The Kobukan Years – Part I

The Kobukan Years

By Stanley Pranin

An Aikido Journal publication.

Reprinted with the kind permission of Aikido Journal

PART I

 

Introduction

 In April 1931, Morihei Ueshiba, the Aikido founder, opened a private dojo in the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo called the “Kobukan.” This dojo served as the center of the founder’s activities for more than a decade and is intimately related to the subsequent birth of aikido, Japan’s spiritual martial art.

During the Kobukan period, Morihei Ueshiba rubbed shoulders with the elite of Japanese society associating with luminaries from military, political, business and religious circles. Though not politically motivated himself, Morihei taught and interacted with many of the leading figures of the times, men who had deep respect for his incredible martial skills and who would shape Japan’s destiny as it hurtled toward war on the continent and in the Pacific.

In this short span of time, Morihei juggled a seemingly impossible teaching schedule that had him on the move all throughout the Tokyo and Kansai areas each month. His activities and achievements during this time span are so numerous and so fundamental to the emergence of modern aikido that this topic deserves special scrutiny. To that end, we propose to divide our study into two parts.

The first section appearing in this issue of Aiki News will cover Morihei’s activities in Tokyo leading up to the opening of the Kobukan Dojo, the actual launch of the dojo, its most significant figures, the search for Morihei’s successor, the Budo Senyokai, expansion to the Kansai area, and finally the Second Omoto Incident and its aftermath.

Part two to be published in Aiki News 132 will discuss Morihei’s military and political associations, aiki budo in Manchuria, the establishment of the Zaidan Hojin Kobukai, the Dai Nippon Butokukai and the “naming” of aikido, the wartime uchideshi, and Morihei’s technical and grading systems.

 

Morihei’s activities from 1925-1931

The Kobukan Dojo was established after Ueshiba had spent about six years instructing in various temporary locations in the Tokyo area. His ties to Tokyo came about in large part due to the efforts of Admiral Isamu Takeshita, a long-time martial arts enthusiast. The relationship between Takeshita and Ueshiba began as a result of the introduction of another naval officer, Rear Admiral Seikyo Asano. Asano was a believer in the Omoto religion and began to practice Daito-ryu Aiki Jujutsu with Morihei in Ayabe in 1922. Thoroughly engrossed in the study of Morihei’s Daito-ryu, Asano recommended him to Takeshita, his classmate at the Naval Academy in Tokyo.

Takeshita journeyed to Ayabe in 1925 to view Ueshiba’s budo and left totally convinced that Ueshiba was an exceptional martial artist. Upon Takeshita’s return to Tokyo, he presented a glowing recommendation of Ueshiba to retired Admiral Gombei Yamamoto—also a two-time former prime minister—and this led to a demonstration before a select audience at Takeshita’s residence. Henceforth, Admiral Takeshita played an active role in promoting Ueshiba’s activities among the elite of Tokyo society. Morihei made a number of trips to Tokyo from Ayabe to give seminars. This resulted in many military officers, government officials and wealthy persons becoming devotees of Ueshiba-style Jujutsu.

After Morihei’s move to Tokyo in 1927, he taught assisted by his nephew Yoichiro Inoue in a succession of temporary locations. Training took place first at Shiba in Shirogane, then Mita Tsuna-cho, followed by Shiba Kuruma-cho, and finally, in 1930, Mejiro. Morihei’s reputation had spread by word of mouth to the point that no more students could be accommodated in these small training facilities. Under these circumstances, a permanent solution was called for.

Soon donations were collected from Ueshiba’s circle of patrons to build a full-time dojo. Among the wealthy contributors to the dojo fund was a certain Koshiro Inoue who was related to Morihei by marriage. Koshiro’s brother Zenzo had married Morihei’s eldest sister Tame in the late 1800s in their native town of Tanabe in Wakayama Prefecture. The couple had eight children, the fourth of whom was a boy named Yoichiro. Yoichiro’s uncle Koshiro built his fortune in Tokyo’s Asakusa district in the 1890s around the time of the Sino-Japanese War. Yoichiro—about whom we shall hear more later—was of course also Morihei’s nephew and his closest student at this time. Yoichiro would frequently tap Koshiro for funding for Morihei’s budo activities and Koshiro is said by surviving relatives to have made a large donation toward the building of the Kobukan Dojo.

