title
stringlengths 1
186
| sub_title
stringlengths 0
459
| contents
stringlengths 1
16.2k
| id
stringlengths 6
13
|
|---|---|---|---|
Meditation | Clinical applications | Low-quality evidence indicates that meditation may help with irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, cognitive decline in the elderly, and post-traumatic stress disorder. | wiki:25700201 |
Meditation | Meditation in the workplace | A 2010 review of the literature on spirituality and performance in organizations found an increase in corporate meditation programs. As of 2016 around a quarter of U.S. employers were using stress reduction initiatives. The goal was to help reduce stress and improve reactions to stress. Aetna now offers its program to its customers. Google also implements mindfulness, offering more than a dozen meditation courses, with the most prominent one, "Search Inside Yourself", having been implemented since 2007. General Mills offers the Mindful Leadership Program Series, a course which uses a combination of mindfulness meditation, yoga and dialogue with the intention of developing the mind's capacity to pay attention. | wiki:25700202 |
Meditation | Sound-based meditation | Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School conducted a series of clinical tests on meditators from various disciplines, including the Transcendental Meditation technique and Tibetan Buddhism. In 1975, Benson published a book titled "The Relaxation Response" where he outlined his own version of meditation for relaxation. Also in the 1970s, the American psychologist Patricia Carrington developed a similar technique called Clinically Standardized Meditation (CSM). In Norway, another sound-based method called Acem Meditation developed a psychology of meditation and has been the subject of several scientific studies. Biofeedback has been used by many researchers since the 1950s in an effort to enter deeper states of mind. | wiki:25700203 |
Meditation | From ancient times | The history of meditation is intimately bound up with the religious context within which it was practiced. Some authors have even suggested the hypothesis that the emergence of the capacity for focused attention, an element of many methods of meditation, may have contributed to the latest phases of human biological evolution. Some of the earliest references to meditation are found in the Hindu Vedas of India. Wilson translates the most famous Vedic mantra "Gayatri" as: "We meditate on that desirable light of the divine Savitri, who influences our pious rites" (Rigveda : Mandala-3, Sukta-62, Rcha-10). Around the 6th to 5th centuries BCE, other forms of meditation developed via Confucianism and Taoism in China as well as Hinduism, Jainism, and early Buddhism in India. | wiki:25700204 |
Meditation | From ancient times | In the Roman Empire, by 20 BCE Philo of Alexandria had written on some form of "spiritual exercises" involving attention (prosoche) and concentration and by the 3rd century Plotinus had developed meditative techniques. The Pāli Canon from the 1st century BCE considers Buddhist meditation as a step towards liberation. By the time Buddhism was spreading in China, the "Vimalakirti Sutra" which dates to 100 CE included a number of passages on meditation, clearly pointing to Zen (known as Chan in China, Thiền in Vietnam, and Seon in Korea). The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism introduced meditation to other Asian countries, and in 653 the first meditation hall was opened in Singapore. | wiki:25700205 |
Meditation | From ancient times | Returning from China around 1227, Dōgen wrote the instructions for zazen. | wiki:25700206 |
Meditation | Medieval | The Islamic practice of Dhikr had involved the repetition of the 99 Names of God since the 8th or 9th century. By the 12th century, the practice of Sufism included specific meditative techniques, and its followers practiced breathing controls and the repetition of holy words. Interactions with Indians or the Sufis may have influenced the Eastern Christian meditation approach to hesychasm, but this can not be proved. Between the 10th and 14th centuries, hesychasm was developed, particularly on Mount Athos in Greece, and involves the repetition of the Jesus prayer. Western Christian meditation contrasts with most other approaches in that it does not involve the repetition of any phrase or action and requires no specific posture. | wiki:25700207 |
Meditation | Medieval | Western Christian meditation progressed from the 6th century practice of Bible reading among Benedictine monks called Lectio Divina, i.e. divine reading. Its four formal steps as a "ladder" were defined by the monk Guigo II in the 12th century with the Latin terms "lectio", "meditatio", "oratio", and "contemplatio" (i.e. read, ponder, pray, contemplate). Western Christian meditation was further developed by saints such as Ignatius of Loyola and Teresa of Avila in the 16th century. | wiki:25700208 |
Meditation | Modern dissemination in the West | Meditation has spread in the West since the late 19th century, accompanying increased travel and communication among cultures worldwide. Most prominent has been the transmission of Asian-derived practices to the West. In addition, interest in some Western-based meditative practices has been revived, and these have been disseminated to a limited extent to Asian countries. Ideas about Eastern meditation had begun "seeping into American popular culture even before the American Revolution through the various sects of European occult Christianity", and such ideas "came pouring in [to America] during the era of the transcendentalists, especially between the 1840s and the 1880s." The following decades saw further spread of these ideas to America: More recently, in the 1960s, another surge in Western interest in meditative practices began. | wiki:25700209 |
Meditation | Modern dissemination in the West | The rise of communist political power in Asia led to many Asian spiritual teachers taking refuge in Western countries, oftentimes as refugees. In addition to spiritual forms of meditation, secular forms of meditation have taken root. Rather than focusing on spiritual growth, secular meditation emphasizes stress reduction, relaxation and self-improvement. | wiki:25700210 |
Meditation | Research | Research on the processes and effects of meditation is a subfield of neurological research. Modern scientific techniques, such as fMRI and EEG, were used to observe neurological responses during meditation. Concerns have been raised on the quality of meditation research, including the particular characteristics of individuals who tend to participate. Since the 1970s, clinical psychology and psychiatry have developed meditation techniques for numerous psychological conditions. Mindfulness practice is employed in psychology to alleviate mental and physical conditions, such as reducing depression, stress, and anxiety. Mindfulness is also used in the treatment of drug addiction, although the quality of research has been poor. | wiki:25700211 |
Meditation | Research | Studies demonstrate that meditation has a moderate effect to reduce pain. There is insufficient evidence for any effect of meditation on positive mood, attention, eating habits, sleep, or body weight. Moreover, a 2015 study, including subjective and objective reports and brain scans, has shown that meditation can improve controlling attention, as well as self-awareness. A 2017 systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of meditation on empathy, compassion, and prosocial behaviors found that meditation practices had small to medium effects on self-reported and observable outcomes, concluding that such practices can "improve positive prosocial emotions and behaviors". However, a meta-review published on Nature showed that the evidence is very weak and "that the effects of meditation on compassion were only significant when compared to passive control groups suggests that other forms of active interventions (like watching a nature video) might produce similar outcomes to meditation". | wiki:25700212 |
