About Us

Mill Valley Aikido was founded in 2014 with the mission to bring traditional Aikido to the North Bay and beyond.

Jason Yim

Jason Yim has been training Aikido since 1973 and holds a 5th degree black belt. He served under the late Morihiro Saito Sensei, 9th dan, as "uchi deshi" (live-in student) in Iwama, Japan. His total "uchi deshi" experience was 3 years, where he made numerous trips to Japan from 1976 to 1987. He holds Aiki-Ken (Sword) and Aiki-Jo (Staff), instructor’s certificates from Morihiro Saito Sensei. He has assisted Saito Sensei for technical manuals for Aikido Journal and has been featured in the Takamusu Aikido Volumes.

Jason is Chief Instructor and Co-founder of Mill Valley Aikido. He is also acting Chief Instructor at Aikido by the Bay Dojo in San Mateo. Previously he was Chief Instructor and Founder of Golden Gate Aikido for over 10 years. He has trained extensively for years under Bill Witt and Frank Doran Sensei, 8th dan, as one of their earlier students, at the age of 15. Currently studying under Ryuji Sawa Sensei, 7th dan. In addition to Aikido, he has also studied Goju Ryu Karate under Gosei Yamaguchi (eldest son to Gogen Yamaguchi "The Cat"), and Wing Chun. Jason continues his studies in Iyengar Yoga and Argentine Tango.

Rob Okun

Rob Okun, Chief Instructor, Co-founder, and Dojo Cho, Mill Valley Aikido has trained in Aikido since 1973. He holds a 5th degree black belt and a "Shidoin" Certified Instructor from the Takemusu Aikido Association. Rob was “uchi deshi” (live-in student) in Iwama, Japan under the late Morihiro Saito Sensei, 9th dan for a total of 3 years between 1976 and 1981. He was Saito Sensei’s uke (demonstration partner) at the 1981 All Japan Aikido Demonstration.

Rob currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Takemusu Aikido Association, a non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting Aikido. He has trained extensively with Bill Witt Sensei, 8th dan, Hans Goto Sensei, 7th dan, Ryuji Sawa Sensei, 7th dan, and the late Otani Kazue Sensei, 8th dan. He holds a Masters, International Management, B.A., Japanese and served as translator for Saito Sensei, Inagaki Sensei and Ryuji Sawa (Inagaki) Sensei. Rob is also a student of Beikoku Wado-ryu karate.

The Mill Valley Aikido Story

- written by Patrick Reynolds

A new school, a new friend. A friendship that would stand the test of time.

Meeting the first year in Junior High School, Rob had just moved back to Mill Valley, coming off a 2 year Peace Corps tour in Ghana, West Africa. Jason and Rob were local kids who would bike around Mill Valley after school, exploring, looking for adventure and scavenging glass bottles for recycle, to buy “Slurpees” and snacks at the local 7-11.

Rob (bottom left), Saito Sensei (middle) and Jason (bottom right) on their first trip to Japan in 1976. Matthew Flamm (top left) and the young Shigemi Inagaki Sensei (top right). It was said this is when the “Sayonara Dogi Signing” was started.

The summer of 1973, Jason saw a flyer for an Aikido class at the old Mill Valley Rec-Center. He had never heard of Aikido, but his love for Samurai films and martial arts gave him a reason to try. After school he would find Rob and practice all the new moves he learned the night before. Eventually Rob got frustrated of getting beat up on, and started going to the classes as well! They liked Aikido, and more importantly, stuck with it, so much so that after a few months they were the only two students left in the class. The instructor told them if they wanted to continue they'd have to start going to the main school in San Francisco, the newly formed Turk Street Dojo (Aikido of San Francisco), then located at the edge of the Tenderloin District.

The young Shigemi Inagaki Sensei and Saito Sensei demonstrating Kumi Tachi (sword partner practice) during their first visit to the US, at the Turk Street Dojo, SF, 1974.

Saito Sensei visiting the Golden Gate Bridge during his first trip to America, 1974.

And so five-six times a week, the teens would take the bus over the Golden Gate Bridge to train with the pioneers of US Aikido, instructors like Bill Witt, Frank Doran, and Bob Nadeau. In 1974, the late Morihiro Saito Sensei (Chief Instructor and guardian of the Aiki Shrine/ Iwama Dojo) made his first of many trips to San Francisco to spread the art. After graduating from Tam High School in 1976, Jason and Rob were given the honor of an invitation to live and train in Japan at the Iwama Dojo, home of Morihei Ueshiba, Founder of Aikido. It was during their first trip to Japan that they earned their Shodan (1st black belts level). They were 18 years old.

Over the next twenty years Jason and Rob split their time between university studies in California, Aikido training in Japan, and traveling the world for work and adventure. They continued training and teaching Aikido whenever they could.

A young Jason blocks an atemi (strike) from Saito Sensei at the Iwama dojo. This photo was part of a technical series for the Aikido Journal magazine, 1980.

A young Rob takes ukemi (falls) for Saito Sensei’s demonstration of the 9th Kumijo, during the 1981, “All Japan Aikido Embukai”, in Tokyo's famous Nippon Budokan stadium.

Part of Aikido Journal’s Technical Manual Series

In the year 2000, Saito Shihan made his final trip to Northern California, the first place he visited outside Japan, back in 1974. He had planned to come out in 2001, but then 9/11 happened. He passed away in 2002. His legacy was hundreds of students around the world who had learned the traditional Iwama system that O-Sensei developed. With careers and family lives, Rob and Jason focused on other paths. Rob builded his investment business, while Jason continued to teach Aikido at different locations around San Francisco for over 10 years, along with exploring other martial arts, yoga and dance.

In 2012, after taking a long break, Rob re-started his training with Hans Goto Shihan, at the Bay Marin Aikido. During the process he felt his passion for the practice reignite. He surprised the newer Aikido students with his depth of knowledge and close connection to the Iwama Aikido lineage. As Rob worked to shake the cobwebs off, he asked Jason to help him brush up his form for his upcoming promotion demo at the TAA Annual Tahoe Seminar. 40 years previously, it was Jason who pulled Rob into Aikido. Now it was Rob's turn to bring Jason back into the practice. For both men it has been a journey igniting former skills and enhancing new ones.

Rob working with Sawa Sensei to demonstrate a Jo Dori (staff disarming) technique.

But their story wasn't finished. Their former instructors and colleagues, now aging and at the end of their teaching careers, had one more task for them - it was time they started their own dojo to keep the Iwama lineage going.

Rob and Jason decided to found their dojo in Mill Valley, the town they had grown up in and first learned Aikido.

45 years of friendship on the path of Aikido.

In 2014 Mill Valley Aikido opened its doors, and is a fast growing Aikido dojo in the Bay Area. Jason and Rob have come a long way since they cleaned apartments and worked Recycling Centers to pay for their Aikido tuition, but the heart of their practice is unchanged. Aikido is a deep and rewarding art, and has been the bond that has kept a friendship strong for five decades and counting. Jason and Rob are honored to share its teachings with the next generation of students.