The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo: Zen 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, that can also be 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 original Japanese Zen calligraphy T-shirt makes a rare motivational gift for Zen followers, Buddhists, meditation, Yoga and Martial Arts and Aikido practitioners, a great gift for a birthday or any important occasion|celebration.

The Emergence of Aikido and Morihei Ueshiba 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 reconciliation. To a layperson this assertion can be hard to accept when you see how Aikido practitioners strike at each other at high tempo. However it is true, the key doctrine of aikido and numerous martial arts are harmony and tranquility.

Aikido was developed by Morihei Ueshiba, born in Japan in 1883 to a farmers' family. Paradoxically, he was quite frail as a kid and youngster and he spend many hours reading and on quiet activities. It is said that he even contemplated becoming a Buddhist monk. It is quite impressive that he later established a series of Japanese martial arts. It isn’t how you would imagine the mastermind  of the widespread Aikido martial arts.

Regardless, Morihei Ueshiba came from a heritage of samurais and his father would tell him frequently about the deeds  and audacity of his granddad. Ueshiba's father was into politics and one day he saw how the supporters of a competing political group assaulted his father. It was that day that he decided to work on his physical shape .

He explored 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 an infantryman in the Japanese military and he showed such potential that he was recommended for the Military Academy. Nonetheless, he quit the armed forces and went back to the family farm. In 1912 he relocated with his wife to Hokkaido, an island in the north of Japan.

Morihei Ueshiba's aikido took inspiration from previous martial arts practices from Japan. One of them was Daito-ryu Aiki Jutsu, which he practiced seriously with master Takeda Sokaku in Hokkaido. It was then and with Takeda as his teacher that Ueshiba began taking the study and training of martial arts wholeheartedly.

After Morihei Ueshiba departed from the island of Hokkaido, he got to know Onisaburo Deguchi who taught him the Omoto-kyo religious practice derived from traditional Shinto. Deguchi's pacifism and his spirituality made a crucial impact on Ueshiba. This would contribute enormously to the spiritual tenets of Aikido.

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

In 1942, he relocated to Iwama from Tokyo and started a dojo and the Aiki Shrine. He began calling his practice Aikido for the first time. Aikido is often translated 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, which means Great Teacher or Great Master.

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

Ueshiba devised a practice that has helped countless people all over the world. Several decades after his passing, Aikido practitioners still regard him as their unmatched teacher, their greatest master, their incomparable Sensei.

The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo