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O-Sensei
traveled widely in Japan, perfecting his art by talking with other
visionaries and by successfully engaging in physical challenges.
His reputation as a man of budo grew. Many
students were drawn to him. Many became has uchi deshi (live-in students). The uchi deshi system was a common
Japanese way of learning - similar to, but not exactly the same
as, Western apprenticeship. The students lived on the same premises
as their teacher and became involved in many aspects of their teacher's
daily life. Aikido
is an art of spiritual transmission. Although O-Sensei was a religious
man, I do not mean to suggest that what O-Sensei transmitted to
his students was a religion, but that he was moved to help people
discover deep reference for life and "the spirit of living
protection for all creation." O-Sensei's
uchi deshi were expected to tend to his needs twenty-four hours
a day. Whether he needed to practice a technique in the middle of
the night, to travel to another city to teach, to have someone massage
his sore muscles, to welcome a visitor, or to farm, uchi deshi were
expected to be ready to help him. In this way, they could see how
the principles of Aikido extended into all facets of life. For his
students, O-Sensei was a model of Aikido. Philosophical
treatises and abstract philosophy seldom inspire people to act -
but human examples of honorable living can instill hope and inspire
action. People take as their aims what seems possible and good.
If someone lives a virtuous life, others can see that such a life
is possible. Mother Teresa and Gandhi are examples of humble and
unselfish living, and stories of Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed have
helped people throughout the ages to frame their lives so that they
can understand how to make them better. In this way, O-Sensei, too,
inspires many people. Many
of O-Sensei's students took up the challenge to spread Aikido philosophy.
In so doing, they have introduced it to an increasingly international
audience. O-Sensei's students are now the leaders of Aikido around
the world. But, they are growing older. Their recollections of O-Sensei
have been handed down to their students, serving to inspire them.
In what has become an oral history, our glimpse of O-Sensei's vision
of Aikido comes from the recollections of those who were around
him. O-Sensei's
lessons were not always the same for every student. Instead, he
matched his lessons to what he perceived as a student's interests
and abilities. Accordingly, his live-in students as well as students
who trained more briefly under his authority came away with different
perspectives of the art and different stories about their teacher.
It
is through the many stories of O-sensei that we see how he interacted
with the world, how he behaved off the mat when he was with friends
and family, how he was as a teacher, and as a public spokesman,
how he handled responsibility, what angered him, and what he thought
was important. This kind of portrait of O-Sensei provides a more
realistic understanding of his vision and of his art. Aikido
is a transformative art. Seeing Aikido's martial techniques through
the broader perspective of O-Sensei's life reveals the art's principles
and how they apply to everyday life. The application of these principles
is what O-sensei demonstrated for his live-in students. One
of the things that caught their attention is that O-Sensei was about
a compassionate and kind teacher as well as a powerful and ferocious
martial artist. It is this combination of contradictory qualities
that makes O-sensei a fascinating and inspiring person. Another
thing that they realized is that to learn the deeper lessons of
Aikido is to transform one's self into a person with a larger and
more powerful capacity for living well. O-Sensei presented his students
with the model of the person who lived with courage, sensitivity,
and virtue.
Susan Perry |
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Morihei
Ueshiba (1883-1969), to whom Aikido practitioners refer as "O-Sensei,"
was one of the world's most celebrated martial artists. His gift
was to marry effective martial technique with a deep spirituality.
A master of many martial arts, he brought out of budo (the martial
path) a deep philosophical element. His influence on philosophical
thinkers as well as martial artists has been profound.