The International Aikido Federation (IAF) is a federation of aikido organisations which are directly affiliated to the Aikikai Hombu in Japan, the ‘mother house’ of Aikido. It is the only worldwide federation of such Aikido organisations and at present it has 49 members. Organisation The organisational structure of the IAF is a unique blend of the ‘vertical’ and the ‘horizontal’. The IAF President is always the Aikido Doshu and a body called the Senior Council has the power to monitor the decisions taken by the IAF Congress, in order to ensure that the federation does not deviate from the ‘way’ of aikido, as taught by the Founder, Morihei Ueshiba. These decisions are taken at the Congress by the delegates from each member organisation. The Congress meets every four years under the presidency of the IAF Chairman and makes its decisions by means of the democratic process of debate and voting. Each member organisation has one vote.