Seiseki Abe Sensei is one of Japan's foremost masters of calligraphy and Aikido. He began his study of Japanese calligraphy (Shodo) in 1934, when he was just 19 years old. Abe Sensei was introduced to calligraphy by his father, who had taught it as an elementary school teacher. This experience in Shodo would contribute greatly to his later Aikido study, as Abe Sensei expressed in a 1991 interview, "Even now I have very vivid memories of my father's breathing method as he taught calligraphy. I felt my father's way of breathing and it made a very strong impression on me - not just the writing of the letters, but the breathing power along with the writing of the characters."
Abe Sensei met the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, in 1952. By this point, Ueshiba, known as O-Sensei, was already renowned as one of Japan's most gifted martial artists. Abe Sensei noticed that the breathing method O-Sensei had mastered through Aikido was similar to the method of breathing used in Shodo. Excited by this connection between two seemingly different arts, he immediately began studying Aikido.
For the last ten or so years of his life, O-Sensei spent one third of every month living at Abe Sensei's home and teaching at the dojo Abe Sensei had built for him there. O-Sensei also recognized the connection between Aikido and calligraphy, so he began his own study of calligraphy under the direction of Abe Sensei. This close exchange, extremely rare within the strict Japanese code between master and student, gave Abe Sensei the opportunity to learn the inner-most aspects of Aikido directly from the founder of the art. After years of training and living with him, O-Sensei promoted Abe Sensei to the highest rank in Aikido, that of 10th degree black belt.
