Morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography

Or is it the umpteenth post-mortem fabrication? Regardless of where you turn when surfing the web, but also when consulting publications of celebrated Aikido authors, Morihei Ueshiba is presented almost universally as an expert Master of many arts, a fine connoisseur of multiple styles and often also as the holder of certificates and rank in numerous combat disciplines.

Are we really sure that things stand as such? Or is it the umpteenth post-mortem manufacturing? One assumption is certain: Morihei Ueshiba was the absolute master of one art, his own, Aikido. It is also easy to deduce how his level in it has remained unreachable over the years, and that not even his most famous and gifted students have achieved a depth in Aikido vaguely comparable to that of its morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography.

However, the official hagiography has built a series of stories about the martial experiences of Ueshiba pre-Aikido — as if to explain and justify any future outcomes — which does not stand up to serious scrutiny. The general perception of Ueshiba as a specialist in multiple Budo arts arises from the publications produced by his son Kisshomaru and from those that refer to them.

In truth, until the age of 17 there is no source confirming a formal involvement in Budo by Morihei who, it must be remembered, lived in the rural village of Tanabe, and not in the rich cultural and martial world typical of the capital. Ueshiba had rather shown that he was a teenager with a restless and problematic soul, for example by changing school a couple of times before finding something that attracted his interests [8].

Among other things, it would appear that he had expressed a desire to become a Buddhist monk [5] [6]. Morihei had grown up in a privileged environment: his father Yoroku, a wealthy landowner of uncertain Samurai descent [9], had always been close to him, supporting the youngster in his decisions and trying to direct what was at the time a rather weak and sick child.

It was Yoroku who first exposed Morihei to Budo, telling him warrior stories of his ancestors — his great-grandfather Kichiemon was a samurai of some reputation in his period [5] — and making him discover Sumo and swimming as a training pastime. According to some sources, Yoroku also trained his son in their family trademark art, called Aioi-ryu Jujutsu.

From the above it would not seem to emerge that in Tanabe the young Morihei had acquired any particular knowledge in Budo that set him apart from any other teenager of his society and historical period. His story in Budo began to take a more defined form inwhen the year-old Morihei moved from Tanabe to Tokyo [12], funded by his father, and started a stationery business.

City life, difficulties in running the company and a beriberi infection led to the failure of this initiative, which remained on its feet for less than a year; after which Ueshiba returned to his father in Tanabe to recover his strength after the illness. During those months in Tokyo, however, he had the opportunity to formally practice Tenjin Shinyo-Ryu Jujutsu in a private dojo led by Takisaburo Tobari [8].

Kisshomaru Ueshiba claims that it was that Kito-ryu who could hardly have practiced as a teenager in Tanabe [3]. It would also seem that Morihei somehow attended the Yagyu Shinkage-Ryu dojo [6] [7]. It would seem illogical, however, that during that limited period of time, the last part of which he spent in the throes of a debilitating disease, the teenager Morihei could have become an expert on Tenjin-Ryu or Yagyu-Ryu.

Strictly speaking, the first concern of Ueshiba, who was young and inexperienced but with a great deal of responsibility on his shoulders, would have been the stressful one of running his company. We can imagine that he went to practice in the evening, how he could and when he could. In Ueshiba was therefore once again permanently in the village of Tanabe, where family care and good food restored his health and energy, to the point that during that year he married Hatsu Itokawa, whom he had known since childhood [8].

InUeshiba was called up for military service. He failed the initial physical examination, being shorter than the regulation 5 feet 2 inches 1.

Morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography: Morihei Ueshiba is a wild card

To overcome this, he stretched his spine by attaching heavy weights to his legs and suspending himself from tree branches; when he re-took the physical exam he had increased his height by the necessary half-inch to pass. Ueshiba studied several martial arts during his early life, and was renowned for his physical strength during his youth. His intent was to scout out a propitious location for a new settlement, and he found the site at Shirataki suitable for his plans.

Despite the hardships he suffered on this journey which included getting lost in snowstorms several times and an incident in which he nearly drowned in a freezing riverUeshiba returned to Tanabe filled with enthusiasm for the project, and began recruiting families to join him. Zenzo's son Noriaki was also a member of the settlement group.

Poor soil conditions and bad weather led to crop failures during the first three years of the project, but the group still managed to cultivate mint and farm livestock. The burgeoning timber industry provided a morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography to the settlement's economy, and by there were over families residing there. 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.

