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

Japanese 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 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 other significant moment|celebration.

The Origins of Aikido and Morihei Ueshiba Master Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido is known as the Art of Harmony. Not only Aikido but genuine martial arts are based on a philosophy of peacefulness and concord. To a layman this assertion can be hard to accept when you see how Aikido practitioners hit each other at high speed. Even so it is true, the fundamental truth of aikido and many martial arts are harmony and tranquility.

Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba, born in Japan in 1883 to a farmers' family. Paradoxically, he was quite frail as a kid and boy and he spend many hours reading and on quiet activities. It is said that he even considered becoming ordained as 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 popular Aikido martial arts.

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

He learned 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 army and he displayed such promise that he was recommended for the Military Academy. Nevertheless, he retired from the armed forces 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 practiced in earnest with sensei Takeda Sokaku in Hokkaido. It was then and with Takeda as his teacher that Ueshiba began taking the study and practice of martial arts wholeheartedly.

After Morihei Ueshiba departed from Hokkaido, he met Onisaburo Deguchi who taught him the Omoto-kyo religious practice based on traditional Shinto. Deguchi's pacifism and his spirituality made a crucial impact on Ueshiba. This would contribute considerably to the spiritual principles underlying Aikido.

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

In 1942, he moved to Iwama from Tokyo and opened 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, meaning Great Teacher or Great Master.

In spite ofhis pacifism the Japanese government decorated him a few times. Before his passing in 1969 Aikido had already spread to Europe, Australia and the United States. Today Morihei Ueshiba's Aikido, or the Art of Peace, is practiced across the world.

Ueshiba devised a system that has helped countless people across the world. A number of decades after his death, Aikido practitioners still see him as their ultimate teacher, their Sensei, their master.

The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo