Ueshiba’s two primary influences were the technical virtuosity of the Soke of Daito Ryu, Sokaku Takeda and the spiritual and mystic religious beliefs of Onisaburo Deguchi, founder and spiritual leader of the Omoto-kyo religion.

The Meiji Restoration and Demolishing of the Feudal System

The roots of aikido lie in the turbulent social upheaval of the Meiji Restoration and subsequent emergence of Japan into the modern world of the 20th century.

The general erosion of martial skills during the Edo period was generally less noticeable in the outlying provinces. This was especially true in the Aizu han (present day Fukushima prefecture) whose warriors were especially well known for preserving their traditional martial skills and valor. The daimyo of the Aizu han also supported the teaching of Neo-Confucian philosophy, known as aiki-in-yo-ho, or “the doctrine of harmony of spirit based on yin-yang.”

The Aizu warriors trained in various combat systems. In 1671 Goto Tamauemon Tadayoshi (1644-1736) the founder of the Daido Ryu, entered the Aizu han, and his school became required study by all Aizu warriors. His system included sword, bow, and gunnery. In addition Aizu samurai studied the iai-jutsu of Mizumo Shinto Ryu, which also included a secondary system of jujutsu-like combat.

All of their secondary systems of hand-to-hand combat fell until the title oshikiuchi. This system was based on the dualisms of the Neo-Confucian philosophy as taught in the aiki-in-yo-ho doctrine. Only high-ranking samurai were permitted to study oshikiuchi as a secret method of self-protection. The leadership for such training fell under the authority of the han minister and head of the Shirakawa Castle, Saigo Tanomo Chikamasa (Hoshina Chikamasa; 1829-1905)

The han was officially dissolved in 1871. In 1876, the Meiji government issued an order prohibited the wearing of two swords and limited bearing weapons to the regular armed forces in order to head off potential civil insurrection. A following order canceled all hereditary pensions and allowances of the former daimyo and samurai.

Tanomo Saigo subsequently became a Shinto priest at the Nikko Toshogu shrine, and it was here that he first met a highly skilled young swordsman named Takeda Sokaku Minamoto Masayoshi (1858-1943.)

The History of Sokaku Takeda

Takeda had previously studied several different traditional sword schools, including Ono-ha Itto Ryu heiho kenjutsu in 1870, Kyoshin Meichi Ryu in 1874, and Jikishin-kage Ryu in 1875, where he won the nickname of Aizu no Kotengu, “the little tengu of Aizu”.

Sokaku was the son of a highly accomplished sumo wrestler and was quite accomplished from an early age in sumo, swordsmanship, spear fighting, combat jujutsu and sumo wrestling.
His father unsuccessfully attempted to turn him into a scholar, but from an early age, Sokaku’s only interest was the martial arts.

So impressed with Takeda, Saigo hired Sokaku to be his full time body guard to encourage Takeda’s studying of martial arts in general and in particular, to transmit to him the secrets of the Aizu han’s oshikiuchi.

Barely 152 centimeters tall, Sokaku devoted himself to the development of his bujutsu skills for his entire life. He received licenses of proficiency in the okuden [secret teachings of both the heiho of Ono-ha Itto Ryu and Hozoin Ryu sojutsu in 1877.