Master Ueshiba dedicated his life to the advancements of martial art. Often putting the quest for physical perfection and his desire to experience the higher state of martial arts over ambitions for recognition and fortune, and indeed security for his family.

Ueshiba Morhei was born in the small town of Tanabe near Osaka on the 14^th of December 1883. His father was a master of swordsmanship and under the employment of the powerful Kii family, who at that time were Lords of the Province. From his father he inherited a samurai?s determination, something which we see throughout his life.

It was said that Ueshiba was of a weak constitution as a child, and it was this small size and lack of physical resistance that he could gain no real benefits from his fathers teachings.

At the age of 13 he began training with his master, Tozawa Tokosuburo from the Kito Ryu who taught Jujutsu. It was these teachings that sparked a life long journey that saw him travel many miles and make personal sacrifice. By the age of twenty he was recognized as an expert in these skills and received a diploma from Nakai Masakatsu when he left the great Ryu.

1903 was to be a defining year Ueshibas life as he enrolled in the infantry, just before the outbreak of the Russian-Japan conflict. While training with the infantry Ueshiba became an expert with the bayonet and his spirit and motivation boosted the morale of his fellow soldiers. It is said that he would often lead at the front of marches and carrying the packs of equipment of those around him who became fatigued.

It was while serving in the army that an event took place that began to create the mystique that surrounded Ueshiba throughout his life. He was confronted by an enemy soldier and on being confronted he felt a spiritual bullet pass through him, without thinking he quickly disarmed the soldier who was stood some 6 feet away. It was almost as if Ueshiba had read the mind of his opponent.

When the war was over, he was invited by senior military officials to join the national military academy to train as an officer. He rejected this however and instead wanted to resume his interrupted studies in Jujutsu. Yet illness struck Ueshiba again and he was confined to bed for six months with encephalitis.

Recovery was slow but when he finally recovered in 1910, he applied to become a settler in the northern frontier of Japan, in hopes that the change in climate would have a positive impact on his health and well being. By the spring of 1912 he led a group of settlers to the island of Hokkaido, a big northern island in Shirataki. It was here that Ueshiba was elected a member of the council and earned prestige and property.It was at this time when he met Sokaku Takeda, of the daito jujutsu ryu. Master Takeda was a man of small build, of great strength and immensely tough and severe. He belonged to an ancient ancestral line, a branch of the famous Minamoto family. As for his teaching he traced this back, according to a distant tradition, to Prince Sadazumi (874 916 sixth son of Emperor Seiwa) who is said to have been founder of the first forms of Aiki-Jutsu at the Daito ryu.

Like all the great masters of the time, a lot of myths surrounded Sokaku Takeda. It was said that in one encounter a mob, on killing eight and cutting through a dozen more he managed to escape. It has also been said that on his deathbed, half paralyzed through illness, he put an experienced judoka to the ground.

Whatever the truth in these stories, what can be said is that he was a well respected Master and he saw in Ueshiba someone with exceptional abilities and self control for a man who was still only 28. Likewise, Ueshiba was intrigued by Takeda, and fully submitted himself as his student. Even though he had a family and commercial interests to look after he devoted his body and soul to Takeda, preparing meals and baths and even building him a new house in which to live.

The instruction provided was at best infrequent. He taught Ueshiba only a few techniques at a time and charged him 300 to 500 yens at a time. Despite this after five years of training he was awared his 1^st diploma and appointed him master of jujutsu in the Daito Ryu. However why was this instruction so important to the foundations of Aikido? According to traditions that had been passed down from generation to generation, the Daito Ryu was founded around the year 1100 AD by Minamoto Yoshimitsu. The art was practiced in secret for the next four hundred years until it became available to high ranking samurai of the Aizu clan around the late 16^th century. It was this linage as discussed earlier that Sokaku claimed his linage to. One can also assert that the basic elements that stemmed from this teaching are still found in modern Aikido.

The personal hardship that seemed to marred Ueshibas life struck again when after four years of training with Sadaku his father was taken seriously ill. At 35 years old he made a decision to leave all his material possessions behind and left the Hokkadio island for good. Events seemed to gain momentum and he soon came to hear of a Reverend Osinaburo Deguchi, a leader of Omoto Kyu, a Shinto sect which essentially was a unification of Asiatic Shamanism, Zen Buddhism and Christianity. The centre of which was based in Aybe, in the distract of Kyoto. In what can only be described as a son’s desperate attempt of healing his father he decided to change his route in order to visit him.

However by the time he arrived at his fathers village, he had passed away. This was one of the most painful events in Ueshibas life and in a moment of truly intense emotion it is said that he swore that from that day forward he would devote all of his energies into the teachings of Budo and the secrets of the art. This led to four years in isolation in a remote house on the holy mountain at Ayabe. In Aybe itself it is said that he frequently met reverend Deguchi with whom he shared great communication of spirit. What can be said of this relationship is that while Takeda opened Ueshibas eyes to Budo, it was Deguchi that led him to the source of enlightenment that would ultimately lead him to evolve many of the Daito-Ryu aiki Jujutsu techniques.

Looking back from our perspective it can be easy to understand why Ueshiba felt like this towards Deguchi, For it was the reverend who had an ideal of unifying the moral and religious meaning of the world. It was 1934 when he revealed a secret plan to Master Ueshiba and a handful of friends. He set about to realize a dream of creating a kingdom of peace in Mongolia by means of a sino-Japanese alliance. This may seem fantastic and idealistic to harbour such an idea, but far from been unobtainable Deguchi had a few advantages.

For example, with the support of Tchang Tso-Lin then the master of Mukden, he raised an independent army of the north west which soon numbered ten units. Pillage was forbidden and on his banners were the symbols of the sun, moon, stars and the earth.

Reverend Deguchi with his army roamed the mogul plains promoting the ideal of the kingdom of God., healing the sick and feeding the starved. Unfortunately, his success disturbed Tso-Lin, so much so that he sent an army against him and had all the Chinese officers rounded up and executed.

Ueshiba, along with the other leaders was captured. On showing unusual strength and courage his enemies subjected him to endurance tests of extreme torture. It is said that Ueshiba and the rest of the captured party were only moments from being executed if it was not for the intervention of the Japanese government.

On there return to Japan they were given a heroes welcome, but showing his true character Ueshiba rejected this and returned to his remote house at Ayabe. In 1938 Master Ueshiba built a dojo and a Shinto temple at Iwana, 93 miles north of Tokyo and began to teach Aiki-do. Those who were fortunate enough to be accepted as pupils cultivated the land and served the master with total devotion.

This way of life continued until the end of the last war, when the Americans restricted the teaching of martial arts in all forms.

On April 1969, master Ueshiba moriehei died in Tokyo aged 86, at the end of a long illness.

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