Aikido literaly means "The Way of Harmony."  It is a relatively new martial art, having only been created less than a hundred years ago by Morihei Ueshiba, also known as "O-Sensei" or "Great Teacher."  The roots of Aikido however are much older and date back many centuries through the ancient school of Daito-Ryu Aikijutsu.  Ueshiba was taught the mystical art by the then headmaster of the school, Sokaku Takeda.  After learning all he could, Ueshiba set off to find his own martial path.  And following a great spiritual awakening, successfully created his own martial way and named it "Aikido."

Aikido is generally known as a "soft" art since almost none of the modern day styles have competitive elements or free sparring.  In addition, it is often thought of this way for its philosophy of "non-resistance."  Similar to Judo, Aikido teaches the student to use the attacker's energy against them in order to gain control of the situation.  Because the opponent's kinetics are the primary source for their downfall, little strength is required to apply techniques.  This makes Aikido applicable to anyone - young or old, strong or weak, male or female.  Indeed, Aikido is often the preferred martial art of law enforcement individuals for this very reason.  Aikido is also famous for its extensive use of weapons and multiple attacker defense which makes it particularly valuable as a self-defense tool.  In addition to the martial aspects of the art, there is often much emphasis placed on the esoteric practices of meditation and "Ki" development.  Finally, Aikido has a very large philosophical element to it as well.  O-Sensei recognized the destructive powers that humans are capable of and deemed it necessary that his own art rise above that (especially since if misused, Aiki techniques could be highly destructive).  The teachings of O-Sensei always tell us to use Aikido for creating and not destroying.