As O´Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, founder of this modern martial art, said, “Aikido means, to lead the opponent in such a way that he (or she) gives up his hostile attidute.” This is also reflected in the word Aikido itself: Aikido is the way (Do) of harmonising (Ai) the energy of oneself with the energy of the universe (Ki).

Although Aikido is a rather modern art, its roots are quite old: During the 9th century Buddhism and mainly weaponless martial arts came from India and China to Japan. During the long peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate, the samurai learned and taught a budo that was limited to their caste. Morihei Ueshiba - who lived from 1883 to 1969 - studied these traditional forms. In the course of decades he merged old and new elements to create Aikido

Like many of the classic Budo-disciplines, Aikido ist a non-competitive art. Instead it aims at personal developement – not a mentality of rivalry. Aikido is a gentle as well as an effecient form of self-defense – a martial art that ist not focussed on winning but on creating harmony and confidence. Aikido is a matter of redirecting the kinetic energy of the opponent's attack. This is done without any violence and needs little strength.