Aikido vs. Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu
Quick answer
Aikido derives mainly from Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu, which Morihei Ueshiba studied under Sokaku Takeda from 1915 and from which he diverged from the end of the twenties of the 20th century. Both arts teach joint locks and throws in paired kata, but instead of belts Daito-ryu awards scrolls and licences, uses atemi systematically, and some of its branches also teach kenjutsu. Aikido competes only in some schools, we have not found competitions in Daito-ryu, and neither is Olympic.
At a glance
| Aikido | Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu | |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Japan | Japan |
| Origin | 20th century (present form) | 19th century (present form) |
| Founder | Morihei Ueshiba | Sokaku Takeda |
| Contact | Light contact | Light contact |
| Sparring | Partner drills only · Light contact (depending on style) | Partner drills only |
| Competition format | Mixed | No competitions |
| Olympic status | Not Olympic | Not Olympic |
| Ranks | Yes (belts) | Yes (certificates) |
| Rank recognition | fragmented | fragmented |
| Attire | Gi required | – |
| Weapons | Weapons optional | Weapons optional |
| Forms | Forms optional | – |
| Relative cost | low | unknown |
| Techniques in the encyclopedia | 14 | 1 |
Scales 1–5
Rated for the typical training of an adult beginner in an ordinary club, calibrated across all arts.
What each art is built from
Editorial rating 0–3: how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
History and relationship
Aikido derives mainly from Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu. Morihei Ueshiba met Sokaku Takeda in Engaru on Hokkaido in 1915, and sources give either February or March. Takeda’s student records (eimeiroku) list him at 13 documented seminars from 1915 to 1931, and a direct link to Daito-ryu is documented until 1937.
- Late 19th century: Sokaku Takeda (1859–1943) from Aizu combined the Aizu teaching of oshiki-uchi with other skills, and the sources differ on the year Daito-ryu arose.
- 1922: Takeda stayed with Ueshiba in Ayabe for about four and a half months and on 15 September 1922 granted him the kyoju dairi licence.
- End of the twenties of the 20th century: aikido begins to diverge from Daito-ryu, and in 1931 Ueshiba founds the Kobukan dojo in Tokyo.
- 1942: Ueshiba’s art receives the name aikido.
- 1943: after the death of Sokaku Takeda, the school is led by his son Tokimune Takeda (1916–1993), under whom dan grades appear.
Technique
- The principles of irimi, tenkan, atemi, kokyu-ho and sankaku-ho.
- Joint locks and throws ikkyo to gokyo, shiho nage, kote gaeshi.
- Atemi as a strike to vulnerable points or preparation for a throw.
- After Ueshiba’s move to Iwama (1942), strikes to vital points, irimi and the distinction between omote and ura were suppressed in practice.
- Joint locks and throws, with atemi used systematically to prepare a lock and a throw.
- Tokimune Takeda stated that the names shihonage and kotegaeshi come from Daito-ryu and that kokyunage is called aikinage in it.
- According to Tokimune Takeda, the techniques are based on the sword.
- Tokimune Takeda described aiki as pulling when one is pushed and pushing when one is pulled.
Aikido took many throws and pins from Daito-ryu, and some were devised by Ueshiba himself. Tokimune Takeda preferred to immobilize a fallen attacker with a knee on the joint, so as to have the hands free.
Training
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Form of instruction | paired kata (uke attacks, tori responds), the warm-up junbi taiso and falls | mainly paired kata, that is pre-arranged exercises |
| Partner’s resistance | cooperation is the default, Shodokan has tanto randori with resistance | we have not found free randori, Tokimune Takeda stated that in the Daitokan only kata are practised |
| Weapons | bokken, jo, tanto, in Iwama aiki-ken and aiki-jo | Daitokai: kenjutsu and Ono-ha Itto-ryu, kodachi, tessen, shuriken, bo, jutte, tanken |
Tokimune Takeda described the teaching of Daito-ryu as completely different from other schools and the training as harder than the soft practice of aiki. This is his statement. We have not found the ratio of technique, partner practice and conditioning in a lesson for either art.
