Aikido major style
The major styles of aikido each have their own headquarters (honbu dōjō) in Japan, have an international breadth, and were founded by direct students of Morihei Ueshiba.[1]
- Aikikai The largest organization is the Aikikai Foundation, referred to as Aikikai. This style has remained centred on the family of Morihei Ueshiba, and is currently headed by the founder's grandson, Moriteru Ueshiba (植芝 守央 Ueshiba Moriteru, born 1951).
The earliest independent styles to emerge were
- Yoshinkan Aikido founded by Gozo Shioda in 1955,[2]
- Yoseikan Aikido, begun by Minoru Mochizuki in 1931,[3] and
- Shodokan Aikido, founded by Kenji Tomiki in 1967.[4]
The emergence of these styles pre-dated Ueshiba's death and did not cause any major upheavals when they were formalized except Shodokan Aikido which introduced rule based competition in training. This was unique in aikido at the time and some felt contrary to the spirit of aikido.
- Ki Society - Another event that caused significant controversy was the departure of the Aikikai Honbu Dojo's chief instructor Koichi Tohei, in 1974. Tohei left as a result of a disagreement with the son of the founder, Kisshomaru Ueshiba (植芝 吉祥丸 Ueshiba Kisshōmaru, 1921–1999), who at that time headed the Aikikai Foundation. The disagreement was over the proper role of ki development in regular aikido training. After Tohei left, he formed his own style, called Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, and the organization which governs it, the Ki Society.[5]
- Iwama Ryu - A final major style evolved from Ueshiba's retirement in Iwama, Japan, and the teaching methodology of long term student Morihiro Saito. It is unofficially referred to as the "Iwama style". Although Iwama style practitioners remained part of the Aikikai until Saito's death in 2002, followers of Saito subsequently split into two groups; one remaining with the Aikikai and the other forming the independent organization Shinshin Aikishuren Kai (神信合気修練会, Shinshin Aikishuren Kai?) in 2004 around Saito's son Hitohiro Saito (斎藤 仁弘 Saitō Hitohiro, born 1957).
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aikido_styles