 

After collecting sufficient donations and with the assistance of the wealthy Ogasawara family, Morihei succeeded in purchasing a plot of land in the Ushigome district of Shinjuku. The move to Mejiro was a temporary measure while construction of the new dojo was being completed. It was during the Mejiro period that judo founder Jigoro Kano made a special visit to observe a demonstration by Morihei. Highly impressed, Kano sent two of his top judo students—one of whom was Minoru Mochizuki—to engage in intensive training under Ueshiba. Another memorable event from the Mejiro period was the visit of General Makoto Miura who came to the Mejiro dojo to challenge Morihei. Miura had been a student of Sokaku Takeda some 20 years earlier and considered Morihei an upstart who had strayed from the Daito-ryu path. However, the General was powerless against Morihei’s technique and ended up becoming a long-time student and supporter.

Kobukan Dojo opening

Before describing the grand opening of Morihei’s Tokyo dojo, mention must be made of a rather unusual event that took place just prior to the inaugural ceremony.

Morihei’s Daito-ryu jujutsu instructor, the famous Sokaku Takeda, taught a seminar at the new dojo from March 20 to April 7, 1931. This is known because an entry bearing Morihei’s name and seal appears for these dates in Sokaku’s enrollment book (eimeiroku). Certainly, Sokaku had prior knowledge of the opening of Morihei’s private dojo because the two maintained a correspondence over the years. However, none of the circumstances of his visit to the Kobukan Dojo on this occasion are known. Sokaku visited Morihei periodically from the 1920s until the mid-1930s, sometimes without prior warning. The relationship between the two had become strained in recent years as Morihei had struck out on his own as a budo instructor. Morihei had been certified as a Daito-ryu aikijujutsu instructor in 1922, but the financial arrangement between the two remained somewhat vague and this proved to be a bone of contention. At this period of his career Morihei was well into the process of modifying the techniques of Daito-ryu into the more flowing, less jujutsu-like movements that would characterize his later aikido.

After Morihei’s move to Tokyo in 1927, he taught assisted by his nephew Yoichiro Inoue in a succession of temporary locations. Training took place first at Shiba in Shirogane, then Mita Tsuna-cho, followed by Shiba Kuruma-cho, and finally, in 1930, Mejiro. Morihei’s reputation had spread by word of mouth to the point that no more students could be accommodated in these small training facilities. Under these circumstances, a permanent solution was called for.

The official opening ceremony took place later in April 1931 after Sokaku had left Tokyo and was attended by many dignitaries including several high-ranking army and navy officers. There is a rare group photo that preserves a record of those present on that occasion. Among the VIPs in attendance were Admiral Isamu Takeshita, General Makoto Miura, Rear Admiral Seikyo Asano, Admiral Sankichi Takahashi, Dr. Kenzo Futaki, Harunosuke Enomoto, and retired Commander Kosaburo Gejo. Some of Morihei’s uchideshi and students who were present were Yoichiro Inoue, Hisao Kamada, Minoru Mochizuki, and Hajime Iwata. Morihei’s wife Hatsu and son Kisshomaru were also on hand. Fittingly, a horizontal calligraphy brushed by Onisaburo Deguchi—Morihei’s spiritual mentor— that reads “Ueshiba Juku” is on display in the dojo tokonoma. This same calligraphy was displayed on the wall of Morihei’s first school, the “Ueshiba Juku,” located in the Ueshiba home in Ayabe in the early 1920s.

 

The training area of the Kobukan Dojo consisted of 80 tatami and the structure also housed the Ueshiba family and uchideshi living quarters. Kisshomaru indicates that as many as 20 uchideshi could be accomondated in the dojo at a single time. The structure served for many years and survived the wartime fire-bombing of Tokyo when most of the surrounding buildings were burned to the ground thanks to the timely efforts of Kisshomaru. It was used as the Aikikai Headquarters dojo until 1968 when the building was torn down to make way for the construction of the present Aikikai Hombu Dojo. The present Ueshiba family residence rests on the site formerly occupied by the Kobukan Dojo.

After his dojo was opened, Morihei received visits from leaders of the Omoto religion. Hidemaro Deguchi and his wife Naohi—Onisaburo’s son-in-law and daughter—paid several visits to the Kobukan around this time. A commemorative photo of one of these visits has survived and it is interesting to note that the calligraphy displayed in the tokonoma has changed since the opening ceremony. Several pieces of Hidemaro, a skilled calligrapher, were put up, no doubt in honor of the prominent Omoto visitors.

