{"id":5213,"date":"2017-03-06T08:32:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T08:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irmeiseikai.com\/?page_id=5213"},"modified":"2017-04-09T14:37:31","modified_gmt":"2017-04-09T11:07:31","slug":"%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a8%d8%b2%d8%b1%da%af-%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b1%db%8c%d9%87%d9%87-%d8%a7%d9%88%d8%a1%d8%b4%db%8c%d8%a8%d8%a7","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a8%d8%b2%d8%b1%da%af-%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b1%db%8c%d9%87%d9%87-%d8%a7%d9%88%d8%a1%d8%b4%db%8c%d8%a8%d8%a7\/","title":{"rendered":"O\u2019 Sensei Murihei Ueshiba"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Murihei Ueshiba\u00a0(December 14, 1883\u00a0\u2013 April 26, 1969)\u00a0was a\u00a0martial artist\u00a0and founder of the\u00a0Japanese martial art\u00a0of\u00a0Aikido. He is often referred to as “the founder”\u00a0Kaiso\u00a0or\u00a0\u014csensei, “Great Teacher”.<\/h4>\n

The son of a landowner from\u00a0Tanabe, Ueshiba studied a number of martial arts in his youth, and served in the\u00a0Japanese Army\u00a0during the\u00a0Russo-Japanese War. After being discharged in 1907, he moved to\u00a0Hokkaid\u014d\u00a0as the head of a pioneer settlement; here he met and studied with\u00a0Takeda Sokaku, the founder of\u00a0Dait\u014d-ry\u016b aiki-j\u016bjutsu. On leaving Hokkaido in 1919, Ueshiba joined the\u00a0\u014cmoto-ky\u014d\u00a0movement, a\u00a0Shinto\u00a0sect, in\u00a0Ayabe, where he served as a martial arts instructor and opened his first dojo. He accompanied the head of the \u014cmoto-ky\u014d group,\u00a0Onisaburo Deguchi, on an expedition to Mongolia in 1924, where they were captured by Chinese troops and returned to Japan. The following year, he experienced a spiritual enlightenment, stating that, “a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one.” After this experience, his martial arts skill appeared to be greatly increased.<\/h4>\n

Ueshiba moved to Tokyo in 1926, where he set up the\u00a0Aikikai Hombu Dojo. In the aftermath of\u00a0World War II\u00a0the dojo was closed, but Ueshiba continued training at another dojo he had set up in\u00a0Iwama. From the end of the war until the 1960s, he worked to promote aikido throughout Japan and abroad. He died from liver cancer in 1969.<\/h4>\n

Morihei Ueshiba was born in Nishinotani village (now part of the city of\u00a0Tanabe),\u00a0Wakayama Prefecture, Japan on December 14, 1883, the fourth child (and only son) born to Yoroku Ueshiba and his wife Yuki.<\/h4>\n

The young Ueshiba was raised in a somewhat privileged setting. His father Yoroku was a rich landowner and minor politician, being an elected member of the Nishinotani village council for 22 consecutive years. His mother Yuki was from the Itokawa clan, a prominent local family who could trace their lineage back to the Heian period. Ueshiba was a rather weak, sickly child and bookish in his inclinations. At a young age his father encouraged him to take up\u00a0sumo\u00a0wrestling and swimming and entertained him with stories of his great-grandfather Kichiemon, who was considered a very strong\u00a0samurai\u00a0in his era. The need for such strength was further emphasized when the young Ueshiba witnessed his father being attacked by followers of a competing politician.<\/h4>\n

