Aikido Practice
Aikido practice is cooperative -- you practice with various partners during a class, each person alternating as the person initiating the movement (the uke), and the person receiving the movement (the nage). Typically, an instructor will demonstrate a technique to the class, and then the students will practice until the instructor is ready to demonstrate again or do another technique.

Weapons and Aikido
Most aikido dojos integrate weapons practice into their classes. A wooden sword (bokken) and and staff (jo) are most frequently used. Weapons are used as training aids, to increase awareness of distance and movement.

Taijitsu: Open-Hand Techniques
Open-hand techniques, i.e., using no weapons, are what you'll most often see practiced in the dojo. We practice with weapons to better understand the movements and interactions of open-hand techniques.

Randori: Multiple-person Attack
It has been said that randori is "true" aikido, the essence of the art. When we practice, we seek to train our minds and bodies to react properly to unexpected situations. The founder of our art said that aikido is spontaneous and creative, and multiple-person attacks are the test of this.

During randori there is rarely time to do "techniques". Rather we seek to use the basic principles of irimi and tenkan -- entering and turning -- to neutralize each attack.

The clips below illustrate how we train for and hope to react to such a situation. The video is from a 1986 seminar by Takeguchi sensei at Mt. Pleasant Aikido, in Charleston, SC.

Seminars
Many aikido dojos and organizations hold seminars during the year, to give their students exposure to other sensei and students, and other ways of practicing aikido. Students also are encouraged to go to seminars at other dojos. Current seminar information is always available at our Seminars, Testing and Events page.