Aikido is a martial art suitable to active people of all ages and sizes. It is a martial art where you concentrate of defending yourself without permanently injuring your opponent. The idea is to use your opponent's strength against himself, to get him off balance. Aikido uses a circular, spiral motion.

The true goal of Aikido is not to learn self-defence, but to learn to overcome yourself. The point is to understand how futile violence is, and to find peaceful ways of resolving problems. The purpose of Aikido is to protect life, not to hurt other people.

Aikido practice develops, in addition to general fitness, co-ordination and flexibility. The threshold for beginners is low, because in the beginning you advance slowly in order to create a solid foundation for later challenges. For many people Aikido becomes a lifelong hobby, even a way of life. Aikido is not a competitive sport.

History and origins

The roots of Aikido, as well as of other Japanese martial arts, are to be found in the samurai arts of war. This martial art was founded by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), who since his childhood had practised many different kinds of martial arts, for example Sumo wrestling. More extensively Ueshiba practised Tenshin Shinto-ryu and Yagyu-ryu jujitsu and especially Daito-ryu Aikijujitsu under Sokaku Takeda (1859-1943).

After having practised for a long time, Ueshiba came to long for a martial art with a non-violent nature. For this reason Morihei Ueshiba began to develop a new martial art, largely based on Daito-ryu, which he called Aikido. The philosophy of Aikido has, to a large extent, been influenced by the teachings of the Shinto teacher Onisaburo Deguchi (1871-1948), whose teachings Ueshiba had taken a liking to.

Morihei Ueshiba thought martial arts should exist to ensure peace and not to increase violence. The experiences from the Second World War influenced this philosophy in its development to its present form.

After the death of O-sensei - the great teacher, as the people who practice Aikido call Ueshiba - his descendants have continued as the leading figures in the martial art. First there was Kisshomaru Ueshiba (1921-1999) and at present Moriteru Ueshiba (1951-).