A major influence on Ueshiba’s early education was his elementary schoolteacher Tasaburo Nasu, who was a\u00a0Shinto\u00a0priest and who introduced Ueshiba to the religion. At the age of six Ueshiba was sent to study at the Jiz\u014dderu Temple, but had little interest in the rote learning of\u00a0Confucian\u00a0education. However, his schoolmaster Mitsujo Fujimoto was also a priest of\u00a0Shingon Buddhism, and taught the young Ueshiba some of the esoteric chants and ritual observances of the sect, which Ueshiba found intriguing. His interest in Buddhism was sufficiently great that his mother considered enrolling him in the priesthood, but Ueshiba’s father Yoroku vetoed the idea. He went to Tanage Higher Elementary School and then to Tanabe Prefectural Middle School, but left formal education in his early teens, enrolling instead at the a private\u00a0abacus\u00a0academy, the Yoshida Institute, to study accountancy. On graduating from the academy, he worked at a local tax office for a few months, but the job did not suit him and in 1901 he left for Tokyo, funded by his father. Ueshiba Trading, the stationery business which he opened there was short-lived; unhappy with life in the capital, he returned to Tanabe less than a year later after suffering a bout of\u00a0beri-beri. Shortly thereafter he married his childhood acquaintance Hatsu Itokawa.<\/h4>\n

In 1903, Ueshiba was called up for military service. He failed the initial physical examination, being shorter than the regulation 5\u00a0feet 2\u00a0inches (1.57\u00a0m). To overcome this, he stretched his spine by attaching heavy weights to his legs and suspending himself from tree branches; when he re-took the physical exam he had increased his height by the necessary half-inch to pass He was assigned to the Osaka Fourth Division, 37th Regiment, and was promoted to corporal of the 61st Wakayama regiment by the following year; after serving on the front lines during the Russo-Japanese War he was promoted to sergeant. He was discharged in 1907, and again returned to his father’s farm in Tanabe. Here he befriended the writer and philosopher\u00a0Minakata Kumagusu, becoming involved with Minakata’s opposition to the Meiji government’s Shrine Consolidation Policy. He and his wife had their first child, a daughter named Matsuko, in 1911.<\/h4>\n

Ueshiba studied several martial arts during his early life, and was renowned for his physical strength during his youth. During his sojourn in Tokyo he studied\u00a0Kit\u014d-ry\u016b\u00a0jujutsu\u00a0under Takisaburo Tobari, and briefly enrolled in a school teaching\u00a0Shinkage-ry\u016b. His training in\u00a0Got\u014d-ha Yagy\u016b-ryu\u00a0under Masakatsu Nakai was sporadic due to his military service, although he was granted a diploma in the art within a few years. In 1901 he received some instruction from Tozawa Tokusabur\u014din in\u00a0Tenjin Shin’y\u014d-ry\u016b\u00a0jujutsu and he studied\u00a0judo\u00a0with Kiyoichi Takagi in Tanabe in 1911, after his father had a dojo built on the family compound to encourage his son’s training. In 1903, after his return from the war, he was also presented with a certificate of enlightenment (shingon inkyo) by Mitsujo Fujimoto of Jizu temple, who had been Ueshiba’s childhood teacher.<\/h4>\n

In the early part of the 20th century, the prefectural government of\u00a0Hokkaid\u014d, Japan’s northernmost island, were offering various grants and incentives for mainland Japanese groups willing to relocate there. At the time, Hokkaid\u014d was still largely unsettled by the Japanese, being occupied primarily by the indigenous\u00a0Ainu. In 1910, Ueshiba travelled to Hokkaid\u014d in the company of his acquaintance Denzaburo Kurahashi, who had lived on the northern island before. His intent was to scout at a propitious location for a new settlement, and he found the site at\u00a0Shirataki\u00a0suitable for his his plans. Despite the hardships he suffered on this journey (which included getting lost in snowstorms several times and an incident in which he nearly drowned in a freezing river), Ueshiba returned to Tanabe filled with enthusiasm for the project, and began recruiting families to join him. He became the leader of the Kish\u016b Settlement Group, a collective of eighty-five pioneers who intended to settle in the Shirataki district and live as farmers; the group founded the village of Yubetsu (later Shirataki village) in August, 1912. Much of the funding for this project came from Ueshiba’s father and his brothers-in-law Zenzo and Koshiro Inoue. Zenzo’s son\u00a0Noriaki\u00a0was also a member of the group. Poor soil conditions and bad weather led to crop failures during the first three years of the project, but the group still managed to cultivate\u00a0mint\u00a0and farm livestock. The burgeoning timber industry provided a boost to the settlement’s economy, and by 1918 there were over 500 families residing there. A fire in 1917 razed the entire village, leading to the departure of around twenty families. Ueshiba was attending a meeting over railway construction around 50 miles away, but on learning of the fire travelled back the entire distance on foot. He was elected to the village council that year, and took a prominent role in leading the reconstruction efforts. In the summer of 1918, Hatsu gave birth to their first son, Takemori.<\/h4>\n

