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 The
founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, was born on December 14, 1883, to
a farming family in an area of the Wakayama Prefecture now known as
Tanabe. Among five children, he was the only son. From his father
Yoroku, he inherited a samurai's determination and interest in public
affairs, and from his mother an intense interest in religion, poetry
and art. In his early childhood, Morihei was rather weak and sickly,
which led to his preference of staying indoors to read books instead
of playing outside. He loved to listen to the miraculous legends of
the wonder-working saints "En no Gyoja" and "Kobo Daishi," and was
fascinated by the esoteric Buddhist riturals. Morihei had even
considered becoming a Buddhist priest at one time.
To counteract his son's daydreaming, Yoroki would recount the tales of
Morihei's great-grandfather "Kichiemon," said to be one of the
strongest samurai of his day, and encouraged him to study Sumo
wrestling and swimming. Morihei became stronger and finally realized
the necessity of being strong after his father was attacked and beaten
by a gang of thugs hired by a rival politician.
School seemd to bore Morihei as his nervous energy needed a more
practical outlet. He took on several jobs, but they too seemed to
disillusion him. During a brief stint as a merchant, he finally
realized he had an affinity for the martial arts. He greatly enjoyed
his study of Jujutsu at the Kito-ryu dojo and Swordsmanship at the
Shinkage Ryu training center. But as luck would have it, a severe case
of Beri-Beri sent him home, where he later married Itogawa Hatsu.
After regaining his health during the Russo-Japanese War period, he
decided to enlist in the army. Standing at just under five feet tall,
he failed to meet the minimum height requirements. He was so upset
that he went immediately to the forests and swumg on trees trying
desperately to streach his body out. On his next attempt to enlist, he
passed his examination and became an infantryman in 1903. During this
time he impressed his superiors so much that this commanding officer
recommended him for the National Military Academy, but for various
reasons he declined the position and resigned from active
duty.
Morihei returned home to the farm. Having grown strong during his time
in the military, he was now eager to continue physical training. His
father built a dojo on his farm and invited the well-known Jujutsu
instructor Takaki Kiyoichi to tutor him. During this time, young
Ueshiba became stronger and found he possessed great skills. At the
same time he became more interested in political affairs. In the
Spring of 1912, at the age of 29, he and his family moved into the
wilderness of Hokkaido. After a few years of struggle, the small
village started to prosper. Ueshiba had grown tremendously muscular,
to the point that the power he possessed in his arms became almost
legendary.
It was during this time in Hokkaido that he met Takeda Sokaki,
grandmaster of Daito-ryu Aiki Jutsu. After meeting Takeda and find
himself no match for his teacher, Ueshiba seemed to forget everything
else and threw himself into training. After about a month, he went
back to Shirataki, build a dojo and invited Takeda to live there,
which he did.
Upon hearing of his father's serious illness, Ueshiba sold off most of
his property and left the dojo to Takeda. He would not to return to
Hokkaido. On his journey home, he impulsively stopped in Ayabe,
headquarters for the new Omoto-kyo religion. Here he met the master of
the new religion, Deguchi Onisaburo. After being enthralled with Ayabe
and Deguchi, he stayed three additional days and upon returning home,
found that he had stayed away too long. His father had passed away.
Ueshiba took his father's death very hard. He decided to sell off all
his ancestral land and move to Ayabe to study Omotokyo. For the next
eight years, Ueshiba studied with Deguchi Onisaburo, taught Budo, and
headed up the local fire brigade.
A pacifist, Deguchi was an advocate of non-violent resistance and
universal disarmament. He was noted to have said, "Armament and war
are the means by which the landlords and capitalists make their
profit, while the poor suffer." It is intriguing that a man of this
nature could become so close to a martial artist such as Ueshiba.
However, it did not take long for Deguchi to realize that Ueshiba's
purpose on earth was " to teach the real meaning of budo: an end to
all fighting and contention."
