Aikido Kokikai NYC was founded by Gary Snyder, a sixth degree black belt who has practiced martial arts for more than 30 years. Snyder was the instructor of the Princeton University Aikido Club from 1986 to 1991, and has been the chief instructor of the Columbia University Aikido Club from 1992 through the present. In 2005 Snyder opened East Village Kokikai Aikido, which then moved to the new Aikido Kokikai NYC location in Chelsea in 2007.