Budo Dojo Bookstore

If you're looking for great books on aikido check out the recommended reading list below.  These reviews uniquely reflect my opinions and will likely differ widely from the opinions of many other respectable aikidoka.

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The book is broken down into 3 parts.  Part I - Life and Times Of Morihei Ueshibe, Part II - Creation of Aikido, and Part III - The Marvelous Techniques of Morihei Ueshiba.  The 3rd section, my favorite, is almost entirely photos and contains some fabulous shots of his techniques, mostly in pre-war style.

This book is recommended to anyone who is interested in having a more complete understanding of Morihei Ueshiba and the Aikido that he created.

  Budo - Teachings of the Founder of Aikido, By Morihei Ueshiba.  Part I of this book is a brief biography of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshib, written by his son, Kisshomaru Ueshiba. 
Part II is actually entitled BUDO by Morihei Ueshiba, and contains a forward by the translator, John Stevens.  This section was published and privately circulated around 1938, when Morihei was 55 years old.  It's the only instruction manual that Morihei actually posed for photos for the purpose of compiling an aikido book, unlike Budo Renshu which had been published 5 years earlier but contain only illustrative drawings.  It's interesting to see the techniques he selected to demonstrate in this section, presumably kihon waza; ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo, yonkyo, shihonage, kotegaeshi, and kokyu tanden ho, all done with a hint of old style.  The terms uke & tori are used rather than uke & nage.  The pictures are grainy and it's difficult to make out the finer details. 

Part III is really a collection of scrapbook photos from Noma dojo, photographed in 1936.  These pictures are a little sharper than those in Part II so they provide a little more clarity.  What I found most interesting in these photos was the wide variety of pinning variations he used.  This section was most interesting to me.  Thumbing through this section leaves you with the feeling of wandering through a thrift store looking for small treasures, antiquities and curiosities.  This book would be recommended to someone who's been training for many years and is looking for fresh perspective.  Studying this book would probably be a bad idea for anyone not well-versed in modern aikido basics techniques as it would only lead to confusion.

The book includes many wildly imaginative drawings by Saotome Sensei, illustrated to articulate his ideas of a unified theory of Aikido, nature, and society.  Much of the book is philosophic and some of it is esoteric.  It is not light reading.  If you're looking for a How-to book on aikido... this is not it. 

I know when I first read this book, early in my training, I was disappointed.  It wasn't what I was looking for in my youthful search for technical excellence in aikido.  Years later, my aikido palette has matured and I find the book more engrossing, more inspiring... and still surprising.  Here's an interesting endorsement for what it's worth...  I've spent more time rereading this book in the last 5 year than I did the first 15 years I owned it.




  Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere.  Some people find this 1970 classic, by A. Westbrook and O. Ratti, annoying because of it's detailed codification of aikido, exemplified by the centerfold insert, a fold-out row-column matrix of attacks and defenses. That school of thought says that aikido should not be so easily contained, cataloged and categorized.  However, I think most people cherish this classic of aikido for exactly these reasons.

It talks about the theories of aikido in a very western context, attempting to essentially wrap up the proverbial question what is aikido with a neat little ribbon, almost to the point of naiveté, but in a way, very satisfying to the western novice reader.  One small annoyance about this book is the distinct lack of Japanese terminology.  It breaks aikido into a specific number of projections (throws) and neutralizations (pins), and proceeds to arbitrarily assign a number to each technique rather than using the common names like kotegaishi or shihonage.

The drawings by Oscar Rotti are now rightfully famous (and somewhat ubiquitous) but they haven't lost their charm.  The illustrations, alone, are worth the price of the book.  I still find them enchanting.  The minor criticisms not withstanding, this was one of the first aikido books I bought and it's still one of my favorites.  I recommend it highly as an introduction to aikido for all novices.

Principles of Aikido by Mitsugi Saotome. This is Saotome's 2nd book, published in 1989.  It provides considerably less philosophical pontification than his first book, Aikido and the Harmony of Nature, but rather focuses directly on the subject of sword as it relates aikido. It is often said that the techniques of aikido are, in fact, sword techniques without the sword. Saotome demonstrates this relationship with very clear and well illustrated examples.

