Shiro Omiya – The Hidden Roots of Aikido

The Daitoryu is a brutally effective combat system that is claimed to have been invented over a thousand years ago by members of the Japanese royal dynasty.
It was then perfected and honed in secrecy by highly trained warriors during centuries of hand-to-hand battle.
Its skills were tightly kept until late in the nineteenth century, when teacher Sokaku Takeda, who began to welcome pupils from all around the country, first brought it to the globe.
Morihei Ueshiba spent years studying this tradition before embarking on his own to develop Aikido—which has now spread around the world.