Meditation | Criticisms | The psychologist Thomas Joiner argues that modern mindfulness meditation has been "corrupted" for commercial gain by self-help celebrities, and suggests that it encourages unhealthy narcissistic and self-obsessed mindsets. | wiki:25700213 |
Meditation | Potential adverse effects | Meditation has been correlated with unpleasant experiences in some people. In one study, published in 2019, of 1,232 regular meditators with at least two months of meditation experience, about a quarter reported having had particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences (such as anxiety, fear, distorted emotions or thoughts, altered sense of self or the world), which they thought may have been caused by their meditation practice. Meditators with high levels of repetitive negative thinking and those who only engage in deconstructive meditation were more likely to report unpleasant side effects. Adverse effects were less frequently reported in women and religious meditators. Difficult experiences encountered in meditation are mentioned in traditional sources; and some may be considered to be just an expected part of the process: for example: seven stages of purification mentioned in Theravāda Buddhism, or possible “unwholesome or frightening visions” mentioned in a practical manual on vipassanā meditation. | wiki:25700214 |
Meditation | Meditation, religion and drugs | Many major traditions in which meditation is practiced, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, advise members not to consume intoxicants, while others, such as the Rastafarian movements and Native American Church, view drugs as integral to their religious lifestyle. The fifth of the five precepts of the Pancasila, the ethical code in the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, states that adherents must: "abstain from fermented and distilled beverages that cause heedlessness." On the other hand, the ingestion of psychoactives has been a central feature in the rituals of many religions, in order to produce altered states of consciousness. In several traditional shamanistic ceremonies, drugs are used as agents of ritual. | wiki:25700215 |
Meditation | Meditation, religion and drugs | In the Rastafari movement, cannabis is believed to be a gift from Jah and a sacred herb to be used regularly, while alcohol is considered to debase man. Native Americans use peyote, as part of religious ceremony, continuing today. | wiki:25700216 |
MPEG-4 | Introduction | MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual (AV) digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11) under the formal standard ISO/IEC 14496 – "Coding of audio-visual objects". Uses of MPEG-4 include compression of AV data for web (streaming media) and CD distribution, voice (telephone, videophone) and broadcast television applications. The MPEG-4 standard was developed by a group led by Touradj Ebrahimi (later the JPEG president) and Fernando Pereira. | wiki:25700217 |
MPEG-4 | Background | MPEG-4 absorbs many of the features of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 and other related standards, adding new features such as (extended) VRML support for 3D rendering, object-oriented composite files (including audio, video and VRML objects), support for externally specified Digital Rights Management and various types of interactivity. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) was standardized as an adjunct to MPEG-2 (as Part 7) before MPEG-4 was issued. MPEG-4 is still an evolving standard and is divided into a number of parts. Companies promoting MPEG-4 compatibility do not always clearly state which "part" level compatibility they are referring to. The key parts to be aware of are MPEG-4 Part 2 (including Advanced Simple Profile, used by codecs such as DivX, Xvid, Nero Digital and 3ivx and by QuickTime 6) and MPEG-4 part 10 (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 or Advanced Video Coding, used by the x264 encoder, Nero Digital AVC, QuickTime 7, and high-definition video media like Blu-ray Disc). | wiki:25700218 |
MPEG-4 | Background | Most of the features included in MPEG-4 are left to individual developers to decide whether or not to implement. This means that there are probably no complete implementations of the entire MPEG-4 set of standards. To deal with this, the standard includes the concept of "profiles" and "levels", allowing a specific set of capabilities to be defined in a manner appropriate for a subset of applications. | wiki:25700219 |
MPEG-4 | Overview | MPEG-4 provides a series of technologies for developers, for various service-providers and for end users: The MPEG-4 format can perform various functions, among which might be the following: | wiki:25700220 |
MPEG-4 | Profiles and Levels | MPEG-4 provides a large and rich set of tools for encoding. Subsets of the MPEG-4 tool sets have been provided for use in specific applications. These subsets, called 'Profiles', limit the size of the tool set a decoder is required to implement. In order to restrict computational complexity, one or more 'Levels' are set for each Profile. A Profile and Level combination allows: | wiki:25700221 |
MPEG-4 | MPEG-4 Parts | MPEG-4 consists of several standards—termed "parts"—including the following (each part covers a certain aspect of the whole specification): Profiles are also defined within the individual "parts", so an implementation of a part is ordinarily not an implementation of an entire part. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 are other suites of MPEG standards. | wiki:25700222 |
MPEG-4 | MPEG-4 Levels | The low profile levels are part of the MPEG-4 video encoding/decoding constraints and are compatible with the older ITU H.261 standard, also compatible with former analog TV standards for broadcast and records (such as NTSC or PAL video). The ASP profile in its highest level is suitable for most usual DVD medias and players or for many online video sites, but not for Blu-ray records or online HD video contents. More advanced profiles for HD media have been defined later in the AVC profile, which is functionally identical to the ITU H.264 standard but are now also integrated in MPEG-4 Part 10 (see H.264/MPEG-4 AVC for the list of defined levels in this AVC profile). | wiki:25700223 |
MPEG-4 | Licensing | MPEG-4 contains patented technologies, the use of which requires licensing in countries that acknowledge software algorithm patents. Over two dozen companies claim to have patents covering MPEG-4. MPEG LA licenses patents required for MPEG-4 Part 2 Visual from a wide range of companies (audio is licensed separately) and lists all of its licensors and licensees on the site. New licenses for MPEG-4 System patents are under development and no new licenses are being offered while holders of its old MPEG-4 Systems license are still covered under the terms of that license for the patents listed (MPEG LA – Patent List). | wiki:25700224 |
MPEG-4 | Licensing | The majority of patents used for the MPEG-4 Visual format are held by three Japanese companies: Mitsubishi Electric (255 patents), Hitachi (206 patents), and Panasonic (200 patents). | wiki:25700225 |
Maritime archaeology | Introduction | Maritime archaeology (also known as marine archaeology) is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains, be they vessels, shore-side facilities, port-related structures, cargoes, human remains and submerged landscapes. A specialty within maritime archaeology is nautical archaeology, which studies ship construction and use. As with archaeology as a whole, maritime archaeology can be practised within the historical, industrial, or prehistoric periods. An associated discipline, and again one that lies within archaeology itself, is underwater archaeology, which studies the past through any submerged remains be they of maritime interest or not. | wiki:25700226 |
