The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo: Japanese Aikido T-Shirt

Aikido T-shirt, with an original hand-brushed calligraphy of the Zen saying Jiki Shin Kore Dojo, meaning The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo, also translated as The Straightforward Mind Is The Place Of Practice, The Direct Mind Is The Place Of Enlightenment. The free flowing calligraphy is available in the cursive or semi-cursive style of Japanese calligraphy. This distinctive Japanese Zen calligraphy T-shirt makes a singular inspirational gift for Zen followers, Buddhists, meditation, Yoga and Martial Arts and Aikido practitioners, a great gift for a birthday or any important event|celebration.

The Dawn of Aikido and Morihei Ueshiba Sensei Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido is known as the Art of Peace. Not only Aikido but authentic martial arts are based on a philosophy of peace and conciliation. To a layman this assertion can be difficult to accept when you see how Aikido practitioners strike at each other at high tempo. In spite of that it is true, the underlying truth of aikido and numerous martial arts are harmony and tranquility.

Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba, born in Japan in 1883 to a family of farmers. Paradoxically, he was quite delicate as a child and boy and he spend many hours reading and on quiet activities. It is said that he even thought about becoming a Buddhist monk. It is quite fantastic that he later created a string of Japanese martial arts. It isn’t how you would envision the founder  of the widespread Aikido martial arts.

Regardless, Morihei Ueshiba came from a tradition of samurais and his father would tell him all the time about the adventures  and courage of his granddad. Ueshiba's father was engaged in politics and one day he saw how the supporters of a competing political group attacked his father. That same day he decided to work on his physical shape .

He studied jujitsu and judo, among other martial arts, but he didn't really make them his own for several years. At the time, the early 1900s, he was a foot soldier in the Japanese armed forces and he displayed such promise that he was recommended for the Military Academy. Nonetheless, he quit the army and went back to the family farm. In 1912 he moved with his wife to Hokkaido, an island in the north of Japan.

Morihei Ueshiba's aikido took inspiration from older martial arts practices from Japan. One of them was Daito-ryu Aiki Jutsu, which he learned seriously with sensei Takeda Sokaku in Hokkaido. It was at this point and with Takeda as his teacher that Ueshiba began taking the study and training of martial arts seriously.

After Morihei Ueshiba departed from the island of Hokkaido, he met Onisaburo Deguchi who taught him the Omoto-kyo religious practice derived from traditional Shinto. Deguchi's pacifism and his spirituality made an extraordinary impression on Ueshiba. This would contribute considerably to the spiritual philosophy underlying Aikido.

Uesiba developed the Aikido martial arts between 1925 and 1942 and gave it several names. During these years, he had several spiritual experiences and understood  that the true goal of a genuine warrior wasn't to defeat the enemy but to prevent slaughter.

In 1942, he moved to Iwama from Tokyo and started a dojo and the Aiki Shrine. He started calling his practice Aikido for the first time. Aikido is often rendered as The Way of the Harmonious Spirit, The Way of Unifying with Life Energy or Ki.

He taught the Aikido martial art for about twenty years and he became known as O Sensei, meaning Great Teacher or Great Master.

Despitehis pacifism the Japanese government decorated him several times. Before his death in 1969 Aikido had already spread to Europe, Australia and the USA. Nowadays Morihei Ueshiba's Aikido, or the Art of Peace, is practiced across the world.

Ueshiba created a system that has assisted many thousands of people throughout the world. A number of decades after his passing, Aikido practitioners still regard him as their supreme teacher, their Sensei, their master.

The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo