The aikido of Iwama
Iwama-ryū is the name given to the aikido taught by the art's founder, Ueshiba Morihei, at the village of Iwama in Ibaraki, Japan, and above all to the line preserved there by his close disciple Saitō Morihiro (斎藤守弘, 1928–2002). Ueshiba moved to Iwama in 1942 and built its Aiki Shrine and dōjō, and the training of that period is remembered for the close weaving together of empty-handed technique with the sword and the staff.
Saitō's preservation
Saitō trained under Ueshiba at Iwama for more than two decades and took charge of the dōjō and the shrine. He set himself the task of preserving and teaching in careful detail the aiki-ken and aiki-jō, the sword and staff work, alongside the body arts, and he set this curriculum down in his "Traditional Aikido" volumes. The approach is often summed up in Ueshiba's phrase takemusu aiki, the boundless creativity of aiki.
Takemusu aiki, the boundless creativity born of aiki.
After Saitō
On Saitō's death in 2002 the Iwama tradition continued along more than one path, some schools remaining within the Aikikai and others, led by his son Saitō Hitohira, teaching independently. All hold in common the Iwama stress on weapons and body arts as a single whole.