Tag Archives: sangen shikon

Aikido and the Structure of the Universe

Morihei Ueshiba Lectures

In "Kiichi Hogen and the Secret of Aikido" we traced a connection between what Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba cites as one of the "Secrets" of Aikido and Chinese military strategy. In "Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae" we traced a connection between a section of the technical manual "Budo", published in 1938 by Morihei Ueshiba, and certain very common concepts in Chinese martial arts.
Of course, there’s more, a lot more, threaded all through Morihei Ueshiba’s lectures and essays. Once the connections are laid out I think that this will become clear – even obvious. What will also become clear is the training methodology being laid out, in no uncertain terms, by the Founder.
For a start, Morihei Ueshiba would often say that "Ichirei Shikon Sangen Hachiriki" ("One Spirit, Four Souls, Three Origins, Eight Powers") represented the basic structure of the Universe, and the basic structure of Aikido.