Progression and ranks
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| System | kyu (white belt) and dan (black belt) | scrolls and licences, dan only after the war and only in some branches |
| Content of grades | standards differ by organization | Hiden Mokuroku 118 techniques, Aiki-no-jutsu 53, Hiden Okugi 36 |
| Teaching licences | Aikikai: certificates and titles signed by the doshu | kyoju dairi (teacher’s deputy) and menkyo kaiden (full transmission) |
| Age limits | some dojo set a minimum age before the dan examination | we have not found any |
Ueshiba himself went through the Daito-ryu system, receiving the kyoju dairi licence in 1922 and the scrolls Hiden Mokuroku and Hiden Ogi from Takeda. The Daitokai states that its students study jujutsu and kenjutsu up to 2nd dan and the other weapons up to 3rd dan.
Physical load and risks
- Zetaruk et al. (BJSM 2005, 47 aikido practitioners out of 263 participants): an injury with lost training time in a year in 51% of aikido practitioners, 30% in karate.
- Compared with karate, a higher risk of injuries to the head and neck, upper limbs and soft tissues.
- Typically soft tissues, joints and fingers, often from misjudging how uke will cope with a throw or a pin.
- We have not found a study of injuries or load in Daito-ryu.
- Tokimune Takeda describes the training as hard, which is a statement of the head of the school, not a measurement.
Who it suits
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Women | Hombu dojo: a women’s class and the Women’s Special Course | we have not found any |
| Older age | Ki Society teaches all age groups | we have not found any |
| Professional groups | Yoshinkan Senshusei with the Tokyo police | historically Sokaku Takeda’s seminars for officers and police |
Children
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Children’s programmes | Hombu dojo has a children’s class, we have not found the age | we have not found a children’s programme |
| Children’s competitions | we have not found a children’s competition | Daito-ryu does not hold competitions |
| Forbidden techniques and protectors | we have not found any | we have not found any |
| Study | Zetaruk et al. 2005, a mixed sample of martial arts | we have not found a study of children |
Self-defence
- Joint locks, throws and falls against a partner’s attack.
- Randori against several attackers at higher grades.
- Shodokan: in tanto randori the defender resists an attacker with a training knife.
- Atemi, joint locks, throws and pressure on points in paired kata.
- Kenjutsu and other weapons in kata in the curriculum of some branches.
- We have not found free randori or training with resistance.
Both arts train mainly against a cooperating partner. We have not found a study of effectiveness against a real attack for either of them.
Practical use
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Study | a review of 20 articles (Archives of Budo 2017): flexibility, balance, mindfulness, weak methodology | we have not found a study of benefits for fitness or the psyche |
| Balance | 30 beginners, 8 weeks (Saruhan and Bavli 2023): improved static balance | we have not found any |
| Professional use | Yoshinkan Senshusei with the Tokyo police since 1957 | around 1903 Takeda taught members of the 2nd Division of the army for several years, we have not found current use |
Studies on aikido concern small groups and short programmes, and we have not found any for Daito-ryu. No general conclusion about suitability can be drawn from them.
Competition
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Sport competition | only some schools, Aikikai does not compete | we have not found competitions or bout rules |
| Forms of competition | Shodokan: tanto randori, toshu randori, embu, Ki Society: taigi | does not hold any |
| Olympic Games | no | no |
Gear and costs
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing | white keikogi, in many schools hakama from dan level | we have not found a description of clothing |
| Weapons in training | bokken, jo, tanto | Daitokai: sword (kenjutsu), kodachi, tessen, shuriken, bo, jutte, tanken |
| Protectors | not mentioned for regular training | we have not found any |
| Relative costs | low | we have not found any |
Availability and organisations
| Aikido | Daito-ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Organizations | Aikikai (Hombu dojo), IAF, Yoshinkan, Shodokan, Ki Society | the branches Takumakai, Kodokai, Roppokai, Daitokai and the main line of Katsuyuki Kondo |
| Recognition of grades | within the Aikikai valid worldwide, not between organizations | the Daitokai states recognition in its member dojo, we have not found a common system across the branches |
| Succession | the doshu from the Ueshiba family | after Sokaku Takeda his son Tokimune, from whom Katsuyuki Kondo received menkyo kaiden (1988) |
Switching and combining
- The names shihonage and kotegaeshi and many joint locks and throws are shared.
