The centre of the Aikido world is Tokyo in Japan; the headquarters of Aikido is the Hombu Dojo (Japanese: main training hall).
The Hombu Dojo was founded in 1931 by Morihei Ueshiba himself.
The Aikikai Foundation
The Hombu Dojo is also home to the Aikikai Foundation.
The Aikikai Foundation was officially recognised by the Japanese government in 1940 and is the original and world’s largest organisation for Aikido. The Foundation describes itself as the umbrella organisation for the development and dissemination of Aikido throughout the world.
Following the death of Morihei Ueshiba, leadership of the organisation was passed to his son, Kisshōmaru Ueshiba, in 1969.
The current head of the Aikikai (Doshu) is Moriteru Ueshiba, the grandson of O-Sensei Ueshiba Morihei.
Within the Aikikai, there are several lineages that trace their origins to different pupils of Morihei Ueshiba. Consequently, quite different styles may well co-exist within the foundation.
The spread of Aikido
In 1951, Master Minoru Mochizuki introduced aikido to a European country for the first time, in France.
The following year, Master Tadashi Abe began to spread aikido throughout Europe from his base in Marseille.
Aikido was introduced to Hawaii by Koichi Tohei in 1953.
In 1956, André Nocquet became the first Frenchman to travel to Tokyo to train at the Aikikai.
In 1961, Master Masamichi Noro came to Paris.
The martial art reached Germany around 1960.
From 1965 onwards, Aikido became known in Australia.
In the early 1970s, the first dojos appeared in Luxembourg.
In Europe, the spread of Aikido was driven by Nobuyoshi Tamura and Masamichi Noro from France. Both were direct pupils of Morihei Ueshiba.
Hiroshi Tada promoted Aikido from Italy, whilst Katsuaki Asai made his contribution from Germany.
They were later joined by Masatomi Ikeda (Switzerland and Luxembourg), Yasunari Kitaura (Spain) and Kazuo Chiba (United Kingdom).
In the 1960s, Ueshiba’s post-war pupils scattered across the globe.
Nowadays, there are Aikido dojos in almost every country in the world!
The International Aikido Federation (IAF) was founded in 1975 and comprises six continental federations and more than forty national aikido federations.
In addition, there are many other federations and dojos both within and outside the Aikikai.