As far as religion it would depend on the dojo. I'm a Christian. I'm and ordain and licensed minister. I would not have done any training in aikido if it were to contradict my religious beliefs. In the bible we are taught to meditate on the Word. The only thing in aikido that I chose not to participate in was new year or camp. I didn't participate in those because of the chanting. I don't know enough of what the chanting is about. The dojo where I was training only do the chanting during some camps and new year.
Edit:
You picked an answer to quick on the bo question. I was going to respond on it too. I was at work and couldn't view the video. Then I had to teach class and work out at the gym. Now that I'm finally home the best answer has already been selected. Pugs gave a great answer. But there were a few other thing I wanted to point out. Pugs still would have had the est answer. I just would have added to it.
Not all Aikido classes do meditation. I have never heard of any Aikido Dojo that refused anyone that had problems with meditation. Just talk to the Sensei and ask him if that is a problem. most will say don;t worry about it.
By the Way I'm a Christian and I have never had any trouble with meditation issues or religion in my training.
Now that said, you want to learn joint locks and weapons. I suggest some options. A properly taught Karate class will teach joint locks and throws. They are in the Kata but not always something that looks like a lock or a throw. Any good Jujitsu class will teach locks and throws. I have seen the best weapons training in some of the Okinawan Karate styles. They often practice weapons/Kobudo as part of their class.
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I'm a Christian. I took aikido and so has one of my pastors. When you are dealing with a practice or art from an unfamiliar culture, caution is definitely understandable. A few things, like bowing, need to be sorted out and understood. Bowing in Japanese culture is not necessarily about worship; it's sort of a respectful greeting or acknowledgement. Depending on the group you train with, they might start talking about the teacher's spiritual beliefs, but probably not.
If you're interested in learning weapons, you'll be disappointed. They don't train the use of weapons in a really effective way. They typically teach a few basic techniques with a wooden knife, wooden sword, and four-foot staff--with no aliveness--so that they can then train in defense against weapons/disarms.
If you are Born Again Christian you will probably not like the meditation that some places use. If this applies to you, talk with the instructor before you begin.
All other aspects of mainstream Aikido are compatible with mainstream Christianity.
Aikido does not have any ties to Zen. Any affiliation with beliefs other than martial arts is because that is what the instructor at a particular dojo has chosen to incorporate, but not of the style. Ask the instructor, and move on if you are not happy with the answer you get.
Aikido teaches throws, joint locks, and pins. Strikes are used only for distraction. Grappling is only through pins. Chokes, etc are aggressive strageties and isn't part of core curriculum. You may be taught some grappling techniques in order to know how to escape them. But your primary goal will be escape, not implementing them.
Aikido teaches 3 weapons use: jo (4' staff), bokken (wood sword), and tanto (knife). Most or all Aikido techniques are modeled after the use of these weapons.
Aikido takes time to learn well, more than most styles. It is not meant to be used for competition, though one style of Tomiki does do this, but most in the Aikido world don't accept this because competition is anathema to Aikido.
You'll receive an academic, though not really practical, education in some throws and arm/wrist locks. The training methodologies common to Aikido make it very hard to pull off against someone using a more realistic attack. Not that it's useless, mind you, just that after a very early point, you'll just be getting really good at stuff you won't use outside of class. As for weapons, some Aikido schools will also incorporate weapons such as the jo (four-foot long staff) and the katana.
The religion thing is more up to you than anything. Abstract concepts only have the significance that we, as individuals, give them.
There shouldn't be any religious problems, unless you are a pacifist kind of Christian or see bowing or meditation as worshiping idols.
Zen is like Zen Buddhism or Chinese Buddhism. So it's basically Chinese/Japanese Buddhism, but most martial arts don't really care about the praying in Buddhism and only care about the spiritual concepts and meditation.
Aikido has a closer tie to Japanese feudalism and samurai warrior techniques, since a lot of aikido's techniques are altered forms of techniques to use against swords or with swords/staffs.
It is entirely up to you to decide wether to practice the spiritual aspect of aikido or not.
A lot of dojos also don't do anything regarding meditation and just teach the techniques.
