It is commonly believed that O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba was interested in Aikido.
This is not the case.
Aikido was merely a stopgap for him.
What interested Master Ueshiba was Aiki. It was in this sense that he once jokingly replied to a young boy who asked to learn his art: ‘You want to practise my art? How interesting! Nobody practises my art!’. It was in the same spirit that he initially declined to demonstrate his art in front of the Emperor of Japan, explaining that he could not show a lie to the Emperor.
For Aiki-do is only the path that leads to Aiki, nothing more. Aikido is a method for learning Aiki.
To take Aikido for Aiki is to mistake the means for the end.
In any class, in any course, nothing else is passed on but Aikido. More or less well - and sometimes badly - but only Aikido is passed on. And this is for one simple reason: Aiki cannot be passed on, it can only be found. Aikido, on the other hand, can be passed on.
Master Ueshiba passed on his Aikido, Master Saito passed on Master Ueshiba's Aikido, but neither of them passed on Aiki.
The only thing that has a chance to be passed on in addition to Aikido in a class is the clear evidence that Aikido is not Aiki. However, awareness of this nature is impossible as long as the learner is unaware that what he is learning is only a method of learning, and that he will never have any freedom within this framework.
I also teach Aikido in my classes, of course, but I equally strive to open up to this greater discernment, in the hope that it may change the way we look at the art and what we believe we understand about it.
Half a century ago, I arrived in England for the first time. I was fifteen years old. I have returned so often since then that the perfidious Albion has become a country that I appreciate and where I feel at home... no man is perfect, but honi soit qui mal y pense. I will therefore be very happy to see all my English friends again in Chichester on 16 and 17 August.
Philippe Voarino, July 2025
