63 Facts About Morihei Ueshiba

Morihei Ueshiba was a Japanese martial artist and founder of the martial art of aikido.

Morihei Ueshiba is often referred to as "the founder" Kaiso or Osensei, "Great Teacher".

The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Ueshiba studied a number of martial arts in his youth, and served in the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War.

On leaving Hokkaido in 1919, Morihei Ueshiba joined the Omoto-kyo movement, a Shinto sect, in Ayabe, where he served as a martial arts instructor and opened his first dojo.

Morihei Ueshiba accompanied the head of the Omoto-kyo group, Onisaburo Deguchi, on an expedition to Mongolia in 1924, where they were captured by Chinese troops and returned to Japan.

Morihei Ueshiba moved to Tokyo in 1926, where he set up what would become the Aikikai Hombu Dojo.

Morihei Ueshiba was born in Nishinotani village, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, on December 14,1883, the fourth child born to Yoroku Ueshiba and his wife Yuki.

The young Morihei Ueshiba was raised in a somewhat privileged setting.

Morihei Ueshiba's father Yoroku was a wealthy gentleman farmer and minor politician, being an elected member of the Nishinotani village council for 22 consecutive years.

Morihei Ueshiba was a rather weak, sickly child and bookish in his inclinations.

The need for such strength was further emphasized when the young Morihei Ueshiba witnessed his father being attacked by followers of a competing politician.

At the age of six Morihei Ueshiba was sent to study at the Jizoderu Temple, but had little interest in the rote learning of Confucian education.

Morihei Ueshiba went to Tanabe Higher Elementary School and then to Tanabe Prefectural Middle School, but left formal education in his early teens, enrolling instead at a private abacus academy, the Yoshida Institute, to study accountancy.

Morihei Ueshiba was assigned to the Osaka Fourth Division, 37th Regiment, and was promoted to corporal of the 61st Wakayama regiment by the following year; after serving on the front lines during the Russo-Japanese War he was promoted to sergeant.

Morihei Ueshiba was discharged in 1907, and again returned to his father's farm in Tanabe.

Morihei Ueshiba studied several martial arts during his early life, and was renowned for his physical strength during his youth.

In 1910, Morihei Ueshiba travelled to Hokkaido in the company of his acquaintance Denzaburo Kurahashi, who had lived on the northern island before.

Morihei Ueshiba's intent was to scout out a propitious location for a new settlement, and he found the site at Shirataki suitable for his plans.

Morihei Ueshiba became the leader of the Kishu Settlement Group, a collective of eighty-five pioneers who intended to settle in the Shirataki district and live as farmers; the group founded the village of Yubetsu in August, 1912.

Morihei Ueshiba was attending a meeting over railway construction around 50 miles away, but on learning of the fire travelled back the entire distance on foot.

Morihei Ueshiba was elected to the village council that year, and took a prominent role in leading the reconstruction efforts.

The young Morihei Ueshiba met Takeda Sokaku, the founder of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu, at the Hisada Inn in Engaru, in March 1915.

Morihei Ueshiba was deeply impressed with Takeda's martial art, and despite being on an important mission for his village at the time, abandoned his journey to spend the next month studying with Takeda.

Morihei Ueshiba requested formal instruction and began studying Takeda's style of jujutsu in earnest, going so far as to construct a dojo at his home and inviting his new teacher to be a permanent house guest.

Morihei Ueshiba received a kyoju dairi certificate, a teaching license, for the system from Takeda in 1922, when Takeda visited him in Ayabe.

Morihei Ueshiba then became a representative of Daito-ryu, toured with Takeda as a teaching assistant and taught the system to others.

The relationship between Morihei Ueshiba and Takeda was a complicated one.

Morihei Ueshiba was an extremely dedicated student, dutifully attending to his teacher's needs and displaying great respect.

In November 1919, Morihei Ueshiba learned that his father Yoroku was ill, and was not expected to survive.

Morihei Ueshiba stayed at the Omoto-kyo headquarters for several days, and met with Deguchi, who told him that, "There is nothing to worry about with your father".

On his return to Tanabe, Morihei Ueshiba found that Yoroku had died.

Morihei Ueshiba taught Takeda's Daito-ryu in neighbouring Hyogo Prefecture during this period.

Morihei Ueshiba's second son, Kuniharu, was born in 1920 in Ayabe, but died from illness the same year, along with three-year-old Takemori.

