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The Art of Peace (Shambhala Classics) Kindle Edition

by Morihei Ueshiba (Author), John Stevens (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition

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The inspirational teachings in this collection show that the real way of the warrior is based on compassion, wisdom, fearlessness, and love of nature. The teachings are drawn from the talks and writings of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the popular Japanese martial art of Aikido, a mind-body discipline he called the "Art of Peace," which offers a nonviolent way to victory in the face of conflict. Ueshiba believed that Aikido principles could be applied to all the challenges we face in life—in personal relationships, as we interact with society, and at work and in business.

This edition is a much-expanded version of the original miniature edition that appeared in the Shambhala Pocket Classics series. It features a wealth of new material, including a biography of Ueshiba; an essay by John Stevens thatpresents Ueshiba's views on "The Art of War versus the Art of Peace";newly translated doka,didactic"poems of the Way"; and Ueshiba's own calligraphies.

Print length

103 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Shambhala
Publication date

December 3, 2002
File size

1415 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This small, elegant book is filled with the wisdom and artistry of a great man. This collection of Morihei Ueshiba’s sayings and poetry resonates with deep meaning, making this a gem of a book. The book itself is of very high quality—compact and well-bound, with clear print and beautifully reproduced images of Ueshiba’s calligraphy. A CD of the book, read in a clear, calm voice, is also a very nice inclusion. It is an important collection for the reflective artist, and practically applicable to those intent on living a grounded, sensitive life.”—Journal of Asian Martial Arts

About the Author

Morihei Ueshiba (18831969) was the founder of Aikido. At age eighteen, Ueshiba joined the Japanese military, during which time he also developed his skills in the martial arts. He eventually left the military, deeply discouraged by the death and destruction that results from combat. Ueshiba continued to experiment with a variety of martial arts, finding particular joy in the spiritual aspects of martial arts. He came to believe that a real warrior was one who was rooted in love, and it was in this spirit that he began to develop Aikido, a martial art that emphasizes harmony and the peaceful resolution of conflict.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004QWZDTQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Shambhala (December 3, 2002)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 3, 2002
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1415 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 103 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #393,955 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #188 in Martial Arts (Kindle Store)
- #251 in Eastern Philosophy (Kindle Store)
- #888 in Martial Arts (Books)

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3,311

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Morihei Ueshiba
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Morihei Ueshiba (植芝盛平 Ueshiba Morihei?, December 14, 1883 – April 26, 1969) was a martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" Kaiso (開祖) or Ōsensei (大先生/翁先生), "Great Teacher".
The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Ueshiba studied a number of martial arts in his youth, and served in the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War. After being discharged in 1907, he moved to Hokkaidō as the head of a pioneer settlement; here he met and studied with Takeda Sokaku, the founder of Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu. On leaving Hokkaido in 1919, Ueshiba joined the Ōmoto-kyō movement, a Shinto sect, in Ayabe, where he served as a martial arts instructor and opened his first dojo. He accompanied the head of the Ōmoto-kyō group, Onisaburo Deguchi, on an expedition to Mongolia in 1924, where they were captured by Chinese troops and returned to Japan. The following year, he experienced a great spiritual enlightenment, stating that, "a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one." After this experience, his martial arts skill appeared to be greatly increased.
Ueshiba moved to Tokyo in 1926, where he set up the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. In the aftermath of World War II the dojo was closed, but Ueshiba continued training at another dojo he had set up in Iwama. From the end of the war until the 1960s, he worked to promote aikido throughout Japan and abroad. He died from liver cancer in 1969.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by unknown [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
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John Stevens
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John Stevens lived in Japan for thirty-five years, where he was a professor of Buddhist studies at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai. Stevens is a widely respected translator, an ordained Buddhist priest, a curator of several major exhibitions of Zen art, and an aikido instructor. He has authored more than thirty books and is one of the foremost Western experts on aikido, holding a ranking of 7th dan Aikikai. Stevens has also studied calligraphy for decades, authoring the classic Sacred Calligraphy of the East.
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stay at home dad

Well done!!

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024

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Well made and easy to read. Love the bold font.
Mine came with a CD. Great for the DoJo, to read with the fellow students, before and after class. Not as easy to loose as a small one. Looks good on the Shoman. Easier for large hands to use.

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Bernie Gourley

The philosophy and short biography of a great martial arts master

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2015

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The edition of “The Art of Peace” that I read is divided into three parts. Part I is a brief biography of Morihei Ueshiba, who was known as Ō-sensei to Aikidō practitioners and other admirers. Part II contrasts the art of war to Ueshiba’s art of peace. Part III is a collection of aphorisms and brief statements outlining the art of peace.

Ueshiba is the founder of Aikidō, a martial art that was derived in part from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, but which is distinct from that art in many ways. (e.g. the lack of set forms and emphasis on randori.) Along with Jigorō Kanō, Gichin Funakoshi, and a few others, Ueshiba is one of the pioneers of gendai budō, modern Japanese martial arts that take as their primary aim non-bellicose objectives like sport and self-defense. This is in contrast to the koryū budō (kobudō) which evolved primarily for war fighting. In contrast to Kanō’s Judō, which was first and foremost a competitive sport, Ueshiba’s Aikidō offered a particular approach to self-defense that was purely defensive and in which movement was harmonized to the opponent’s actions so as to perpetrate the least violence possible.

