Mochizuki Minoru on Aiki

From the Aiki News 1986 Friendship Demonstration (video for sale at aikidojournal.com):

"What is aiki? Each person has a different theory on this, but in aiki you harmonize your ki with the ki of the opponent. How?... an opponent has ki ready to attack you and you get ahead of him. This is aiki. You harmonize your ki exactly with your opponent's attacking ki. Then you proceed one more step to a rational place to defeat him. In this way the technique is applied in a flash. You perceive his attacking ki quickly and immediately deal with it in an appropriate manner.  This is the way of aiki... of aikido."

Kanaya Hirotaka

Aikido teacher and cancer survivor.  Apparently he just randomly shows up at various aikido dojo in Korea and throws everyone around.  The surgical removal of major portions of his stomach and liver don't seem to have negatively affected his aiki.  Cool principles shown in the video.

Keiko 9/13/11

Attendees: Matt, David (yours truly)

Format:  tandoku renshu, sotai renshu, randori geiko

Content:  all three aiki jogi, tandoku undo, musubi renshu principles using ryote dori attack, ju nana hon kata, randori

Main Ideas:  correct use of decision/nexus points in kata, rhythm, don't mess up neutral connection surfaces

Quote from Y. Kobayashi

"Budo should be healthy, productive, full of passion, and easy to understand."

--Kobayashi Yasuo

Excellent Example of koshi mawashi ( 腰回し)

All the elements of good koshi mawashi are here....done under stress.  Notice how Sadanoyama turns on the balls of his feet!

Application of Tenkan no Ri (転換の理)

Wakanohana versus Kashiwado 1960: Rotation as evasion, entry, and force multiplier all at once.

Application of KaiHei no Ri (開閉の理)

Kurohimeyama versus Taiho 1970:  Opening the gate at just the right moment.

Important Assumptions during Keiko

*Always assume your partner has physical advantages over you (mass, power, speed, etc.)

*Always assume your partner is armed, perhaps covertly.

*Always assume multiple attackers.

If you ruthlessly adhere to these assumptions during training you can mold your responses in such a way that your art will "work" both on and off the mat.

From Yue Fei's Ten Important Theses

When it is time to be calm--steady and transparent.  In this position, you are steady like a mountain.  When it is time to move--like thunder and like a mountain collapsing...

When calm, nothing is not calm...the surface and the internal, the top and the bottom, all without disorder...

When moving, nothing does not move.  The front and the rear, the left and the right, all without dragging.  It is just like water flowing downward, it is so powerful that nothing is able to stop it.

Without considering thinking, without bothering to plan, simply reach the goal without expectation.

A note on the proliferation of training methods

There are many, many ways to train aikido.  However, at its root, aikido is just one thing.  Don't go chasing fleeing rabbits until you are sure your foot is right.  Is it right?  Are you sure?

If your teacher does not have the knowledge to explain to you in detail exactly what your foot is to do at any given moment it is time to find a new teacher.

Do you need a supplemental training method or do you need to make damn sure your regular, everyday, boring stuff is dialed in?

Foot consistently correct?  Good!  Now let's talk about the ankle...

--David Martin

Quote from Hamaji Kouichi, jojutsu shihan

On the earth, there is an absolute power that equally affects all things in accordance with their mass, namely gravity. Obeying this power with no resistance, thereby acquiring a sense of oneness with all things, collect the Ki of the heavens and the Ki of the earth in your Tanden, sit straight, stand straight, and walk determinedly. I have discovered that this is the fundamental phenomenon of all things.  ---Hamaji Kouichi

found at misogi.org

A question of time?