In Hokkaid\u014d, the young Ueshiba met\u00a0Takeda Sokaku, the founder of\u00a0Dait\u014d-ry\u016b aiki-j\u016bjutsu\u00a0at the Hisada Inn in\u00a0Engaru, in March 1915. Ueshiba was deeply impressed with Takeda’s martial art, and despite being on an important mission for his village at the time, abandoned his journey to spend the next month studying with Takeda. He requested formal instruction and began studying Takeda’s style of\u00a0j\u016bjutsu\u00a0in earnest, going so far as to construct a dojo at his home and inviting his new teacher to be a permanent house guest. He received a\u00a0kyoju dairi\u00a0certificate, or teaching license, for the system from Takeda in 1922, when Takeda visited him in\u00a0Ayabe. He also received a\u00a0Yagy\u016b Shinkage-ry\u016b\u00a0sword transmission scroll from Takeda. Ueshiba then became a representative of Dait\u014d-ry\u016b, toured with Takeda as a teaching assistant and taught the system to others. The relationship between Ueshiba and Takeda was a complicated one. Ueshiba was an extremely dedicated student, dutifully attending to his teacher’s needs and displaying great respect. However, Takeda overshadowed him throughout his early martial arts career, and Ueshiba’s own students recorded the need to address what they referred to as “the Takeda problem”.<\/h4>\n

In November 1919, Ueshiba learned that his father Yoroku was ill, and was not expected to survive. Leaving most of his possessions to Sokaku, Ueshiba left Shirataki with the apparent intention returning to Tanabe to visit his ailing parent.\u00a0En route, however, he made a detour to Ayabe, near\u00a0Kyoto, intending to visit\u00a0Onisaburo Deguchi, the spiritual leader of the\u00a0\u014cmoto-ky\u014d\u00a0religion in Ayabe (Ueshiba’s nephew Noriaki Inoue had already joined the religion and may have recommended it to his uncle). Ueshiba stayed at the \u014cmoto-ky\u014d headquarters for several days, and met with Deguchi, who told him that, “There is nothing to worry about with your father”.On his return to Tanabe, Ueshiba found that Yoroku had died. Criticised by family and friends for arriving too late to see his father, Ueshiba went into the mountains with a sword and practised kenjutsu for several days; this almost led to his arrest when the police were informed of a sword-wielding madman on the loose.<\/h4>\n

Within a few months, Ueshiba was back in Ayabe, having decided to become a full-time student of \u014cmoto-ky\u014d. In 1920 he moved his entire family, including his mother, to the \u014cmoto compound; at the same time he also purchased enough rice to feed himself and his family for several years. That same year, Deguchi asked Ueshiba to become the group’s martial arts instructor, and a dojo\u2014the first of several that Ueshiba was to lead\u2014was constructed on the centre’s grounds. Ueshiba also taught Takeda’s Dait\u014d-ry\u016b in neighbouring\u00a0Hy\u014dgo Prefecture\u00a0during this period. His second son, Kuniharu, was born in 1920 in Ayabe, but died from illness the same year, along with three-year-old Takemori.<\/h4>\n

