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Morihei Ueshiba

Japanese aikidoka (1883-1969) · Japan · Died at 85

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A typical day, 30 days to 23 October 2026

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He turned combat into harmony. Morihei Ueshiba built aikido from the ground up - a martial art that redirects force instead of meeting it head-on, born from war training, spiritual crisis, and a vision of a golden body rising from the earth.

Business ProfessionalsJournalistJapanAsia20th Century

A life in dates

1969Died26 April 19691960Medal with Purple RibbonAward1942“The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake.”In their wordsSpeaking of a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace" in 1942, during World War II, as quoted in Adjusting Though Reflex : Romancing Zen

1933“True Budo is practiced not only to destroy an enemy, it must also make him, or his own will, gladly lose his spirit (seishin) to oppose you. (p. 26)”In their wordsBudo Training in Aikido (1933)

1883Born14 December 1883

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Morihei Ueshiba 1939Morihei Ueshiba 1939251011 Kozan-ji Tanabe Wakayama prefecture Japan27s3251011 Kozan-ji Tanabe Wakayama prefecture Japan27s3Aikido monument in Engaru town, HokkaidoAikido monument in Engaru town, HokkaidoKamishirataki shrine, Kami-sirataki, Engaru, HokkaidoKamishirataki shrine, Kami-sirataki, Engaru, HokkaidoMongolian mission. Deguchi Onisaburo and Morihei UeshibaMongolian mission. Deguchi Onisaburo and Morihei UeshibaMorihei Ueshiba Ayabe 1921Morihei Ueshiba Ayabe 1921Morihei Ueshiba Ayabe 1922Morihei Ueshiba Ayabe 1922Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido with foreign students at birthday partyMorihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido with foreign students at birthday party

In their own words 10

,
Morihei Ueshiba
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake.

    1942, Speaking of a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace" in 1942, during World War II, as quoted in Adjusting Though Reflex : Romancing Zen, Own words

  2. True Budo is practiced not only to destroy an enemy, it must also make him, or his own will, gladly lose his spirit (seishin) to oppose you. (p. 26)

    1933, Budo Training in Aikido (1933), Own words

  3. Atemi accounts for 99% of Aikido.

    As quoted in Traditional Aikido (1974) by Morihiro Saito, p. 38, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Medal with Purple Ribbon1960
Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class

In their orbit

Child: Kisshomaru Ueshiba

About this person

The son of a Tanabe landowner, Ueshiba cycled through martial arts as a young man and fought in the Russo-Japanese War. Discharged in 1907, he led a pioneer settlement in Hokkaido, where he trained under Takeda Sōkaku in Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. In 1919 he joined the Ōmoto-kyō Shinto sect in Ayabe, opened his first dojo, and in 1924 was captured with the sect's leader on an ill-fated expedition to Mongolia. The next year brought the rupture: a spiritual experience in which he claimed a golden spirit veiled his body and transformed it, after which his technique softened and emphasized the control of ki. He moved to Tokyo in 1926 and established what became the Aikikai Hombu Dojo, teaching across Japan and in military academies. After World War II he retired to Iwama, spending his last decades spreading aikido until liver cancer killed him in 1969. His students carried it worldwide.

Country
Japan
Type
Other
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1883 to 1969 · aged 85

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