The art of peace is the principle of nonresistance. Because it is nonresistant, it is victorious from the beginning. Those with evil intentions or contentious thoughts are instantly vanquished. The art of peace is invincible because it contents with nothing.

Morihei Ueshiba, in the art of peace translated by John Stevens

Aikido is a relatively young Japanese martial art dating from the 1920's when its founder Morihei Ueshiba (O'Sensei = Honored Teacher), began to develop what he eventually came to call Aikido. Aikido can mean "the way (do) to harmony (ai) with ki". Aikido is rooted in the Japanese warrior tradition and incorporates concepts from the Yagyu school of swordsmanship. It is also based on Ueshiba's nearly 20-year study of Daito-Ryu jujutsu which was gentled and transformed by his attachment for the Omote religion and its celebration of life, creation, and loving protection of others. Aikido replaced the maiming and destruction of classic jujitsu with control and compassion.

Internal principles aim to subdue and control rather than damage or destroy the opponent while protecting the attacker and the attacked. The Aikidoist does not punch or kick to injure or harm unnecessarily, does not block or resist attacks, but blends with, redirects and transforms the attackers energy maintaining the flow. The result is devastating softness, invisible technique and art that makes no sense to observers accustomed to force against force (adapted from Aikido, Exercises for teaching and training by C.M. Shifflett).

Westbrook and Ratti (1970) in their famous book "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" described Aikido as "the gentlemens fighting art. Though it is not an unfamiliar word, few outside the world of the martial arts can distinguish it from various other methods of self-defense. Its trademark, however, lies partly in its sophisticated style and partly in its essential motivations.

Aikido is a method of self-defense which can be used against any form of attack and - at its highest levels - a Discipline of Coordination, a "way" of harmonizing all of man's [and woman's] vital powers. There is no attack in aikido; i.e. its goal is merely to neutralize an aggression and render the attacker harmless, without causing him [or her] any serious injury if at all possible. To do this requires skill, but even more, it requires an ethical intention. The very word aikido, in fact, contains the three elements which comprise the art; "ai", harmony or coordination, "ki", spirit or energy; "do", the method, the way.

A man [or woman] who studies and practices aikido correctly desires only to defend himself [or herself] without hurting others. To possess this attitude, one must achieve a very high level of integration of the powers of mind and body, the harmonious combination of physical means and ethical motives."

"Aikido is the art of hitting people with planets." Anonymous Aikidoka