Aikido – A Brief History – Part #2

Aikido – A Brief History – Part #2

Excerpt from : “The Elements of Aikido” by Greg O’Connor

“You and I and everything in this universe exist as a part of the endless flow of God’s love. Realizing this we recognize that all creation is bound together by the same benevolence.

To harmonize with life is to come into accord with that part of God which flows through all things.

To foster and protect all life is both our mission and our prayer, and we call our path ‘Take Musu Aiki’”. – Morihei Ueshiba

O Sensei, in explaining Aikido, often referred to the phrase take-musu aiki. Take-musu aiki means, roughly, that Aikido is the martial way of unending rebirth and rejuvenation with limitless and boundless creativity. It is misogi, purification. Through the practice of Aikido one continually renews oneself through that purification process. He felt that martial artists who only practised combat techniques were short-sighted in their true value; that in acquiring the ability to take life, they should also develop the power to give life.

He felt that winning at someone else’s cost was not truly winning at all, and that true victory was winning over oneself and one’s own demons. He came to realize that physical force could not possibly win over the power of a spirit rooted and connected to the divine spirit. Throughout his years O Sensei’s teaching of Aikido was filled with references to the divine, and how his Aikido connected him to God and revealed the true natures of both himself and the universe.

He often used references to obscure Japanese mythology with which even his Japanese students were unfamiliar. He spoke metaphorically of the sword that takes life and the sword that gives life. Literally speaking, an actual sword can be used to kill, yet it can be used wisely to protect and preserve righteousness. The impetuous and the fearful draw the sword easily. The sword that remains sheathed remains there only by the fearlessness, wisdom and strength of character of its owner. Metaphorically speaking, the sword that kills also destroys its master. The sword that gives life is used to cut through our own ego and selfishness, and opens us to the reality that we all share. O Sensei, therefore, admonished that ‘Aikido is not for correcting others. It is a tool for correcting and polishing your own mind’.

Most are familiar with the advice of Jesus Christ when he said, ‘He that lives by the sword, dies by the sword’. This is the same advice the founder of Aikido would offer. This death is not so much a physical death, but an internal one: a spiritual death. O Sensei said, ‘When an enemy tries to fight with me, the universe itself, he has to break the harmony of the universe. Hence, at the moment he has the mind to fight with me, he is already defeated.’ We refer to those that lose as such because they have indeed lost; they have lost something of importance to them, something of value. The most important thing we can lose is our sense of peace and contentment. We value our own serenity. True serenity comes from loving and supporting the world around and in us and, hopefully, having it returned in kind. In using violence, or when winning at the expense of another, we lose. We have lost our connection with universal harmony. We have lost our serenity.

Violence is an act of desperation that often has its beginnings in frustration and pain. The reliance on violence harms the one committing it as well – either immediately or ultimately. In such a situation such people have lost the ability to control themselves, and to see other options. They have lost their sense of personal power and dignity. They have lost peace. They have lost love.

If your character, personal resolve and capacity for compassion are strong enough, there is no need to use violence. One knows that violence is a knife that cuts both ways. One can choose to have the wisdom and intelligence to explore more productive, and therefore more desirable, alternatives. These alternatives should benefit all.

O Sensei realized that the people of the world needed the help that Aikido could bring; and so, in the 1950s and early ’60s he encouraged some of his students to live and teach abroad. Today Aikido can be found in nearly every country and practically every major city in the world.

O Sensei developed two dojo which remain active today. The main dojo is in the Shinjuku section of Tokyo, and is referred to as Aikido Hombu Dojo, or Aikido home dojo. It continues today as World Headquarters for Aikido. Since O Sensei’s passing in 1969, Aikido Hombu Dojo and since then The International Aikido Federation was headed by O Sensei’s son, Kisshomaru Ueshiba, who, in Aikido terms, is referred to as Doshu or ‘leader of the way’. Kisshomaru continued his father’s work at Aikido World Headquarters (Hombu Dojo) until he passed away in 1999. Today, O’Sensei’s grandson, the third Doshu, Moriteru Ueshiba, continues to enlighten the lives of men, women and children from over seventy countries.

O Sensei’s other dojo is located in the Japanese countryside town of Iwama in Ibaraki Prefecture. The Iwama dojo also contains the Aiki Shrine, or Aiki Jinja, which was built and dedicated by O Sensei to the spirit of Aikido. The Iwama dojo was very special to O Sensei for it was there that he was able to devote himself to his gardening. Working with the earth, nurturing and growing his plants provided a communication with nature that O Sensei valued a great deal. He felt that his gardening and his Aikido were intertwined. Morihiro Saito Sensei, having cared for O Sensei at Iwama for many years, is now the caretaker and chief instructor of the Iwama dojo. He also works with Aikido Hombu Dojo for its continued preservation.

O Sensei died on 26 April 1969, and Aikido dojo around the world commonly hold special remembrances on that day to commemorate his life and his gift of Aikido. His way, his Aikido, is his gift of transcendence to anyone who comes to it.

