Morihei Ueshiba, the Great Teacher
The great teacher was the fourth child and the eldest son of Yoroku Ueshiba
and Yuki Itokawa. He was born on December 14, 1883 in Tanabe, Japan. Yoroku was
a well-to-do farmer and a well respected member of the local community who has
served on the village council for 20 years. His mother, Yuki, on the other hand
came from a landowning family of a noble descent.
At around the age of seven Morihei was sent to Jizodera, a nearby Buddhist
temple of the Shingon sect, to study the Confusian classics and buddhist scrip-
tures. His father later on, encouraged him to a more physical pursuits and
taught him sumo and swimming.
Morihei graduated from Tanabe Higher Elementry School, and was admitted to
the Tanabe Prefectural Middle School at the age of 13. He found employment at
the Tanabe Tax Office after obtaining his diploma from the Yoshida Abacus Insti
-tute. He resigned from his job and went to Tokyo in 1902 to venture into entre-
prenuership and set up his own stationery and school supplies company, Ueshiba
Trading.
It was also during his stay in Tokyo that O' Sensei (Great Teacher) began
his study of martial arts. he studied traditional jujutsu and kenjutsu. He
soon married Hatsu Itokawa, who was born in 1881, whom he had known since child-
hood.
In 1903, Morihei enlisted in the 37th Regiment of the 4th Division in Osaka
, Japan. He was nicknamed "The King of Soldiers" for his skill with the bayonet
and his hardworking, honest character. When the Russo-Japanese war broke out, he
was sent to the front as corporal, and returned having been promoted to the rank
of sergeant for outstanding bravery in the field. During periods of leisure in
military life, Morihei continued to pursue his interest in the martial arts,
attending Masakatsu Nakai's dojo in Sakai where he learned the Goto school of
Yagyu-ryu Jujutsu.
In 1907, Morihei was discharged from the army and returned to Tanabe, where
he worked in the family farm and participated in the village politics, becoming
the leader of the local Young Men's Association.
During this period his father engaged the judoka, Kiyoichi Takagi, who was
then visiting Tanabe, to act as Morihei's teacher and converted the family barn
into a dojo. It was here that Morihei learned the Kodokan style of judo. He
continued to attend the Nakai dojo and received a certificate from the Goto
school.
In 1912, Morihei and his family left for Hokkaido. Morihei subsequently
trained intensely with Takeda, the well-known master of Daito-ryu and gained a
certificate in Daito-ryu jujutsu.
In November 1919, Morihei returned to Tanabe upon the learning that his fa-
ther was seriously ill. On his return trip, he heard that the leader of the flou
-rishing new religion, Omoto-kyo, Onisaburo Deguchi, who was famous for
chinkon kishin, meaning calming the spirit and returning to the divine,
meditation techniques, was living in nearby Ayabe. Morihei asked Onisaburo to
pray for his father. Sadly, his father died on January 2, 1920, aged 76. After a
period of emotional instability, he decided to move to Ayabe in search for a
more spiritual life, under the guidance of Onisaburo.
Onisaburo encouraged him to convert part of his house into an eighteen-mat
dojo. Morihei opened the Ueshiba Academy, where he taught introductory courses
in martial arts, mainly to Omoto-kyo followers. The instructions offered at the
academy gradually increased in range and depth, and words began to spread that
there was an exceptional master of martial arts living in Ayabe. The number of
non Omoto-kyo followers enrolling at the academy began to increase. Consequently
his practice of the martial arts gradually began to take on a spiritual charac-
ter as he became more and more absorbed by the study of kotodama.
This lead him little by little to break away from the conventions of Yagyu-ryu
and Daito-ryu jujutsu and to develop his own original approach, using applied
principles and techniques together to break down the barriers between mind, spi-
rit and body. In 1922, this approach was formally named aiki-bujutsu,
but it became known as Ueshiba-ryu aiki-bujutsu.
Morihei, after his ill-fated adventure on spiritual development in Mongolia
and Manchuria, tried to resume his former life, uniting the practice of martial
arts and farming, by teaching at the Ueshiba Academy and working at the
Tennodaira farm. He also became interested in sojutsu (spear technique),
and continuead his intense practice in swordsmanship and jujutsu.
Things were not the same however. He had been deeply affected by his expedition
in Mongolia and Manchuria, in particular by his experience of facing death under
gunfire, and he had found that he could see flashes of light, indicating the
path of oncoming bullets. The discovery of this intuitive sense was a profound
experience for Morihei, and after returning to Japan, he frequently encountered
situations where he felt manifestations of spiritual force. The unity of the uni
verse and the self became clear to him and he came to understand one by one the
other philosophical principles on which aikido is based. It was also in this
way that he realized that it would be better to name his creation aiki-budo,
rather than aiki-bujutsu. The substitution of the character do in the place
of jutsu changes the meaning from the martial art of aiki to the martial way
of aiki.
