Morihiro Ueshiba, Morihei’s Forgotten Successor

No, it is not a typo: we didn’t mix Morihiro Saito and Morihei Ueshiba. In 1932 Kiyoshi Nakakura married Matsuka Ueshiba, daughter of the founder of Aikido, and was legally adopted by Morihei into the Ueshiba family as Morihei Ueshiba, thus becoming his officially designated successor.
For quality Budo books visit:
therannetwork.com
Ueshiba had started having thoughts about the future of his life work and wanted to find an heir that could be groomed as his successor in Aikibudo. Hatsu had given him a daughter, Matsuko and Ueshiba considered arranging for her a suitable husband that could also continue the family martial tradition. It has to be understood that this was common practice at a time when parents picked a marriage candidate based on elements other than personal feelings.
Potential candidates for Matsuko were all prominent personalities of the Budo society, starting from Ueshiba’s own foremost students. Eventually, Ueshiba picked Nakakura, who had gone from victory to victory, climbing to the top of Japanese Kendo. Interestingly, Morihei picked his successor in the person of a kendoka that had no Aikibudo or any koryu jujutsu background.
Full text: simonechierchini.com/2020/06/...
Testo in Italiano: simonechierchini.com/2020/06/0...
Subscribe to The Ran Network's channel: / @therannetwork

[@alastairfraser8177]

Fascinating documentary

[@JustMe-vz3wd]

An irrelevant person in the whole larger story. and "adoption" in that era in Japan is completely different from our western notion of "adoption". Admiral Takeshita similarly was "adopted".