Aikido of Albany -Aikido

Aikido is a Japanese Martial Art, which has its roots in Daito-Ryu Aikijujitsu. The Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, O'Sensei, transformed the Aikijujitsu form into what can be a flowing, subtle, mysterious and dynamic Martial Art form. In the current form, Aikido promotes mind and body coordination, awareness, physical conditioning, calm mind, sincerity and self-defense all in one package.

Aikido dynamics takes many years to develop, and may not be for those who expect instant gratification, when it comes to the self-defense part of the art. Although through continuous sincere training a student will gain self-confidence and possibly a different view of the world around him or her.

The training methods are usually very traditional, and training is very similar in all Dojos. (Schools)

The dynamics of Aikido, allows the Defender (Nage) to deal with an Attacker ( Uke) in a way that gives the Defender the choice of doing damage to an Attacker, or turning the confrontation into something less violent and controlled.

Ueshiba Sensei was a student of Daito-Ryu under Grandmaster Sokaku Takeda. Takeda's style of Daito-Ryu incorporated aspects of Japanese swordsmanship, jujitsu, sumo wrestling, and spear fighting. O'Sensei also became very actively involved in the Omoto-Kyu sect of the Shinto religion, under the guidance of Shinto priest Deguchi Onisaburo. Over the next eight years with Deguchi, Ueshiba practiced Shinto meditative and purification rites and mastered the concept of Koto-dama (word spirit). Deguchi encouraged Ueshiba's martial arts training and guided him to incorporate spiritual aspects of the Shinto religion and philosophies into his martial arts.

Aikido's spiritual beginnings are dated to around 1924 when Ueshiba began to stress that, "true budo is the way of great harmony, and great love for all living things", and that all movement is the working of ki-mind-body. Ueshiba's new style of martial arts gained great popularity in Japan. Even Master Kano Jigoro, founder of Kodokan Judo proclaimed O'Sensei's art the ideal Budo and in 1930 sent his best students to train with Ueshiba. In February, 1942 the name Aikido was officially given to Ueshiba's martial art. Since that time, Aikido has continued with Ueshiba's philosophy of the ki-mind-body working in harmony with all things. The art of Aikido has also enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity over the past few decades and has spread its message and philosophy to every corner of the globe.