In 1927, having received an invitation from Admiral Isamu Takeshita, Mori-
hei felt he had no alternative but to leave Ayabe for the third time. With
Onisaburo's blessing, he decided to make the move a permanent one and to devote
his energies solely to establishing himself in Tokyo as a teacher in martial
arts. Morihei, after 2 years, moved to a house near the Sengaku temple in Kuru-
macho where he converted two eight-mat room into a dojo.
In 1930, he obtained a villa in Ushigome, Wakamatsu-cho, and began
the construction of a new dojo. While the work was in progress, he set up a tem-
porary dojo in Mejirodai, and it was there that he received a visit from Jigoro
Kano, the founder of Judo and head of the Kodokan, in October 1930. Kano was
most impressed by Morihei's technique and praised him highly, saying "this is my
budo". Kano subsequently sent two of his students to train under Morihei.
In April 1931, a full-scale eight mat dojo, inagurated as the Kobukan
was completed in Wakamatsu-cho, at the same site where the main dojo stands to-
day. For the next 10 years, aiki-budo experienced its first golden age. At the
same time the Kobukan was popularly known as the "hell dojo", because of the ex-
traordinary intense training practiced here. The next few years was a busy one
for Morihei, as he was teaching not only at the Kobukan but also at many other
dojo that started up in Tokyo and Osaka. He also taught at police stations in
Osaka area as the recommendation of one of his followers, Kenji Tomita, Chief of
Osaka Prefectural Police. In addition, he was becoming more involved in teaching
at the Asahi Newspaper in Osaka, and through the Japan Industrial Club he had
many opportunities to teach people from the financial world.
In 1932, the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Martial Arts was founded
and in 1933, Morihei became its president.
By the mid-30's, he had become famous throughout the martial arts world.
Even more than for his mastery of various traditional Japanese martial arts, he
came to public attention for the epoch-making nature of his own original crea-
tion, "the union of spirit, mind and body" in aiki, formerlly called aiki-budo.
During this period, Morihei was practicing kendo very intensively
at the Kobukan Dojo, and a number of kendo practitioners frequented the dojo.
In September 1939, he was invited to Manchuria to attend a public exhibi-
tion of his martial arts. He continued to visit Manchuria even after the out-
break of the pacific War. His last visit to Manchuria was in 1942.
In 1941, aiki-budo was assimilated into the "Butokukai" (a government
body uniting all martial arts into one organization). Morihei appointed
Minotu Hirai to represent and manage the Kobukan in the Aiki Section of the
Butokukai. It was around this time that the name Aikido first came into
use.
After the onslaught of the Pacific War, in 1948, the Ministry of Education
granted permission to reestablish the Aikikai. After the reestablishment of the
Aikikai, his son Kisshomaru Ueshiba managed the Aikikai and Morihei remained in
Iwama, absorbed in contemplation and martial arts practice.
From 1950 onward, Morihei once more began to travel around Japan in res-
ponse to invitations. In 1954 the headquarters of aikido was moved to Tokyo,
and the dojo took the official title of the Aikikai Foundation: the Hombu Dojo
of Aikido.
O' Sensei demonstrating his superb Aikido technique.
As Aikido became established in the popular consciousness, the number of
students from all over the world increased rapidly. In Japan itself, numerous
dojo were set up all over the country, and Aikido spread into universities,
government offices and companies, heralding its second golden age.
As Morihei became older, he took a less active role in the management of
the Aikikai. His son, Kisshomaru, took charge of the instruction in the
Hombu Dojo but Morihei continued to give demonstrations.
In 1960, Morihei together with Yosaburo Uno, kyudo tenth dan, was given the
Shijuhosho Award by Emperor Hirohito. Only three people from the martial arts
world had ever been given this award before; the judo master Kyuzo Mifune, and
the kendo masters Kinnosuke Ogawa and Seiji Mochida.
On February 28, 1961, Morihei went to Hawaii, in the United States,
on invitation of the Hawaii Aikikai.
On August 7, 1962, a great festival was held at the Aiki Shrine in Iwama to
celebrate Morihei's sixtieth anniversary as a practitioner of the martial arts,
and in 1964 he received a special award from Emperor Hirohito in recognition of
his contributions to the martial arts.
In January 15, 1969, Morihei attended the New Year's celebrations in the
Hombu Dojo. Although he appeared to be in good health, his physical condition
rapidly deteriorated, and he returned to the source peacefully on April 26, 1969
aged 86, at 5 pm. A vigil was held at the Hombu Dojo on May 1, starting at 7 pm.
On the same day the founder was given a posthumous award by Emperor Hirohito.
His ashes were buried in the cemetery of the Ueshiba family temple in Tanabe,
and strands of the founder's hair were enshrined at the Aiki Shrine in Iwama,
the Ueshiba family cemetery in Ayabe, and at the Kumano Grand Shrine.
Morihei's aikido continued to flourish, reaching the four corners of the
globe and even evolving into variations as a manifestaion of the art's dynamic
nature.
