Failure of the Attempt
The Founder devoted himself to his previous life of study and concentrated on learning more deeply the secret of budo. The mountains of Ayabe offered an excellent gymnasium for study and practice. The Founder selected a suitable place, hung seven or eight sponge balls in a circle under the trees and with a nine foot practice spear, beautifully trusted at them in turn. His various skillful movements were engraved on the memories of the students at his side.
At the time of the Founder's return from China , Ayabe was still a lonely country town. Foxes and badgers were seen around his isolated home. Because the facilities of the town were inadequate, the habitants were often asked to donate their labor. As he worked among the laborers the Founder showed his gifted power. Once he pulled out a pine tree which was four or five sun in diameter (about 15 cm or 5.5 in) and relocated a big stone which more than ten laborers could not move. He would often astonish people in this way. He said, "I taught myself that and extraordinary spiritual power of the soul lies within the human body."
Reaching a New Stage
As his study progressed he developed a type of sixth sense with which he could feel the intended movements of his opponent. When he was traveling in Mongolia he was held up at the point of a Mauser pistol. He became aware of the opponent's intention to shoot because of a small "spiritual bullet" which went through him before the opponent actually pulled the trigger. Then with rapid movement he stepped to the opponent's side a split-second before the gun fired, threw him down and gained possession of the weapon. This is a well-known episode among people who are interested in Aikido.
In spring of 1925 a navy officer, a teacher of kendo, visited the Founder and asked to become his student. Then during a conversation, they happened to disagree over a trifle matter. Tempers rose. They agreed to have a match. The officer dashed forward to strike him, swinging his wooden sword. The Founder dodged his sword very easily each time. The officer finally sat down exhausted without having once touched him. The Founder says he felt the opponent's movements before they were actually executed in the same way as during his time in Mongolia . Resting after this match, the Founder went out into the near-by garden in which there was a persimmon tree. As he was wiping off the perspiration from his face, he was greatly overcome with a feeling which he had never experienced previously. He could neither walk nor sit. He was just rooted to the ground in great astonishment.
The Founder recalls his experience: I set my mind on budo when I was about 15 and visited teachers of swordmanship and jujitsu in various provinces. I mastered the secrets of the old traditions, each within a few months. But there was no one to instruct me in the essence of budo; the only thing that could satisfy my mind. So I knocked on the gates of various religions but I couldn't get any concrete answers. Then in the spring of 1925, if I remember correctly, when I was talking a walk in the garden by myself, I felt that the universe suddenly quaked, and that golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one. At the same time my mind and body became light. I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of the mind of God, the Creator of his universe. At that moment I was enlightened: the source of budo is God's love - the spirit of loving protection for all beings. Endless tears of joy streamed down my cheeks. Since that time I have grown to feel that the whole earth is my house and the sun, the moon and the stars are all my own things. I had become free from all desire, not only for position, fame and property, but also to be strong. I understood, "Budo is not felling the opponent by our force; nor is it a tool to lead the world into destructions with arms. True budo is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in Nature." I understood, "The training of budo is to take God's love, which correctly produces, protects, and cultivates all things in Nature, and assimilate and utilize it in our own mind and body.
This revelation may have been only a momentary event, but it was the first such experience that he had ever had. It revolutionized the Founder's life and gave birth of Aikido.
From Aiki-Jujutsu to Aikido
Tracing the Founder's eighty-six years of study, we find that he was deeply interested in budo when he was young. He had gifted ability. Then came his pilgrimage throughout the world of jujutsu beginning in the middle of the Meiji era (1868-1912), during which he also devoted himself to the sword and other weapons, and the study of religions. Then, at last, the truth burst upon him.
The budo which he attained through his experience he later named Aikido.
When we look back to the old records and scrolls, in a few cases, we come across words like "a technique of aiki" or "aiki throw". But their explanations are abstract. "Don't be aiki-ed by the opponent." That is, don't drawn into the opponent's 'spirit harmony.' It is quite doubtful that a deeper meaning of the word was understood.
It was the Founder who clarified the superior way of Aikido as a separate entity in the society of budo- a society whose the members tended merely to emphasize techniques and strength. He asserted: "It is the way of budo to make the heart of the universe our own and perform our mission of loving and protecting all beings with a grand spirit. The techniques of budo are only a means to reach that end." The Founder, having thoroughly studied budo and acquired its essence through his severe training, first set up above all a goal for spiritual guidance and then fused the techniques of Aiki into the "stream of spirit, spirit power, or soul power. He gave life to the highly technical and spiritual side of Japanese budo within the society of man.
The Founder was the first who ever indicated clearly the world of Aiki and revealed its aim. From jujutsu to do (techniques to the Way)- this is the way to evolve endlessly toward to goal set up by the Master.