Ueshiba continued to teach his martial art under the name “Dait\u014d-ry\u016b Aiki-j\u016bjutsu”, at the behest of his teacher, Takeda Sokaku. Takeda visited Ueshiba in Ayabe to provide instruction, although he was not a follower of \u014cmoto and did not get along with Deguchi, which led to a cooling of the relationship between him and Ueshiba. However, Deguchi encouraged Ueshiba to create his own style of martial arts, “Ueshiba-ry\u016b”, and sent many \u014cmoto followers to study at the dojo. He also brought Ueshiba into the highest levels of the group’s bureaucracy, making Ueshiba his executive assistant and putting him in charge of the Showa Seinenkai (\u014cmoto-ky\u014d’s national youth organisation) and the \u014cmoto Shobotai, a\u00a0volunteer fire service. His close relationship with Deguchi introduced Ueshiba to various members of Japan’s far-right; members of the\u00a0ultranationalist\u00a0group the\u00a0Sakurakai\u00a0would hold meetings at Ueshiba’s dojo, and he developed a friendship with the philosopher (and later\u00a0war criminal)\u00a0Sh\u016bmei \u014ckawa\u00a0during this period, as well as meeting with\u00a0Nissho Inoue\u00a0and\u00a0Kozaburo Tachibana. Deguchi also offered Ueshiba’s services as a bodyguard to\u00a0Kingoro Hashimoto, the Sakurakai’s founder.<\/h4>\n

In 1921, in an event known as the First \u014cmoto-ky\u014d Incident (\u014cmoto jiken), the Japanese authorities raided the compound, destroying the main buildings on the site and arresting Deguchi on charges of\u00a0l\u00e8se-majest\u00e9. Ueshiba’s dojo was undamaged, however, and over the following two years he worked closely with Deguchi to reconstruct the group’s centre, becoming heavily involved in farming work and serving as the groups “Caretaker of Forms”, a role which placed him in charge of overseeing \u014cmoto’s move towards self-sufficiency. His son\u00a0Kisshomaru Ueshiba\u00a0was born in the summer of 1921.<\/h4>\n

Three years later, in 1924, Onisaburo Deguchi led a small group of \u014cmoto-ky\u014d disciples, including Ueshiba, on a journey to\u00a0Mongolia\u00a0at the invitation of retired naval captain Yutaro Yano and his associates within the ultra-nationalist\u00a0Black Dragon Society. Deguchi’s intent was to establish a new religious kingdom in Mongolia, and to this end he had distributed propaganda suggesting that he was the reincarnation of\u00a0Genghis Khan. Allied with the Mongolian bandit\u00a0Lu Zhankui, Deguchi’s group were arrested in\u00a0Tongliao\u00a0by the Chinese authorities\u2014fortunately for Ueshiba, whilst Lu and his men were executed by firing squad, the Japanese group were released into the custody of the Japanese consul. They were returned under guard to Japan, where Deguchi was imprisoned for breaking the terms of his bail.\u00a0During this expedition Ueshiba was given the Chinese alias Wang Shou-gao, rendered in Japanese as “Moritaka” \u2013 he was reportedly very taken with this name and continued to use it intermittently for the rest of his life.<\/h4>\n

After returning to Ayabe, Ueshiba began a regimen of spiritual training, regularly retreating by himself to the mountains or performing\u00a0misogi\u00a0in the\u00a0Nachi Falls. As his prowess as a martial artist increased, his fame began to spread. He was challenged by many established martial artists, some of whom subsequently became his students after being defeated by him. In the autumn of 1925 he was asked to give a demonstration of his art in Tokyo, at the behest of Admiral\u00a0Isamu Takeshita; one of the spectators was\u00a0Yamamoto Gonnohy\u014de, who requested that Ueshiba stay in the capital to instruct the\u00a0Imperial Guard\u00a0in his martial art. After a couple of weeks, however, Ueshiba took issue with several government officials who voiced concerns about his connections to Deguchi; he cancelled the training and returned to Ayabe. \u014cmoto-ky\u014d priests still oversee the Aiki-jinja Taisai ceremony in Ueshiba’s honor every April 29 at the\u00a0Aiki Shrine\u00a0in Iwama.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