Maritime archaeology | Introduction | An example from the prehistoric era would be the remains of submerged settlements or deposits now lying under water despite having been dry land when sea levels were lower. The study of submerged aircraft lost in lakes, rivers or in the sea is an example from the historical, industrial or modern era. Many specialist sub-disciplines within the broader maritime and underwater archaeological categories have emerged in recent years. Maritime archaeological sites often result from shipwrecks or sometimes seismic activity, and thus represent a moment in time rather than a slow deposition of material accumulated over a period of years, as is the case with port-related structures (such as piers, wharves, docks and jetties) where objects are lost or thrown off structures over extended periods of time. | wiki:25700227 |
Maritime archaeology | Introduction | This fact has led to shipwrecks often being described in the media and in popular accounts as 'time capsules'. | wiki:25700228 |
Maritime archaeology | Integrating land and sea | Before the industrial era, travel by water was often easier than over land. As a result, marine channels, navigable rivers and sea crossings formed the trade routes of historic and ancient civilisations. For example, the Mediterranean Sea was known to the Romans as the inner sea because the Roman empire spread around its coasts. The historic record as well as the remains of harbours, ships and cargoes, testify to the volume of trade that crossed it. Later, nations with a strong maritime culture such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and Spain were able to establish colonies on other continents. | wiki:25700229 |
Maritime archaeology | Integrating land and sea | Wars were fought at sea over the control of important resources. The material cultural remains that are discovered by maritime archaeologists along former trade routes can be combined with historical documents and material cultural remains found on land to understand the economic, social and political environment of the past. Of late maritime archaeologists have been examining the submerged cultural remains of China, India, Korea and other Asian nations. | wiki:25700230 |
Maritime archaeology | Preservation of material underwater | There are significant differences in the survival of archaeological material depending on whether a site is wet or dry, on the nature of the chemical environment, on the presence of biological organisms and on the dynamic forces present. Thus rocky coastlines, especially in shallow water, are typically inimical to the survival of artifacts, which can be dispersed, smashed or ground by the effect of currents and surf, possibly (but not always) leaving an artifact pattern but little if any wreck structure. Saltwater is particularly inimical to iron artefacts including metal shipwrecks, and sea organisms will readily consume organic material such as wooden shipwrecks. | wiki:25700231 |
Maritime archaeology | Preservation of material underwater | On the other hand, out of all the thousands of potential archaeological sites destroyed or grossly eroded by such natural processes, occasionally sites survive with exceptional preservation of a related collection of artifacts. An example of such a collection is . Survival in this instance is largely due to the remains being buried in sediment Of the many examples where the sea bed provides an extremely hostile environment for submerged evidence of history, one of the most notable, , though a relatively young wreck and in deep water so calcium-starved that concretion does not occur, appears strong and relatively intact, though indications are that it has already incurred irreversible degradation of her steel and iron hull. | wiki:25700232 |
Maritime archaeology | Preservation of material underwater | As such degradation inevitably continues, data will be forever lost, objects' context will be destroyed and the bulk of the wreck will over centuries completely deteriorate on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Comparative evidence shows that all iron and steel ships, especially those in a highly oxygenated environment, continue to degrade and will continue to do so until only their engines and other machinery project much above the sea-floor. Where it remains even after the passage of time, the iron or steel hull is often fragile with no remaining metal within the layer of concretion and corrosion products. , having been found in the 1970s, was subjected to a program of attempted "in situ" preservation, for example, but deterioration of the vessel progressed at such a rate that the rescue of her turret was undertaken lest nothing be saved from the wreck. | wiki:25700233 |
Maritime archaeology | Pre-historic landscapes | Maritime archaeology studies prehistorical objects and sites that are, because of changes in climate and geology, now underwater. Bodies of water, fresh and saline, have been important sources of food for people for as long as we have existed. It should be no surprise that ancient villages were located at the water's edge. Since the last ice age sea level has risen as much as . Therefore, a great deal of the record of human activity throughout the Ice Age is now to be found under water. | wiki:25700234 |
Maritime archaeology | Historic sites | Throughout history, seismic events have at times caused submergence of human settlements. The remains of such catastrophes exist all over the world, and sites such as Alexandria and Port Royal now form important archaeological sites. As with shipwrecks, archaeological research can follow multiple themes, including evidence of the final catastrophe, the structures and landscape before the catastrophe and the culture and economy of which it formed a part. Unlike the wrecking of a ship, the destruction of a town by a seismic event can take place over many years and there may be evidence for several phases of damage, sometimes with rebuilding in between. | wiki:25700235 |
Maritime archaeology | Coastal and foreshore | Not all maritime sites are underwater. There are many structures at the margin of land and water that provide evidence of the human societies of the past. Some are deliberately created for access - such as bridges and walkways. Other structures remain from exploitation of resources, such as dams and fish traps. Nautical remains include early harbours and places where ships were built or repaired. At the end of their life, ships were often beached. Valuable or easily accessed timber has often been salvaged leaving just a few frames and bottom planking. Archaeological sites can also be found on the foreshore today that would have been on dry land when they were constructed. | wiki:25700236 |
Maritime archaeology | Coastal and foreshore | An example of such a site is Seahenge, a Bronze Age timber circle. | wiki:25700237 |
Maritime archaeology | Ships and shipwrecks | The archaeology of shipwrecks can be divided into a three-tier hierarchy, of which the first tier considers the wrecking process itself: how does a ship break up, how does a ship sink to the bottom, and how do the remains of the ship, cargo and the surrounding environment evolve over time? The second tier studies the ship as a machine, both in itself and in a military or economic system. The third tier consists of the archaeology of maritime cultures, in which nautical technology, naval warfare, trade and shipboard societies are studied. Some consider this to be the most important tier. | wiki:25700238 |
Maritime archaeology | Ships and shipwrecks | Ships and boats are not necessarily wrecked: some are deliberately abandoned, scuttled or beached. Many such abandoned vessels have been extensively salvaged. | wiki:25700239 |
Maritime archaeology | Bronze Age | The earliest boats discovered date from the Bronze Age and are constructed of hollowed out logs or sewn planks. Vessels have been discovered where they have been preserved in sediments underwater or in waterlogged land sites, such as the discovery of a canoe near St Botolphs. Examples of sewn-plank boats include those found at North Ferriby and the Dover Bronze Age Boat which is now displayed at Dover Museum. These may be an evolution from boats made of sewn hides, but it is highly unlikely that hide boats could have survived. Ships wrecked in the sea have probably not survived, although remains of cargo (particularly bronze material) have been discovered, such as those at the Salcombe B site. | wiki:25700240 |
