Word-Dancing Together Towards Noble Outcomes

 Aikido is a martial art that Ueshiba derived from several traditional martial arts dating back to medieval samurai times. In contrast to the traditional martial arts, aikido is considered a modern art. However, in contrast to contemporary, newly developed, anti-traditional martial arts, aikido is a traditionalist martial art that believes that the wisdom of its art is encoded within traditional forms and training exercises. “More precisely, in traditionalist martial arts, one may experiment, but only in terms of applying principles. Transgression of the principles is transgression of the wisdom encoded in the martial art” (Bowman, 2014, p. 17). Even though aikido claims a link with tradition, it does not have a straightforward origin story. In order to better understand the inception and the present manifestation of aikido, it is significant to know the evolution of martial arts from pre-medieval Japan to the 20th century. This history shows how and why aikido, as a modern martial...