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Ljubomir Vračarević

Љубомир Врачаревић

Serbian aikidoka (1947–2013), founder of the Real Aikido style, which combines aikido with jujutsu techniques for the army and VIP protection.

Quick Facts

Date of Birth5/6/1947
Date of Death11/18/2013
Country of OriginSerbiaSerbia

Biography

Ljubomir Vračarević was the founder of the Real Aikido style and the World Real Aikido Centre. He was born on 6 May 1947 in Varaždin (then the People's Republic of Croatia, Yugoslavia) and died on 18 November 2013 in Belgrade at the age of 66.

He began studying aikido in 1971. He trained at the Hombu Dojo under Kisshomaru Ueshiba, son of the aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. In 1993 he studied at the Yoshinkan in Tokyo under Gozo Shioda.

Real Aikido combines aikido with pragmatic jujutsu techniques intended for the army and VIP protection. According to English-language sources, more than 120,000 practitioners have passed through Real Aikido clubs, and since 2005 it has been taught as an elective subject in Serbian primary schools. For children aged 5 to 12 he created the programme With play to Master. He led more than 150 bodyguard-training seminars around the world and wrote 12 books and videos about Real Aikido and self-defence, among them Defense From Knife, Defense Without Fear and I Was Training The Bodyguards. He was the technical director of Real Aikido in the worldwide organisation Odbrana, an instructor at IBSSA (International Bodyguard and Security Association) and taught at the college for sports coaches in Belgrade. He founded and headed the World Real Aikido Centre and the European Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

In August 2002 the American organisation United States Martial Arts Association awarded him 10th dan and the title of soke. The main aikido organisations such as Aikikai or Yoshinkan do not recognise these awards.

Teachers, students and family

Teacher

Associated Martial Arts

Real AikidoFounder→

A Serbian self-defence system derived from aikido, created by Ljubomir Vračarević in 1993. It drops the philosophy and adds strikes to sensitive points.

Organisations