What
is Aikido? - A Brief Introduction
Although the roots of Aikido are ancient, it is said the first glimmers
of formulated Aiki type techniques appeared over 900 years ago in the
mind of Minamoto no Yoshimitsu (1036-1127), a famous warrior of the Kamakura
period of feudal Japan He and his brother, Minamoto no Hachimantaro Yoshiie,
both master warrior strategists of the early Takeda Samurai from the
Kai province, are credited with having originated what later developed
into the Daito-ryu (Daito School) with its secret jujutsu, which incorporated
a broad and varied spectrum of Aiki techniques.In about 1582 the art
passed to the Aizu Samurai clan through the auspices of Takeda Kunitsugu.
Over the centuries it was developed and preserved as a secret science,
part of comprehensive battle tactics. Because of their very extreme effectiveness,
the secrets of Aiki-jujutsu were kept hidden and exclusive, revealed
to proven members of the elite Samurai of the Aizu clan alone. This was
to give them a decisive edge in battle, as it had their predecessors
and those who followed over the hundreds of years of history preceding
modern Aikido.
In the 1860s the art was passed to Sokaku Takeda
from the province of Aizu. From a very early age he was taught
jujitsu and weaponry by both his father his grandfather who
were noted members of the Aizu clan. As he grew up he expanded
his martial prowess and was inducted into the secrets strategic
skills of the Daito-Ryu Aikibujutsu.
In 1911 the legendary Morihei Ueshiba met Takeda
at the Kubota inn at Hokkaido and took instructions from him.
Ueshiba had a genius for extracting the essence
of the many methodologies he practiced, and Aikido is derived
from the spirit of these martial arts, honed in the battlefields
of ancient Japan over many hundreds of years. With time Ueshiba
refined the art, becoming the founder of 'modern' Aikido. Aikido
is continuing to evolve and is more more than just a combat
art but a means of personal transformation as well. The paradigm
of Aikido is opposite to that of contest and conflict, rather
the focus is on restoring natural harmony.
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