The word "aikido" is written with three characters: ai, for harmony; ki, meaning breath or life energy; and do, for the way. Thus aikido lends itself to numerous,though similar, translations. The most common are "the way of spritual harmony," "the way of universal harmony" or "the way of harmonizing oneีs spirit with the spirit of the Universe." Just as numerous are the ways the art is perceived and understood, both by its practioners and the uninitiated. I was once told by an instructor at a jujitsu school that aikido was really just "watered down daito-ryu," just as I once read a fervent published discourse by an aikido practitioner who insisted aikido was never meant to be a method of practical self-defense, but solely a spiritual pursuit.

While both opinions contain elements of truth, neither is wholly accurate and both demonstrate a basic lack of understanding of the art, most notably its history. The prevailing opinion seems to be that aikido is either a wholly spirtual pursuit without practical self-defense value or a purely physical one, effective only if regressed to its more brutal daito-ryu roots with spirituality relegated to off-mat contemplation

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