Concept I.S.T.A.
What signifies I.S.T.A.?

Literally : International School of Traditional Aïkido

In short, I.S.T.A. is an organization which is remained faithful to what must be aikido.

I.S.T.A is a model of organization which avoids the sportive, commercial and administrative drifts which underlies many aikido groups.

The traditional concept
One master - One dojo

More than 300 dojos are united under ISTA troughout the world

A traditional discipline is founded on a long experimentation over the time. Arts answering this definition are transmitted individuals to individuals, from master to student.
This teaching requests the genius of each one, it aims to freedom, to train autonomous people.

Aikido as a traditional art lie within this scope; the professor is the Master:
- Of his discipline
aikido is an art, and like such, it is adapted by the Master who practises and teaches his aikido. The way is like the wire of the sabre: a step on side, and one is not any more in the way. No compromise is possible, it is necessary that each one continues its research until the end.

- Of his practice
Each teacher adapts his practice to his age, his experiment, his physique, his research. The technique is a tool, a language, a mean and not a finality.

-Of his teaching
He teaches his art with apprentices put to the test (uchi deshi), according to personal principles for which he is the only responsible for.

He evaluates his own work, the delivery of ranks is his responsibility (who else could do it?)
His quality, the quality of its pupils, are the only witnesses of his competence.

It is important that one chooses his professor carefully, the traditional spirit not being alone systematically pledge of quality.
This system is certainly not perfect, the yin which cannot exist without the yang, but it remains according to us the most intelligent and adapted model for aikido.

From this model, joined with a right understanding of the basics of aikido, rises logically a certain type of practice, which insists on the essential and and proscribes any contradictory ways of practice.

So there cannot be such things as "official grading system", "jury" or "examinators". The teacher is the sole responsible of his students and the students must have enough judgement to choose the right teacher.