In 1926 Takeshita invited Ueshiba to visit Tokyo again. Ueshiba relented and returned to the capital, but while residing there was stricken with a serious illness. Deguchi visited his ailing student and, concerned for his health, commanded Ueshiba to return to Ayabe. The appeal of returning increased after Ueshiba was questioned by the police following his meeting with Deguchi; the authorities were keeping the \u014cmoto-ky\u014d leader under close surveillance. Angered at the treatment he had received, Ueshiba went back to Ayabe again. Six months later, however, and this time with Deguchi’s blessing, he and his family moved permanently to Tokyo. Arriving in October 1927, they set up home in the\u00a0Shirokane\u00a0district. The building, however, was too small to house the growing number of aikido students, and so the Ueshibas moved to larger premises, first in\u00a0Mita district, then in\u00a0Takanawa, and finally to a purpose-built hall in\u00a0Shinjuku. This last location, originally named the Kobukan, would eventually become the\u00a0Aikikai Hombu Dojo. During its construction, Ueshiba rented a property nearby, where he was visited by\u00a0Jigoro Kano, the founder of\u00a0judo.<\/h4>\n

During this period, Ueshiba was invited to teach at a number of military institutes. He accepted an invitation from Admiral\u00a0Sankichi Takahashi\u00a0to be the martial arts instructor at the\u00a0Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, and also taught at the\u00a0Nakano Spy School, although aikido was later judged to be too technical for the students there and\u00a0karate\u00a0was adopted instead. He also became a visiting instructor at the\u00a0Imperial Japanese Army Academy\u00a0after being challenged by (and defeating) General Makoto Miura, another student of Takeda Sokaku’s Dait\u014d-ry\u016b. Takeda himself met Ueshiba for the last time around 1935, while Ueshiba was teaching at the\u00a0Osaka\u00a0headquarters of the\u00a0Asahi Shimbun\u00a0newspaper. Frustrated by the appearance of his teacher, who was openly critical of Ueshiba’s martial arts and who appeared intent on taking over the classes there, Ueshiba left Osaka during the night, bowing to the residence in which Takeda was staying and thereafter avoiding all contact with him. Between 1940 and 1942 he made several visits to\u00a0Manchukuo\u00a0(Japanese occupied Manchuria) where he was the principal martial arts instructor at\u00a0Kenkoku University. Whilst in Manchuria, he met and defeated the sumo wrestler\u00a0Tenry\u016b Sabur\u014d\u00a0during a demonstration.<\/h4>\n

The “Second \u014cmoto Incident” in 1935 saw another government crackdown on Deguchi’s sect, in which the Ayabe compound was destroyed and most of the group’s leaders imprisoned. Although he had relocated to Tokyo, Ueshiba had retained links with the \u014cmoto-ky\u014d group, and should probably have expected to be arrested as one of its senior members. However, he had a good relationship with both the local\u00a0police commissioner\u00a0Kenji Tomita and the\u00a0chief of police\u00a0G\u012bchi Morita, both of whom had been his students. As a result, although he was taken in for interrogation, he was released without charge on Morita’s authority.<\/h4>\n

In 1932, Ueshiba’s daughter Matsuko was married to the swordsman Kiyoshi Nakakura, who was adopted as Ueshiba’s heir under the name Morihiro Ueshiba. The marriage ended after a few years, and Nakakura left the family in 1937.<\/h4>\n

The 1930s saw Japan’s invasion of mainland Asia and increased military activity in Europe. Ueshiba was concerned about the prospect of war breaking out, and became involved in a number of efforts to try and forestall the conflict that would eventually become\u00a0World War II. He was part of a group, along with Sh\u016bmei \u014ckawa and several wealthy Japanese backers, that tried to broker a deal with\u00a0Harry Chandler\u00a0to export aviation fuel from the United States to Japan (in contravention of the\u00a0oil embargo that was currently in force), although this effort ultimately failed. In 1941 Ueshiba also undertook a secret diplomatic mission to China at the behest of Prince\u00a0Fumimaro Konoe. The intended goal was a meeting with\u00a0Chiang Kai-shek\u00a0to establish peace talks, but Ueshiba was unable to meet with the Chinese leader, arriving too late to fulfil his mission.<\/h4>\n

