Aikido is a non-competitive martial way that emphasizes being unattackable rather than destroying others. While we practice our art based on serious combat principles like multiple attackers and defense against weapons, we emphasize cultivating a mindset, body, and reactions that are useful in real life: our jobs, our relationships, with our families and friends, and not just against a physical attacker or for gaining points in a sport tournament. In training, we help each other, we practice to avoid injury, and we cultivate lifelong friends
Aikido is a modern art developed in post-World War II Japan by one of the most respected martial artists of the 20th century, O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. Its methods integrate battle-tested styles of unarmed combat (taijutsu / aiki-jujutsu), sword work, and spear and staff arts. However, Aikido is a ‘martial way’, as opposed to a martial art or combat sport. It has no competitions or trophies, has no “rules”, and its focus is not limited to the functional aspects of how to injure or defeat opponents. Instead, Aikido emphasizes a lifelong path of self development, in which the student learns to cultivate calmness, strength, and self-control in the face of stress, conflict, and dangerous and violent situations.
Aikido practice includes effective self defense against weapons and multiple opponents and stronger/ larger opponents, utilizes natural stances and motions, and includes non-lethal techniques for dealing with violence. Our training methods rarely result in practice injuries, less than most active sports.
Aikido has been called the scholar’s art; we encourage you to learn more or visit our classes to find out why.
For more information on Aikido, you can investigate the wonderful resources at AikiWeb, the Aikido Journal, and Wikipedia.