However fast an enemy may attack me, I cannot be defeated.  It is not because my technique is faster than his.  It does not depend on speed.  It is not a question of time.  Victory or defeat is settled before fighting.   ---Morihei Ueshiba

Consider the above description of takemusu aiki.  Does your posture and movement dynamic allow you to understand this?  If not, why not?  Why do so few in the aikido world address the fact that their kihon dosa does not match what we can see demonstrated on film by Morihei Ueshiba?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

In watching footage of Aikido seminars conducted in the U.S.A. from about 1980 to the present I have noticed something.  Very often the explanations of the teachers are washed out by trains or airplanes passing nearby.  Auto traffic noise is also a common feature.  I have heard this on videos from Florida to California.  I think we dojo-cho can only afford cheap real estate!  There is a major train throughway about 100 feet from Shobu Aiki Dojo.  I actually find the noise of the tracks and the train horn soothing.  Also, I figure that the more trains I hear passing by the better the economy must be faring.

Hands of Ueshiba

Ueshiba Sensei's Ikkyo with A. Nocquet as uke

I see a big percentage of people using incorrect hand position/shape when executing oshi taoshi (aka ikkyo).  The photo above features Ueshiba sensei as tori and Andre Nocquet as uke and it is a good example of the correct application.  You can click on the photo if you want to enlarge it.  Notice the following:

--Ueshiba's overall posture is relaxed and straight from the top of his head through the shoulders and all the way down to his contact with the floor.

--The line of Ueshiba's knuckles correspond with the line of Nocquet's humerus (left) and radius (right).

--The knuckle alignment is supported by Ueshiba's wrist alignment which allows for a clean transfer of power from the floor, through his center, through his hands, and through uke's structure.

--The contact points between Ueshiba and Nocquet are anatomically precise.  Ueshiba's left hand contacts the place just proximal to Nocquet's olecranon with the contact surface (hasuji) being the inside edge of a line from the tip of Ueshiba's index finger to the tip of his thumb.  The placement of Ueshiba's right hand on Nocquet's wrist is situated so that Ueshiba's hand forms a relaxed "trap" which disallows Nocquet from extrication. 

Of course, all of this is only a part of the overall tactical picture of oshi taoshi, but the above photo can be very instructive if you know how to look.

The Path of Shobu Aiki 聖武合気の道

"Budo that embodies the feeling of universal compassion is based on the creative energy of the universe (takemusubi).  All the others are nothing more than arts of destruction.  In the beginning I called it takemusu aiki; later I decided to call it shobu aiki, the budo that creates wisdom, judgement, the mind of a sage.

The true victory of shobu aiki is to strike down and destroy the mind of doubt and conflict within yourself.  It is to realize and carry out the destiny you have received from divine providence.  Regardless of how this may be philosopically explained, unless it is actually put into practice, you are no different than anyone else. Through the practice of aikido, this power and ability is added unto you.

The underlying origin of budo is the spirit of universal protection, nurturing and salvation.  It is to give renewed energy to yourself and others. Human beings are the children of the divine universal spirit and if they are unhappy it is because they turn away from their own nature.  Man has selfishly created the sense of good and evil and then forgotten the essence of his own nature.  Within divine love there is no good or evil, no happiness or unhappiness. There is only constant giving in an attempt to pay back some part of the precious gift of life that one has received and even now continues to enjoy.

You should never be trapped by the idea that you have problems, that you are a person of deep karma, or that you are one of little value.  This is insulting not only to yourself but to others as well. All people share the same divine origin.  There is only one thing that is wrong or useless.  That is the stubborn insistence that you are an individual, separate from others.  Give thanks and show gratitude.  Work for the paradise on this earth.  In this way your true nature will continually unfold."

--Ueshiba Morihei 

Keiko Hajime

Aaron Clark and David Martin (uke) engaged in randori

January 11th (or thereabouts) is the traditional date for the first practice of the new year.  At Shobu Aiki Dojo we just completed a big mat-scrubbing project and our training surface is ready and waiting for another year of budo activity.  My wish for myself and all of my budo friends is that we stay balanced, aligned, relaxed, and headed in the right direction.  Gambatte!  (Gambari, too!)

An extremely fine demonstration

I'm surprised this is getting so few views.  So refreshing, even though 600 years old.