Maritime archaeology | Bronze Age | A close collection of artefacts on the sea bed may imply that artefacts were from a ship, even if there are no remains of the actual vessel. Late Bronze Age ships, such as the Uluburun Shipwreck have been discovered in the Mediterranean, constructed of edge joined planks. This shipbuilding technology continued through the classical period. | wiki:25700241 |
Maritime archaeology | Mediterranean area | In the Mediterranean area, maritime archaeologists have investigated several ancient cultures. Notable early Iron Age shipwrecks include two Phoenician ships of c. 750 BC that foundered off Gaza with cargoes of wine in amphoras. The crew of the U.S. Navy deep submergence research submarine NR-1 discovered the sites in 1997. In 1999 a team led by Robert Ballard and Harvard University archaeology Professor Lawrence Stager investigated the wrecks. Extensive research has been carried out on the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlines of Turkey. Complete excavations have been performed on several wrecks from the Classical, Hellenistic, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods. Maritime archaeological studies in Italy illuminate the naval and maritime activities of the Etruscans, Greek colonists, and Romans. | wiki:25700242 |
Maritime archaeology | Mediterranean area | After the 2nd century BC, the Roman fleet ruled the Mediterranean and actively suppressed piracy. During this Pax Romana, seaborne trade increased significantly throughout the region. Though sailing was the safest, fastest, and most efficient method of transportation in the ancient world, some fractional percentage of voyages ended in shipwreck. With the significantly increased sea traffic during the Roman era came a corresponding increase in shipwrecks. These wrecks and their cargo remains offer glimpses through time of the economy, culture, and politics of the ancient world. Particularly useful to archaeologists are studies of amphoras, the ceramic shipping containers used in the Mediterranean region from the 15th century BC through the Medieval period. | wiki:25700243 |
Maritime archaeology | Australia | Maritime archaeology in Australia commenced in the 1970s with the advent of Jeremy Green due to concerns expressed by academics and politicians with the rampant destruction of the Dutch and British East India ships lost on the west coast. As Commonwealth legislation was enacted and enforced after 1976 and as States enacted their own legislation the sub-discipline spread throughout Australia concentrating initially on shipwrecks due to on-going funding by both the States and the Commonwealth under their shipwreck legislation. Studies now include as an element of underwater archaeology, as a whole, the study of submerged indigenous sites. Nautical Archaeology, (the specialised study of boat and ship construction) is also practised in the region. | wiki:25700244 |
Maritime archaeology | Australia | Often the sites or relics studied in Australia as in the rest of the world are not inundated. The study of historic submerged aircraft, better known as a sub-discipline of aviation archaeology, underwater aviation archaeology is also practised in the region. In some states maritime and underwater archaeology is practised out of Museums and in others out of cultural heritage management units and all practitioners operate under the aegis of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA). | wiki:25700245 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Introduction | The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Ueshiba studied a number of martial arts in his youth, and served in the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War. After being discharged in 1907, he moved to Hokkaidō as the head of a pioneer settlement; here he met and studied with Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. On leaving Hokkaido in 1919, Ueshiba joined the Ōmoto-kyō movement, a Shinto sect, in Ayabe, where he served as a martial arts instructor and opened his first dojo. He accompanied the head of the Ōmoto-kyō group, Onisaburo Deguchi, on an expedition to Mongolia in 1924, where they were captured by Chinese troops and returned to Japan. | wiki:25700246 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Introduction | The following year, he had a profound spiritual experience, stating that, "a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one." After this experience, his martial arts skill appeared to be greatly increased. Ueshiba moved to Tokyo in 1926, where he set up the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. By now he was comparatively famous in martial arts circles, and taught at this dojo and others around Japan, including in several military academies. In the aftermath of World War II the Hombu dojo was temporarily closed, but Ueshiba had by this point left Tokyo and retired to Iwama, and he continued training at the dojo he had set up there. | wiki:25700247 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Introduction | From the end of the war until the 1960s, he worked to promote aikido throughout Japan and abroad. He died from liver cancer in 1969. After Ueshiba's death, aikido continued to be promulgated by his students (many of whom became noted martial artists in their own right). It is now practiced around the world. | wiki:25700248 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tanabe, 1883–1912 | Morihei Ueshiba was born in Nishinotani village (now part of the city of Tanabe), Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, on December 14, 1883, the fourth child (and only son) born to Yoroku Ueshiba and his wife Yuki. The young Ueshiba was raised in a somewhat privileged setting. His father Yoroku was a wealthy gentleman farmer and minor politician, being an elected member of the Nishinotani village council for 22 consecutive years. His mother Yuki was from the Itokawa clan, a prominent local family who could trace their lineage back to the Heian period. Ueshiba was a rather weak, sickly child and bookish in his inclinations. | wiki:25700249 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tanabe, 1883–1912 | At a young age his father encouraged him to take up sumo wrestling and swimming and entertained him with stories of his great-grandfather Kichiemon, who was considered a very strong samurai in his era. The need for such strength was further emphasized when the young Ueshiba witnessed his father being attacked by followers of a competing politician. A major influence on Ueshiba's early education was his elementary schoolteacher Tasaburo Nasu, who was a Shinto priest and who introduced Ueshiba to the religion. At the age of six Ueshiba was sent to study at the Jizōderu Temple, but had little interest in the rote learning of Confucian education. | wiki:25700250 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tanabe, 1883–1912 | However, his schoolmaster Mitsujo Fujimoto was also a priest of Shingon Buddhism, and taught the young Ueshiba some of the esoteric chants and ritual observances of the sect, which Ueshiba found intriguing. His interest in Buddhism was sufficiently great that his mother considered enrolling him in the priesthood, but his father Yoroku vetoed the idea. Ueshiba went to Tanabe Higher Elementary School and then to Tanabe Prefectural Middle School, but left formal education in his early teens, enrolling instead at a private abacus academy, the Yoshida Institute, to study accountancy. On graduating from the academy, he worked at a local tax office for a few months, but the job did not suit him and in 1901 he left for Tokyo, funded by his father. | wiki:25700251 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tanabe, 1883–1912 | Ueshiba Trading, the stationery business which he opened there, was short-lived; unhappy with life in the capital, he returned to Tanabe less than a year later after suffering a bout of beri-beri. Shortly thereafter he married his childhood acquaintance Hatsu Itokawa. | wiki:25700252 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Hokkaidō, 