Iwama Style

Iwama Style Aikido is the style of aikido that was taught at Iwama dojo (in Iwama) by the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, and especially the lineage passed on through Morihiro Saito, a close disciple who was given responsibility over Iwama dojo by Ueshiba.

It is also known by many names. These include Iwama-ryū (岩間流 where ryū is the Japanese term for a style or school), Iwama Style (岩間スタイル where "style" was transliterated into Japanese from English). It is often associated with the term Takemusu after the martial concept. It is sometimes also referred to as Traditional or Dentō (伝統, lit. traditional).

It is sometimes called Saito style, though never by Iwama stylists themselves as Saito insisted that he intended to preserve the founder's style.

At one point Saito gave out specific "Iwama-ryu" ranks at the insistence of his European students. However, he always awarded ranks through the Aikikai out of respect for the Ueshiba family.

Saito also gave out mokuroku (scrolls) for his aiki-ken and aiki-jo with levels loosely modeled after the traditional license system of classical Japanese martial arts.

Today, Iwama style aikido organisations can be found both within and outside of the Aikikai. The main non-Aikikai branch is Iwama Shin-Shin Aiki Shuren-kai, founded by Morihiro Saito's son Hitohiro Saito. It continues to issue Iwama Ryu grading certificates; however, many of Saito's longest students have remained affiliated with the Aikikai. In Europe some of these groups belong to the Takemusu Aikido Kyokai umbrella organisation. In the United States, the major organization is the Takemusu Aikido Association

Some years ago, the distribution of Iwama style dojos was more abundant in some countries, such as the Scandinavian countries. The existence of this organization was reflected in the organization of aikido in some countries, such as Sweden, where there were three committees for the different types of aikido within the Budo Federation - Iwama-ryū, Ki-aikido, and Aikikai. Despite this, the original Iwama Ryu group was never officially declared an organization independent of the Aikikai, and it can be regarded as a rather informal network.

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