From 1935 onwards, Ueshiba had been purchasing land in\u00a0Iwama\u00a0in\u00a0Ibaraki Prefecture. In 1942, having acquired around 17\u00a0acres\u00a0(\u06f6\u066b\u06f9\u00a0ha; 0.027\u00a0sq\u00a0mi) of farmland there, he left Tokyo and moved to Iwama permanently, settling in a small farmer’s cottage. Here he founded the Aiki Shuren Dojo, also known as the\u00a0Iwama dojo. During all this time he traveled extensively in Japan, particularly in the\u00a0Kansai\u00a0region, teaching his aikido. Despite the prohibition on the teaching of martial arts after World War II, Ueshiba and his students continued to practice in secret at the Iwama dojo; the Hombu dojo in Tokyo was in any case being used as a refugee centre for citizens displaced by the\u00a0severe firebombing. It was during this period that Ueshiba met and befriended Koun Nakanishi, an expert in\u00a0kotodama. The study of kotodama was to become one of Ueshiba’s passions in later life, and Nakanishi’s work inspired Ueshiba’s concept of\u00a0takemusu aiki.<\/h4>\n

The government prohibition (on aikido, at least) was lifted in 1948 with the creation of the Aiki Foundation, established by the Japanese Ministry of Education with permission from the Occupation forces. The Hombu dojo re-opened the following year. After the war, however, Ueshiba delegated most of the work of running the Hombu dojo and the Aiki Federation to his son Kisshomaru, choosing to spend much of his time in prayer, meditation, calligraphy and farming. He still travelled extensively to promote aikido, however, even visiting\u00a0Hawaii\u00a0in 1961. He also appeared in a television documentary on aikido: NTV’s\u00a0The Master of Aikido, broadcast in January 1960.<\/h4>\n

In his later years, he was regarded as very kind and gentle as a rule, but there are also stories of terrifying scoldings delivered to his students. For instance, he once thoroughly chastised students for practicing\u00a0j\u014d\u00a0(staff) strikes on trees without first covering them in protective padding. He maintained links with the\u00a0Japanese nationalist movement\u00a0even in later life; his student\u00a0Kanshu Sunadomari\u00a0reported that Ueshiba temporarily sheltered\u00a0Mikami Taku, one of the naval officers involved in the\u00a0May 15 Incident, at Iwama.<\/h4>\n

In 1969, Ueshiba became ill. He led his last training session on March 10, and was subsequently taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with cancer of the liver. He died suddenly on April 26, 1969. His body was buried at\u00a0K\u014dzan-ji, and he was given the\u00a0posthumous Buddhist title\u00a0“Aiki-in Moritake Enyu Daidoshi” ; parts of his hair were enshrined at Ayabe, Iwama and Kumano. Two months later, his wife Hatsu also died.<\/h4>\n

Aikido\u2014usually translated as the\u00a0Way of Unifying Spirit\u00a0or the\u00a0Way of Spiritual Harmony\u2014is a fighting system that focuses on throws, pins and joint locks together with some striking techniques. It is unusual among the martial arts for its heavy emphasis on protecting the opponent and on spiritual and social development<\/h4>\n

Ueshiba developed aikido after experiencing three instances of spiritual awakening. The first happened in 1925, after Ueshiba had defeated a naval officer’s\u00a0bokken\u00a0(wooden\u00a0katana) attacks unarmed and without hurting the officer. Ueshiba then walked to his garden and had a spiritual awakening.<\/h4>\n

I felt the universe suddenly quake, and that a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one. At the same time my body became light. I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of the mind of God, the creator of the universe. At that moment I was enlightened: the source of\u00a0bud\u014d\u00a0[the martial way] is God’s love \u2013 the spirit of loving protection for all beings\u00a0…<\/h4>\n

Bud\u014d is not the felling of an opponent by force; nor is it a tool to lead the world to destruction with arms. True Bud\u014d is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature.<\/h4>\n

His second experience occurred in 1940 when engaged in the ritual purification process of\u00a0misogi.<\/h4>\n

