O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba - History in Brief part 2

The other main influence on O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, not in terms of martial technique but rather in the spiritual sense, was Onisaburo Deguchi, the spiritual leader of the Omoto (Shinto) religion. O-Sensei met Deguchi for the first time in 1919.

O-Sensei moved to Tokyo around the late 1920s, first teaching in private settings and finally establishing the Kobukan dojo in 1931. The dojo was situated in Shinjuku  on the same site as the present Hombu Dojo.

O-Sensei had purchased land in Iwama in the late 1930s in preparation for his move out of Tokyo. In 1942, suffering from illness and wanting to leave behind the gruelling, war-torn Tokyo life, the founder retired to rural Iwama, where he engaged in farming, training and meditation.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, O-Sensei ventured away from Iwama more often, spending days in Tokyo, Osaka, Wakayama and many other places he was invited to.

>> Next page