1912–1920 | In the early part of the 20th century, the prefectural government of Hokkaidō, Japan's northernmost island, were offering various grants and incentives for mainland Japanese groups willing to relocate there. At the time, Hokkaidō was still largely unsettled by the Japanese, being occupied primarily by the indigenous Ainu. In 1910, Ueshiba travelled to Hokkaidō in the company of his acquaintance Denzaburo Kurahashi, who had lived on the northern island before. His intent was to scout out a propitious location for a new settlement, and he found the site at Shirataki suitable for his plans. Despite the hardships he suffered on this journey (which included getting lost in snowstorms several times and an incident in which he nearly drowned in a freezing river), Ueshiba returned to Tanabe filled with enthusiasm for the project, and began recruiting families to join him. | wiki:25700253 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Hokkaidō, 1912–1920 | He became the leader of the Kishū Settlement Group, a collective of eighty-five pioneers who intended to settle in the Shirataki district and live as farmers; the group founded the village of Yubetsu (later Shirataki village) in August, 1912. Much of the funding for this project came from Ueshiba's father and his brothers-in-law Zenzo and Koshiro Inoue. Zenzo's son Noriaki was also a member of the settlement group. Poor soil conditions and bad weather led to crop failures during the first three years of the project, but the group still managed to cultivate mint and farm livestock. The burgeoning timber industry provided a boost to the settlement's economy, and by 1918 there were over 500 families residing there. | wiki:25700254 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Hokkaidō, 1912–1920 | A fire in 1917 razed the entire village, leading to the departure of around twenty families. Ueshiba was attending a meeting over railway construction around 50 miles away, but on learning of the fire travelled back the entire distance on foot. He was elected to the village council that year, and took a prominent role in leading the reconstruction efforts. In the summer of 1918, Hatsu gave birth to their first son, Takemori. The young Ueshiba met Takeda Sōkaku, the founder of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, at the Hisada Inn in Engaru, in March 1915. Ueshiba was deeply impressed with Takeda's martial art, and despite being on an important mission for his village at the time, abandoned his journey to spend the next month studying with Takeda. | wiki:25700255 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Hokkaidō, 1912–1920 | He requested formal instruction and began studying Takeda's style of jūjutsu in earnest, going so far as to construct a dojo at his home and inviting his new teacher to be a permanent house guest. He received a "kyōju dairi" certificate, a teaching license, for the system from Takeda in 1922, when Takeda visited him in Ayabe. Takeda also gave him a Yagyū Shinkage-ryū sword transmission scroll. Ueshiba then became a representative of Daitō-ryū, toured with Takeda as a teaching assistant and taught the system to others. The relationship between Ueshiba and Takeda was a complicated one. Ueshiba was an extremely dedicated student, dutifully attending to his teacher's needs and displaying great respect. | wiki:25700256 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Hokkaidō, 1912–1920 | However, Takeda overshadowed him throughout his early martial arts career, and Ueshiba's own students recorded the need to address what they referred to as "the Takeda problem". | wiki:25700257 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Ayabe, 1920–1927 | In November 1919, Ueshiba learned that his father Yoroku was ill, and was not expected to survive. Leaving most of his possessions to Takeda, Ueshiba left Shirataki with the apparent intention of returning to Tanabe to visit his ailing parent. En route he made a detour to Ayabe, near Kyoto, intending to visit Onisaburo Deguchi, the spiritual leader of the Ōmoto-kyō religion (Ueshiba's nephew Noriaki Inoue had already joined the religion and may have recommended it to his uncle). Ueshiba stayed at the Ōmoto-kyō headquarters for several days, and met with Deguchi, who told him that, "There is nothing to worry about with your father". | wiki:25700258 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Ayabe, 1920–1927 | On his return to Tanabe, Ueshiba found that Yoroku had died. Criticised by family and friends for arriving too late to see his father, Ueshiba went into the mountains with a sword and practised solo sword exercises for several days; this almost led to his arrest when the police were informed of a sword-wielding madman on the loose. Within a few months, Ueshiba was back in Ayabe, having decided to become a full-time student of Ōmoto-kyō. In 1920 he moved his entire family, including his mother, to the Ōmoto compound; at the same time he also purchased enough rice to feed himself and his family for several years. | wiki:25700259 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Ayabe, 1920–1927 | That same year, Deguchi asked Ueshiba to become the group's martial arts instructor, and a dojo—the first of several that Ueshiba was to lead—was constructed on the centre's grounds. Ueshiba also taught Takeda's Daitō-ryū in neighbouring Hyōgo Prefecture during this period. His second son, Kuniharu, was born in 1920 in Ayabe, but died from illness the same year, along with three-year-old Takemori. Takeda visited Ueshiba in Ayabe to provide instruction, although he was not a follower of Ōmoto and did not get along with Deguchi, which led to a cooling of the relationship between him and Ueshiba. Ueshiba continued to teach his martial art under the name "Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu", at the behest of his teacher. | wiki:25700260 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Ayabe, 1920–1927 | However, Deguchi encouraged Ueshiba to create his own style of martial arts, "Ueshiba-ryū", and sent many Ōmoto followers to study at the dojo. He also brought Ueshiba into the highest levels of the group's bureaucracy, making Ueshiba his executive assistant and putting him in charge of the Showa Seinenkai (Ōmoto-kyō's national youth organisation) and the Ōmoto Shobotai, a volunteer fire service. | wiki:25700261 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tokyo, 1927–1942 | In 1926 Takeshita invited Ueshiba to visit Tokyo again. Ueshiba relented and returned to the capital, but while residing there was stricken with a serious illness. Deguchi visited his ailing student and, concerned for his health, commanded Ueshiba to return to Ayabe. The appeal of returning increased after Ueshiba was questioned by the police following his meeting with Deguchi; the authorities were keeping the Ōmoto-kyō leader under close surveillance. Angered at the treatment he had received, Ueshiba went back to Ayabe again. Six months later, this time with Deguchi's blessing, he and his family moved permanently to Tokyo. This move allowed Ueshiba to teach politicians, high-ranking military personnel, and members of the Imperial household; suddenly he was no longer an obscure provincial martial artist, but a sensei to some of Japan's most important citizens. | wiki:25700262 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tokyo, 1927–1942 | Arriving in October 1927, the Ueshiba family set up home in the Shirokane district. The building proved too small to house the growing number of aikido students, and so the Ueshibas moved to larger premises, first in Mita district, then in Takanawa, and finally to a purpose-built hall in Shinjuku. This last location, originally named the Kobukan (), would eventually become the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. During its construction, Ueshiba rented a property nearby, where he was visited by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo. During this period, Ueshiba was invited to teach at a number of military institutes, due to his close personal relationships with key figures in the military (among them Sadao Araki, the