- Experience with ukemi and with the roles of uke and tori in kata.
- Expect more pronounced atemi, irimi and the distinction between omote and ura, which aikido suppressed after Iwama.
- Scrolls and licences instead of belts, in some branches kenjutsu and other weapons.
- Throws and pins, many of which aikido took over.
- The Daito-ryu technique aikinage corresponds to kokyunage.
- Kyu and dan belts with standards that depend on the organization.
- In Shodokan and Ki Society, competitions, which Daito-ryu does not have.
On the left the transition from aikido to Daito-ryu, on the right from Daito-ryu to aikido. The Daito-ryu club of Katsuyuki Kondo at Chiba Kogyo University later became an aikido club.
Philosophy
- Masakatsu agatsu katsuhayabi: the aim is to overcome oneself, not to cultivate violence.
- Takemusu aiki from the late period in Iwama.
- Sokaku Takeda: the secret of aiki is to overpower the opponent mentally with a glance and win without fighting.
- Tokimune Takeda: the study of the sword is essential for Daito-ryu.
Forms and terminology
Both arts are learned mainly as paired kata. In aikido uke attacks and tori responds, and Shodokan has the Junanahon set with 17 techniques. Daito-ryu arranges techniques into sets certified by scrolls, for example Hiden Mokuroku with 118 techniques, and the Daitokai adds to them the sword kata Kendo-no-kata, Gogyo-no-kata and Ono-ha Itto-ryu. We have not found separate solo forms in Daito-ryu.
Training culture
- Hombu dojo in Tokyo, headed by the doshu from the Ueshiba family.
- The uchi-deshi programme, life in the dojo.
- Above the Law (1988) with Steven Seagal, the first American film with aikido in its fight scenes.
- Sokaku Takeda kept records of students (eimeiroku) and the payment book shareiroku for about 45 years.
- We have not found Daito-ryu in film or literature.
Common misconceptions
- Daito-ryu was founded in the 11th century by Minamoto no Yoshimitsu: this is a tradition of the school. No records of the art before Sokaku Takeda are known, and according to Mihály Dobróka the first written version of the story found is a newspaper interview with Takeda from 1936.
- The school’s lineage is unbroken: Dobróka describes gaps and a family register from 1876 that lists the Takedas as farmers.
- Ueshiba fled Osaka from Takeda in 1936: the story circulates among Daito-ryu practitioners, Guillaume Erard (2020) shows that Takuma Hisa’s versions contradict each other and that Ueshiba taught in Osaka also in 1937.
Which to choose
Frequently asked questions
Is aikido derived from Daito-ryu?
Aikido derives mainly from Daito-ryu, which Morihei Ueshiba studied under Sokaku Takeda from 1915. In 1922 he received the kyoju dairi licence. From the end of the twenties of the 20th century he began to diverge from it, devised some techniques himself, and the name aikido has been in use since 1942.
When did Daito-ryu arise?
The sources give no single year. Sokaku Takeda compiled the teaching in the late 19th century, and his teaching trips are documented from 1898. The origin in the 11th century is a tradition of the school with no surviving records.
Is there competition in Daito-ryu?
We have not found competitions or bout rules of Daito-ryu. Aikido competes only in some schools, mainly Shodokan and Ki Society, and the Aikikai does not compete. Neither is Olympic.