Aikido is a Japanese martial art that stresses self defense by harmonizing with an attack and controlling the attacker by joint locks or their own momentum. Aikido was founded by Morihei Ueshiba in the mid 1930’s. He is known as O’Sensei, or great teacher. He had mastered several martial arts in his youth and had a very strong spiritual side as well. O’Sensei had a realization that his martial art was not about fighting and winning, but that it was about love and harmony. Thus, Aikido was born. The three characters (or kanji) representing aikido are translated as follows:
Ai – Means harmony
Ki – Means energy or spirit, either your own, or the world’s collective energy
Do – Means the way or the approach to training that includes learning the physical movements as well as developing your whole self.
Lead instructor: Janferie Stone. Contact Dan Borghi 937-9971