Amos Lee Parker

rdf:langString Amos Lee Parker

rdf:langString Amos Lee Parker (December 12, 1936 – August 19, 2013) was an American aikido teacher. He was ranked 9th dan in Yoshinkan Aikido. Parker was born the 7th of 16 children in Houston, Texas. At age 18, he joined the United States Navy. He first came into contact with aikido in 1958 while a member of the US Navy on board the USS Bradford (DD-545). Another member of the crew, Signalman Hill, was demonstrating techniques and Amos was shocked at how easily Hill was able control him and others. In 1962, Amos Parker received his orders to Japan and was deployed to the Yokosuka Naval Base. The Monday after his arrival he found an aikido dojo on base that was under the direction of Yukio Noguchi, 8th dan Yoshinkan Aikido. His training with Noguchi only lasted a couple of months as the latter accepted an invitation to teach aikido in Hawaii. Aikido classes were taken over by Kiyoyuki Terada, 10th dan. Amos Parker would spend the next 30+ years training and teaching in Japan. Amos Parker received his Shihan in 1986, making him the first non-Japanese instructor to receive such an honor. In 1995, he received the rank of hachidan (8th dan) and in January 2010 he was awarded the rank of 9th dan by the Aikido Yoshinkai Foundation making him the highest ranking non-Japanese Yoshinkan Aikido instructor in the world. Amos Parker is senior to many of the Japanese shihan and served as a presiding judge at several yearly enbutaikai’s (demonstrations) Amos Parker resided in his hometown of Houston, Texas. He traveled several times during the year to teach clinics in London, Ontario, Indianapolis, IN, Detroit, MI and Sacramento, CA. He has also been invited to other schools in California, Minnesota, Texas, Canada, Brazil, England and The Kingdom of Bahrain. In 2005, along with members of the Seikeikan USA, he participated in a special demonstration in Oakland, CA for some 200+ kids at the East Oakland YMCA.