From an early age Ueshiba sensei studied  religion and also through the encouragement of his parents studied  Kito Ryu Jujutsu and also studied various other arts such as Yagyu-Ryu, Aioi-Ryu, Hozoin-Ryu and Shinkage Ryu (sword). In 1912 he moved to the island of Hokkaido and this is where he met  Sokaku Takeda and became a student of his for the next 7 years. It must be stated that Ueshiba Sensei  studied under Sokaku Takeda  at the peak of his abilities, meaning it would have been a very tough apprenticeship.

In 1922 Ueshiba Sensei at 39 years old was given the position of “Kyoju Dairi” meaning mastery of the majority of Daito Ryu techniques. 118 basic, 80 Aikijujutsu  okugi, 66 hiden okugi and 84 goshin techniques. Only two others received higher honours. These being Yukiyoshi Sagawa and Takuma Hisa.

O’Sensei began to slowly move away from Daitō-Ryū AikiJjūjutsu  in the late 1920s in part possibly due to his involvement with the Ōmoto-kyōreligion. Their headquarters in Ayabe were raided by government agents in 1921 & in 1935. In 1922 he was a certified as a fully-fledged   Daitō-Ryū Aiki-Jūjutsu instructor.

Aikido is performed by blending with the force and motion of the attacker and, taking them to the point of imbalance and then redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it. Thus in essence using their force and power against them.

Aikido also has some elements similar to that of Honti Yoshinryu and that of Tai Chi. Some would argue against this, but again it is well documented that O’Sensei was imprisoned in China for some time prior to the war and learn’t the combative art of Tai Chi whilst incarcerated there. 

By 1938 O’Sensei had  emerged as a senior Budo  instructor of Japan. It may have just been a coincidence as previously stated that around 1942 when Ueshiba Sensei changed and settled on the name of his dojo because he had not really settled on a name until that point. The name Aikido was first registered in 1942 at the Japan Butokukai the main martial arts authority in Japan at that time. Ueshiba Sensei’s students in those early days were Gozo Shioda, Minoru Hirai, Kenji Tomiki, and Minoru Mochizuki.  This may spread some light as to why Gozo Shioda’s Yoshinkan style is effective and remained somewhat true to these early teachings in “jigoku dojo” i.e. “hell dojo”. 

In 1942 Ueshiba Sensei moved to Iwama in the prefecture of Ibaragi.