What is aikido

 History of Aikido

Aikido is a modern martial art created by Morehei Ueshiba in the mid 1900's from its forerunner art, the aiki jujitsu component of the Daito Ryu a secret battlefield art of the Samurai class. This art was designed for the armored samurai who had to run and fight all day with or without his sword to defeat the stronger and faster foe.

The Samurai professional had only relatively short periods of time for training and thus only had time to learn a single set of skills, which needed to be transferable to many scenarios from battlefield to feudal boardroom.

Principle of Aiki

Aiki incorporates the principle of  yin and yang, which includes not fighting but joining with the strength of the opponent, it is a  critical skill.  It uses the decisive one cut mindset of the swordsman in sword combat, mixed combat and in unarmed scenarios

In developing the AIki component, Morehei Ueshiba was said to have been unbeatable against armed, unarmed and multiple attackers in a period where Ronin (wandering martial artists traveled the country side) 

Modern practice

Today Aiki practitioners rarely carry around swords, but the mindset of extending the mind beyond the body, total awareness of surrounding, the relaxed power of the sword cut can be employed as an unarmed self defence. Further the concets of joining rather than fighting prove very useful in the usual day to day conflicts of home and work place environments.

The Aikido dojo

The Aikido dojo is our place to practice the martial principle of Aiki in armed and unarmed combat, developing physical combat skills based joining rather than fighting. Over time and under the stress of this regular physical conflict our understanding of Aiki  passes from the physical and conscious to the mental and subconscious as a way to enhance out lives.

The practice method is a traditional one based on peer to peer learning under the guidance of a senior instructor. ( See traditional practice and Dojo Kun (Rules)