He was elected to the village council that year, and took a prominent role in leading the reconstruction efforts. 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. Ueshiba was an extremely dedicated student, dutifully attending to his teacher's needs and displaying great respect.

However, Takeda overshadowed him throughout his early martial arts career, and Ueshiba's own students recorded the need to address what they referred to as "the Takeda problem". In NovemberUeshiba learned that his father Yoroku was ill, and was not expected to survive. Leaving most of his possessions to Takeda, Ueshiba left Shirataki with the apparent intention of returning to Tanabe to visit his ailing parent.

Criticised by family and friends for arriving too late to see his father, Ueshiba went into the mountains with a sword and practised solo sword exercises for several days; this almost led to his arrest when the police were informed of a sword-wielding madman on the loose. Deguchi also offered Ueshiba's services as a bodyguard to Kingoro Hashimotothe Sakurakai's founder.

Deguchi's intent was to establish a new religious kingdom in Mongolia, and to this end he had distributed propaganda suggesting that he was the reincarnation of Genghis Khan. Fortunately for Ueshiba, whilst Lu and his men were executed by firing squad, the Japanese group was released into the custody of the Japanese consul. They were returned under guard to Japan, where Deguchi was imprisoned for breaking the terms of his bail.

After returning to Ayabe, Ueshiba began a regimen of spiritual training, regularly retreating to the mountains or performing misogi in the Nachi Falls. As his prowess as a martial artist increased, his fame began to spread. He was challenged by many established martial artists, some of whom later became his students after being defeated by him.

After a couple of weeks, however, Ueshiba took issue with several government officials who voiced concerns about his connections to Deguchi; he cancelled the training and returned to Ayabe. In Takeshita invited Ueshiba to visit Tokyo again. Ueshiba relented and returned to the capital, but while residing there was stricken with a serious illness.

Deguchi visited his ailing student and, concerned for his health, commanded Ueshiba to return to Ayabe. Angered at the treatment he had received, Ueshiba went back to Ayabe again. Six months later, this time with Deguchi's blessing, he and his family moved permanently to Tokyo. This move allowed Ueshiba to teach politicians, high-ranking military personnel, and members of the Imperial household ; suddenly he was no longer an obscure provincial martial artist, but a sensei to some of Japan's most important citizens.

The building proved too small to house the growing number of aikido students, and so the Ueshibas moved to larger premises, first in Mita districtthen in Takanawaand finally to a purpose-built hall in Shinjuku. Frustrated by the appearance of his teacher, who was openly critical of Ueshiba's martial arts and who appeared intent on taking over the classes there, Ueshiba left Osaka during the night, bowing to the residence in which Takeda was staying and thereafter avoiding all contact with him.

As a result, although he was taken in for interrogation, he was released without charge on Morita's authority. InUeshiba's daughter Matsuko was married to the swordsman Kiyoshi Nakakurawho was adopted as Ueshiba's heir under the name Morihiro Ueshiba. The marriage ended after a few years, and Nakakura left the family in Ueshiba later designated his son Kisshomaru as the heir to his martial art.

The s saw Japan's invasion of mainland Asia and increased military activity in Europe. 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. The intended goal was a meeting with Chiang Kai-shek to establish peace talks, but Ueshiba was unable to meet with the Chinese leader, arriving too late to fulfil his mission.

From onwards, Ueshiba had been purchasing land in Iwama in Ibaraki Prefectureand by the early s had acquired around 17 acres 6. Indisenchanted with the war-mongering and political manoeuvring in the capital, he left Tokyo and moved to Iwama permanently, settling in a small farmer's cottage.

Morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography: Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of

Despite the prohibition on the teaching of martial arts after World War II, Ueshiba and his students continued to practice in secret at the Iwama dojo; the Hombu dojo in Tokyo was in any case being used as a refugee centre for citizens displaced by the severe firebombing. It was during this period that Ueshiba met and befriended Koun Nakanishi, an expert in kotodama.

The study of kotodama was to become one of Ueshiba's passions in later life, and Nakanishi's work inspired Ueshiba's concept of takemusu aiki. The rural nature of his new home in Iwama allowed Ueshiba to concentrate on the second great passion of his life: farming. He viewed farming as a logical complement to martial arts; both were physically demanding and required single-minded dedication.

Not only did his farming activities provide a useful cover for martial arts training under the government's restrictions, it also provided food for Ueshiba, his students and other local families at a time when food shortages were commonplace. The government prohibition on aikido, at least was lifted in with the creation of the Aiki Foundation, established by the Japanese Ministry of Education with permission from the Occupation forces.

