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In martial arts the technique is an expression of the way of the art.
Every martial art is involved in refining its technique.
In Aikido we too strain day and night to improve our
technique.
Thus, let’s try to think about how we practise techniques and the contents
of our techniques. The doubt that comes into mind is “Is
it really ok that every time we practise we do it in the
same way as it was done in the past?” I personally
believe that it must not be the same. This is because I see the raison d’être of Aikido as
completely opposite to that of Japanese martial arts of
the past.
There is probably no need to explain that the manner in which we practise,
that is the way we seek the path, is expressed in our
technique.
Since it is like that, then when we compare Aikido with the martial arts of
the past the way of expressing our technique must
necessarily change (I use the word “change” but that
is in the meaning “develop”).
Put specifically, it is a complete change from a budo that takes to a
budo that gives, from the foolishness of collision
to the richness of communion.
Therefore lets try to look at the techniques in Aikido today. It is said
that the techniques that are usually being applied in
training are well above a thousand. The problem here is
whether the Aikidoka is diligent in refining and
understanding correctly
the meaning of those techniques.
No matter how many techniques you learn they will not be useful at all if
you don’t understand the correct meaning of them.
In what way do we for example grasp and understand the concept of maai
(Editors Note: Maai is the distance between
attacker and defender).
As far as I can see it, the situation today is that most people just come to
the dojo and move around without even having the
honest doubts of a beginner (I can’t call that training).
I don’t think that budo training is good if we just copy the old
stuff because that was the way it was done in the past.
However I don’t mean to say that old things are not
important. Of course they are important, but a critical
mind like ”For what reason do we have to learn the old
things?” should be the point of origin for real training.
It is my opinion that to know how to do new things properly it is necessary
to know the old things and in that sense old things (in
Aikido’s case old techniques) are also necessary.
What I want to emphasize is that if we in our budo training always
seek only old things then our budo will end up no
good. A budo that follows the path of Kobudo
(old martial arts) cannot survive the times and will end
up as an empty shell.
Techniques in budo not only become useless when they get old, in time
they may also do others harm and cause the ruin of ones
own body. In that sense techniques in budo must
continue to be renewed and improved over and over again.
Next, let us look at Aikido that has a different training method from other budo.
It is said that there are more than 1000 techniques in
Aikido and I will affirm that in one stroke. They all come
from the one step of irimi. Irimi lets
innumerable techniques emerge depending on its appliance
in each situation and it is also here that we find the
meaning of Takemusu Aikido -a budo that
creates.
From ancient times competitions have been used to determine the mental and
technical level of a martial artist and also today this
method is applied in different martial arts and sports.
It is only in Aikido that this is not found necessary. Why is that?
To this question I was never able to get a satisfying reply from my seniors.
As commonly known it was very difficult to understand even half of the words
that were said by the founder O-Sensei.
If you understood one third you were among the top
said the older students. Many years passed before I was in
a state where I finally understood what I was told at that
time.
It is now a little more than 10 years ago O-Sensei passed away and I have
used the words of O-Sensei as a guidepost to reach the
understanding of Aikido I have today.
First, why is it not necessary with competition in Aikido? This is because
Aikido was born with a completely different purpose than
that of the old martial arts. The purpose of the old
martial arts was to take – suppress, destroy and
ultimately take the life of the opponent. Aikido was born
to be a budo that gives - a budo that shows
the opponent how he/she should live and prosper.
At this point it is necessary to compare with other Martial Arts. Each
martial art continues in strenuous devotion to a specific
kind of technique. For example some specialise in the
sword, some in kicks and punches, and others in throws and
holds. In other words each of them only knows one
expression of budo and to test their progress they
apply competition.
But in real martial arts a fight is nothing like that. It is to stand face
to face with death, and not something like a contest.
Therefore the competition that many martial arts except Aikido apply does
not have a very high significance in a martial arts
perspective and the same judgement has to be made on the
practise methods that are applied in these arts.
It is not my intention to say that we should not compete but instead fight
to the death. Such kind of thing cannot be allowed in
modern society.
Therefore those people who want to know the strictness of real martial arts
should already pause at this point and take a new look at
things (in martial arts when confronting the opponent) and
be strict against oneself.
”Being strict against oneself” in martial arts is to be able to, at any
time, defeat and destroy the opponent that confronts you
and not doing it. It is to make sure not to destroy the
opponent but to greatly spare the opponents life.
Moreover, in order to foster the ability to make this possible, you must
continuously practise with such mind and without lack of
strict devotion through a long period of time.
In Aikido the technique is a manifestation of ki and you can say it
is a tool for reflection. KI is the source of life
and that means the source of creation of all living beings.
We cannot allow techniques that are generated from ki,
from the source of life, to hurt other people.
In Aikido it is possible with the principle of irimi issoku to
instantly destroy the opponent. But people who know the
foolishness of destruction and the preciousness of life
should not destroy an opponent.
The techniques of Aikido are such that the confronting opponent is given a
place, a chance, for soul searching.
There are one, two or three places in each technique where you can destroy
the opponent. These are the moments for soul searching.
In the process of performing a single Aikido technique, no matter how simple
a technique, the essence of each and every martial art is
found. This is something unique to Aikido.
Properly speaking this contradicts the fact that most people continue as
ever to hit, clash and fight each other at the very moment
of contact where you in fact with your Aikido technique
can control the opponent.
We start our practise by taking hold of the hand. In a modern martial arts
sense, in the modern fighting sports and the like grasping
the hand is unthinkable.
How do people who diligently practise understand this point? Most likely
they just practise without understanding it all. Or rather
maybe because they don’t understand they feel they
should just continue to practise.
The way of practising in Aikido by grasping the wrist manifests the helping
and guiding spirit of Aikido. It is the method to realize
the ideology of giving and guiding in Aikido. And even
from a martial art perspective it can fully satisfy the
people diligent in the pursuit of martial arts.
This is something that everyone at my place has a certain degree of
understanding of but it is quite impossible to understand
for people who only know the practise method of fighting
each other. To know the opponent’s heart and mind and to
know the importance of the moment of contact in budo
practising by grasping the wrist is very important.
The practise of clashing gives birth to hatred and causes destruction, but
those who know the practise of communion foster mutual
love and it gives birth to new things. In daily life the
communion between people gives birth to love, friendship
and new life.
In any Aikido dojo there are wooden swords available, but to what
extend are they used properly?
If you know how to use the sword correctly the same principle can easily be
applied against the thrusts, punches and kicks of modern
fighting sports even without the sword.
As it is often said Aikido is the manifestation of the principle of the
sword in the body movements.
The foreign sword was for the sole purpose of destroying the enemy. The
Japanese sword is different. It is the soul and spirit of
the person carrying it.
It is the finest when sword remains in the scabbard
without hurting others or injuring oneself but once it has
been drawn you can control everything in the moment of
contact.
The Aikido technique we express with our body – that is with the heart of aiki
and the principle of the sword – is not to make the
opponent surrender but it is to reach a mutual
understanding.
In other words it is exactly the same purpose as human language.
In that sense you can probably say that the practise that takes place in the
dojo in Aikido is a hearty talk.
Aikido’s technique is in this way different from the techniques of other
martial arts. The correct practise method in Aikido and
the correct technique, are seen by whether both parts have
a mind to seek correctness.
Correctness is then measured by mutual search for harmony.
In conclusion the correct way to practise and learn Aikido is when it
becomes possible to talk to people through the language of
technique.
I hope people practising Aikido, as soon as possible, and as many as
possible, can talk together heart to heart by the language
of Aikido – technique.
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