Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969, 植芝盛平), who is referred to in the aikido community as O-Sensei ‘great teacher’.
Ueshiba was born in Tanabe (south of Osaka) in 1883. During his youth, he trained in several martial arts there and in Tokyo, before moving to Hokkaido (Japan’s northernmost island) in 1910 to participate in establishing a new farming community at Shirataki. There, in 1915, he met and trained under Sokaku Takeda (1859–1943), a travelling teacher of Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu, with whom he maintained an association until the late 1930s.
O-Sensei (Morihei Ueshiba) at Ayabe (c. 1920s)
In 1920, after the death of his father, Ueshiba returned to Tanabe. At that time he met Onisaburo Deguchi, the leader of the Omoto-kyo religion, who would strongly influence his spiritual philosophy. Ueshiba joined the Omoto group at Ayabe, where he opened a martial arts school. His reputation as a martial arts instructor grew, and after invitations to give demonstrations for the imperial family and military in Tokyo, he moved there in 1927 to teach at several military schools. He opened his own Kobukan Dojo in 1931 in Wakamatsu-cho (nicknamed Hell Dojo because of the intensity of practice there; it was rebuilt in 1968 and is still the site of the present aikido headquarters or Hombu Dojo).
After the outbreak of World War II, Ueshiba resigned his teaching posts in Tokyo and retired to the small village of Iwama to devote himself to farming, training and meditation. By now he had broken completely with Takeda, and the new name ‘aikido’ was registered officially in 1942. Ueshiba felt that it was during his time in Iwama that he perfected his new art.
O-Sensei demonstrating in later years
Martial arts were banned in Japan during the post-war years, but from the mid-1950s Ueshiba began to demonstrate aikido publicly for the first time. A network of branch dojos was established throughout Japan during the 1960s, in large part under the stewardship of Ueshiba’s son Kisshomaru, and instructors were sent abroad to establish an international federation. In 1961 Ueshiba himself travelled to Honolulu to open a new dojo there.
O-Sensei died in Tokyo on 26 April 1969.
More info:
- Stanley Pranin, editor of the Aikido Journal, has done extensive research into the life of O-Sensei and the development of aikido. The Aikido Journal Encyclopedia is always a good place to start.
- Chronology of O-Sensei (also by Pranin).
- Biography on the Tanabe tourism website.
- There are now lots of video clips of O-Sensei on YouTube. (Some recommended links to follow.)