Training at the new dojo

The new dojo was used extensively and normally two morning and three evening classes were held at the dojo with uchideshi having an opportunity to practice at other times during the day. Trainees were relatively few in number and usually consisted of persons who had obtained introductions from at least two prominent people. Another source of students, especially among the uchideshi, were those with some connection with the Omoto religion.

Morihei’s teaching style was long on action and short on words. He would execute techniques in rapid succession with almost no explanation. His teaching method was not at all systematic. Yoshio Sugino, the famous Katori Shinto-ryu master, who studied at the Kobukan Dojo for about two years starting in 1931, describes what it was like when the founder was teaching class:

“Ueshiba Sensei, unlike present instructors at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo, taught techniques by quickly showing the movement just one time. He didn’t provide detailed explanations. Even when we asked him to show us the technique again he would say, ‘No. Next technique!’ Although he showed us three or four different techniques, we wanted to see the same technique many times. We ended up trying to ‘steal’ his techniques.” [From an interview conducted by Aiki News in 1984]

Here is a recollection of one of Morihei’s first uchideshi, Hisao Kamada:

“Sensei would often use the term ‘irimi.’ This is a technique they did not have in judo. I guess it comes from Daito-ryu aikjujutsu, but I don’t know much about Daito-ryu. Ueshiba Sensei always said, “You have to enter to the inside of your training partner. Get to his inside and then take him into your inside!” He would start with ikkajo, nikajo, and suwariwaza. I don’t think he used the term “kukinage” (kukinage: lit., “air throw”; a popular judo technique of the period). There were techniques like yonkajo, but these were ways of training the body, while I believe that using them as applied techniques (oyowaza) is a matter of the spirit. The basics went about as far as gokajo, and after that it was applied techniques.“ [from an interview conducted by Aiki News in 1981]

 

The youthful uchideshi set the tone in training and practice was intense. There were very few females training at this time. One standout, however, was Takako Kunigoshi who was at that time a young art student. She is remembered most for her important work in sketching the hundreds of line drawings used in the Budo Renshu training manual published in 1933.

This stereotypically “old-fashioned” teaching approach is further described by Ms. Kunigoshi:

“No matter what we asked him I think we always got the same answer. Anyway, there wasn’t a soul there who could understand any of the things he said. I guess he was talking about spiritual subjects, but the meaning of his words was just beyond us. Later we would stand around and ask each other, ‘Just what was it Sensei was talking about anyway?’”

Ueshiba’s ubiquitous nephew Yoichiro Inoue

No discussion of this period of the Morihei’s activities would be complete without frequent mention of the role of his nephew Yoichiro Inoue. Inoue, who was Ueshiba’s junior by 19 years, spent part of his childhood in Tanabe and Hokkaido growing up in the Ueshiba household. He trained under Sokaku Takeda as well as his uncle and actually settled in Tokyo about 1925 prior to Ueshiba’s move from Ayabe. From a very young age, Yoichiro assisted his uncle as his partner in training and demonstrations. In the early days in Tokyo, especially, Yoichiro would teach as Ueshiba’s representative and substitute for the founder who was frequently ill.

Inoue appears often in the surviving group photos from the Kobukan Era and his importance to the development of aikido cannot be understated. Fate would have it that he had a falling out with his uncle shortly after the Second Omoto Incident that took place in December 1935. Although they sometimes would perform together in demonstrations thereafter, the two drifted apart and met only occasionally after World War II. Despite their one close relationship and blood ties, the rift between Morihei and Yoichiro never healed and they were not able to work together again. Books published on the history of aikido overlook Inoue’s contributions almost entirely and omit mention of the blood relationship that exists between the Ueshiba and Inoue families.

Search for a successor

From before the Kobukan period, one of Morihei’s preoccupations was the search for a suitable successor whom he hoped to marry to his only daughter Matsuko. Various anecdotes survive from several martial artist candidates with whom Morihei discussed the idea. These include Kenji Tomiki, Minoru Mochizuki, and Yoshio Sugino. It appears that at an earlier date the Ueshibas and Inoues had also entertained the idea that Yoichiro would marry Matsuko even though the two were first cousins. This actually was quite a common practice in the prewar era, and it seems that even Morihei and his wife Hatsu, both of Tanabe, were distant cousins.

