O Sensei Aikido by Jon Tan

Theres always the saying, Without Morihei Ushiba there will be no Aikido. What is it then that made Moriheis Aikido so different from what would have been known as Daito-ryu or No Jujutsu? After all, Morihei has his roots in Daito-ryu or Daito-ryu aiki-no-jutsu and was taught by Takeda Sokaku the founder of Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu.

Onisaburo Deguchi
The day Morihei met Onisaburo Deguchi of Oomoto Religious Sect that changes everything. Morihei Ushiba was so influenced by the spiritual teachings and meditations of Onisaburo Deguchi that his approach to Budo was changed forever.

Divine Power beyond Techniques

What made Moriheis Aikido different was the secret of Divine Power beyond Technique. Under the spiritual & meditation teachings and the influenced of Onisaburo Deguchi, basically Shintoism and probably too some extend in Buddhism, Morihei received divine spiritual power in peace & harmony with the universe and his opponents. Such spiritual practice manifested the empty mind that do not see the attacks of the opponent nor the intentions to attack the opponent. It performs the divine power of illusion and thus confrontation becomes a natural repercussion of the aggression by the attacker. And of which, the attacker defeats himself. Such articulate divine phenomenon goes beyond techniques.

KOTOTAMA
One of the indispensible practice in Moriheis Aikido to arrive at the divine power beyond techniques lies in the Sound Meditation called Kototama. Kototama is a daily chanting and meditation in the Oomoto spiritual rituals that will manifest into the phenomenon of inner to outer projection of ones power. It also enhances the environment around you manifesting in the reflection of the aggression towards you and put you ahead of yr opponents by one move. Your opponent and you becomes one. In many schools of true Moriheis Aikido, Kototama meditation forms the center core importance of aikido training. Kototama meditation is an indispensible practice in aikido. Many of these aikido schools strictly and strongly emphasize Kototama Meditation.

In the many books of Aikido by Morihei Ushiba and authored by his personal student John Stevens Sensei, Kototama meditation was well emphasized. The sound spiritual meditation of Kototama, the chant taught to Morihei by Onisaburo Deguchi of the Oomoto Sect, seems to put Moriheis Aikido beyond techniques.

Videos Morihei Kototama - See from 12:00 min - 13:30 min. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GT9qe1DSgw&feature=fvsr Peter Shapiro Sensei Kototama ( a renowned aikido veteran) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WY5D4Sk_pU John Stevens Sensei (Morihei's personal student and author of Morihei Ushiba Aikido) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs53G4hsMwk&feature=related