About the founder - Page 3
Ageing
In the late 1930s Japan was involved in many military actions and when the Pacific War had
started there weren't many people training at the Kobukan Dojo. Due to the unrest around the
world Ueshiba started to feel troubled. To seek answers and relief he moved with his family to
Iwama in 1942. He put his son in charge of the main dojo in Tokyo. He began cultivating,
something he saw as a very important part of budo, and building an out-door dojo and a shrine
where he could meditate. Much due to the Second World War the world was changing and Ueshiba was
concerned by people's hardening attitudes and abuse of power. He felt that many people came to
him to learn Aikido for the wrong reasons. He said: "The way of Budo is to put new life into the
original universal life that gives birth to all things. Harmony, love, and courtesy are
essential to true Budo, but the people who are in power these days are only interested in
playing with weapons. They misrepresent Budo as a tool for power struggles, violence, and
destruction, and they want to use me toward this end. I'm tired of this stupidity. I have no
intention of allowing myself to become their tool. I see no other way but to go to retreat." In
1945 the construction of the dojo in Iwama was completed and a year later a young man named
Morihiro Saito registered as a student. In time Saito became his closest student and is nowadays
the chief instructor at the dojo and caretaker of the Aiki Shrine in Iwama. After the war the
Aikido headquarters were moved to Iwama. The Kobukan Dojo wasn't damaged during the war but
since there were many homeless at this time, it was used as a shelter. In 1941 they had become a
member of the Butokukai; an organisation for all martial arts. After the war activities
decreased for a while but authorities permitted them to open The Kobukan Dojo in Tokyo again in
1948. The headquarters were moved back to Tokyo in 1954 and the dojo was now also the World
Headquarters of Aikido. Morihei Ueshiba still lived in Iwama but had begun to travel around the
country teaching. As he grew older Ueshiba devoted himself to teaching and training Aikido and
let the managing to others. He was now over seventy years old and his techniques which before
had been physically strong now got more spiritual. Sometimes he threw his students without even
touching them. It was important for him to emphasise the im portance of love and harmony in
Aikido. "Ai" which is the first character of Aikido means harmony but is pronounced the same as
the character for love. Ueshiba wanted to make people realise this connection. In 1960 you could
for the first time in history see Aikido performed by Ueshiba on television. The program was
called The Master of Aikido. After this he made several demonstrations, one for example in
Hawaii. They all made a deep impression on the spectators. Impressed was also the Emperor
Hirohito who gave him two awards. One was the Shijuhosho Award; an award that very few martial
artists have received. Aikido practitioners now came in great numbers from all over the world to
study in Japan. It was time to build a new main dojo in Tokyo and on March 14, 1967 the
construction began. After nine months it was completed. On January 15, 1969 Morihei Ueshiba
celebrated the New Year at the new headquarters. He had suffered from liver cancer for a while,
his health was deteriorating and he was very weak although that was hard to see. On April 26,
1969 he passed away. He was later that day given the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the
government.
Conclusions
Today Aikido students all over the world experience the fruits of a man's lifetime engagement.
From being a fragile child Ueshiba developed to a strong and spirituous man who devoted all his
time to Aikido. He started off by training different martial arts to gain strength to his body
and later found out it actually was a way of life rather than a martial art. During his youth he
went to a couple of different schools in which he managed very well. His education spurred him
to open a stationery and school supply store in Tokyo. Besides this he had become a teacher of
jujutsu and his deep social engagement took grate time and effort from him, he participated in
numerous local activities. After a time though he had to leave his business in Tokyo on account
of illness and move back to his home town Tanabe. After he recovered he married Hatsu Itokawa, a
child hood friend. Ueshiba's life was eventful and tough. He was often sick and the death of his
father was a great blow to him. He pondered a long time before he decided to devote himself to
religion by moving with his family to Ayabe and enter the religious sect Omoto-Kyo. There he
continued to develop his strong religious belief and his teaching of jujutsu. In time he altered
most of the techniques and it developed into what later were to be Aikido. His sons also died
only three and one years of age the same year as the death of his father. The following year
though his wife gave birth to Kisshomaru who is still alive (*) and who today is in charge of the
Aikido head quarters in Tokyo. Together with his life experience the fact that he actually had
faced death on a religious expedition to Mongolia had an enormous effect on his teaching and
training. They became very significant to the development of Aikido since he found that he could
foresee an opponent's attack and avoid it. This simple but yet so hard feeling to achieve became
the basis of Aikido. The spreading of Aikido was fast (in fact it still continues). Ueshiba
started off by, in small numbers, teaching very significant personalities who worked as
policemen, politicians and businessmen. The word of this marvelous martial art spread and soon
people from everywhere. Today Aikido is practised by all sorts of people all over the world.
Anne Mari Nedevska Aikido Dojo Gamlestaden / Gothenburg / Sweden
* note - Prior to this being written unfortunately Ueshiba Kisshomaru passed away (1921 -1999), Moriteru Ueshiba, son of Kisshomaru is the current Doshu -Kev