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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."
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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
Gozo Shioda, Koitchie Tohei,Tomiki Kenji,Hiroshi Isoyama,Gyaku Homa,Seseki Abe,
Admiral Takeshita, and Morihiro Saito who vowed to deseminate the Aikido
teaching as taught to him by the founder. 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 and 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 entired 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
service is held on April 29th at the Aiki Shrine in Iwama.
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