Aikido means 'Way of Spiritual Harmony'. It is the most modern of Japan's martial arts. It was developed by Master Morihei Ueshiba, also known as "0'Sensei" -meaning "great teacher". O'Sensei Ueshiba, born in 1883, studied and mastered many different martial arts and was one of the most proficient martial artists in Japan. Living in the turbulent time of Japan's modernization, he dedicated himself to establishing a martial art that would meet the needs of contemporary people but would not be an anachronism. It has two distinctive hallmarks:
The first is that when the attacker strikes, you do not block him, and meet force with force; as the stronger or larger person would prevail. Instead, you "blend" with the attacker's force, redirect it, and move to his blind side -where he is very vulnerable.
The second is that Aikido joint techniques focus on locking the joints without breaking ~ then bringing the attacker to the ground, and using submission holds to subdue the opponent. These techniques can be applied with increasing degrees of intensity and pain(even to the point of breaking), but the style is designed to be very effective in immobilizing an opponent completely, yet without breaking anything or doing any permanent damage.
Ultimately, Master Ueshiba concluded that the true spirit of "Budo" (the "Martial Way") is not to be found in a competitive and combative atmosphere where brute strength dominates, and victory at any cost is the paramount objective. He concluded that it is to be realized in the quest for perfection as a human being, both in mind and body, through training and practice with kindred spirits in the martial arts. Therefore, Aikido is not practiced as a sport, and there are no Aikido tournaments or competitions.
His goal, deeply spiritual in nature, is summarized as the unification of the individual's "Ki" with the "Ki" of the universal, and this unity appears in the dynamic, flowing movement of "Ki-power" which is free and fluid, indestructible and invincible. "Ki" -pronounced like the word 'key' -has complex connotations, and is variously defined as "life force", "fundamental creative principle", "life energy", etc.
Aikido focuses heavily on redirecting the attacker's energy in a way that off-balances them, and so is designed to require very little strength. It focuses on not resisting forces of nature, but harmonizing with them and using them to your advantage. On a practical, physical level, one is using basic laws of physics, and "mechanical advantage" to perform a technique. On a spiritual and metaphysical level, the study of Aikido leads one to ponder how these same concepts apply mentally and psychologically.
The style of Aikido taught here is Suenaka-ha Tetsugaku-ho or Suenaka style philosophical Aikido. Sensei Roy Suenaka studied with many other legendary masters in other martial arts and directly with Aikido's founder, Morihei Ueshiba. There are a few different styles or branches of Aikido that were developed by a few of Morihei Ueshiba's best students. For some rather complex political and philosophical reasons, some styles leaned more to the "martial", and some more to the "spiritual", creating somewhat of a rift between the two, and between the various proponents of each style. Suenaka's branch of Aikido created in 1976 is a conscious melding of the two offshoots. Suenaka brought the two back together, the martial and the spiritual, as he felt Ueshiba had intended it to be. The result is a highly street effective and powerful martial art, while lacking none of the esoteric spiritual aspects, or the spirit of "Budo ".