Aikido: The Way of Peace

Aikido is a Japanese martial art focused on peaceful conflict resolution through non-resistance. It is unique among the martial arts because there is no competition.

Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba is known as O'Sensei ("Great Teacher") by practitioners of the art. He was born December 14th, 1883, in Wakayama Prefecture (now Tanabe), Japan and died April 26th, 1969.

Morihei Ueshiba's Art of Aikido is heavily influenced by his study of Daito-ryu Aiki-jutsu which he was instructed in by Takeda Sokaku. He was spiritually influenced by Deguchi Onisaburo, founder of the pacifistic Omoto-kyo sect. In 1927 master Ueshiba moved to Tokyo where he founded his first dojo, which still exists today under the name Hombu dojo. In 1942 he left Tokyo and moved to the prefecture of Iwama where the term Aikido was first used as a name for his art.