Morihei Ueshiba continued to teach his martial art under the name "Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu", at the behest of his teacher.

However, Deguchi encouraged Morihei Ueshiba to create his own style of martial arts, "Morihei Ueshiba-ryu", and sent many Omoto followers to study at the dojo.

Morihei Ueshiba brought Ueshiba into the highest levels of the group's bureaucracy, making Ueshiba his executive assistant and putting him in charge of the Showa Seinenkai and the Omoto Shobotai, a volunteer fire service.

Morihei Ueshiba's dojo was undamaged and, over the following two years, he worked closely with Deguchi to reconstruct the group's centre, becoming heavily involved in farming work and serving as the group's "Caretaker of Forms", a role which placed him in charge of overseeing Omoto's move towards self-sufficiency.

Morihei Ueshiba's son Kisshomaru was born in the summer of 1921.

Morihei Ueshiba was challenged by many established martial artists, some of whom later became his students after being defeated by him.

Morihei Ueshiba relented and returned to the capital, but while residing there was stricken with a serious illness.

The appeal of returning increased after Morihei Ueshiba was questioned by the police following his meeting with Deguchi; the authorities were keeping the Omoto-kyo leader under close surveillance.

Morihei Ueshiba accepted an invitation from Admiral Sankichi Takahashi to be the martial arts instructor at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, and taught at the Nakano Spy School, although aikido was later judged to be too technical for the students there and karate was adopted instead.

Morihei Ueshiba became a visiting instructor at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy after being challenged by General Makoto Miura, another student of Takeda Sokaku's Daito-ryu.

Morihei Ueshiba later designated his son Kisshomaru as the heir to his martial art.

Morihei Ueshiba was concerned about the prospect of war, and became involved in a number of efforts to try and forestall the conflict that would eventually become World War II.

Morihei Ueshiba was part of a group, along with Shumei Okawa and several wealthy Japanese backers, that tried to broker a deal with Harry Chandler to export aviation fuel from the United States to Japan, although this effort ultimately failed.

In 1941 Morihei Ueshiba undertook a secret diplomatic mission to China at the behest of Prince Fumimaro Konoe.

The intended goal was a meeting with Chiang Kai-shek to establish peace talks, but Morihei Ueshiba was unable to meet with the Chinese leader, arriving too late to fulfil his mission.

From 1935 onwards, Morihei Ueshiba had been purchasing land in Iwama in Ibaraki Prefecture, and by the early 1940s had acquired around 17 acres of farmland there.

The rural nature of his new home in Iwama allowed Morihei Ueshiba to concentrate on the second great passion of his life: farming.

Morihei Ueshiba had been born into a farming family and spent much of his life cultivating the land, from his settlement days in Hokkaido to his work in Ayabe trying to make the Omoto-kyo compound self-sufficient.

Morihei Ueshiba viewed farming as a logical complement to martial arts; both were physically demanding and required single-minded dedication.

Morihei Ueshiba delegated most of the work of running the Hombu dojo and the Aiki Federation to his son Kisshomaru, and instead chose to spend much of his time in prayer, meditation, calligraphy and farming.

Morihei Ueshiba still travelled extensively to promote aikido, even visiting Hawaii in 1961.

Morihei Ueshiba appeared in a television documentary on aikido: NTV's The Master of Aikido, broadcast in January 1960.

Morihei Ueshiba's body was buried at Kozan-ji Temple Tanabe-shi Wakayama Japan, and he was given the posthumous Buddhist title "Aiki-in Moritake En'yu Daidoshi" ; parts of his hair were enshrined at Ayabe, Iwama and Kumano.

Indeed, Morihei Ueshiba trained one of the future highest grade earners in Daito-ryu, Takuma Hisa, in the art before Takeda took charge of Hisa's training.

The early form of training under Morihei Ueshiba was noticeably different from later forms of aikido.

The first occurred in 1925, after Morihei Ueshiba had defeated a naval officer's bokken attacks unarmed and without hurting the officer.

Morihei Ueshiba then walked to his garden, where he had the following realization:.

In 1942, when Morihei Ueshiba's group joined the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, the martial art that he developed finally came to be known as aikido.

Morihei Ueshiba regularly practiced cold water misogi, as well as other spiritual and religious rites, and viewed his studies of aikido as part of this spiritual training.

Morihei Ueshiba placed many demands on his uchi-deshi, expecting them to attend to him at all times, act as training partners, arrange his travel plans, massage, and bathe him, and assist with household chores.