Art

generally, aikido is a passive martial art. it uses the most minimal force as possible. it redirects the force exerted by the aggressor, and thus, it is defensive by nature. for me, its the best martial arts for defense

Aikido - I will break this down, for you. Then I will tell you why I like this martial art the best, I will try not to ramble. Aikido - The way of harmony of the spirit or The way of Unity with the Fundamental force of the Universe. I like it for two reasons, to me at this point in time they are equally important, I am sure though as I grow, one will grow far more important then the other. The reason that will become more important is, it teaches you peace, and understanding with the universe. The other reason is, you can take your "partner" by the hand, move to see things from their point of view and "send" them down the path of least resistance, and the harder they try to hit you, the further they go. Cheers.

aikido essentially is complete harmony, harmony with everything. in simple terms, yes its a great way to defend your self. but true aikido is harmony. aikido is a TRUE martial art, it is not a martial art "based" on competion or sport. in aikido there is no competion. no rules.

You ask a right question my friend ;). I have join this aikido back in 1996, attend 5 classes then I stopped. Not because it is not good, in fact its one of the best I think, but at that time 'perserverence' is not yet in my vocabs. As far as I can remember, aikido asks you to use the strength of the thing/people that attck you. If the attacker run to you, then you use his strength to put him down, a minimum use of your own energy. Aikido principles is good for everyday hassle too, even in a case of verbal attack, if you adopt aikido techniques the person that attck you verbally will end up attacking himself. That is my brief summary, you better read somewhere else like wikipedia.. good luck!

in fact they say it was great in my opinion it is simply manipulating your enemy with just a few moves it then "checkmate". i really hope i could incorporate this art in my learning but one reason i can't because small joint manipulations is illegal in MMA so only wrist manipulation at least i can do.