London Aikikai - Traditional Aikido in London

• Aikikai - World Aikido Headquarters as its governing body, the Aikikai is the original organisation for the Japanese martial art aikido, officially recognized by the Japanese government in 1940. The Japanese word Aikikai translates as The Aikido Organisation. This is the original and traditional style of Aikido following the Founder of Aikido Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei's own group. This is also the biggest worldwide group by far. After O-Sensei's passing in 1969, his son Kisshomaru Ueshiba became head (Doshu) of the group, supported by almost all of O-Sensei's great students. In 1999 on the passing away of Kisshomaru Ueshiba Doshu, his son Moriteru Ueshiba became the new and current head of Aikido.
  
  Aikikai is and has been supported in Japan and around the world by most of the original students of the founder of Aikido.

• Yoshinkan - One of the early students of O-Sensei, Gozo Shioda Sensei started this separate group in 1955.
• Shodokan or Tomiki - A student of O-Sensei, Kenji Tomiki Sensei who had been a student of Judo prior to learning Aikido, founded this 'competitive' Aikido group around 1967. This group is to be found primarily in Japan and the UK.
• Ki Society or Ki Aikido - Founded by one of O-Sensei's students, Koichi Tohei Sensei in 1971, this style perhaps differs most from the traditional Aikido of O-Sensei's group.

• Teacher(s) - Finding the right teacher is no easy task and yet it is one of the most important decisions you will have to make for your aikido career. As a beginner it will be difficult to know good aikido from bad. You will have to go by your instincts to some extent but use the measures below to help you. The grade of the teacher(s) can be important if it was awarded by a credited body.
• Quality - Look for grade of the teacher(s) and more importantly look at who awarded the grade.
  
  Look for direct teacher-student relationships which go all the way back to the founder of Aikido. Lineage is a good indicator of transmission of the art from the Founder of Aikido to the teacher concerned. For example, in the case of London Aikikai, one of the closest disciples of O-Sensei, T K Chiba Shihan founded the dojo and the current senior teachers are his disciples.
  
  There are many self appointed Aikido people around. In many cases this self-appointing system may go back two or three generations where an individual has promoted himself/herself and then promoted their students. Often these people learned Aikido 'from a distance' by a combination of attending courses and watching videos and so on, but without any teacher-student relationship where the deep learning/transfer takes place.
  
  There are even stranger cases of promotions by martial arts or sports bodies (groups) with no knowledge of Aikido, promoting Aikido teachers to very high grades. Do your research before you begin.

• Affiliation - Look for affiliation to the 'mother' organisation, Aikikai in the case of traditional aikido. Be aware that only a few dojos in London, and indeed the UK, have this affiliation. Your Aikikai grades will be recognised all around the world. This will not be the case with privately issued grades. Ultimately this is a question of quality too.
• Training Schedule and National Courses - Look for a busy training schedule so that you can train as often as you have time for. In addition to quality regular practice, national courses, especially with international senior instructors are vital to grasping the the true nature of aikido.