It is interesting that O Sensei never took credit for being the source of Aikido. He said he was merely allowing the divine nature of universe to move through him.

Aikido – A Brief History – Part #1

Aikido – A Brief History – Part #1

Excerpt from : “The Elements of Aikido” by Greg O’Connor

“The secret of Aikido is to harmonize with the movement of the universe and bring ourselves into accord with the universe itself. He who has gained the secret of Aikido has the universe in himself and can say ‘I am the universe’.” - Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba, a renowned Japanese martial arts master, as a way of combining his formidable martial capabilities with his deep spiritual pursuits. Master Ueshiba was born in the small fishing village of Tanabe on the eastern coast of Japan in 1883. As a young boy he witnessed his father being roughed up by local hoodlums and he was powerless to come to his aid. Even though he was a small and sickly child, this experience added to his resolve that he would develop himself to become strong in both body and spirit. He began to study many martial arts including jujitsu, kenjitsu, jojitsu, sojutsu and sumo, as well as various other sword and staff arts. As years passed he became nationally known for his extraordinary abilities as a martial arts master. His art took many names over the early years of its development, among which were Aiki-budo and Ueshiba Ryu-Aikijujitsu.

Morihei was of small stature, even for a typical Japanese, standing just under 5 ft tall. He trained himself so relentlessly and thoroughly, though, that he became physically very imposing and extremely strong. His feats of strength became quite remarkable and well known. For example, there are accounts where he was able to move stones so large that four or five people together could not move the same stone. He also sought to forge and strengthen his spirit, and made a life-time study of the martial arts. To this day stories of his superhuman feats and almost magical powers abound. Although he was to gain a reputation for being virtually unbeatable, hewas, at the same time, profoundly troubled with the conflict that arose between his martial skills and his spiritual pursuits.

All his life, the founder was a deeply spiritual man on a deeply spiritual search. Like the majority of Japanese he was exposed to zen, Buddhism and Shinto beliefs. Shinto is a religion native to Japan and practised by most Japanese, and is also a belief system that does not negate other beliefs. Many Japanese, for instance, practice both Buddhism and Shintoism. Thus when Morihei encountered a religion by the name of Omoto-Kyo he was able to embrace its beliefs fully, and then dedicate his life to its practice.

Omoto-Kyu was founded by Nao Deguchi, a humble peasant woman, who was, reportedly, a healer and who had a gift of clairvoyance. Meeting Onisaburo Deguchi, the then current leader of Omoto-Kyo, had a profound effect on Morihei. It was Onisaburo Deguchi who told Morihei that, because of his extraordinary abilities, he should open a dojo and teach his martial art. This he did and dedicated himself to his calling, that of pursuing and combining his spiritual and martial paths.

One of the basic principles of Omoto-Kyo was the aspect of kotodama, the belief of sound being the creative force of the universe. The kotodama range of octaves, from deep to high pitch tones, could be arranged as such in chants that one could vocalize. Then, with the various vibrations generated, one could, ideally, energize the body, mind and spirit and connect it all to the entire cosmos. Morihei therefore incorporated the sounds of kotodama into his own life, practice and purification rituals. This, according to his words, was what connected him to God.

As time went on and Morihei Ueshiba’s martial abilities became quite well known he was regularly confronted by other accomplished martial artists seeking to better him. He would always easily defeat these challengers, and as years passed he became weary of them, finding no satisfaction or joy in repeatedly defeating them. One such encounter with yet another insistent challenger would bring about a profound life change for Ueshiba.

The challenger, in this case, was a naval officer. Reluctantly, Morihei accepted his challenge and invited the naval officer to strike him, using a wooden sword. Morihei easily avoided the repeated attempts to hit him, and when the challenger finally grew frustrated, tired and spent, Morihei left him and entered a nearby garden. While there he had what he described as an experience of enlightenment where he was bathed in a golden light. He said it was at that moment that the realization that ‘I am the universe’ came into him; it was then that the true meaning of budo, the martial way, was revealed to him. The revelation was that true budo was for the love and protection of all things. This brought him to the realization and solidification of his life purpose and revealed to him the path to combine his spiritual awareness with his martial method. This wisdom contributed to the further evolution of his art which would become Aikido; we may even go so far as to say that this was the true birth of Aikido. He knew then that winning at someone else’s expense was not really winning, and that the only true victory was the victory over the conflict within ourselves. This discord is the greatest adversary in our lives. The highest skill levels that can be achieved are needed to attain this victory. This, indeed, is ‘fighting the good fight’ on the most difficult battlefield.

It was some time after he had this experience that his art came to be known as Aikido. Aikido, economically translated, means the way to love and harmony with the spirit of all things. When broken down more literally ai can be translated as ‘love/harmony’, ki is ‘spirit/life force’ and do means ‘way of’ or ‘path’.

Because of the awe and reverence they felt for Master Ueshiba, his students began referring to him respectfully as O Sensei, which means ‘Great Teacher’. This is how he is referred to today by Aikido practitioners all over the world.

<Continued – Part #2>