His discussions provide insight to empty hand technique from the perspective of the sword as well as providing insight to the sword from the perspective of empty hand technique.  Whether it's weapons technique or empty hand technique you're interested in, this book is guaranteed to make you see the techniques of aikido in a new light.

My favorite chapters include; "Musubi", where he discusses the importance of musubi in aikido practice how to create musubi.... "Ukemi", and it's role in aikido.  Sensei explains why taking ukemi is so much more than simply falling down while waiting for your turn to practice throwing...  "Hakama and it's Meaning", where he describes the history of the hakama as traditional samurai clothing, it's historical and philosophical relationship with the practice of budo and an amusing anecdote recounting O' Sensei demanding to know why Saotome was practicing in his pajamas.

Training With the Master. John Stevens is given credit for this book but it's Walther V. Krenner, the photographer, who deserves most of the credit for this work of art.  If a picture tells a thousand words then this books is a masterpiece that can't be improved with mere words.

I absolutely love this book.  It's all about the wonderful snapshots of O' Sensei and his uchideshi, training in the old Hombu dojo.  The collection of 157 photographs have a magic quality about them that really brings O' Sensei to life and makes you feel as though you were there in the day.  Seeing him in these pictures, demonstrating the daily exercises, postures, pins and techniques, explaining the mysteries of the universe, the book gives you a feeling of eavesdropping during an intimate class of Sensei and his favorite students.  Each and every picture has so much to say.  In many photos the looks on the faces of the students tells more of a story than what Sensei is actually doing.

This is a book that can be enjoyed by both the novice and advanced students of aikido alike.  This is neither a treatise on aikido philosophy nor is it a technical how-to book.  Rather it's a day-in-the-life style photo album of aikido nostalgia that anyone with an interest in the early days of aikido can enjoy.



Budo Training in Aikido, by Morihei Ueshiba.  This book was written by the founder in 1933 and beautifully illustrated by a female student of his named Takako Kunigoshi.  It was originally published as Budo Renshu, meaning a mokuroku or catalog of budo techniques.  It was essentially O' Sensei's version of a Daito Ryu Jujitsu scroll of transmission.  It wasn't sold at the dojo, rather it was given selectively to his top students.  Students who received a copy of this book would leave money on the dojo alter by way of thanks.

The book contains 38 of Sensei's poems (doka) on Budo and 166 illustrated techniques.  The reader should be warned that this does not look like modern aikido as practiced at Hombu dojo today.  This is pre-war Ueshiba Budo which is essentially Daito Ryu.  The book, while historically very significant, will not appeal to a very wide audience.  Beginners will generally be looking for something a little more palatable and digestible that they can sink their teeth into.  Senior instructors will commonly say that this does not look anything like the aikido that they've been practicing for the last 30 years.  Both perspectives, in my opinion, miss the mark.  There are hidden gems in this manual for the student who is willing to open his eyes and see.  But only a mature and experienced student of aikido will be prepared to wrap their fingers around the buried treasure within.




The Essence of Aikido, by Morihei Ueshiba, edited by John Stevens.  This book is a compilation of the writings of O' Sensei that focuses on the cosmology of O' Sensei's Aikido, which is derived from Omoto-kyo mysticism and the ancient Shinto texts like the Kojiki.  He discusses the meanings of the aikido symbols, triangle, circle, square... the mystical kotodama, vibrations of the universe... mosogi, spirtual purification...  chinkon kishin, the secret shinto ascetic practices of calming the spirit and returning to the divine.

Many of these older spirtitual and meditative aikido practices have been lost, forgotten, or simply discarded in modern times.  They rarely appear in the aikido dojo (even Hombu dojo) in the form of practice or discussion.  This is one of the few books that disects and analyses O' Sensei's old spiritual aikido practices.

Kind Regards,
Dan Penrod (Dojo Cho - Budo Dojo)