Michael

The History of Aikido

Aikido is a martial art created by Morihei Ueshiba about fifty years ago. It is one of the most popular martial arts and it is practiced in many countries. Some people think Aikido is a religion. The reason for this is that there are a lot of rules in Aikido that are not in other martial arts. Ai-Ki-Do broken up means the way of harmony with ki. I chose this topic because I am very interested in taking Aikido lessons and I wanted to know what they would be like. When I started this project, I hoped to learn what kinds of techniques were used in Aikido. Another thing I wanted to learn a little more about was the founder, Morihei, Ueshiba along with how created with Aikido. I actually learned a bit more than I thought I would. It was hard to deal with all the information it was hard to organize but it was useful to have so much information later on. Even though some parts of my research were easy, others were not. I got most of my information from books. It was hard to find information on the internet because websites were mostly about where to find classes and teachers. I think one of the hardest parts of the research was understanding some of the books on the philosophy of Aikido. An easy part, however, was finding common techniques in Aikido and describing them. Another thing I was able to do easily for research was finding movie clips of Aikido techniques on the internet. I was very glad so much of the research went smoothly. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, was born December 14, 1883, and died April 26, 1969. When he was born, he was small and weak because he was premature. At the age of ten he started developing his body through sumo wrestling. He even started banging his head on stones to make it harder. In fact, somebody broke a sword on his head. Morihei Ueshiba married Hatsu Itogawa in late 1902 when he was only 19. In 1903 he was called to join the army, but he failed the height requirement. He stretched his spine by hanging from trees with stones tied to his feet. In 1904 he passed the height requirement and joined the army. He and his wife had two sons who died as infants but one son, Kisshomaru Ueshiba, survived. Ueshiba's inspiration for Aikido came from the martial art Daito Ryu, a form of Jujutsu. In 1908 he earned a teaching license for jujutsu. In 1920 he opened his first school, or dojo, where he taught martial arts to the followers of the religion Omoto-kyo. Initially Morihei called his martial art "aiki-bujutsu." The Japanese government discriminated against Omoto-kyo, but the imperial family, its bodyguards and the military were interested in his martial art. At first Morihei called his martial art aiki-bujutsu then Aiki-budo. In 1941 Morihei adopted the name Aikido for his martial art. In 1945 he completed his own dojo in Iwama, Japan, where he taught until he died. Morihei Ueshiba was 86 when he died. He died in his sleep of liver cancer. He had refused surgery for his illness because he believed there was a purpose for his death. Aikido is one of the most complex martial arts; there are about 30,000 techniques in Aikido. They are divided into seven categories: nage waza (throwing techniques), katame waza (controlling techniques), atemi (vital point striking), tai sabaki (body shifting), irmi (entering a throw), rofuse (throwing), and kansetu (immobilizing). In all Aikido techniques, you try to match your opponents speed and go with their motion to add power to your defense. Here are some of the most common techniques in Aikido. Shiho nage: grab the opponent's wrist and pull them around in a circular motion. you pull their wrist up, back and down causing them to fall backwards. (See animation.) Kaiten nage: if opponent tries to grab your right wrist, step back with the right foot to avoid being grabbed. Place right hand on their head and pull their right arm in a backwards ark over their head using left hand. This will force them to flip over. Koshi nage: grab your attacker's wrist and elbow and pull them over back and head while forcing your hips under theirs. This causes the attacker to flip over landing on their back. Sumi otoshi: grab attacker's right wrist and pull it in a circular motion around. As they pass around, put right arm under their armpit making them flip over right arm and land on their back. (See animation.) It is a common misconception that few martial arts use weapons. Aikido is a martial art that teaches you how to defend against and defend with weapons, such as the sword, staff and dagger. In Aikido, the sword is known as a bokken or bokuto, the staff is jo, and the dagger is tanto. Most bokken in Aikido are wooden swords with a slight curve and a blunt edge. These swords are meant more for smashing than for cutting. All Jos are wooden and are symmetrical cylinders. They were traditionally made out of bamboo because of bamboo's flexibility. The tanto is a wooden dagger much like a bokken without the hand guard. In recent times, however, Aikidoists have been using weapons less and less often. This is, perhaps, because they do not want to carry weapons all of the time and because they like the idea of empty hand self-defense. All martial arts have a uniform; in Aikido students wear special clothes, too. The uniform for Aikido dans is a hakama. The hakama is a long loose