The study of Omoto-kyo and his assocation with Onisaburo profoundly
affected Ueshiba's life. He once stated that while
 Takeda
Sokaku opened his eyes to the essence of budo, his enlightenment came
from his Omoto-kyo experiences. During his early 40s (around 1925),
Ueshiba had several spiritual experiences which so impressed him that
his life and his training were forever changed. He realized the true
purpose of budo was love that cherishes and nourishes all beings.
For the next year, many people sought Ueshiba's teaching, among them
Tomiki Kenji (who went on to make his own style of Aikido) and the
famous Admiral Takeshita. In 1927, Deguchi Onisaburo encouraged
Ueshiba to separate from Omoto-kyo and being his own way. This he did
and moved to Tokyo. Ueshiba's following had grown to the point that he
was moved to build a formal dojo in the Ushigome district of the city
(the present site of the Aikido World Headquarters). While the dojo
was being constructed, many high-ranking instructors of other arts,
such as Kano Jigoro, came to visit. They were so impressed that they
would dispatch their own students to study under Ueshiba.
In 1931, the "Kobukan" was finished. A "Budo Enhancement
Society" was founded in 1932 with Ueshiba as Chief Instructor. It was
about this time that students such as Shioda Gozo, Shirata Rinjiro and
others joined the dojo. Up to the outbreak of World War II, Ueshiba
was extremely busy teaching at the Kobukan, as well as holding special
classes for the major military and police academies. For the next 10
years, Ueshiba became more and more famous and many stories began to
appear in
writing. His only son, Kisshomaru, being the "bookworm" that he was,
did much of the writing and documenting of the evens of his life.
In 1942, supposedly because of a divine command, he longed to return
to the farmlands. He had often said that "Budo and farming are one. "
The war had emptied the Kobukan, and he was tired of city life.
Leaving the Kobukan in the hands of his son Kissomaru, he moved to the
Ibaraki Prefecture and the village of Iwama. Here he build an outdoor
dojo and the now famous Aki Shrine.
Iwama is considered by many to be the birth place of modern-day
Aikido, "the Way of Harmony." Prior to this move, his system had been
called Aikijutsu, then Aiki-budo, still primarily a martial art rather
than a spiritual path. From 1942 (when the
 name
Aikido was first formally used) to 1952, Ueshiba consolidated the
techinques and perfected the religious philosophy of Aikido.
After the war, Aikido grew rapidly at the Kobukan (now called Hombu
Dojo) under the direction of Kisshomaru Ueshiba. Morihei Ueshiba had
become famous as "O-Sensei" or "The Grand Teacher," the Master of
Aikido. He had also received many decorations from the Japanese
government. Right up to the end of his life, O-Sensei refined and
improved his "Way", never losing his dedication for hard training.
In early Spring 1969, O-Sensei fell ill and told his son Kisshomaru
that "God is calling me...." He was returned to his home at
his request to be near his dojo. On April 15th, his condition became
critical. As his students made their last calls, he gave his final
instructions. "Aikido is for the entire world. Train not for selfish
reasons, but for all people everywhere."
Early on the morning of April 26th, 1969, the 86-year-old O-Sensei
took his son's hand, smiled and said, "Take care of things" and died.
Two months later, Hatsu, his wife of 67 years, followed him.
O-Sensei's ashes were buried in the family temple in Tanabe. Every
year a memorial serivce is held on April 29th at the Aiki Shrine in
Iwama.
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Aikido is a
modern, non-agressive Japanese martial art that was developed in the
earlier part of the century by Master
Morihei Ueshiba (O sensei- The Great Teacher). The Founder
died in 1969 at the
age of eighty-six. Effective as Aikido is as a martial art, its
essence goes beyond the resolution of physical conflicts. Based on his
background of rigorous training in several traditional Japanese
jujutsu, the Founder spent the years of the middle of his life
developing his art as a means of refining and uplifting the human
spirit. The Founder succeeded in creating what he then named “Aikido”,
“the Way of Harmony with the Forces and Principles of Nature”.