Morihei Ueshiba, known as O Sensei (great teacher) is the founder of aikido. He created Aikido as a path to universal harmony and world peace, believing that violence and aggression could be turned aside by harmony of spirit.

O-sensei continued to practice and teach Aikido into his old age. He was still giving public demonstrations of Aikido at 86, four months before his death. After he passed away on 26 April 1969, the Japanese government declared Morihei Ueshiba a Sacred National Treasure of Japan.

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Check out early video of O Sensei

In the 1950's O Sensei sent his senior students out to spread Aikido across the globe, including Kenshiro Abbe who arrived in the UK in 1955