Inaka Dojo

About Us

Welcome to Inaka Dojo.

In Japanese inaka means countryside and dojo means a place to study a martial art. When you reach Inaka Dojo after driving through the cornfields around Beecher, Illinois, we'll be studying the art of aikido. We also offer classes at the New Lenox Aikido Club. Visitors are always welcome to observe our classes.

Aikido is a non-competitive martial art based on turning an attacker's power back against him. The study of aikido increases flexibility, endurance, and balance. Most students find that it reduces stress and increases the ability to focus. Aikido can be a very effective form of self-defense. However, that is not the goal of aikido; rather we strive for agatsu, the control of ourselves.

Inaka Dojo is affiliated with Aikido Schools of Ueshiba, which is headed by Mitsugi Saotome Shihan. ASU, in turn, is affiliated with Aikikai World Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

Inaka Dojo was established in 1992 by Wendy Whited, the chief instructor and head of the dojo. Whited Sensei has extensively studied Saotome Shihan's aikido, with its strong emphasis on both martial realism and the nurturing of inner peace. In 1999, Saotome Shihan awarded Whited Sensei her 6th degree black belt in recognition of the skill level achieved in her thirty-eight years of training. Her supplementary studies in Iaido, Judo, and Shorei Ryu Karate give her a well-rounded appreciation of the martial arts. As a teacher by profession, she brings a clarity of presentation to classes at Inaka Dojo, as well as to the seminars she teaches around the country as a senior instructor with Aikido Schools of Ueshiba.