A History of Aikido


Aikido is a Japanese style of martial art formulated by Morihei Ueshiba, also known as O?Sensei or ?The Great Teacher,? in the early twentieth century. The art form is predominantly based
on his philosophical and religious beliefs of ?unifying life energy? or creating ?the way of harmonious spirit.? The term aikido is derived from three Japanese words, ?ai? meaning joining or unifying; ?ki? meaning spirit or energy; and ?do? meaning way or path.

Defending to attack

Unlike other major martial arts such as Karate, Ueshiba?s Aikido is not focused on skills for reciprocating attack on an assailant. Rather, Ueshiba?s techniques make use of the attacker?s momentum to hurt or stop him, rather than opposing force with force. For that reason, this martial art is ideal for people who are not physically well built. With practice, people of all ages and conditions are able to defend themselves using Aikido as it requires less strenuous and sustained, intense physical effort to perform.

an attacker in the least harmful way. There is an interesting story in support of this argument. Ueshiba was once challenged by an army officer who was also a fencing instructor. Throughout the duel, he deflected and evaded the officer?s strikes with his wooden sword. This continued until Ueshiba was finally able to disarm the exhausted officer and defeat him, all without ever harming him. He claims that as he observed, he could foresee the officer?s moves, helping him evade the attacks quickly.

An ideology turns into a martial art