Japanese Minister of War). | wiki:25700263 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tokyo, 1927–1942 | He accepted an invitation from Admiral Sankichi Takahashi to be the martial arts instructor at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, and also taught at the Nakano Spy School, although aikido was later judged to be too technical for the students there and karate was adopted instead. He also became a visiting instructor at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy after being challenged by (and defeating) General Makoto Miura, another student of Takeda Sōkaku's Daitō-ryū. Takeda himself met Ueshiba for the last time around 1935, while Ueshiba was teaching at the Osaka headquarters of the "Asahi Shimbun" newspaper. Frustrated by the appearance of his teacher, who was openly critical of Ueshiba's martial arts and who appeared intent on taking over the classes there, Ueshiba left Osaka during the night, bowing to the residence in which Takeda was staying and thereafter avoiding all contact with him. | wiki:25700264 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tokyo, 1927–1942 | Between 1940 and 1942 he made several visits to Manchukuo (Japanese occupied Manchuria) where he was the principal martial arts instructor at Kenkoku University. Whilst in Manchuria, he met and defeated the sumo wrestler Tenryū Saburō during a demonstration. The "Second Ōmoto Incident" in 1935 saw another government crackdown on Deguchi's sect, in which the Ayabe compound was destroyed and most of the group's leaders imprisoned. Although he had relocated to Tokyo, Ueshiba had retained links with the Ōmoto-kyō group (he had in fact helped Deguchi to establish a paramilitary branch of the sect only three years earlier) and expected to be arrested as one of its senior members. | wiki:25700265 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Tokyo, 1927–1942 | However, he had a good relationship with the local police commissioner Kenji Tomita and the chief of police Gīchi Morita, both of whom had been his students. As a result, although he was taken in for interrogation, he was released without charge on Morita's authority. | wiki:25700266 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Iwama, 1942–1969 | From 1935 onwards, Ueshiba had been purchasing land in Iwama in Ibaraki Prefecture, and by the early 1940s had acquired around of farmland there. In 1942, disenchanted with the war-mongering and political manoeuvring in the capital, he left Tokyo and moved to Iwama permanently, settling in a small farmer's cottage. Here he founded the Aiki Shuren Dojo, also known as the Iwama dojo, and the Aiki Shrine, a devotional shrine to the "Great Spirit of Aiki". During this time he travelled extensively in Japan, particularly in the Kansai region, teaching his aikido. Despite the prohibition on the teaching of martial arts after World War II, Ueshiba and his students continued to practice in secret at the Iwama dojo; the Hombu dojo in Tokyo was in any case being used as a refugee centre for citizens displaced by the severe firebombing. | wiki:25700267 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Iwama, 1942–1969 | It was during this period that Ueshiba met and befriended Koun Nakanishi, an expert in kotodama. The study of kotodama was to become one of Ueshiba's passions in later life, and Nakanishi's work inspired Ueshiba's concept of "takemusu aiki". The rural nature of his new home in Iwama allowed Ueshiba to concentrate on the second great passion of his life: farming. He had been born into a farming family and spent much of his life cultivating the land, from his settlement days in Hokkaidō to his work in Ayabe trying to make the Ōmoto-kyō compound self-sufficient. He viewed farming as a logical complement to martial arts; both were physically demanding and required single-minded dedication. | wiki:25700268 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Iwama, 1942–1969 | Not only did his farming activities provide a useful cover for martial arts training under the government's restrictions, it also provided food for Ueshiba, his students and other local families at a time when food shortages were commonplace. The government prohibition (on aikido, at least) was lifted in 1948 with the creation of the Aiki Foundation, established by the Japanese Ministry of Education with permission from the Occupation forces. The Hombu dojo re-opened the following year. After the war Ueshiba effectively retired from aikido. He delegated most of the work of running the Hombu dojo and the Aiki Federation to his son Kisshomaru, and instead chose to spend much of his time in prayer, meditation, calligraphy and farming. | wiki:25700269 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Iwama, 1942–1969 | He still travelled extensively to promote aikido, even visiting Hawaii in 1961. He also appeared in a television documentary on aikido: NTV's "The Master of Aikido", broadcast in January 1960. Ueshiba maintained links with the Japanese nationalist movement even in later life; his student Kanshu Sunadomari reported that Ueshiba temporarily sheltered Mikami Taku, one of the naval officers involved in the May 15 Incident, at Iwama. | wiki:25700270 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Development of aikido | Aikido—usually translated as the "Way of Unifying Spirit" or the "Way of Spiritual Harmony"—is a fighting system that focuses on throws, pins and joint locks together with some striking techniques. It emphasises protecting the opponent and promotes spiritual and social development. The technical curriculum of aikido was derived from the teachings of Takeda Sōkaku; the basic techniques of aikido stem from his Daitō-ryū system. In the earlier years of his teaching, from the 1920s to the mid-1930s, Ueshiba taught the Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu system; his early students' documents bear the term Daitō-ryū. Indeed, Ueshiba trained one of the future highest grade earners in Daitō-ryū, Takuma Hisa, in the art before Takeda took charge of Hisa's training. | wiki:25700271 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Development of aikido | The early form of training under Ueshiba was noticeably different from later forms of aikido. It had a larger curriculum, increased use of strikes to vital points ("atemi") and a greater use of weapons. The schools of aikido developed by Ueshiba's students from the pre-war period tend to reflect the harder style of the early training. These students included Kenji Tomiki (who founded the Shodokan Aikido sometimes called Tomiki-ryū), Noriaki Inoue (who founded Shin'ei Taidō), Minoru Mochizuki (who founded Yoseikan Budo) and Gozo Shioda (who founded Yoshinkan Aikido). Many of these styles are therefore considered "pre-war styles", although some of these teachers continued to train with Ueshiba in the years after World War II. | wiki:25700272 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Development of aikido | During his lifetime, Ueshiba had three spiritual experiences that impacted greatly on his understanding of the martial arts. The first occurred in 1925, after Ueshiba had defeated a naval officer's "bokken" (wooden katana) attacks unarmed and without hurting the officer. Ueshiba then walked to his garden, where he had the following realisation: His second experience occurred in 1940 when engaged in the ritual purification process of "misogi". His third experience was in 1942 during the worst fighting of World War II, when Ueshiba had a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace". After these events, Ueshiba seemed to slowly grow away from Takeda, and he began to change his art. | wiki:25700273 |
Morihei Ueshiba | Development of aikido | These changes are reflected in the differing names with which he referred to his system, first as "aiki-jūjutsu", then Ueshiba-ryū, Asahi-ryū, and "aiki budō". In 1942, when Ueshiba's group joined the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, the martial art that Ueshiba developed finally came to be known as aikido. | wiki:25700274 |
