Yoshinkan Aikido is not a sport. Aikido is the development and strengthening of the body and mind, and the practical side of Aikido must never be forgotten.
What is Aikido?
Introduction of Aikido
Aikido
is one of the martial arts, which originated in Japan. After World
War II, Aikido rapidly spread and nowadays has become more and more
popular in many countries. "The Aikido-boom" can be seen
around the world. Why is Aikido now loved by all different generations,
regardless of nationality, culture, language, etc.?
The principal of Aikido is not to resist the law of nature,
but to harmonize without using physical strength.
Aikido techniques are applied by using your own power together
with your enemy's power. This means, no matter if you are strong or
weak, big or small, male or female, young or old, you can do Aikido
without having to be a top athlete.
The
basic style of Aikido training is "practicing pre-arranged form
(Kata)". Two partners practice the form of the technique becoming
Shite (the person applying the technique) and Uke (the one receiving
the technique). By training this way repeatedly, Aikido techniques
are acquired and the training is more practical for students. In Kata-style
training there is no competition, with no feelings of winning or losing.
You always train to improve yourself with a pure heart and
a pure mind in harmony with your partner. Aikido is called "The
martial art of harmony".
History of Aikido
Aikido
derives from Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu.
It is said that Daito-Ryu was founded 800 years ago by Shinra-Saburo
Minamoto no Yoshimitsu. The Kai Genji Takeda Family (one of the Samurai
local rulers) preserved Daito-Ryu as a secret martial art within the
family. Nobody knew even the name of this martial art until Sokaku
Takeda Sensei began teaching the art outside of the family in the late
19th century.
By studying Daito-Ryu and other martial arts on top of his
own ideas Aikido was developed by Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, who was an
excellent student of Sokaku Takeda. Aikido started its dissemination
after WWII as a martial art suitable for modern times in terms of spirit
and technique.
Since then, people have rapidly become interested in Aikido.
For this reason, Business Professionals founded Aikido Yoshinkai and
built the Yoshinkan dojo to support Gozo Shioda Sensei.