The biographic portion of the book is intriguing, but on a few occasions drifts from biography to hagiography. I feel that the suggestion of supernatural abilities does a disservice in the telling of Ueshiba’s story. By all accounts, Ueshiba was an accomplished and highly skilled martial artist, and I would like to read a full biography of his life (a biography exists, but I can’t comment on how well written it is yet.) Given Ueshiba’s pacifistic views, it would be easy to dismiss him as a pie-in-the-sky idealist who had no idea of the realities of the world. I don’t believe that is the case. However, when the biography tells stories of god-like superpowers, it makes it hard to take the man seriously as a martial artist. Either Ueshiba was skilled as an illusionist / mentalist (a distinct possibility) or some of the stories were embellished to deify the man. The story that comes to mind is one in which Ueshiba voluntarily faced a firing squad and emerged unharmed due to either ninja-like or Hollywood vampire movie style actions. This story is attributed to one of his students, Gozo Shioda, who passed away in the 1990’s.

We may get an indication of the roots of this appeal to the supernatural in an early statement about Ueshiba’s childhood fascination with individuals like En no Gyoja and Kukai who are themselves attributed supernatural abilities in stories. Ueshiba is clearly a man of faith. He suggests life should be lived on basis of 70 percent faith and 30 percent science. Full disclosure: I’m more skeptical than Descartes, and obviously favor an outlook more firmly rooted in science and rationality.

Part two includes extensive quotes from Ueshiba himself. It contrasts the arts of war with Aikidō in mental and physical aspects. A core theme of the book is that the martial arts shouldn’t be about learning to die, but rather learning to live. Ueshiba criticizes the past Shoguns who used the art of war to control people. Ueshiba’s views on the purpose of martial arts are stated in this part. From a physical point of view, Ueshiba emphasizes the lack of forms in Aikidō (Bruce Lee echoed similar sentiments on this subject.) There is an interesting comparison of Ueshiba to swordsman and Zen master Tesshu Yamaoka (about whom John Stevens also wrote a biography.)

Part three reads like the work of an ancient yogi in places, and, in other places, offers the stern admonitions to train hard that one would expect from a martial arts teacher. A recurring theme is that the martial artist should purge himself of pettiness, be it in the form of being judgmental, materialistic, fearful, selfish, or malicious. He goes as far as to say, “Be grateful even for hardship, setbacks, and bad people.”

Another theme is that one should strive to be natural and to make one’s movement natural. Ueshiba’s advice in this book is about virtue and the mind, and rarely strays into the subject of physical tactics. It does offer a little advice about types of distancing, where one should place one’s gaze, the power of circular movement, as well as discussing technique in the abstract. This is not a criticism. There are other books to learn more about physical technique. However, one should be aware that if one would like to know what Aikidō looks like, this isn’t the book for you.

This thin book provided me with a great deal to think about. I’d recommend it for martial artists, as well as for those interested in the life of this extraordinary man.

13 people found this helpful

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SolveForce

Timeless Wisdom

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2023

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This book exemplifies and embodies timeless teachings that take shape and speak to the reader in their own language. The Art of Peace is a fantastic read for all ages!

One person found this helpful

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Christopher H

Not What I Was Expecting, But Not Bad

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2015

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Like so many others I ordered this book because it was featured on The Walking Dead and with it being only a few dollars I decided it was worth buying. It wasn't exactly what I expected but was a good read nonetheless. I don't exactly see how Morgan could get his all life is precious philosophy from only reading this book but it does have a few philosophical phrases that I guess could be interpreted as such. This book is VERY short (I read the whole thing in under an hour) and is basically a collection of quotes and phrases from Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, and arranged by a student - John Stevens. Many of the pages are only a couple sentences long and some pages are just of Japanese Kanji with the English translations. About 50% of it has to do specifically with Aikido and the other 50% has to do more with just life in genereal. All in all really not a bad book, it just wasn't what I expected. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who studies Aikido (I personally haven't, but as a martial artist I do know quite a bit about the art and am fascinated by it) or to anyone who enjoys short little poems about life. Actually, I think most people would benefit from reading this book because I'm sure almost everyone could relate to at least one quote in it. I may check out some of the other books by John Stevens as this has gotten me more interested in the art.

25 people found this helpful

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Ashley S

Easy read

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2024

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Very easy read read in about an hour a lot of great advice

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2023

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Got this for my gf. She loves it.

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John

Peace, we need more of this...

Reviewed in Canada on September 27, 2022

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Very inspiring...

Dawn Horan

A wise little book of advice

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2023

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A wonderful book, highly recommend to anybody looking for a better approach to a world that seems to be greatly missing peace.

2 people found this helpful

Adailton

Incrível

Reviewed in Brazil on March 13, 2020

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Simplemente Incrível, a melhor leitura deste ano. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

One person found this helpful

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M.H.E.

kleines Buch von Morihei Ueshiba

Reviewed in Germany on December 7, 2020

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Lesen und nachdenken. Für mich ist es ein Buch zum Nachdenken. Es sind oft kleine Texte die einem zum Denken einladen. Immer einen friedvollen Weg zu finden, in jeder Situation unseres Alltags erscheint uns oft nicht einfach oder wir realisieren unsere Aggresivität nicht immer. Mir helfen diese Texte auch mich selbst zu reflektieren.
Von daher kann ich das Buch nur empfehlen. (Hier möchte ich noch vermerken, ich betreibe keine Kampfkunst im eigentlichen Sinn und betrachte es daher als von einem philosophischen Ansatz als wichtig. Auch Worte/Gesten/Mimiken sind Waffen und wir sollten behutsam damit umgehen.

Just my 2 cents

3 people found this helpful

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YONJO

El arte de la paz

Reviewed in Spain on November 4, 2020

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Libro de citas sobre situaciones hostiles de vida muy interesantes. Ayuda a reflexionar y proporciona otro punto de vista en situaciones de enfrentamientos con otras personas. Da paz y calma a la mente.

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