Memory address register | Introduction | In a computer, the memory address register (MAR) is the CPU register that either stores the memory address from which data will be fetched to the CPU, or the address to which data will be sent and stored. In other words, MAR holds the memory location of data that needs to be accessed. When reading from memory, data addressed by MAR is fed into the MDR (memory data register) and then used by the CPU. When writing to memory, the CPU writes data from MDR to the memory location whose address is stored in MAR. MAR, which is found inside the CPU, goes either to the RAM (random access memory) or cache. | wiki:25700275 |
Memory address register | Introduction | The memory address register is half of a minimal interface between a microprogram and computer storage; the other half is a memory data register. | wiki:25700276 |
Microassembler | Introduction | A microassembler is a computer program that helps prepare a microprogram, called "firmware", to control the low level operation of a computer in much the same way an assembler helps prepare higher level code for a processor. The difference is that the microprogram is usually only developed by the processor manufacturer and works intimately with the computer hardware. On a microprogrammed computer the microprogram implements the operations of the instruction set in which any normal program (including both application programs and operating systems) is written. The use of a microprogram allows the manufacturer to fix certain mistakes, including working around hardware design errors, without modifying the hardware. | wiki:25700277 |
Microassembler | Introduction | Another means of employing microassembler-generated microprograms is in allowing the same hardware to run different instruction sets. After it is assembled, the microprogram is then loaded to a control store to become part of the logic of a CPU's control unit. Some microassemblers are more generalized and are not targeted at a single computer architecture. For example, through the use of macro-assembler-like capabilities, Digital Equipment Corporation used their "MICRO2" microassembler for a very wide range of computer architectures and implementations. If a given computer implementation supports a writeable control store, the microassembler is usually provided to customers as a means of writing customized microcode. | wiki:25700278 |
Machine pistol | Introduction | A machine pistol is a self-loading pistol capable of burst fire or fully automatic. It can also be occasionally used to specifically describe a stockless handgun-style submachine gun. The term is a calque of "Maschinenpistole", the German word for submachine guns. Machine pistols were developed during World War I and originally issued to German artillery crews who needed a self-defense weapon that is lighter than a rifle but more powerful than a standard semi-automatic pistol. Today, they are considered a special purpose weapon with limited utility, and difficult to control for all but the best shooters. The Austrians introduced the world's first machine pistol, the "Steyr Repetierpistole" M1912/P16, during World War I. | wiki:25700279 |
Machine pistol | Introduction | The Germans also experimented with machine pistols, by converting various types of semi-automatic pistols to full-auto, leading to the development of the first practical submachine gun. During World War II, machine pistol development was more or less ignored as the major powers were focused on mass-producing submachine guns. After the war, machine pistols development was limited and only a handful of manufacturers would develop new designs, with varying degrees of success. | wiki:25700280 |
Machine pistol | World War I | During World War I, a machine pistol version of the Steyr M1912 called the "Repetierpistole M1912/P16" was produced. It used a 16-round fixed magazine loaded via 8 round stripper clips, a detachable shoulder stock and a rather large exposed semi-auto/full-auto selector on the right side of the frame above the trigger (down = semi & up = full). It fires the 9×23mm Steyr cartridge, with a full-auto rate-of-fire of about 800 to 1000 rounds per minute. It weighed about 2.6 pounds. Introduced in 1916, it is considered the world's first machine pistol. Only 960 M1912/P16 were made. The Germans also experimented with machine pistols, by converting various types of semi-automatic pistols to full-auto. | wiki:25700281 |
Machine pistol | World War I | The armed forces never made wide spread use of this modified pistols in the first world war, most of them reaching only prototype state. The German solution came out as the Luger P08 "Artillery Pistol" with its long barrel, tangent sights, detachable stock and 32-round drum magazine. It was issued to primarily German field and mobile artillery crews who needed a self-defence weapon, lighter than a rifle but more effective than a standard pistol. It fired the newly developed 9mm Parabellum pistol cartridge, which was designed for low recoil without sacrificing penetration and stopping power. These machine pistols proved to be quite effective in close range trench warfare and led the Germans to develop the 9 mm Parabellum Bergmann MP-18, the first practical submachine gun. | wiki:25700282 |
Machine pistol | 1920s–1930s | The Mauser C96 was introduced in 1896, it was one of the first commercially successful and practical semi-automatic pistols. During World War I, the Germans experimented with machine pistols by converting both 7.63mm Mauser and 9 mm Parabellum semi-automatic C96 pistols to full-auto. In the late 1920s, Spanish gunmakers introduced select fire copies of the C96 with 20 round detachable magazines. In the early 1930s, Mauser engineers followed suit, and introduced the Model 1932 or Model 712 "Schnellfeuer" variant, which included 20 round detachable magazine and a select fire mechanism allowing fully automatic fire at a rate of 1000 rounds/minute. | wiki:25700283 |
Machine pistol | World War II | During World War II machine pistol development was more or less ignored as the major powers were focused on mass-producing submachine guns. With one exception, the 9 mm Parabellum Browning Hi-Power machine pistol. The artillery version with its adjustable tangent rear-sight, shoulder stock, 13 round magazine and later 20 round magazine was routinely converted to full-auto-only. In German service, it was used mainly by Waffen-SS and "Fallschirmjäger" personnel along with Mauser M1932 "Schnellfeuer" machine pistol. | wiki:25700284 |
Machine pistol | 1950s–1960s | The 9×18mm Makarov Stechkin automatic pistol (APS) is a Russian selective-fire machine pistol introduced into the Russian army in 1951. Like the other common Russian army pistol of this era, the Makarov, the Stechkin uses a simple unlocked blow-back mechanism and the double action trigger. In addition, the Stechkin APS has an automatic fire mode, which is selected using the safety lever. In burst or automatic fire, the pistol should be fitted with the wooden shoulder stock; otherwise, the weapon quickly becomes uncontrollable. The Stechkin was intended as a side arm for artillery soldiers and tank crews. In practice, it earned a strong following in the ranks of political and criminal police, special forces and the like. | wiki:25700285 |
Machine pistol | 1950s–1960s | Many KGB and GRU operatives favored the Stechkin for its firepower and 20 round magazine. The Škorpion vz. 61 is a Czechoslovak 7.65 mm or .32 ACP machine pistol developed in 1959 and produced from 1961 to 1979. Although it was developed for use with security and special forces, the weapon was also accepted into service with the Czechoslovak Army, as a personal sidearm for lower-ranking army staff, vehicle drivers, armoured vehicle personnel and special forces. The Skorpion's lower powered .32 ACP cartridge, coupled with a rate-of-fire limiting device housed in the grip (which allows a reasonable rate of 850 RPM with a relatively light bolt), also makes it easier to control in full-auto than the more common 9 mm Parabellum designs. | wiki:25700286 |
