Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido [Hardcover]

Morihei Ueshiba (Author), John Stevens (Translator), Kisshomaru Ueshiba (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1991

Budo Techniques of Aikido by the founder of Aikido Morihei Ueshiba is where it all starts. 132 pages filled with technical, historical and philosophical information this book is an absolute must have for anyone interested in the art of Aikido.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A wonderful and refreshing look at the philosophical teachings of the Martial Arts. --Risingsunproductions.net

A wonderful book and a must have for any collector. --Fightingspirit.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc; 1st edition (July 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770015321
• ISBN-13: 978-4770015327
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Technically interesting, but not for the beginner, January 24, 2003

By 

Frank E. James (Kingston, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Budo Teachings of the Founder of Aikido Ueshiba (Best Karate) (Paperback)

This is a technically interesting book, with good, interesting pictures of Ueshiba's technique. The pictures are all black and white, and are all of the middle years of Ueshiba's life. Academically, this is a fairly interesting book, with a short, concise history of Ueshiba's life in the preface. It also contains some relatively rare poetry and literary instruction coupled with helpful discourse on it by the translator, John Stevens, which serves to clarify some rather mystifying esoteric principles. In terms of technique, there is a lot covered here, with good photographs of generally about two or three instances of each technique.
As i said in the title, however, this book is probably not the best for beginners: in my opinion, it's explanations of aikido philosophy and technique are overly esoteric, and can be, at times, rather overwhelming. For beginners, i would recomend "aikido and the harmony of nature" by Mitsugi Saotome, which provides a simple, easily understandable, if slightly lengthy overview on the philosophies of aikido. Technique is for learning from a master, not a book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aikido's Founder in his own words and pictures!, January 24, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Bellevue, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Budo Teachings of the Founder of Aikido Ueshiba (Best Karate) (Paperback)

Another important book for anyone interested in understanding O-Sensei's Aikido. Often we find people who express deeply held opinions on what the Founder said or believed based entirely on second and third hand information. This book contains the words of O-Sensei himself along with copious pictures of the founder doing technique. Dating from the 1930's these words and pictures come from a time in which O-Sensei's Enlightenment experience had reshaped his vision of Budo. At the same time at the age of around fifty years old he was still at the peak of his physical powers so the Aikido of this time illustrates the balance between the martial and the spiritual elements of Aikido more than at any other time in its history.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An historical resource for the commited aikidoist., December 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Budo Teachings of the Founder of Aikido Ueshiba (Best Karate) (Paperback)

This book is valuable to the serious student of aikido in that a series of photographs during a short segment of O-Sensei's (Morihei Ueshiba's) life and practise of aikido can be analyzed. This pictures though were for a specific purpose and I think one or two of the sequences are not correctly replaced from the original work to which they belonged. For those in the aikido community who fuss over at which stage of Ueshiba's practise had the most to offer the modern aikidoist, this book only could stir up the debate. This is not a book that comes off my shelf often to look at exercises to practise, but I appreciate it in my academic approach to the art. Non-the-less, the book belongs in any library on aikido.