Aikido History

Series Summary

Aikido, the modern Japanese martial art, was developed between the 1920s and 1960s and emphasizes the spiritual and philosophical development of its students. This development of spirituality and philosophical belief is directly derived from Shinto and Buddhism. The name “aikido” comes directly from three Japanese characters that stand for “matching,” “spirit,” and “way.” Aikido is meant to distract or immobilize, not kill or permanently damage the attacker. Aikido fighters are thus demonstrating an effective but merciful response. Ueshiba (the Great Teacher of Aikido) declared “To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.”

In this series of videos, see an expert demonstrate aikido moves, strikes, throws, locks, and drops. Practice with an expert as he shows you how to do an arm lock. Take it a step further and learn an arm lock throw. Then, challenge yourself and learn a bent arm lock. Learn different shape moves, including the square and the triangle. See how to walk and stand correctly, important stretches and many other exciting moves as an expert explains everything as he goes. You’ll learn how to disarm an attacker using a reverse throw, a reverse wrist throw or turning wrist lock.

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Cliff Derdeyn and I'm one of the senior instructors at Austin Aiki BudoKai. We're a school of aikido, aiki Jujitsu and traditional core you in Austin Texas. I'm going to go into a little of the history about aikido first, and then we will build on it from there, as well as how to properly learn aikido and Aiki Jujitsu. In this, aikido began probably around the 14th century, and it was developed through a series of core you. And it was delineated out and recollected, both through the Kenjitsu as well as the core user. Probably the Azzu clan, and most specifically the Daitro-ryu through Sokaku Takeda, and they we're given down to Morihei Ueshiba, of who is the actual founder of Aikido."