Aikijujutsu Pioneer Bernie Lau. Journal of Combative Sportlink history info
    “"Big Island Aiki Kai. Certificate of Rating in Aikido. Bernard M. Lau is Hereby Promoted to the Rank of 3 Kyu for his Diligence and Advancement shown in Mastering the Skill in the Japanese Art of Aikido. Issued June 25, 1958. Big Island Aiki Kai, Koichi Tohei, 8 Rank."”
    — Svinth, Joseph R.. (2001-11). Aikido: Seattle Aikijujutsu Pioneer Bernie Lau. Journal of Combative Sportlink history info
    “There were a couple European American youths, too, including Bernie Lau, who started an aikido club in Seattle in 1968.”
    — Narimatsu, Curtis; Svinth, Joseph R.. (2001-01). Aikido: Hawaii Aikido Pioneer Takashi Nonaka. Journal of Combative Sport link history info

Lineage

Students (1)

  • Neil Yamamoto
    swordsAikidō Probable
    Probable
    Single source.
    The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.
    fact_checkassessed by FSMverified
    Frederico Muñoz
    Researcher, Martialis
    1 source expand_more
    fact_check
    Single source.
    “In February 1987, Lau appeared with his student Neil Yamamoto on the cover of Black Belt.”
    — Svinth, Joseph R.. (2001-11). Aikido: Seattle Aikijujutsu Pioneer Bernie Lau. Journal of Combative Sportlink history info

Sources

“This made him the first yudansha to teach aikido in Seattle.”
— Svinth, Joseph R.. (2001-11). Aikido: Seattle Aikijujutsu Pioneer Bernie Lau. Journal of Combative Sportlink history info

Cite and reuse

CC BY-SA 4.0expand_more
Plain text
Muñoz, Frederico (YEAR_PLACEHOLDER). Bernie Lau. In Martialis: Martial Arts Lineage Database. https://martial.is/entity/01M6C5JZZG6NH7APBTE970T8VD - CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed ACCESSED_DATE_PLACEHOLDER.
BibTeX
@incollection{martialis_01M6C5JZZG6NH7APBTE970T8VD, author = {Muñoz, Frederico}, title = {Bernie Lau}, booktitle = {Martialis: Martial Arts Lineage Database}, year = {YEAR_PLACEHOLDER}, url = {https://martial.is/entity/01M6C5JZZG6NH7APBTE970T8VD}, urldate = {ACCESSED_DATE_PLACEHOLDER}, note = {CC BY-SA 4.0} }
data_object JSON-LDdata_object Turtle
https://martial.is/entity/01M6C5JZZG6NH7APBTE970T8VD

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