But keep in mind that Aikido is not something you learn to pick fights, if you were to pick a fight knowing only aikido, you could be severely hurt, because aikido is not something to pick fights but to avoid them.
Also, many of the moves in aikido are not combat-effective because they usually require complete cooperation of your partner to be performed correctly. I'm sorry, most aikidokas will claim that this is all BS and that aikido is perfect to defend yourself, but that is simply not true and using aikido in real life would either require you to severely modify the techniques, use them in combination with something else OR only using them on clumsy drunkards.
So if you want to practice aikido to defend yourself...I'd seriously recommend other martial art...plenty of MA teach combat effective grapples, joint locks and throws, Jiujitsu for example has all these aspects, and Jiujitsu was the base for Judo, which in turn was the base for Aikido, so you might fill your needs there.
And aikido itself does not teaches you to use weapons, some senseis may decide to tie up the class with some kendo or other basic weapon training, but aikido itself has none of that.
O Sensei was a follower and practitioner of Omoto Kyu, a sect of Shinto however, virtually everyone in Japan practices both Shinto and some form of Buddhism, with Shin Do being the most popular and Zen being the most widely know outside of Japan.
Wakarimasu?
Not all teachers combine religion with their martial art. My daughter does Aikido and there is no religious aspect to it at all. If it is a concern of yours watch a class and talk to the teacher and let him know what your believes are and see if they go together. Some teachers are really way out there but that happens in other martial arts styles too.
Zen is really a philosophy and in a nutshell means centered, balanced and not extreme. Martial arts depends on physical balance and some carry it over into mental balance too. The wackos use the mental balance aspect and make it into a belief which they enforce on their students which in itself is not balanced either but an extreme too. So I'd be leery of their understanding what balance is too.
I am not religious and am rather sensitive to statements and requirements made by religious believers. I also trained in aikido for five years and found no overtly religious proselytizing in my dojos. There is an emphasis on "ki" as an energy to be channeled, but not in a religious way. My understanding was that O Sensei was indeed a religious man, but not one who tried to change anyone else's beliefs or even to compromise them. I certainly trained with a variety of people from a variety of Christian practices. None of them seemed offended or concerned about anything the sensei said or asked. Once he did mention that O Sensei wanted us to do God's will. I asked what that might be, he said we should look within.
So given that Aikido is a peaceful non-aggressive practice and that it teaches to resolve problems without violence and when it does get violent to resolve the issue without hurting anyone, wouldn't it follow basic teachings of Jesus Christ? By the way you will be using weapons, but only to simulate someone's attack and eventual disarming. Have fun it's great! My knees and shoulders would no longer stand the demands of training.
So religiously, as a Christian would I have any issues with it ( I haven't ever had an issue in any other style, but I understand Aiki has a deep tie with Zen? Not even sure what that is to be honest.
Also, I want to learn this style for two reasons: 1: Grappling, throws, and joint locks, and 2: how to use weapons.
It's up to you to decide how fanatical you are about Christianity. I mean, there are people who will tell you will go to hell for doing yoga. If it really bothers you, just think of everyone else's deities as part of the same godhead as Yahweh.
I think Japanese martial arts are as influenced by Shinto as much as they are by Buddhism, hence a gi is white and not the orange that own would associate with Buddhism, and at least in Japan-a dojo will have a kamidana.
Zen is a practice of Buddhism.. also called Chan Buddhism in china... there are different types of Buddhism.. Chan in Shaolin is practiced as away of life in not as what westerners call religion.. well in the beginning of martial arts in shaolin .. martial arts were purely practice for health and to help in the understanding of your self.. which basic principal of Chan is understanding one self.. I know aikido was hand to hand combat of samurais.. I don't believe all samurais practice Buddhism.. the key is that Bodhidharma lived in India, japan and china and he practiced Zen Buddhism or Chan, this is where the practice of martial arts and Buddhism are connected.. Chan Buddhism is the practice of harmony of the earth, self realization of the mind, body and spirit.. so you can see if Bodhidharma had any impact on aikido.. but I don't know that much about Aikido
You won't be using any weapons in Aikido
