Aikido – O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba – Divine Techniques (1962-1969)

This is a very rare and old vid of O Sensei Morihei Uyeshiba, the founder of Aikido, filmed in his dojo with Terry Gibson, one of the first western Aikidoka to study directly under Osensei’s. At the later half of the clip are some of Osensei’s various demonstrations around Japan. You can really see, and feel, his extremely high level of technique: his movements are so fluid, his ki is so great, he barely needs to touch the ukes to throw them. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the rest of the vid to complete it. Still, if you’re serious about learning Aikido this is a must see. However, if you’re just a beginner and/or don’t know much about the art you won’t be able to understand it.Also included is a short clip (9:36) of Saito sensei showing how to really counter-attack (that means punches and strikes) and cause potentially serious damage with Aikido techniques. It isn’t as soft an art as you probably think it is.VHS rip, 33:42 divx.