The Meaning of Ai-Ki-Do
Aikido means the Way of Harmonizing Energies, and was the name given by Morihei Ueshiba to the martial art he developed from the Daito-ryu Aiki-jujitsu that he had been taught by Sokaku Takeda.
Aikido is written with three kanji, or Chinese characters. Buddhist monks in the 6th century A.D. brought to Japan the ideographic Chinese writing system wherein each character conveys a meaning. This stands in contrast to alphabetic writing systems, wherein each character conveys a sound. Because kanji convey meanings rather than sounds, the same character can be pronounced differently by people who speak different languages. For instance, the character which is pronounced ki in Japanese is pronounced as chi by speakers of Mandarin Chinese. This is because while both Japanese and Chinese agree that the character means Energy, it is the case that the word for energy in Japanese is pronounced ki, while in Mandarin Chinese it is pronounced chi.
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This character means blending or harmonizing. It is pronounced ai by the Japanese. Because it is pronounced hap by the Koreans, they read the three characters as Hapkido, which is to say that the name of the Korean martial art called Hapkido is written with the same three characters as is Aikido. That is because it was founded by Young Sool Choi, who studied Aiki-jujitsu under the same man, Sokaku Takeda, as did the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. |
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This character means energy. As mentioned above, the Japanese pronounce it ki. However, energy here should be thought of metaphysically as well as physically. One does not just mean the power to move physical things or magnetism or electricity. The founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, was a believer in the Omoto branch of the indigenous Japanese religion of Shinto. Omoto practitioners believed that everything in the Universe, material or not, was ultimately derived from sound energy. Consequently one should strive to harmonize one’s energy with the Universe, and the Universal vibration. |
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This character means road, path, or way. It is pronounced do (with a hard oh sound like Homer Simpson cursing: Doh!) by the Japanese and Tao by the Chinese. It is the same Tao as in Taoism. It conveys the metaphorical and poetic meaning of a proper life path, as in follow the way of peace.So, Aikido means the Way of Harmonizing Energies. The idea is that an attacker is simply out of harmony with the Universe, and that your job is not to kick his ass but, rather, to help him regain harmony with the Universe. That is why Aikido favors techniques that can restrain the attacker without hurting him. |
Whereas Tokaku Sakeda taught Aiki-jujitsu, or Techniques that Harmonize Energies, Ueshiba wished to make his art form a spiritual path in its own right. The older system had a bunch of techniques that were good in a fight because they allowed you to blend with your enemy and use his energy against him. Ueshiba wanted something more. He wanted a spiritual path, a Do. Hence, as he pursued Omoto spiritual practice, he re-Christened his art as Aikido to indicate that it was a spiritual path rather than just a kick butt fighting system.
