Morihei Ueshiba (December 14, 1883 – April 26, 1969) was the founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido. The son of a landowner from Tanabe, he studied martial arts in his youth, and served in the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War. In 1907 he moved to Hokkaidō as the head of a pioneer settlement and studied with Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. In 1919 Ueshiba joined the Ōmoto- kyō movement, a Shinto sect, in Ayabe, and opened his first dojo. He accompanied the head of the group, Onisaburo Deguchi, on an expedition to Mongolia in 1924, where they were captured by Chinese troops and returned to Japan. Moving to Tokyo in 1926, he set up the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. He taught at this dojo and others around Japan, including several military academies. After World War II he retired to Iwama, and continued training at a dojo he had set up there. He continued to promote aikido throughout Japan and abroad until the 1960s. Many of his students became noted martial artists in their own right, and aikido is now practiced around the world.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morihei_Ueshiba
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
557:
A large earthquake severely damaged the city of Constantinople. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/557_Constantinople_earthquake
1836:
The Toledo War, the mostly bloodless boundary dispute between Ohio and the adjoining Territory of Michigan, unofficially ended with a resolution passed by the controversial "Frostbitten Convention". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War
1913:
Haruna, the fourth and last ship of the Kongō-class, was launched, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during both World Wars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Haruna
1981:
The Knesset extended Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights, effectively annexing the territory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
1992:
War in Abkhazia: During the Siege of Tkvarcheli, a helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli was shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, which catalysed more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tkvarcheli
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
retroussé: Turned up, as in describing the nose. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/retrouss%C3%A9
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I say, life and figure are distinct attributes of one substance, and as one and the same body may be transmuted into all kinds of figures; and as the perfecter figure comprehends that which is more imperfect; so one and the same body may be transmuted from one degree of life to another more perfect, which always comprehends in it the inferior.… the case is the same in diverse degrees of life, which have indeed a beginning, but no end; so that the creature is always capable of a farther and perfecter degree of life, ad infinitum, and yet can never attain to be equal with God; for he is still infinitely more perfect than a creature, in its highest elevation or perfection, even as a globe is the most perfect of all other figures, unto which none can approach. --Anne Conway https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Conway