Here is where serious problems emerge. Not only was Onisaburo focused on expanding the activities of the sect and looking after its believers, he frequently provoked the Japanese government and engaged in politics and intrigue. Onisaburo, too, was very well connected and conspired morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography a number of ultra-nationalist figures of the day to advance his religious agenda.

This played into the hands of key right-wing leaders, especially those engaged in political and military activities in northern China. The latter event effectively crushed the religion and had a devastating effect on Morihei both professionally and privately. This is indeed a subject full of twists and turns that requires patient research to sort out.

He was 20 years old at the time. The build-up to the war was in response to Russian encroachments made in Northern China and Korea in the late 19th century. There was a strong push for a military armament and many young men joined the army and navy. Morihei was one of them. Morihei had to overcome his short stature to be accepted into the army, and went to amusing lengths—for example, hanging upside down—to increase his height.

Once admitted, he excelled during basic training, being possessed of exceptional strength, and proved himself to be adept at the use of the bayonet. Such skills meant the difference between life or death for the infantryman. In one of his interviews, Morihei mentions being stationed in Dairen present-day Dalian in Northeastern China and having spent a year and a half at the front.

It is uncertain the extent to which Morihei saw battlefield action. It does seem that he was at the front either as a foot-soldier or in a support capacity. Morihei recalled a number of wartime incidents where he miraculously survived by somehow being able to perceive the trajectory of bullets and cannonballs. What is certain is that Morihei Ueshiba did spend a protracted period in the war zone and did witness the horrors of battle.

There is no doubt that these experiences left a strong impression on the young soldier. To document the next occasion in which Morihei found himself in a war setting, we must fast-forward 20 years. Interestingly enough, the scene was again northern China, Manchuria and Mongolia, to be specific. Morihei was a member of the party accompanying Onisaburo Deguchi, leader of the powerful Omoto sect, to Mongolia.

Their party was on a secret mission to this region, ostensibly for the purpose of establishing a Utopian religious colony. We shall talk more about the relationship of the two shortly. This army was a quasi-independent part of the Japanese Imperial Army and little by little was bringing Manchuria under its control. Saito then decided to take up judo because he felt that if he knew both karate and judo he would have nothing to fear in a fight.

Judo was good in a hand-to-hand situation while karate was superior to kendo because one also developed kicking skills. That was part of the reason I became tired of judo. So I was dissatisfied with judo practice. Another thing I disliked was that during practice the senior students threw the junior students, using us for their own training.

They would only allow us to do a few throws when they were in a good mood. This was the result of a fortuitous encounter with an old man with a wispy, white beard who, according to local rumors, was practicing some mysterious martial art. Many years later Saito described his fateful first meeting with Morihei Ueshiba:.

Morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography: Aikido is Japanese in origin and

I had a very strange feeling about the place. It was eerie, but some of my friends and I agreed to go up and have a look. However, my friends got cold feet and failed to show up. So I went alone. It was during the hot season and I arrived in the morning. O-Sensei was doing his morning training. Minoru Mochizuki directed me to where O-Sensei was training with several students.

Then I entered what is today the six-tatami mat room of the dojo. As O-Sensei sat down Abe immediately placed a cushion down for him. He really moved fast to help O-Sensei. I just wanted to become strong. Now I understand, but at that time I had no idea of what he was talking about. My shirt sleeve and my pants ripped. I felt a sigh of relief to think that I was accepted….

Although Ueshiba had accepted the young Saito as a student, the seniors at the dojo severely tested his resolve. If he showed the slightest trace of pain on his face, his seniors would torture that part of his body even more. Soon, however, the determined young Morihiro had proved his mettle and gained the respect of his seniors.

He remembers with gratitude how he was kindly taught by people such as Koichi Tohei and Tadashi Abe. In earlier years, it was his custom to merely show techniques a few times with little or no explanation and then to have students attempt to imitate his movements. But now, Ueshiba had the luxury of being able to devote his full energies to his personal pursuit with just a few close students.

As I look back on it, I think the brain of the founder was like a computer.

Morihei ueshiba vs yip man biography: Ueshiba and Ip Man

During practice O-Sensei would teach us the techniques he had developed up to that point as if systematizing and organizing them for himself. When we would study one technique, we would systematically learn related techniques. If we started doing seated techniques, we would continue doing only that, one techniqueafter another. When he introduced a two-hand grab technique, the following techniques would all begin with the same grab.