As Morihei Ueshiba was lying on his deathbed, someone asked him if this was the end of the world.
"This is the end of the world," he said.
"What goal did you pursue?"
"The way of heaven. To look young forever, to have eternal youth."
"Is this possible?"
"I don't know. They say no."
"This is what they call the natural way. What is the natural way in the Way of the Divinity?"
"To be immortal, to be eternal."
"How do you accomplish this? By being a God?"
"That way is narrow, and troublesome," he said. "Faster and easier to have eternal youth by understanding nature. That's the natural way of the Divinity."
Morihei Ueshiba was a native of Sakamoto, Kyoto. He was born as Nagayama Kanjun. His father's name was Namiki; his mother's name was Shigemudate. Mr. Nagayama was an ordinary tradesman.
Every year on the second day of the seventh month, the Nagayama family would celebrate the birth of an Asakusa doll. Grandfather and grandmother, and all relatives would come to the son's home, and give him a doll.
When did Mr. Ueshiba discover the Way of the Divinity?
If we can believe the Kodokan, the discovery came when he was a boy of twelve, when he saw a butterfly. And this is how it happened:
One hot day, the boy Kanjun left with his mother and some other women of the neighborhood to find a cool spot under the heavens. They went to the shrines of Inari Sanno, at the foot of the Gojo Avenue, crossing over the canal.
When Kanjun was near the shrine, he saw a butterfly. It was blue; its wings were very golden. He peered very closely at this yellow and blue butterfly. Strangely, the moment he looked at the butterfly, it flew away. The butterfly went by the shrine, and he saw a person there, who looked like a woman. The butterfly went by, the person went after it.
That was the end of Kanjun's search for the cool atmosphere, of the Inari Sanno.
"Kanjun, is this the end of the world? What's the goal of the world?"
This is how the boy understood what he saw in the butterfly. "Is eternal youth the way of the world to look young?" he asked.
He had found what he wanted.
He used slips of paper from a temple oracle and produced these 7 believabilities:
1. "If you shout the name of the Divinity, if you pronounce the name of the Divinity, you will become strong".
2. "If you ask for eternal youth, the Divinity will give you eternal youth."
3. "If you take a protein drink before a bout, you will be able to prolong the bout and win by technique."
4. "When you become old, it is because your body has a fault. With massage, you can overcome the faults."
5. "You will become a God by reaching the summit of Mt. Tengen."
6. You will be born as a God and you will die as a God."
7. "If you believe in God, you will thrive."
"Of these seven, is there one I should pursue?"
Mr. Ueshiba tried the first. He tried to shout the name of the Divinity and he tried to speak it. As his teacher had said, he felt he became strong beyond his expectations.