Kisshomaru Ueshiba
植芝吉祥丸
Son of aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba and, from 1969 until his death, the second doshu of aikido, who unified the Aikikai syllabus and spread aikido around the world.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Kisshomaru Ueshiba, son of the aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba, was from 1969 until his death the second doshu, the hereditary leader of Aikikai aikido. He was born on 27 June 1921 in Ayabe in Kyoto Prefecture and died on 4 January 1999 in Tokyo aged 77.
He grew up in Tokyo from 1927, where his father completed the Kobukan dojo in 1931. He practiced kendo and Kashima Shinto-ryu and began serious aikido training with his father around 1937. In 1942, as a Waseda University student, he took over the Kobukan dojo and during the war protected it from air-raid fires. The year of his economics degree differs in the sources: Stanley Pranin gives 1942, Aikido Journal 1946.
After the war he worked at a securities firm and taught aikido mornings and evenings, and around 1955 he devoted himself only to Aikikai. The Aikikai foundation was established in 1948, and according to Aikikai he led daily instruction at the Hombu Dojo from 1949. His first book, Aikido, appeared in 1957, and in 1963 he first traveled to the USA. He reduced the number of techniques in the syllabus and unified the terminology. In 1967 he became chairman of the foundation and on 26 April 1969, after his father died, doshu.
In 1977 he published a biography of his father, which appeared in English in 2008 as A Life in Aikido. He received the Japanese Order of Merit with Blue Ribbon, in 1990 the French gold medal for sporting merit and in 1995 the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class. His son Moriteru Ueshiba succeeded him on 18 January 1999.
Early life
Kisshomaru Ueshiba was born on 27 June 1921 in Ayabe in Kyoto Prefecture as the fourth child and third son of Morihei Ueshiba and his wife Hatsu. In 1927 the family moved to Tokyo, where he completed most of his schooling. In April 1931 the Kobukan dojo was completed in the Wakamatsu-cho district and also served as the family home.
Before aikido he practiced kendo and Kashima Shinto-ryu. According to Guillaume Erard and Stanley Pranin, around 1936 he acted as a partner to his father in sword demonstrations. He studied economics at Waseda University, Pranin gives the year 1942, Aikido Journal and Wikipedia the year 1946.
Training and teachers
His only aikido teacher was his father Morihei Ueshiba. According to Aikido Journal he began serious training around 1937, while Erard and Pranin give 1936. In the technical manual Budo by his father from 1938 he appears as the partner on whom Morihei demonstrates the techniques.
In 1942 his father left for Iwama and Kisshomaru, still a student, took over the management of the Kobukan dojo in Shinjuku. We infer that while his father lived away from Tokyo, his own training became combined with leading the instruction and running the dojo.
Contribution and innovations
During the war he repeatedly put out fires from air raids and the Kobukan dojo survived while a large part of the surrounding district burned down. According to Erard the dojo then sheltered around thirty homeless families, the last of whom left in 1955. In 1948 the Aikikai foundation was established as the successor of the Kobukai foundation of 1940, and from 1949 he led regular daily instruction at the Hombu Dojo. At the same time he worked at a securities firm, which he left around 1955.
In 1956 a large aikido demonstration took place at the Takashimaya department store, which made aikido visible in Japan. His first book, Aikido, was published in 1957, and according to Pranin he wrote more than twenty books. In 1963 he traveled to the USA for the first time. He reduced the number of techniques in the Aikikai syllabus and introduced unified terminology, and according to Aikido Journal his fluid style became the standard in many Aikikai dojo. In 1967 he became chairman of the foundation and on 26 April 1969 doshu. In the middle of the nineteen-seventies the International Aikido Federation was established under the leadership of Aikikai.
Philosophy and principles
In an interview from 1957 he said that aikido is spiritual training carried out in the form of budo, and he named fifteen or sixteen years as a suitable age to begin. In an interview with Stanley Pranin on 30 May 1978 he warned that it is very dangerous to regard anyone as almighty, even in connection with his own father.
Legends and documented facts
Wikipedia, referring to Moriteru Ueshiba, writes that after the war it was his father Morihei, not Kisshomaru, who worked at the firm Osaka Shoji. Both Pranin and Aikido Journal speak of Kisshomaru only as working at an unnamed securities firm. The year of graduation from Waseda University differs between 1942 and 1946 and we have not resolved the dispute.
Both Aikikai and Pranin regard the 1957 book Aikido as his first book. Ljubomir Vračarević is sometimes mentioned in connection with Kisshomaru, but Wikipedia writes only about joint training at the Hombu Dojo during his first visit to Japan, not about a teacher and student relationship.
Legacy
In 1977 he published a biography of his father with the publisher Kodansha, which appeared in English in 2008 as A Life in Aikido. According to Aikikai he received the Order of Merit with Blue Ribbon in November 1986, while Aikido Journal gives 29 March 1987. On 19 May 1990 he received the French gold medal for sporting merit and in April 1995 the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class.
On 21 July 1996 he became president of the Aikikai foundation and his son Moriteru chairman. He died on 4 January 1999 in Tokyo at the age of 77, and on 18 January 1999 Moriteru Ueshiba became the third doshu. Wikipedia gives a posthumous award of the Order of the Rising Sun, and we have not found another source.
Teachers, students and family
Associated Martial Arts
Quotes
It is extremely dangerous to regard anyone as almighty.