About the founder - Page 2
Training for Takeda
It was at this time Ueshiba met Sokaku Takeda a violent but very skilled teacher of jujutsu. He
was known for being very hard on his students. It was 1915 and Ueshiba was 32 years old, he had
become very strong and a good martial artist. Despite this he was easy to defeat for Takeda
whose techniques made a great impression on him. Ueshiba studied a great deal for Takeda and
became a devoted top student. He cooked for him and bathed him, he even built him a new house.
Finally after a lot of practising he received a first-level certificate. This was to be the
start of his search for the ultimate budo.
Personal crisis
In late 1919, after almost eight years in Shirataki, Ueshiba received a message saying his
father was seriously ill. He hastily left Hokkaido and gave all his belongings in gratitude to
Sokaku. On his way home he started a conversation with a fellow passenger. This man spoke
passionately about the new Shinto religion Omoto-Kyo and its leader Onisaburo Deguchi who was
known for his meditation techniques. Hoping Onisaburo could help his father recover he detoured
to Ayabe, a small town near Kyoto. When Ueshiba after a month's delay in January 1920 arrived in
Tanabe his father Yoroku had already died. Ueshiba was very upset by the death of his beloved
father and was emotionally unstable for several months. Ueshiba did a lot of thinking during
this time and he decided to start all over by moving with his family to Ayabe and enter the
Omoto-Kyo religion. They were to live in Ayabe until 1928. At this time he and his wife had one
daughter; Matsuko, eight years old, and two sons; Takemori, three years old and Kuniharu one
year old. They lead a very simple life. Together with the sect members they ran an organic
plantation where they cultivated their own crops. Ueshiba himself thought that there was a
fundamental connection between martial arts and farming. Encouraged by Onisaburo Ueshiba turned
part of his house into a dojo and started the Ueshiba Academy where he taught martial arts
mostly to people connected with the Omoto-Kyo, but the word spread quickly and people soon came
from other places too. In August, after only seven months in Ayabe, misfortune came to Ueshiba's
family once again; his both sons Takemori and Kuniharu died through illness within one month. In
1921 Ueshiba's wife gave birth to their son Kisshomaru. This was also the year when authorities
made a raid on the Omoto-Kyo headquarters and arrested many members. Onisaburo was accused of
"lack of respect to the emperor". This though had no effect on the Ueshiba Academy which grew
more and more with every day. Onisaburo had great plans for his religion. One of them was to
establish a religious spiritual kingdom in Mongolia. Ueshiba accompanied him and a small group
on a journey aimed at the fulfilment of his dreams. It was February 1924. The fact that
Onisaburo was implicated in the Omoto incident in 1921 made him and the group fugitives and when
they reached the border of Mongolia they were arrested by Chinese troops and condemned to death.
Luckily they were saved by a Japanese consul who had them released and sent back to Japan.
A turning point
This excursion together with the fact that they several times had been exposed of gunfire made a
deep impression on Ueshiba. After one occasion when Ueshiba had had a Mauser pistol fired at
him, he discovered that he could see the path of an oncoming bullet as a string of light. A
split second before the gun was fired he threw himself towards the man and unarmed him. This
affected his budo training deeply. In 1925 he met a naval officer who wanted to be his student.
He was a master in kendo (sword fighting) which gave them a lot to talk about since kendo also
was a part of Ueshiba's training. During one conversation they happened to disagree on a matter.
The discussion became so animated and the officer so upset that he challenged Ueshiba in kendo.
When they began Ueshiba got that same feeling he had had back in Mongolia. He became aware of
the opponent's attack and which way he was heading, all he had to do was to quickly move aside.
Finally the officer had to give up, not once had he been able to touch Ueshiba with his wooden
sword and now he was totally exhausted. This was the beginning of something new and significant
in Ueshiba's life. After the fight he went out into his garden and there he experienced
something special. In a book by his son Kisshomaru Morihei Ueshiba recalls this moment: "At that
moment I was enlightened: the source of budo is God's love the spirit of loving protection for
all beings. Endless tears of joy streamed down my cheeks." From now on he discovered more and
more about what was to become the principles of Aikido".
Development of Aikido
From now on the word spread rapidly about his martial art. Many of his students were naval
officers and it was through one of these Admiral Seikyo Asano, brother to Wasaburo Asano who was
on the board of the Omoto-Kyo religion, heard of Ueshiba's art. He became only one in a long row
of prominent students. He in his turn spread the news to another admiral; Isamu Takeshita. He
was to be very important to the development of Aikido. Ueshiba was invited many times by
Takeshita to Tokyo where he was given the opportunity to show his martial art to many eminent
people. Everybody was greatly impressed and he taught judo and kendo practitioners of the
Emperor's guard his martial art at the Ayoma Palace for twenty-one days. Ueshiba moved to Tokyo
with his family in 1928. Because of the growing interest in his martial art Ueshiba had to move
two times to bigger houses to be able to receive all students. But in April 1931, with the help
of Takeshita, Ueshiba opened the "Kobukan Dojo"; a full-scale dojo, including residence, in
Tokyo. It was located at the same place where today's Aikikai world headquarters is situated.
Training at Kobukan Dojo was hard and it was soon nick named the "Hell Dojo". It was difficult
for ordinary people to become students, only students with good recommendations could enter.
Therefor he became a very popular instructor among famous people in for example the military,
politics, business education and art. These connections gave him the opportunity to teach the
police force which later led to the approval of Aikido as an official subject at the police
academy. For some time Ueshiba had taught the techniques of master Takeda but during his time as
a teacher he had gradually left or adjusted them. Also his contact with the exigent Takeda now
came to an end. Aikido was now so popular that two branch dojos had to be opened in Tokyo and
schools were set up all over Japan. It wasn't until now Ueshiba's martial art officially was
named Aikido.