Link to the Fort Collins Ki-Aikido Website

    Aikido was developed in Japan in the late 1920s by Morihei Ueshiba who, as a young man, studied and mastered many of the traditional "bujutsu" or warrior arts. Ueshiba came to believe that the true essence of the warrior path lay not in winning battles but in the encouragement of cooperation and harmony among people. He developed Aikido, which means "The Way of Harmony with Spirit," out of this basic insight.

    Therefore, unlike most martial arts, Aikido is primarily defensive. Ueshiba taught the importance of harmonizing with, and redirecting the force of, an attack to immobilize the attacker without harm. He instilled an ethical philosophy encouraging self-development and cooperation.

    Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, or Ki-Aikido for short, was developed by one of Ueshiba's greatest students, Koichi Tohei, who believed that the essence of Ueshiba's Aikido was the way it fostered the coordination of mind and body. Tohei called the development of this coordination Ki Development.

    In 1971, he founded the International Ki Society to promote Ki training and Aikido training based on Ki principles (handbook page 7; pdf).

    Quoted from the book "What is Aikido," by Koichi Tohei, 10th dan and founder of Ki Society:

"The principles of Aikido, most modern of Japan's Martial Arts, were discovered by Morihei Ueshiba. Its outstanding feature is that it made a great leap from the traditional physical arts to a spiritual martial art, from a relative martial art to an absolute art, from the aggressive, fighting martial arts to a spiritual martial art that seeks to abolish conflict."

    Aikido does not rely on bodily strength but rather on the coordination of mind and body, and thus the practice of Aikido is beneficial to all regardless of age, physical stature or gender. Most importantly, the Aikido philosophies and practices concentrate on self cultivation and can be applied to one's every-day life.