Around 2am, I suddenly forgot all the martial techniques I had ever learned. The techniques of my teachers appeared completely new. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, and virtue, not devices to throw people with.<\/h4>\n

His third experience was in 1942 during the worst fighting of World War II, Ueshiba had a vision of the “Great Spirit of Peace”.<\/h4>\n

The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter \u2013 it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.<\/h4>\n

The technical curriculum of aikido was undoubtedly most greatly influenced by the teachings of Takeda Sokaku. The basic techniques of aikido seem to have their basis in teachings from various points in the Dait\u014d-ry\u016b curriculum. In the earlier years of his teaching, from the 1920s to the mid-1930s, Ueshiba taught the Dait\u014d-ry\u016b Aiki-j\u016bjutsu system; his early students’ documents bear the term Dait\u014d-ry\u016b.\u00a0Indeed, Ueshiba trained one of the future highest grade earners in Dait\u014d-ry\u016b, Takuma Hisa, in the art before Takeda took charge of Hisa’s training.<\/h4>\n

The early form of training under Ueshiba was noticeably different from later forms of aikido. It had a larger curriculum, increased use of strikes to vital points (atemi) and a greater use of weapons. The schools of aikido developed by Ueshiba’s students from the pre-war period tend to reflect the harder style of the early training. These students included\u00a0Kenji Tomiki\u00a0(who founded the\u00a0Shodokan Aikido\u00a0sometimes called Tomiki-ry\u016b),\u00a0Noriaki Inoue\u00a0(who founded Shin’ei Taid\u014d),\u00a0Minoru Mochizuki\u00a0(who founded\u00a0Yoseikan Budo),\u00a0Gozo Shioda\u00a0(who founded\u00a0Yoshinkan Aikido). Many of these styles are therefore considered “pre-war styles”, although some of these teachers continued to train with Ueshiba in the years after World War II.<\/h4>\n

Later, as Ueshiba seemed to slowly grow away from Takeda, he began to change his art. These changes are reflected in the differing names with which he referred to his system, first as\u00a0aiki-j\u016bjutsu, then Ueshiba-ry\u016b, Asahi-ry\u016b, and\u00a0aiki bud\u014d. In 1942, the martial art that Ueshiba developed finally came to be known as aikido.<\/h4>\n

As Ueshiba grew older, more skilled, and more spiritual in his outlook, his art also changed and became softer and more circular. Striking techniques became less important and the formal curriculum became simpler. In his own expression of the art there was a greater emphasis on what is referred to as\u00a0koky\u016b-nage, or “breath throws” which are soft and blending, utilizing the opponent’s movement in order to throw them. Ueshiba regularly practiced cold water\u00a0misogi, as well as other spiritual and religious rites, and viewed his studies of aikido as part of this spiritual training.<\/h4>\n

Honors:<\/h4>\n

Medal of Honor (Purple Ribbon)\u00a0(Japan), 1960.<\/h4>\n

Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, 1964.<\/h4>\n

Order of the Sacred Treasure\u00a0(Japan), 1968.<\/h4>\n

Publications:<\/h4>\n

Morihei Ueshiba,\u00a0The Secret Teachings of Aikido , Kodansha International,\u00a0ISBN 978-4-7700-3030-6<\/h4>\n

Morihei Ueshiba,\u00a0Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido, Kodansha International,\u00a0ISBN 978-4-7700-2070-3<\/h4>\n

Morihei Ueshiba,\u00a0The Essence of Aikido: Spiritual Teachings of Morihei Ueshiba , Kodansha International,\u00a0ISBN 978-4-7700-2357-5<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Murihei Ueshiba\u00a0(December 14, 1883\u00a0\u2013 April 26, 1969)\u00a0was a\u00a0martial artist\u00a0and founder of the\u00a0Japanese martial art\u00a0of\u00a0Aikido. He is often referred to as “the founder”\u00a0Kaiso\u00a0or\u00a0\u014csensei, “Great Teacher”. The son of a landowner from\u00a0Tanabe,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5213","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5213"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5749,"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5213\/revisions\/5749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irmeiseikai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}