Aikido, Defending Yourself without Violence

By Bruno Vincent

Aikido is a Budo ( Japanese Martial art ) essentially created for defensive purposes. It was founded by Morihei Ueshiba in the course of the 20th century between the 1930’s and 1960’s( officially recognized by the Japanese government in 1940 under the name of Aikibudo)and based on ancient disciplines like Jujutsu, Daito Ryu, fencing and Aikijutsu. The Master’s vision was to create a martial art that would allow for one to defend himself against any type of adversary with no violence or as little as possible.

The Aikido discipline is composed of bare handed techniques whose objectives are to use the opponent’s force and aggression to your own advantage. The techniques aim not to conquer the adversary but to render him harmless. Aikido can be considered as the genuine and basic concept of self defense: a calculated and proportionate reaction to aggression. In fact, in the true spirit of Aikido, there is no combat, since it stops before it can even begin. Accordingly, there isn’t really any kind of Aikido competition except in certain styles like the Tomiki.

Aikido is practiced by men and women of all shapes and sizes. The goal of the practice is to improve one’s self and to progress technically, physically and mentally. Only techniques that respect the opponent are taught and demonstrated. Particularly complexes Aikido maneuvers require a high technical level of skill to be applied in a real combat situations. Regardless, Aikido teaches to prepare yourself physically (flexibility, speed, muscle mass) as well as mentally (stay calm under all circumstances) and technically (respect safe distance, find the opening, body position) in order to respond to a variation of possible hostile situations one might face in daily life including but not limited to martial arts.

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