Aikido in its present form is a relatively recent creation within the martial arts world. Aikido was created in Japan in the early 20th century and is credited to Morihei Ueshiba. Ueshiba discovered the traditional martial arts as a boy by his father Yoroku. He is believed to have studied a wide range of martial arts styles, such as ju-jistu as well as ken-jutsu and the art of the spear. In 1912 Morihei relocated to Hokkaido, where a fortunate meeting with a man named Sokaku Takeda changed his life.
Takeda was a master of daito-ryu-aiki-ju-jitsu, a discipline that had began in the sixth century and had been passed down through the military and built upon by brothers of the Aizu clan, gaining the name of Oshi-Kiuchi, or “striking arts.” The young Ueshiba rapidly became fascinated by the physical prowess of Takeda and trained with him until 1919.
When he came back to his native Tanabe because of the death of his father, Morihei encountered the charismatic founder of an esoteric belief called Omoto-Kyo - and spent the next six years as a disciple, traveling throughout Asia. In 1927, Morihei founded the Kobukan school in Tokyo and commenced teaching an combination of the martial arts he had learned from his training Takeda, combined with the wisdom he had acquired from Omoto-Kyo.
This new discipline he called Ueshiba-aiko-bugo. Morihei finally opted for the name aikido. This word is a combination of three ideas: Ai meaning harmony, Ki: meaning spirit and Do: meaning way. As with many other styles, aikido is seen not only as a system of self defense, but also as a way of self-education and improvement. Presently there are many different systems of aikido, but traditional aikido has no tournaments, competitions or contests. Physical strength is not a prerequisite, so age is no hindrance. According to its founder, the goal of aikido is not the overcoming of others, but the defeat of the negative characteristics that inhabit one’s own mind and prevent its effective functioning.
Aikido is a martial art that looks not to meet violence with violence, but instead seeks towards harmonizing with and restraining an opponent. Aikido is, in many ways, different among the martial arts, in that the majority of techniques are based on the enemy making the first move. Therefore, aikido techniques are typically aimed at joint locking, and throws which use an opponent’s energy, momentum and aggression against them. Many body movements have been taken from Japanese sword and spear fighting arts. This is the basic idea and underlying philosophy of aikido. Aikido does uses a variety of martial arts equipment for training. Young aikido practicioners wear a uniform much like the typical karate uniform worn today.
In accordance with directive from hombu (headquarters) in Japan, adult students do not don colored belts while training, however, the kyu (student) grading system still applies. It is ok for children to wear colored belts. The student system starts at 6th-kyu which necessitates the wearing of a white belt with one red stripe. Children then progress through a number of colored stripes and belts until they reach 1st-kyu. This is the final kyu rank before they are ready to try their black belt test (1st dan). When students pass the examination for their 1st dan (shodan), they are entitled to wear a hakama (a divided pleated skirt). This is considered an honor and the grade is recorded at hombu. Students also receive a membership card, an international yudansha record book and a certificate sighed by the founder’s son, Doshu.
People learn aikido for various reasons: as a way of becoming physically fit, as self defense or to gain a better understanding of the Japanese culture. It is up to each individual to choose which facet of the discipline to pursue. In addition to the building of strength, stamina and litheness students learn to tap their inner strength to create an energy that is far greater than muscular power alone. And to use this power at will. Breath techniques are learned to promote mind and body coordination. Disciples also come into contact with other Japanese practices such as shiatsu (finger therapy) a type of complete body massage and iaido (Japanese sword drawing). Both of these talents are (in harmony with|complementary to} the study of aikido and are sometimes studied in tandem.