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

Japanese Aikido T-shirt, with an original hand-brushed calligraphy of the Aikido aphorism 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 fluid calligraphy is available in the cursive or semi-cursive style of Japanese calligraphy. This original Japanese Zen calligraphy T-shirt makes a singular creative gift for Zen followers, Buddhists, meditation, Yoga and Martial Arts and Aikido practitioners, a great gift for a birthday or any special event|celebration.

The Emergence of Aikido and Morihei Ueshiba Sensei Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido is known as the Art of Peacefulness. Not only Aikido but true martial arts are based on a philosophy of peacefulness and conciliation. To an amateur this statement can be difficult to believe when you see how Aikido practitioners hit each other at high tempo. However it is true, the essential doctrine of aikido and a lot of martial arts are harmony and tranquility.

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

Regardless, Morihei Ueshiba came from a lineage of samurais and his father would tell him frequently about the deeds  and bravery of his granddad. Ueshiba's father was involved in politics and one day he saw how the supporters of a rival 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 showed such capabilities that he was recommended for the Military Academy. Even so, he retired from the army 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 training 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 practice of martial arts wholeheartedly.

After Morihei Ueshiba left 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 impression on Ueshiba. This would contribute enormously to the spiritual philosophy of 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 ward off slaughter.

In 1942, he relocated to Iwama from Tokyo and opened a dojo and the Aiki Shrine. He started calling his practice Aikido for the first time. Aikido is usually rendered as The Way of the Harmonious Spirit, The Way of Unifying with Life Energy or Ki.

He taught the Aikido martial art for approximately 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 passing in 1969 Aikido had already spread to Europe, Australia and the USA. Nowadays Morihei Ueshiba's Aikido, or the Art of Peace, is practiced across the world.

Ueshiba created a system that has helped innumerable people all over the world. Some decades after his death, Aikido practitioners still consider him their unmatched teacher, their greatest master, their incomparable Sensei.

Zen T-shirt