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The founder Morihei Ueshiba And I |
Fortunately I was born in Iwama, where the Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) created the system of principles and tehniques which we call Aikido.
Influenced by my elder brother Shigemi Inagaki (8th dan at present), who started practicing Aikido much earlier, I also started practicing Aikido at the founder's Aikido Dojo in Iwama.
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| At that time most of the disciples boarded at the dojo, but a few such as myself and my brother commuted. |
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Since I was a junior high school child, I was directly taught by the founder in hand to hand and was even able to throw him to the tatami many times.
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| As nobody was said to have knocked the founder down this is a treasured memory for me. |
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There was a Kamidana (a household Shinto altar) in the dojo and there was a sliding door. |
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When I was practicing Aikido with a colleague, I bumped into the door hard. |
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Master Ueshiba bawled loudly saying "What's the matter? Are you breaking the Kamidana?" At that time he was 80 years old, however, his voice was still startlingly loud. |
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Since I had to massage Master Ueshiba's shoulders and clean the dojo, I always accompanied him. So my memories are almost inexhaustible. |
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Once he showed me the example of Kokyuho, the breathing technique used in Aikido. |
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When I tried following his instruction, he nodded his head saying "Yes! Yes!". This is another treasured memory for me. |
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Sometimes a large part of the training time was occupied by the stories of the Shinto gods. |
＝＝＞ From the article of those days |
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The founder Morihei Ueshiba was very strict. However, through this strictness he taught us the importance of gentleness and empathy and I really learned a lot. |
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The principles of my dojo have been inherited from the teachings of the founder Morihei Ueshiba. |
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