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A Short History of Aikido
Aikido is a Martial Art that has a history that reaches back to 11th
Century Japan. It is system of training that is attributed to a Samurai
General by the name of Shinra Saburo Yoshimitsu. Having studied many
forms of Ju-Jitsu, the general devised a system of self-defence without
weapon, that would provide his officers with both physical fitness and
spiritual well being. This system, which he named Daitoryu-Aiki-Ju-Jutsu,
proved so successful and valuable that for centuries afterwards it was
kept secret and handed down only through members of the powerful Minamoto
family. Later it was handed down to the Takeda family of the Aizu clan.
Dr. Sogaku Takeda taught the hereditary successor, Professor Morihei
Uyeshiba in 1910 when the professor was 28 years of age.
He too possessed a wide knowledge of the Japanese martial arts and was expert in many schools of Ju-Jutsu. His first master in the martial arts was one Tokuzaburo Tozawa who taught him the forms of the Kito-Ryu school when he was in his teens. At the age of 20 he studied Yagi-Ryu and early form of fencing from Masakatsu Nakai. IT was Nakai Sensei who taught Uyeshiba to use the Bokken (Wooden Sword) really well. He also studied Judo with Kiyoichi Takaki in Wakayama Ken. From all these he took the best of the techniques he had learned and added to them his mastery of Daitoryu-Aiki-Ju-Jutsu and so formed his own system, which is now known as Aikido.
