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 seemed 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 swung
on trees trying desperately to stretch 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 Sokaku Takeda, 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 Omoto-kyo. 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 association
with Onisaburo profoundly affected Ueshiba's life. He once stated
that while Sokaku Takeda 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 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
Kisshomaru, he moved to the Ibaraki Prefecture and the village of
Iwama. Here he build an outdoor dojo and the now famous Aiki 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 techniques 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.
