# International Aikido Federation

International Aikido Federation (IAF) is a world governing body for the martial art of Aikido.

## Structure

The International Aikido Federation was formed in 1976 to serve as a primary global aikido organisation. It is an umbrella organisation with member organisations from more than 80 nations (for example, the All-Japan Aikido Federation is one member). All full members must be recognised by the Hombu and all associate members must be validated by the Hombu, so the IAF exclusively represents the Aikikai.
The IAF is a nominally democratic organisation but special roles are given to the Aikido Doshu and a council of senior instructors, to safeguard the "technical and moral" integrity of aikido.
The IAF currently admits only one member organisation per country and gives each full member an equal vote (it was modeled on the UN; it does not necessarily give every Aikikai student equal representation).
The IAF also organises International Aikido Congresses every four years, facilitating direct training between aikido students of different countries, sharing instruction by the world's most senior aikido instructors, and also providing a channel for official communication with the Hombu.
The membership of the IAF has grown to 87 member countries in April 2024, of which 13 are associate members without voting power.
The IAF publishes a list of member nations and organisations.

## Chairs

* Guy Bonnefond (1974-1984)
* Giorgio Veneri (1984-1996)
* Peter Goldsbury (1996-2016)
Peter Goldsbury is also a Professor of comparative mythology at Hiroshima and he has published a large body of aikido articles over his many years of practice. In early 2016, Peter Goldsbury announced his retirement and he officially stepped down following the elections that took place during the 12th IAF Congress held in September 2016 in the city of Takasaki (Gunma Prefecture, Japan).
* Kei Izawa (2016-2021)
Kei Izawa previously served as the IAF's General Secretary and he has also translated in English the biography of Morihei Ueshiba written by his son, Kisshomaru Ueshiba. Kei Izawa currently still serves as the Vice-Chairman of the IAF.
* Wilko Vriesman (2021- )

## Events
### International Aikido Federation Congress

Every four years, the IAF holds a Congress in Japan where delegations from all member countries gather for a week of practice under the direction of numerous high ranked instructors, both Japanese and foreign. Along with the seminar are held directing committee meetings, liaison meetings as well as elections.
The last congress where delegates attended in person took place in the city of Takasaki (Gunma) in September 2016. No Congress was held in 2020 due the Covid-19 Pandemic. But on 13 October 2021 a virtual congress was held online during which new elections took place. Notwithstanding the pandemic, momentum in growth was thereby regained and accelerated.
The next congress is scheduled to take place from 30 September to 6 October 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. The IAF General Assembly, during which new elections is set to take place, shall be held on 30 September and 1 October 2024. The official delegates from member countries shall be able to participate either online or in person. The accompanying International Aikido Seminar - which is open for participation by all aikido practitioners worldwide - shall be conducted from 2 to 6 October 2024. As this is the 14th congress to be organized by the IAF, the combined event is called the IAF 14th Summit.

### Other Events

The IAF represents Aikido in the global sports arena where it introduces this non-competitive martial art to the sporting world by participating in events only through demonstrations.
The IAF demonstrated aikido at several chapters of the World Games as organized by the International World Games Association (IWGA).
The IAF also demonstrated aikido at all the chapters of the World Combat Games of SportAccord that took place in China (2010), Russia (2013) and in Saudi Arabia (2023), respectively.