Morihei Ueshiba

Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the martial art Aikido, was born on 14 December 1883 in a somewhat privileged family in a village now called Tanabe. His father Yoruku was a respected farmer and was also involved in politics. His mother also came from a prominent family. Morihei was a rather weak child with a small body who preferred to stay at home and read books. His father, who came from a Samurai family, encouraged his only son to learn Sumo and swimming and entertained him with stories from his great-grandfather Kichiemon who was considered to be a famous Samurai in his era. As he was growing up, the need for strength was further emphasized specially when he witnessed his father being attacked by followers of a competing politician.
A major influence on Ueshiba’s early education was his elementary schoolteacher, who was a Shinto priest and who introduced Ueshiba to the religion. At the age of six Ueshiba was sent to study at a temple which made him interested in learning meditation, chants and Buddhist religious rites. After that, Ueshiba was sent to other non-religious schools. After his graduation, he worked at a local tax office for a few months. In 1903, Ueshiba was called up for military service but was turned away so he hid in the mountains and trained so hard until he got accepted and served in the Russo-Japanese war the following year. And after being discharged he moved to Hokkaidō with his wife and in 1915 he met with Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. He stayed and studied with Takeda for a long time and managed to get his certificate for Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. On leaving Hokkaido in 1919, Ueshiba joined the Ōmoto-kyō movement, in Ayabe, where he served as a martial arts instructor and opened his first dojo.
In 1922, he had found and organized his own style of Aiki- jujutsu which he called Aiki- būjutsu. He later used it as a starting point from which to create his own martial art. In 1925, he had his first profound spiritual experience stating that "a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one." After this experience, his martial arts skill appeared to be greatly increased. He had also incorporated his learnings from his two travels to China, namely Tai-Chi-Chuan and Pa-Kua-Chang.
He went to Tokyo in 1926, where he set up the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. By now he was comparatively famous in martial arts circles, and taught at this dojo and others around Japan, including in several military academies. In 1936 he changed the name of his martial art to Aiki-Būdo and later in 1942 he changed it to Aikido. Aikido was a modified and matured method of Aiki- Būdo. In Aikido, besides including techniques of his own, he also added elements from other ancient martial arts like swordsmanship and Kito-ryū jujutsu.
Besides his physical trainings, another thing which helped Ueshiba to found his own method of fighting, was his passion to find a deeper significance to life. He spent so much of his lifetime doing meditation, practicing cold water misogi and other spiritual experiences. It is said that once he got into Ōmoto-kyō, all the while he was continuing to pursue his studies of Būdo, or way of the warrior, which is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature. After the war, Ueshiba effectively retired from aikido. He 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 until he died in 26 April 1969 from liver cancer.
The early form of training under Ueshiba was noticeably different from later forms of aikido. It had increased use of strikes to vital points (atemi) and a greater use of weapons. The schools of aikido developed by Ueshiba's students from the pre-war period tend to reflect the harder style of the early training. These students included Kenji Tomiki (who founded the Shodokan), Noriaki Inoue (who founded Shin'ei Taidō), Minoru Mochizuki (who founded Yoseikan universe) and Gozo Shioda (who founded Yoshinkan Aikido). After his death, his students still continue spreading Aikido around the world.