A Historical Study of the Formative Process of Aikidō as a Modern Budō: Focusing on the Continuity and the Discontinuity of Jūjutsu

Abstract

Aikidō was founded by Morihei Ueshiba based on Daito-ryū Aikijūjutsu, several other martial arts and beliefs from the Ōmoto religion, a so-called new Shinto sect. In previous researches, it was concluded that Ueshiba founded Aikidō independently after training Daito-ryū, but the continuity with Daito-ryū Jūjutsu has not been sufficiently clarified in the formation process of Aikidō in the prewar period when the relation between Daito-ryū and Ueshiba could be confirmed clearly. The author assumes that the relationship between student and teacher relationships, however, have a deeper level of understanding. In this study, the author aims to investigate Ueshiba’s various activities that were intended to be independent from Daito-ryū and will clarify the formative process of Aikidō as a modern Budō, focusing on the continuity and the discontinuity of Daito-ryū Aikijūjutsu. The analysis is based on historical material: two types of booklets on which Ueshiba’s training process of Daito-ryū was written, secret documents of Daito-ryū and secret documents which were given to Ueshiba’s pupils. The main points are as follows:

• 1. Ueshiba’s training process of Daito-ryū. In 1915, Ueshiba became a pupil of Sokaku Takeda in Hokkaido. In 1922, Ueshiba received the kyōju dairi (instructor certification) license by Takeda in Kyoto. This meant that he would be incorporated into the Daito-ryū system as Iemoto (head of school). In 1931, Ueshiba received the Goshin’yo no Te license (84 self-defence techniques) which constituted the highest level of Daito-ryū at that time. In any case, Ueshiba paid a high payment to Takeda.

• 2. Ueshiba’s various activities to become independent from Daito-ryū. Ueshiba gave to his pupil the scroll of Aioi-ryū Aikijūjutsu in 1928. In 1931 he established the Kobukan in Tokyo. Although Ueshiba gave his pupils the scroll of Daito-ryū again in 1932, after that, in the secret texts given to the disciples, the name of “Daito-ryū” disappeared, and the name of the techniques of Daito-ryū were also changed. However, Ueshiba continued to use clearly the word “aiki” which is a recurrent technical term of Daito-ryū during the prewar period.

  As the above process shows, Ueshiba was influenced technically by Daito-ryū in the prewar period. The Iemoto system was also passed to him. This contrasts with judō, which originated from jūjutsu and was reorganized as a physical art suitable for modern Japan. Aikidō as a modern budō was formed with continuity with jūjutsu techniques while facing the problem of the Iemoto system in budō.