Machine pistol | 1950s–1960s | Currently the weapon is in use with the armed forces of several countries as a sidearm. The Škorpion was also licence-built in Yugoslavia, designated M84. The Beretta M951R, was based on the 9 mm Parabellum Beretta M1951 pistol and produced during the 1960s in response to a request made by the Italian special forces. The primary difference between the M951R and the original M1951 lied in the fire selector lever mounted on the right side of the weapon's frame, enabling either semi-automatic or continuous fire – labelled "SEM" and "AUT", respectively. Additionally, the weapon has a heavier slide, a folding wooden forward grip, the barrel was extended, and so was the magazine, increasing capacity to 10 rounds. | wiki:25700287 |
Machine pistol | 1950s–1960s | It is reported that the Inglis Company manufactured or converted Inglis made Hi-Powers and were reportedly used by the SAS during the Cold War as the British Army were using Inglis made Hi-Powers before adopting the L9A1 version of the Hi-Power in 1966. | wiki:25700288 |
Machine pistol | 1970s–1980s | The MAC-10 and MAC-11 were 1970s blowback designed weapons with the magazine in the pistol grip and a fire selector switch. The .45 ACP MAC-10 had a 1,145 rounds per minute rate of fire, and the 9×19mm version 1,090 rounds per minute. The MAC-11 could fire 1,200 rounds-per-minute with its .380 ACP cartridges. These guns were designed by Gordon Ingram and Military Armament Corporation in the US. The weapons were used in special operations and clandestine applications in Vietnam and by Brazilian anti-terrorist units. It could be fitted with a silencer using its threaded barrel. While some sources call the MAC-10 and MAC-11 machine pistols, the guns are also referred to as compact submachine guns. | wiki:25700289 |
Machine pistol | 1970s–1980s | Since it is difficult to control machine pistols when they are fired in full automatic mode, in the 1970s, some manufacturers developed an "intermittent-fire" setting that fires a burst of three shots instead of a full-automatic, such as the Heckler & Koch VP70. It is a 9 mm Parabellum, 18-round, double action only, select fire capable polymer frame pistol. It was the first polymer framed pistol, predating the Glock 17. The stock incorporates a semi-auto/three round burst selector. It will only fire a 3 round burst with the stock attached. Cyclic rounds per minute for the three-round bursts is 2,200 rpm. | wiki:25700290 |
Machine pistol | 1970s–1980s | Despite the VP70's potential, it was never adopted by the "Bundeswehr". In 1976, a shortened machine pistol version of the 9 mm Parabellum Heckler & Koch MP5 was introduced; the MP5K (K from the German "Kurz" = "short") was designed for close quarters battle use by clandestine operations and special services. The MP5K does not have a shoulder stock, and the bolt and receiver were shortened at the rear. The resultant lighter bolt led to a higher rate of fire than the standard MP5. The barrel, cocking handle and its cover were shortened and a vertical foregrip was used to replace the standard handguard. | wiki:25700291 |
Machine pistol | 1970s–1980s | The barrel ends at the base of the front sight, which prevents the use of any sort of muzzle device. The Stechkin APS made a comeback in the late 1970s, when Russian Spetsnaz special forces units in Afghanistan used the suppressor-equipped APB variant for clandestine missions in enemy territory, such as during the Soviet–Afghan War. The 9 mm Parabellum Micro Uzi is a scaled-down version of the Uzi submachine gun, first introduced in 1983. It is 460 mm (18.11 inches) long with the stock extended, and just 250 mm (9.84 inches) long with the stock folded. Its barrel length is 117 mm and its muzzle velocity is 350 m/s. | wiki:25700292 |
Machine pistol | 1970s–1980s | Used by the Israeli Isayeret and the US Secret Service, Micro-Uzis are available in open bolt or closed bolt versions. The weapon has an additional tungsten weight on the bolt to slow the rate of fire, which would otherwise make such a lightweight weapon uncontrollable. The 9 mm Parabellum Glock 18 is a select-fire variant of the Glock 17, developed in 1986 at the request of the Austrian counter-terrorist unit EKO Cobra. This machine pistol has a lever-type fire-control selector switch, installed on the left side, at the rear of the slide, serrated portion (selector lever in the bottom position for continuous fire, top setting for single fire). | wiki:25700293 |
Machine pistol | 1970s–1980s | The firearm is typically used with an extended 33-round capacity magazine and may be fired with or without a shoulder stock. The pistol's rate of fire in fully automatic mode is approximately 1,100–1,200 rounds/min. | wiki:25700294 |
Machine pistol | 1990s–2000s | Introduced in 1992, the Steyr TMP ("Taktische Maschinenpistole" "tactical machine pistol") is a select-fire 9×19mm Parabellum machine pistol manufactured by Steyr Mannlicher of Austria. The magazines come in 15-, 20-, 25-, or 30-round detachable box types. A suppressor can also be fitted. Also introduced in 1992, the 9 mm Parabellum CZ 75 AUTOMATIC is the full-auto version of the CZ75. It has a longer barrel with three vent ports. This machine pistol has a horizontal rail in front of the trigger guard through which a spare 16 or 20 round magazine can be attached and be used as a fore-grip for better control during full automatic firing. | wiki:25700295 |
Machine pistol | 1990s–2000s | During the 1990s, the Russian Stechkin APS was once again put into service, as a weapon for VIP bodyguards and for anti-terrorist hostage rescue teams that needed the capability for full automatic fire in emergencies. Developed in the 1990s and 2000s the personal defense weapon, a compact submachine gun-like firearm which can fire armor-piercing, higher-powered ammunition began to replace the machine pistol as a self-defence side arm for artillery crews, tank crews, and helicopter pilots. Introduced in 2001, the Heckler & Koch MP7 is often called a machine pistol. The MP7 uses a short stroke piston gas system as used on H&K's G36 and HK416 assault rifles, in place of a blow-back system traditionally seen on machine pistols. | wiki:25700296 |
Machine pistol | 1990s–2000s | The MP7 uses 20-, 30- and 40-round magazines and fires 4.6×30mm ammunition which can penetrate soft body armor. Due to the heavy use of polymers in its construction, the MP7 is much lighter than older designs, only with an empty 20 round magazine. | wiki:25700297 |
Machine pistol | Comparison with compact submachine guns | The dividing line between machine pistols and compact submachine guns is hard to draw. The term "submachine gun" usually refers to magazine-fed, fully automatic carbines designed to fire pistol cartridges, while the term "machine pistol" usually refers to a fully automatic handgun based weapons. However, many weapons fall into both categories. The Škorpion vz. 61, is often called a submachine gun. However, it is small enough to be carried in a pistol holster and so is also often referred to as a machine pistol. The MAC-10, MAC-11 and the compact versions of the Uzi series have been placed in both classes. | wiki:25700298 |
Machine pistol | Comparison with compact submachine guns | The Steyr TMP (Tactical Machine Pistol) is also called as a compact submachine gun. Likewise, the German Heckler & Koch MP5K also falls in both categories. Personal Defense Weapons (PDWs) such as the Heckler & Koch MP7 are also often called machine pistols. | wiki:25700299 |
Machine pistol | Criticisms | Machine pistols are considered a special purpose weapon with limited utility. Due to their small size, machine pistols are difficult for all but the best shooters to control. As a result, most machine pistols are fitted with an unwieldy detachable shoulder stock. Some, such as the Heckler & Koch VP70, will only fire in semi-automatic when the stock is removed because the select-fire mechanism is incorporated into the stock. The VP70 also introduced a three-round-burst limiter to improve controllability. The Beretta 93R not only uses a detachable shoulder stock and a three-round-burst limiter, but also a folding forward hand-grip to improve controllability in full auto. | wiki:25700300 |