Kisshomaru Ueshiba: A view about him

I admit it… Kisshomaru never fascinated me enough and I am not the only one in the “neighborhood”. Ok, I know some of you will say this or that for him. Some are good some are not good, but let stand independent for a moment and perceive spherically. Did he created something? Had he a vision?

Many believe that technically this Aikido practiced today has been created- more or less- by Kisshomaru, Tohei and Saito, basically. Tomiki, Shioda, Mochizuki and few others separated themselves very early and their influence in mainstream Aikido is considered not so important.

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I vividly remember an interview with a member of a Japanese International company. He was claiming that westerners businessmen are drawing their business plans for the next 10 or 20 years mostly. Japanese have schedules for the next 100 years at least. So, I ‘ve got the impression that Kisshomaru did exactly that. He designed his plan for the next generations. His son, the third Aikikai Doshu, Moriteru Ueshiba, follows this plan and he creates his new for even longer time.

Kisshomaru’ s main goal was to spread, establish and organize Aikikai. Primarily as an organization and secondly its technical identity. Moriteru found an established and organized foundation spread everywhere and his main object is the technical part. Now it is his time. All the Japanese shihan-s around the world who had a different approach are becoming less and less active due to their age. Moriteru keeps an open mind, but he promotes Hombu line more actively. Hombu seeks for non Japanese persons as responsible in each Aikikai branch with administrative abilities and a positive eye towards Hombu’ s technical line. I believe that Hombu line will infiltrate all the local Aikikai organizations the following years.

I think that this is not by accident or lack. It is Kisshomaru who saw the future and planned the movements. Japanese instructors around the world will be numerically less and the local headquarters will be just representative offices. The center will be one, not anymore only for traditional reasons but substantially.

Kisshomaru had its own technical style, but how many were following it? And I mean even inside the walls of Hombu? What about now with Moriteru? I ‘ve been watching few Hombu shihan-s. Of course everybody has his own particularities, but the line is stable. Ok… nobody is Yamaguchi, Tada, Osawa etc, but they are exactly what is asked them to be and what they are taught and trained to do.

Kisshomaru put Aikido everywhere, without creating a sect-like teaching. Peace, Love and Harmony are demanded from each political status or religious constitution. Kisshomaru was really strong at this point. Other organizations still cannot establish even one dojo in some countries.

But again the second Aikikai Doshu did something equally clever. He never sat on the top of the pyramid. A king has always enemies, challengers… rebels. A king always is depended on the base. Kisshomaru created a sphere and he became the nucleus. So even with the few breaks that he had, the construction remained untouched.

Some people think of him only as a good diplomat, politician or administrator. History says he was, but was he only this?

I ‘ve got some names that they were not promoted even if they were owing numerous dojo- branches and others who were promoted, running a simple dojo with few members in a some small town. The lasts were mentally ready. The others were arrogant, even if their technique was very strong. I am not the only one who can say such stories with Kisshomaru demonstrating such qualitive.

By the way, why Kisshomaru never answered the accusations against himself from other instructors? A) They were right and he was wrong or B) He was waiting the right moment and the right facts to show the reality. If the second option is true, it was a really painful Aiki-behavior.

Kisshomaru literally built Aikikai. Tohei, Shioda, Abe, Tada etc spread Aikido, but Kisshomaru built Aikikai and Aikikai is the most powerful organization. Did he compromise in order to succeed this? Did he offer a low quality Aikido in order to make Aikikai more popular than Yoshinkai, Ki No Kenkyukai, Tomiki etc? Well, he has been accused for this and the funniest think is that he has been accused from other shihan-s inside the Aikikai foundation. Well… Kisshomaru was not on his own. He had historical Shihan-s around the world. They had the freedom to teach their Aikido, their way and their vision. Kisshomaru just had to keep united all these particularities. And he did it.

Somehow I see that Kisshomaru Ueshiba never compromised. He was just setting the roots for his own vision. He kept a friendly touch with other organizations, he turned on the lights in order the “lost boys” to find their way back home and most of all –if you know Japanese masters, you know what I mean- he allowed to some shihan-s to go for a “walk” and then he accepted them back.

Ueshiba The Second was a typical Japanese in some things. He authored many books and you can say that apart from that he was O-Sensei’s main image maker, his story was not so balanced. He removed some facts. Well… Japanese do not analyze, they just “forget”. But again, he did not close the book of history. He left space in order the future generations to fulfill the tale as the times and facts demand. It was too early for things to be told. The files always open after some appropriate time, when nobody will be hurt.

He put Aikido above everybody. Some times even above O-Sensei. Please DO NOT misunderstand me. O-Sensei was O-Sensei and Aikido was Aikido. This way his own role was not underestimated. He was not just the keeper of dad’s path. He transformed all the religious contents in to a social idea. This idea became a universal philosophy independent from social, political and religious theories. But again he didn’t create a dogma as others did. For example take the subject of weapons or Ki. His idea was that Aikido has no forms (kata), but everybody was free to train the Aikido-way he preferred. O-Sensei had released Budo from Kata training and this was one of the innovations that he brought in Japanese martial arts. So Kisshomaru and now Moriteru keep on believing that.

The “Ki story” was the same. Many things about Ki are reminding Tohei’ s teaching. Who took from whom and what?… Again the idea was not to create a dogmatic, kata-like, method of Ki development and since everybody can approach Ki with his way, practically and theoretically, Kisshomaru avoided the conflict: “Speaking of Ki won’t develop your Ki”. This was his idea and is a classical Japanese one since Japanese people do not ask, talk and analyze. They prefer the physical training in order to understand. Again the differences between K. Tohei and Kisshomaru Ueshiba is not the aim of this post, but Hiroshi Tada with his Ki No Renma and others had no problems. Why?

Accepting that Aikido is one, but with multiple forms of training, Kisshomaru established Aikido as one of the most interesting martial arts. In fact he created a myth. “What is Aikido?”. I like when I see articles with this headline. In fact he made true the philosophy of the founder. “Not merging, but coexistence”. Harmony has meaning when different things have to exist together. If everybody is, thinks and acts the same, then harmony is not needed.
As I learn more about Aikido, I respect more and more Kisshomaru Ueshiba. I believe that he did the best that it could be done under the given circumstances. He was a man with vision and ingenuity, indeed. Even to those who do not belong in Aikikai, or do not agree with certain things, Kisshomaru stands as a very respectful personality.