Finally in 1932, Kiyoshi Nakakura, one of Japan’s top kendoka and a student of Hakudo Nakayama, agreed to marry Morihei’s daughter. The arrangement was made with Morihei and Nakayama acting as go-betweens. The ceremony was held that year and Nakakura was adopted into the Ueshiba family and took the name of “Morihiro Ueshiba.” The founder not only had a successor, but a top swordsman who would stimulate his growing interest in the study of the sword.

Nakakura would remain at the Kobukan Dojo for approximately five years. Due to his presence, a kendo group was formed within the Kobukan and even entered competitions. As it turned out, Nakakura, first and foremost a kendoka, found it difficult to master the subtleties of Morihei’s jujutsu and gradually came to feel he would not make an appropriate successor. His marriage ended in 1937, at which time Nakakura returned to the kendo world.

After that, the issue of who would succeed Morihei again became an open matter. Many assumed that his nephew Yoichiro would become the successor given his long period of collaboration in spreading aiki budo and his kinship to Morihei. But as it turned out, Morihei’s son Kisshomaru started training in the mid-1930s and gradually began serving as his father’s partner especially for sword demonstrations. When Morihei retired to Iwama in 1942, Kisshomaru, by then a student at Waseda University, took over as the head (dojo-cho) of the Kobukan Dojo. When the founder passed away in 1969, Kisshomaru formally succeeded his father as the Second Doshu.

Outside teaching activities

The Kobukan provided a fixed base for Morihei’s prewar activities, but he was constantly on the move. Anyone studying the founder’s life during these years—and even in his final decade—is struck by the frequency of his travels around the Tokyo, Kansai, and Wakayama areas.

Inoue appears often in the surviving group photos from the Kobukan Era and his importance to the development of aikido cannot be understated. Fate would have it that he had a falling out with his uncle shortly after the Second Omoto Incident that took place in December 1935. Although they sometimes would perform together in demonstrations thereafter, the two drifted apart and met only occasionally after World War II. Despite their one close relationship and blood ties, the rift between Morihei and Yoichiro never healed, and they were not able to work together again. Books published on the history of aikido overlook Inoue’s contributions almost entirely and omit mention of the blood relationship that exists between the Ueshiba and Inoue families.

Morihei’s duties in Tokyo alone kept him extremely busy. Besides the Kobukan Dojo, he taught classes and demonstrated at various businesses, clubs, and, on occasion, at private residences. However, his main outside activities involved teaching posts at several military institutions. These prestigious assignments came about through his broad network of contacts among high-ranking army and navy officers.

Although it is difficult to pin down the specific dates and circumstances of his military teaching career, we offer below a tentative listing of his assignments:

• Naval Staff College (Kaigun Daigakko), c. 1927-1937 through his contacts with Admirals Isamu Takeshita and Sankichi Takahashi.
• Army University (Rikugun Shikan Gakko)
• Military Police School (Kempei Gakko), dates unknown, through an introduction from General Makoto Miura.
• Toyama School (Rikugun Toyama Gakko), c. 1930-?, possibly through a connection with General Miura.
• Nakano Spy School (Rikugun Nakano Gakko), c. 1941-1942, through a connection with General Miura.
• In addition, brief teaching stints at the Naval Engineering School (Kaigun Kikan Gakko), the Yokosuka Naval Communications School (Kaigun Tsushin Gakko), and the Torpedo Technical School (Kaigun Suirai Gakko) of unknown dates are recorded.
  The teaching assignments at military schools covered here span the period from about 1927 to 1942 when Morihei retired to Iwama. A glance at the above list offers rather convincing evidence of Morihei’s extensive links to right-wing military figures and their activities. We will delve into this subject further in part two.

It should be noted that with this heavy load of teaching responsibilities, the founder was forced to rely on a cadre of assistants to cover his commitments. Yoichiro Inoue was the senior of this group and shared instruction duties during the first years in Tokyo, but with the establishment of the Budo Senyokai the locus of Yoichiro’s activities shifted to the Kansai area. Morihei thus had to rely on his leading uchideshi—people such as Hisao Kamada, Kaoru Funahashi, Shigemi Yonekawa, Tsutomu Yukawa, and Rinjiro Shirata—for assistance.

 

[To be followed]