Iwama was like O-Sensei’s laboratory. One thing I remember about that time is [Morihiro] Saito Sensei’s dedicated service to O-Sensei. Saito Sensei and his entire family went through a great deal in serving O-Sensei. When I think about it now I have to bow my head in respect to them.

— · EnglishAikido Journal

about Morihiro Saito, Iwama, Morihei Ueshiba

— Kazuo Chiba

Masakatsu means true victory over the fate that has been given you, to unerringly resolve your destiny and carry out your God-given mission in life.
Even when we set out to do this correctly, a person’s heart can change in various ways.
We might be swayed by another person’s enticement, which may lead us in a bad direction.
Agatsu is to defeat the bad, to correctly triumph over the fate that has been given you.

— · English

— Michio Hikitsuchi

The quickness we talk about in Aikido is beyond that of seizing the initiative.
In Aikido, we call it katsuhayabi, a speed that transcends space and time.
At the moment the other person stands up, I have already absorbed his entire ki into myself.
The Founder O-Sensei said that in Aikido one must be able to absorb, to sense the entirety of the other person’s being, from the top of their head to the tips of their toes, in the instant he stands up.
It is so fast that when the other person thinks of striking, he finds himself already struck. At the instant he thinks of defeating me, he is already defeated.
That’s what quickness means in Aikido. And that is why matches are forbidden.
There are no rules in Aikido. Aikido is not a sport. Aikido is budo.

— · English

— Michio Hikitsuchi

I meditated on Ō-sensei's spirit for three days and three nights and I felt it was his wish that I should go. This country is a great experiment, a melting pot of people from many different cultural backgrounds living together, the world condensed into one nation. The goal of aikido and Ō-sensei's dream is that all the peoples of the world live together as one family, in harmony with each other and with their environment. The United States has the opportunity to set a great example.

—

— Mitsugi Saotome