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The Founder - Morihei Ueshiba
 

Morihei Ueshiba was born on December 14th, 1883, in Tanabe (Wakayama Prefecture), a man of Samurai descent, though born frail and sickly he strengthened his body through daily chores, farming and training early on in sumo wrestling. He found a love in martial arts and always sought to better himself, studying such disciplines as Kenjutsu, Sojutsu, and Jojutsu. In 1905 he joined the arm and was deployed to the Manchurian front to work as a military police officer, and though he was offered a prosperous career at a military officers training academy, he turned it down and instead continued his own training back in Japan. It is written that the atrocities of war that he had witnessed made him despise conflict especially when the result was loss of life. Sensei received private instruction from Kiyoichi Takagi in Judo while still studying other arts, obtaining a Yagyu-ruju Jujutsu certificate in 1908. His curiosity in the martial arts led him to seek tutelage from the great Sokaku Takeda, and in 1915 began his training in Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu.

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O Sensei would train hard to develop his martial prowess and his spiritual connection while endeavouring his goals of living a simple life. From establishing a farming settlement in Japan to going on regular pilgrimages throughout his life, Morihei Ueshiba would search for enlightenment in Mongolia. Surviving the elements, near starvation, life threatening attacks from bandits, and even Chinese prison to return back to Japan to only intensify his own training. It is said that O'Sensei's
experiences and his relentless training influenced his realization to create a peaceful martial art and
along the way he amassed a following, teaching what he had learned to students far and wide.

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"If you are willing to devote yourself to helping others, to improve the world at large, I will accept
you as a student..."  Morihei Ueshiba - The Art of Peace

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Stories were told from witnessed accounts by way of demonstrations and challenges that O'Sensei
had such good technique that he could overpower and subdue the strongest of people while maintaining their safety. Other stories, some of which may have been myth, whereby he could perform physical feats like that of a magician; Walking on teacups, uprooting trees with his bare hands, even dodging bullets fired at him. As his following increased his legend grew and at one point O'Sensei was commissioned to teach lethal techniques to members of the police and military, but as
a result the war sickened him and during World War 2 he decided to move away from conflict and back to Iwama where he lived out the rest of his life, farming, seeking spirituality in shintoism, and training to develop what we know as Aikido.

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'Instead of foolishly waging war, hereafter we will wage peace, the true purpose of Aikido. We will
train to prevent war, to abolish nuclear weapons, to protect the environment and to serve society."