The Rich Martial Arts Tradition of Aikido

Martial arts flicks have been popular in the U.S since the 1970s, and this is how many people are exposed to martial arts. gainesville kids karate self defense Watching flicks with Steven Seagal in them, he is usually using a form of martial arts, known as Aikido. These movies have helped to introduce Aikido to a broader audience, and nowadays a lot of folks are interested in learning it. Although many of the martial arts go back centuries in Asia, Aikido is actually one of the modern ones, having been invented in Japan in the 1940s.

As a youth, Morihei Ueshiba witnessed thugs beating up his father, which gave him a deep motivation to learn self defense. The young lad, growing up in modern-day Japan, wanted revenge, so he made a decision to make himself strong. By applying himself vigilantly, he grew to become an expert and dreaded martial artist. In addition to unarmed combat methods like jujitsu, he perfected the use of weapons including the sword and spear. In spite of his achievements and growing popularity as a martial artist, however, he was left unsatisfied. He started to look inward and look into spirituality to achieve a much better understanding of things. As he learned more and more life, he persisted with his martial arts training the whole time.

Aikido resulted from a synthesis of martial arts and spirituality that Ueshiba put together after some time. The first name that he gave this martial art was Aikibudo, but later on modified it to Aikido in the 1940s. This particular martial art took elements from others, from aiki-jujitsu to different forms of weapons training. Despite the fact that it's an extremely effective martial art, the principles of Aikido are harmony and balance. It achieves its purpose by making use of throws, weight manipulation, and joint locks. Aikido is a very effective martial art, which was the goal Ueshiba was after from the start, and some of the techniques are due to his creative innovations.

Aikido is a martial art having no unified belief or philosophy, contrary to what lots of people think. Although it has roots in numerous martial arts, the primary intent behind Aikido is to create peace of mind inside the practitioner. Ueshiba always assumed the human body can do anything anything, when a higher spiritual power was achieved. He was looking for revenge originally, but he wanted Aikido to be a way to reconcile the world, instead of being about fighting.

Aikido is nowadays gaining a wider following everywhere, and in the United States in particular. This way, Steven Seagal has done the world a good service by popularizing Aikido in his movies. These days there are several martial arts facilities in North America that teach Aikido.