pair of pants that look like a skirt. The hakama is worn with a loose white cotton shirt. Kyu's do not wear the hakama; they wear a gi. The gi pants are loose, white, cotton pants that are not as wide as the hakama. Beginners wear a loose white belt around a white cotton jacket. People do not usually wear shoes when practicing. Uniforms are very important to martial arts in many ways. A dojo is any place where Aikido or any other martial art is practiced. The dojo can be outside or in a building. Most Aikido dojos have a matted floor to protect students when they fall because Aikidoists practice by throwing and being thrown by partners. The mats were traditionally made of bamboo fibers, but modern dojos mainly use rubber mats. Most dojos have a picture of the founder, Morihei Ueshiba, and a scroll with Chinese characters spelling the word Aikido. In most dojos, students and the teacher bow to the picture of Ueshiba to begin and end class. Usually the students bow to each other before sparring. In competitions, opponents also bow to each other. All of these bows are to show respect. Today there are many Aikido dojos. Fifty years ago one would have had to go to Iwama, Japan, just north of Tokyo to study Aikido with Morihei or his son. Presently, Aikido is most popular in Hawaii because Morihei Ueshiba visited Hawaii in 1961. These dojos are run by sensei, or teachers. Even though Aikido is technically a martial art, there is a certain amount of religion involved in Aikido. Morihei Ueshiba called Aikido the art of peace because he believed there should be no attack from the person who practices Aikido. One of the beliefs in Aikido is about defensive ethics. Defensive ethics is deciding when to defend and how to defend against attack. There are no moves in Aikido in which one begin the attack, only moves that respond to the opponent's movement. Some people call Aikido a way of life instead of a martial art because it involves rules and meditation as well as physical action. In Aikido one never uses brute strength. They use something called ki, a kind of coordinated energy. Ki is located at your center of gravity. If one breathes properly, it is said that one can use ki to replace strength. Morihei Ueshiba was able to resist up to five men trying to push him by using ki. Many people thought that he was a wizard because of his ability to use ki to lift heavy objects. There are two types of ki, "hard" ki and "soft" ki. In hard ki you concentrate all of your energy into one point causing your target to crack. In soft ki, you try to spread your energy in as wide a field as possible causing your target to move. In Aikido and most other grappling martial arts, soft ki is the preferred type; it is used to throw your opponent. Hard ki is more important in other martial arts that feature kicking and punching. In Tae Kwon Do, a Korean martial art, they use hard ki to crack boards. Recently, a lot more jobs involving Aikido have come about. For instance, today one out of every twenty police has some training in aikido because it helps them deal with lawbreakers. The main job involving Aikido is teaching, to teach you must get a license. To get a license you need to pass a series of tests. My feelings while doing this project were mixed. I had fun reading books and watching some of the common techniques on the internet. My favorite part was watching the students practice in person even though I could not participate. Writing the report was difficult because it was very, very dull and it took forever. Even though this ISP was hard I am still looking forward to the next ISP because I enjoy becoming an expert on almost any subject.   Glossary atemi - vital point striking bokken - the wooden sword used in Aikido bokuto - the sword used in Aikido budo - the Japanese name for Buddhism daito ryu - a form of jujutsu dojo - a martial arts school gi - a loose, white suit fastened with a belt worn in most martial arts hakama - a long, split-legged skirt made of dark cloth worn in Aikido and a few other martial arts irmi - entering a throw jo - a wooden staff used in Aikido jujutsu - a martial art that uses mainly grappling techniques kansetu - immobilizing with joint locks katame waza - controlling techniques ki - coordinated energy Kisshomaru Ueshiba - the son of Morihei Ueshiba Morihei Ueshiba - the founder of Aikido nage waza - throwing techniques Omoto-kyo - a religion from Mongolia founded by Nao Geguchi that was discriminated against by the Japanese government rofuse - throwing sensei - a martial arts teacher tai sabaki - body shifting and evasion tanto - a short wooden dagger used in Aikido waza - technique   Bibliography Akiyama, J. AikiWeb Aikido Information. http://www.aikiweb.com/language/ranks_k.html, Fall 2004. Clausen, Kjarten. The Aikido FAQ. http://www.aikidofaq.com, September 1, 2004. Crompton, Paul. (1989). The Complete Martial Arts. London. Lawler, Jennifer. (2003). Martial Arts for Dummies. New York City. Stevens, John. (1997). Invincible Warrior. Boston. Unknown Author. Aikido Today Magazine. http://www.aiki.com, Winter 2005. Unknown Author. The Life of Morihei Ueshiba. http://www.aikidoaus.com.au/dojo/docs/osenhist.htm, Winter 2005. Westbrook, A. (1970). Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere. Boston. .

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