Kobukan Aikido Dojo

Aikido (literally "the way of harmony") is derived from the fighting arts of the samurai. Developed in the 1920s by Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, Aikido is a way of training and study based on the physical principles of the fighting arts, but with the goals of peace, harmony, self-improvement and cooperation.

Aikido is a strictly defensive study that uses pins and throws to control and to redirect an aggressor's energy. While it may look harsh or even violent, Aikido study stresses working in concert, not competition, with one's training partner to create one, beautiful technique.

The beginnings of Aikido can be found in Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu, a traditional Japanese martial art said to be nearly 1,000 years old. Its foremost practitioner and the first person to bring this art to the public was Takeda Sokaku. He traveled throughout Japan refining and testing his techniques in personal combat for his entire life, eventually settling in Hokkaido, where his descendants still teach Daito-ryu.

Ueshiba Morihei Then in 1915, Takeda met the man who would found the art that would come to be known as Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba.

As a young man, Ueshiba was rather weak and sickly, so his father encouraged him to study sumo. Throughout the rest of his life, Ueshiba Sensei would continue to study the martial arts, eventually earning teaching certificates in the sword, spear, bayonet and many unarmed styles. From a very early age he also studied his native Shintoism as well as some of the most esoteric Buddhist rites and concepts. It was this religious influence that allowed Ueshiba to transform the fighting art of Daito-ryu into a study of harmony. Due to his great contribution, Aikido has become an internationally known and respected art.

In 1932, after opening the Kobukan Dojo in Tokyo, Ueshiba Sensei admitted one of his earliest uchi-deshi or live-in students, Gozo Shioda. It was at this time that Ueshiba Sensei's techniques were at their most refined and powerful, and Shioda was one of the beneficiaries of this clarity. Shioda continued to train until being forced to go to Formosa during World War II. When he returned to Japan, he found both his country and the martial arts he loved in ruins. It was through Shioda's sacrifice and hard work that Aikido and other arts were able to grow and flourish in post-war Japan.

Shioda eventually was able to open his own dojo, the Yoshinkan, in 1955 and around this same time took in one of his first uchi-deshi, Takashi Kushida. For the next ten years, Kushida lived, trained and assisted Shioda at the Yoshinkan, becoming a certified instructor in 1964. In addition to his duties at the dojo, Kushida Sensei also taught the Japanese Air Force and the Tokyo Riot Control Police. He was also instrumental in the organization, development, and administration of the Yoshinkai organization.

Kushida Sensei came to the U.S. in 1973 and established the Aikido Yoshokai Association of North America (AYANA) in 1991. AYANA has continued to grow and flourish under Kushida Sensei's guidance and now consists of approximately 40 dojos and over 1,000 students. Kushida Sensei continues to teach and train at his home dojo, the Genyokan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.