‘True Budo Is a Work of Love’

The title of this post is a quote from the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, usually referred to as O Sensei. The word “budo” means the way of war, or warriorship, and Aikido is a martial art built on very traditional Japanese budo.

Many of the open-hand techniques of Aikido are adapted from sword work, and weapons training is a useful way to study the principles. Unlike many other martial arts, Aikido is not taught as a sport, and, as with all fighting arts, many of the techniques have dead...