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Keihatsu Aikido Club

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What is Aikido?

Traditional Aikido, whose name translates as "The Way of Harmony", was developed into its current form during the early 1900s by a Japanese gentleman called Morihei Ueshiba, commonly referred to as "O Sensei" meaning "Honoured Teacher".

Ueshiba had been a soldier and was expert in several deadly fighting-systems, but during a period of meditation he suddenly realised that it was not in fact necessary to kill or disable an opponent in order to prevent the opponent from killing him; it was really only necessary to prevent the attack from succeeding. He at once set about converting all the killing-techniques which he knew into techniques of neutralisation rather than of destruction.

Traditional Aikido therefore uses absolutely no kicking, punching, blocks or strikes, viewing these responses to aggression as essentially aggressive themselves. Instead, Aikido techniques neutralise the attack (punch, strike, grip, kick, etc) by applying joint-locks, ground-pins or throws, in order to take control of the attacker rather than to destroy him.

Aikido's non-violent ethical intent has resulted in a wonderfully effective system of self-defence and although not aggressive, at more advanced levels Aikido becomes increasingly dynamic and very powerful. Like all martial arts, of course, Aikido does have a 'dark side' and if all else fails, minor adjustments to harmless neutralisations will return them to their disabling or lethal origins.

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