In the early 1960s, Aikido was still practically unknown in Europe. Only a few Japanese masters demonstrated their martial art at various embukai. This was the case in France, Italy and Switzerland, for example. At that time, there was not a single dojo in Switzerland that trained exclusively in Aikido.

Nevertheless, contacts were made with Sensei Mutsuro Nakazono and Sensei Nobuyoshi Tamura. Sensei Nakazono gave the first Aikido training sessions at the Herisau Judo Club, which were organized by Willy Frischknecht. Master Tamura also came to Switzerland for the first time in 1965 on the initiative of Freddy Jacot.

The collaboration between Willy Frischknecht's clubs in Appenzell and Freddy Jacot's Swissair club in Zurich led to the founding of a separate association on September 21, 1969, with the encouragement of Sensei Nakazono: The ACSA. The number of sections increased from year to year and the short stays of Tamura Sensei, Nakazono Sensei and Nakazono Junior Sensei could no longer meet the needs of the clubs. In 1977, the ACSA therefore looked for its own shihan, who was found in the person of Masatomi Ikeda Sensei. He had already gained experience with European Aikido in Napoli, where he had taught Aikido for several years. He introduced himself at a stage and everyone was impressed and enthusiastic. He then officially started work in Switzerland in 1977.

Thanks to his personality, his clear hierarchical role and his technical expertise, Ikeda Sensei was able to motivate the individual dojos to pool their interests within the ACSA, despite some differences in orientation. In 1980, our association was the first association in Switzerland to be officially recognized by the Hombu Dojo. On the 20th anniversary, the then Doshu Kisshōmaru Ueshiba and the then Waka Sensei, Moriteru Ueshiba, were also present in Basel.

It was clear that aikido in Switzerland had reached an international level. Ikeda Sensei was excellent at constantly incorporating new knowledge into his training. He continued to travel frequently, both in Switzerland and abroad, where he was particularly active in Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Serbia and Moscow. Various video recordings from the nineties on YouTube bear witness to this. Contact with his former teacher, Hiroshi Tada Sensei, 9th Dan Aikido and student of O Sensei, was also very important to him. Tada Sensei has now been teaching a week of Aikido at our international summer course in Saignelégier for over 25 years. He also kept in touch with Asai Sensei, Hosokawa Sensei and Fujimoto Sensei, who jointly led the course at the International Winter Days in Zurich.

To this day, Asai Sensei continues to run this stage in February. The ACSA's 30th anniversary celebrations were once again held in Basel. Tada Sensei, Asai Sensei, Kitaura Sensei, Fujimoto Sensei, Hosokawa Sensei, Kanetsuka Sensei and Tissier Sensei traveled to Basel to celebrate together with Ikeda Sensei. In 2000, our association had over 40 dojos. Two years later, the situation changed quickly and unexpectedly: Ikeda Sensei had to give up his job as technical director of the ACSA from one day to the next due to illness. As a result, the ACSA's structures were changed and gradually took on their current form.

Masatomi Ikeda Sensei returned to Japan and has lived there ever since. In 2009 (September 11-13), the 40th anniversary was celebrated in Neuchâtel with an international stage and an embukai. Hiroshi Tada Sensei from Japan, Katsuaki Asai Sensei from Germany, Yoji Fujimoto Sensei from Italy, as well as Christian Tissier Sensei from France and national teachers and their students took part.

The ACSA currently consists of 34 sections (dojos) and around 1,000 members, including around 150 young people. Two special ACSA events were held in July and September 2014 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Switzerland: on July 10, an event was held in Saignelégier with Tada Sensei and representatives from politics and the Japanese embassy in Switzerland. On 27/28 September, we organized a training course with Mitsuteru Ueshiba Sensei, the great-grandson of the founder of Aikido, in St.Gallen.

Around 350 people from Switzerland and abroad were on the tatami. Masatomi Ikeda Sensei was present as a guest of honor. In 2015, we had another special course: in November, around 200 aikidokas from Switzerland and abroad came to Basel to learn together from Tada Sensei. This fall day also took place in 2016 and 2017.