The Birth of Aikido

The name 'Aikido' is created by the permutation of three characters in the Japanese language. 'Ai', which means 'joining'; 'ki', which means 'spirit' and 'do', which signifies 'way'. These three characters really sum up the essence of Aikido as a kind of martial art: 'the joining of the spirit to find the way'. It was only in the period from 1930's to the 1940's that the name Aikido was legally accepted as the name of this martial art variety.