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Morihei Ueshiba was born in Wakayama Prefecture (now Tanabe), Japan on December 14, 1882.
Ueshiba Sensei was one of history's extraordinary martial
artists. He is known to have studied the following martial arts:
Tenjin Shin'yo-Ryu Jujutsu, Goto-Ha Yagyu Shingan-Ryu Kenjutsu; Kashima
Shinto-Ryu Jujutsu; Judo; and Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu. Morihei Ueshiba's
art of Aikido is heavily influenced by his study of Daito-ryu
Aiki-jutsu which he was instructed in by Sokaku Takeda. On the
spiritual side he was influenced by Onisaburo Deguchi, founder of the
pacifistic Omoto-kyo sect.
In 1927 Ueshiba moved to Tokyo
where he founded his first dojo, which still exists today under the
name Hombu Dojo. (He had also instructed certain members of the
Oomoto-kyo movement.) In 1942 he left Tokyo and moved to the prefecture
of Iwama where the termAikido was first used as a name for his art.
Here he founded the Aiki Shuren Dojo, also known as the Iwama dojo. In
1946 Morihiro Saito began studying under O-Sensei in Iwama which he did
until Ueshiba’s passing in 1969. Saito became keeper of the Aiki Shrine
in Iwama after O-Sensei's death. Many others studied under O-Sensei
during his lifetime, and several of them have since become prominent
martial artists in their own right.
His son Kisshomaru
Ueshiba became the second Doshu, the official heir and maintainer of
Aikido, until his death in January 4th, 1999; the current Aikido Doshu
is Kisshomaru Ueshiba's son Moriteru Ueshiba.
Ueshiba-sensei is
remembered as a master of the martial arts whose studies transcended
technical matters to include a moral and philosophical view of the
world based around harmony in the face of aggression. The many branches
of aikido in existence today virtually all trace their lineage back to
him.
Many stories exist about O-Sensei's martial skill. It is
said for example that he was able to escape a tight ring of students
that surrounded him with swords. Many of these students would later say
they had not even seen O-Sensei go by them.
Oomoto priests oversee a ceremony in Ueshiba's honor every April 29th at the Aiki Shrine at Iwama.
Ueshiba also had many uchideshi, or live-in students, who also went on to great things. A partial list follows:
- Kazuo Chiba
- Gaku
Homma - The founder of Nippon Kan Kancho and was the last uchideshi
of Ueshiba.
- Mitsunari Kanai
- Morihiro Saito
- Gozo Shioda
- Seichi Sugano
- Nobuyoshi Tamura
- Kenji Tomiki - Very early student of Ueshiba and his first 8th Dan.
- Yoshimitsu Yamada
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