After a life long study of martial arts Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) developed Aikido as a purely defensive martial art. His system unites sword, stick and body techniques.
Specific aspects of body techniques can only be understood via the study of aiki-ken (sword). This special blend of weapon based and weaponless techniques can only be found in Iwama-Ryu Aikido.
Aikido is exceptional in its position among the martial arts, as the aikidoka moves with flowing grace, melting with the energy of the attacker and redirecting the opponents strength against himself.
There are several different styles of Aikido. In our dojo, we study the Iwama-Style, a classical style, named after the city where Morihei Ueshiba lived and taught his art.
Takemusu is composed of two japanese signs (kanji): Take which signifies the art of warfare and Musu meaning "birth" or "connection". Takemusu Aiki signifies the highest art of Aikido: freely choosing, adapting and applying techniques in an appropriate understanding of the situation which is given. Before one is able to do this, one needs to train the basic forms (kihon-waza) year after year. As O-Sensei Ueshiba said: "I am what I am today because of 60 years of training the basic forms of Aikido" (quoted from Morihiro Saito "Traditional Aikido - Training Works Wonders", Vol. 5).
Philosophy
Aikido is a martial art als well as a practical philosophy how to lead ones life. Principles of Aikido can be transfered to every day life or workplace situations and will help to find strategies for better communication, conflict solving or developing strategies.
© Gerd Bastiné, 2003 / Thanks to Patricia Roth for translation
