Patricia Hendricks

Patricia Hendricks is an American aikido teacher and founder of Aikido of San Leandro. She is also the head of division one (the Iwama division) of the California Aikido Association and is the first "menkyo-kaiden" in Saito's system of aiki-ken and aiki-jo. As a 7th Dan Shihan, she is one of the highest and most noted aikido instructors in the world. She teaches internationally and runs a full-time dojo in San Leandro. She spent more than 7 years as uchi-deshi, living in dojos, primarily in Iwama, Japan under Morihiro Saito, a top student of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. She was one of Saito's closest students, with numerous appearances in his books, as well as appearing with him in magazine articles and as his uke for major demonstrations and is authorized by Saito to conduct weapons testing. She was the first to be awarded Menkyo Kaidan by Saito Morihiro.

She is one of the pioneering aikidoka for women.