A Short History of Aikido , Monday, March 22, 2010 at 7:11 PM, in

The name aikido is formed of three Japanese characters, normally romanised as ai, ki and do. They are frequently translated as meaning union, universal energy and way, so aikido may be translated as "the way to union with universal energy". An additional common interpretation of the characters is harmony, spirit and way, so aikido can also mean "the way of spiritual harmony". Both interpretations draw awareness to the fact that aikido's methods are designed to control an attacker by controlling and redirecting his or her energy rather than blocking it. An analogy is frequently made of the way in which a flexible willow bends with the storm whereas the stout oak may break when the wind blows too hard. (The Korean martial art frequently known as hapkido uses the exact same three characters: a few propose a historical link through Daito-ryu, the main foundation of aikido).
Morihei Ueshiba formulated aikido mostly from Daito-ryu aikijutsu, integrating training moves like those for the yari (spear), jo (a short quarterstaff), and perhaps also juken (bayonet). But perhaps the most powerful influence is that of the katana (sword). In lots of ways, an aikido practitioner moves as an empty handed swordsman. The aikido strikes shomenuchi and yokomenuchi come from weapon attacks, and resulting techniques likewise from weapon take-aways. Several schools of aikido do absolutely no weapons instruction whatsoever; others, such as Iwama Ryu usually invest substantial time with bokken (wooden sword), jo, and tanto (knife). In a few lines of aikido, all techniques can be performed with a sword as well as unarmed.
Aikido was brought to the West in 1951 to France by Minoru Mochizuki. It was introduced to the USA in 1953, the UK in 1955, to Australia in 1965 and to many other countries. Today there are many aikido dojos available to train at throughout the world.