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What is Aikido?
"Ai" - Harmony, unity, or to join, "Ki" - Lifeforce of universal
creative energy, "Do" - The way.
Aikido is a unique martial art based on universal principals of
movement and harmony. Students of Aikido learn graceful and powerful martial techniques that use the force of the opponent rather than brute strength. Practice is thus accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
Students learn to focus their attention in the moment to maintain
an open, flexible mind. There are no competitions: ego and the desire to "best an opponent" are left behind. Training in Aikido promotes a calm, centered spirit which remains balanced in situations, both on and off the mat.
The movement of Aikido is the dynamic movement of the universal
energy forces. The power of Aikido is the power of a strong and unified spirit, mind, and body moving in harmony with everything around it. Its origin is Budo. Its development is the result of two thousand years of a cultural process of change and refinement, a continuing martial contest of natural selection. It is an evolution etched in blood.
The study of Budo and the development of Aikido was the life work
of Morihei Ueshiba, a figure of great renown who travelled the length of Japan studying under the greatest masters of many arts. Hard work, severe discipline, and all the money he could earn were poured into his mastery of the sword, the spear, and the arts of self defense. Deeply interested in the study of spiritual thought, he had also practised many different spiritual disciplines. Yet he was unable to unite his spiritual beliefs with his physical acomplishments.
A short time after returning from the Russo-Japanese War, he
retired to a small house located on a mountain outside his village. There he lived and studied silently; his days spent training his body and his nights spent in deep prayer. It was at the end of this time of severe training that he had the realization he had been seeking all his life. At that moment, nature's process became clear and he knew that the source of Budo is the spirit of protection of all things. |
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Finally in 1925 his search for insight was rewarded. After
defeating a high-ranking swordsman, not by engaging in the combat but by avoiding all the strikes, unharmed; "I was walking in the garden by myself," he said "when I felt that the universe suddenly quaked, and that a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled me and changed my body into a golden one. At that moment I was enlightened, and endless tears of joy streamed down my cheeks. I had become free of all desire, not only for position, fame, and property, but also from the need of power over others. I understood that God's love pulses through everything and the secret of life is harmony with this flow. I saw that whoever has the mind to fight has broken his harmony with the universe and has already been defeated. The way of the warrior is to give life to all things, to reconcile the world, to foster the completion of everyone's mission. The way is the Confluent Spirit, the way I call Aikido".
The second vision took place in December of 1940. "Around
two o'clock in the morning as I was performing ritual purification, I suddenly forgot every martial art technique I ever learned. All of the techniques handed down from my teachers appeared completely anew. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, virtue, and good sense, not devices to throw and pin people."
The third vision was in 1942, during the worst of the fighting
of World War II and in one of the darkest periods of human history. Morihei had a vision of the Great Spirit of Peace, a path that could lead to the elimination of all strife and the reconciliation of humankind. "The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood as a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek competition are making a grave mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst sin a human being can commit. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent slaughter - it is the Art of Peace, the power of love." Morihei secluded himself in the country and devoted every minute of his life thereafter to refining and spreading Aikido.
The divine beauty
Of heaven and earth!
All creation,
Members of
One family.
Morihei Ueshiba, 1883-1969
Excerpted in part from John Stevens' introduction to The Art
of Peace, a collection of quotes from the teachings of Morihei Ueshiba, the Founder of Aikido.
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