公益財団法人 合気会道場
合気道の考察 （English ver.）
How perceive the Aikido
Introduction
People cannot find out the better answer than their own knowledge.
Even same in the practice of Aikido.
When the opponent doesn’t collapse, you’ll try to collapse them in the way with your image. In case the way has gotten success, you’ll believe it the true answer.
Is that truth?
It’s not too much to say that the waza of Aikido do never need the power. Strongly throwing the opponents is quite out of the waza.
Even same in the movement of muscle and joints. Not necessary to fix the joints.
If you have the correct knowledge of them, you will be able to get the opponents immobile.
The lack of sufficient understanding results in an incomplete waza.
In this consideration, for your better understanding, I’d like to introduce the way how perceive the Aikido.
In the first section, the waza of Aikido is overviewed.
2nd section is on 固め技/ Katame-waza, and following 3rd section is on 投げ技/ Nage-waza.
The last 4th section is focusing on 入身/ Irimi, as the culmination of those waza.
When you master the waza yourself, there are tricks to study.
The ways are to affirm all the waza of Aikido, or to deny all the waza of Aikido.
Believe the waza and affirm all, and strive until you can.
In this case, you have to pay attention not to make answer within yourself.
Next is denial. Denying everything and practice.
At the end you would no longer deny the waza and will accept it.
In any case, when deriving an answer, people will try to derive the answer only within their own knowledge. There is a limit what people know.
Perceiving the world in 4 dimensions, where we usually understand in 3 dimensions, it will be easy to understand things. Don’t forget that brain is free.
Delusions often exceed reality.
Please believe in human power and derive the answer.
Section 1 Overview of the Aikido
構え／Kamae
Each Kamae of 片手取り/ Katate-dori 諸手取り/ Morote-dori 両手取り/ Ryoute-dori are all differ.
There is no same Kamae in Aikido. Of course 正面打ち/Syoumen-uchi, 横面打ち/ Yokomen-uchi and 突き/ Tusk are all differ from each other.
Kamae of Morote-dori is similar to taking a sword by both hands. Kamae of Katate-dori is similar to
that of 小太刀/short sword.
Comparing the both Kamae, you will notice that the distance between the hand and body is
different. In Kamae of short sword, hand position is far from body. And in Kamae of sword that is
nearby body.
Also you can notice that foot positions are little bit differ.
Kamae of 半身/ Hammi is one of the state of movement started from 自然体/ Shizentai, in other
words, Hammi is one moment in movement.
The step in which we are walking day by day is also different from the steps, so called 運足/ Unsoku).
When putting out the right foot one step forward, as usual, a person shifts the center of
gravity to the left foot and puts out the right foot forward so as to kick out.
But the one step in 武道 is not so.
Drop your hip and bend the left leg only. Then the right leg will remain longer than the left leg. Put
that amount forward. That is a step.
As the eyes do not change in height, it comes with by-products that the feeling of the distance for
the opponent does not change. When putting out the left foot forward, hit the left foot against the
right foot, and put out leftover left foot forward. The movement of the waist is that of 六方/
Roppou. The basic Kamae is Shizentai, and there is Hammi in the movement.
As is usually said follow the movement of sword, but you could not follow the movement without
correct knowledge. Would you swing up sword with your both wrists grabbed?
The one way to swing up sword is very waza.
It’s not so easy. We must practice along the basics one by one.
Kamae does not exist but so, Shizentai is important.
体の転換/ Tai-no tankan
Tai no tankan is 基礎/ Kiso (basic technic), 基本/ Kihon (foundation of recognition and values), and
極意/ Gokui (superiority).
When you practice Tai-no tenkan, you should pay attention to the initial hand forwarding.
Are you standing straight with your hand and foot towards your opponent? It is important not
being grabbed your wrist, but having the opponent to grab your wrist. Additionally, reach out for
the opponent to grab your hand easily. Just these actions make him to run out of power, and not to
drive another attack.
As is like Kamae, which is one moment in the movement, holding breath is one moment in
breathing. By only this state, the opponent can never increase his power anymore.
Dropping down your hand, he will also drop down.
On making this scene, you should do Tai-no tenkan with keeping the opponent grabbing your wrist.
And don’t change the relative relation between his wrist and body.
Against the direction the opponent attacking, reverse your body 180 degree.
It is important not to reverse 180 degrees but the process so that you can reverse.
The spiral motion is important. But it is not recommended to wind up forcibly in the spiral. Making
wrist motion in spiral and then naturally works the opponent. It’s not good to move faster than the
opponent motion or in spiral forcibly.
Surely it efforts to the opponent, but it is not true Aikido.
How decrease the opponent power is very issues.
Suddenly breathing away and holding the breath makes the opponent to freeze. Even this state,
waza effects in enough, the opponent cannot do anything. This is so called the superiority in
general.
But this means simply that the opponent cannot do anything and it’s not farther than that you had
made him to freeze himself. To make the opponent no resistance is more important issue.
Aiki means that your state is equal with that of the opponent. Keeping yourself no resistance makes
the opponent not to resist and to loss his power.
The final shape of Tai-no tenkan is 残心/ Zanshin, which express the attitude receiving something
important. Zanshin shows attitude paying tribute to the opponent.
It is said that every elements of Aikido are contained in Tai-no tenkan.
On practicing, pay attention the next hand brought forward. You definitely want to move faster in
order to lead the opponent, and result in selfish movement. As same when you bring your hand out
at first, you should make waza with straightness to the opponent, easiness to grab your hand,
holding your breath, and natural standing. Aiki uniting one with the opponent is important.
On practicing Tai-no tenkan continuously, it is same. In a continuous movement, there is a moment
when you control the opponent.
Both hard practice with strong body power and that one in a style with movement along the flow
of 気/ Ki, the basics are same.
Taking the Un-soku as one of the issues, you should practice with big care until you could do
without any consciousness. When you could do the issue without consciousness, this time you
should repeatedly practice in mind. The practice is the repetition of those processes.
Morote-dori 呼吸投げ/ Kokyu-nage (呼吸法/ Kokyu-hou, breath control)
It is a practice when your arm is grabbed by the opponent with both hands.
People definitely want to collapse the opponent. For the beginner, studying how to collapse the
opponent is surely important in order to consider the structure of joints and muscles. Being
grabbed by the opponent with both hands means that you are controlled.
Aikido is neither attack nor defense. Basing on relative relationship, attack of the opponent means
that of you. In Aiki, the opponent force is received and returned in a moment.
This means that the state you are controlled is the state the opponent is controlled.
Following movement along the spiral and the flow of Ki, Kokyu-nage is shaped.
Not changing the feeling in the opponent hands and the relationship between your wrist and his
hand are those of devices.
Not controlling the opponent absolutely, but moving without collapsing the relative relationship
result in his falling down because of his disagreement with gravity force. Emphasizing that do not
change the relative relationship between your wrist and the opponent’s both hands. It is same on
that between you and the opponent.
From the view of the ground, the motion of the opponent is opposite to the motion of the gravity.
So the opponent feels that he is thrown. In this case, the opponent’s wrist is to be the ground, and
the relative relationship between the ground and his body is not changed. The training should be
continued until relationship of his body coming to that of universe.
正面打ち第一教表技/ Syoumen-uchi 1 Kyou Omote
The opponent makes Syoumen-uchi toward me.
Swinging down 手刀/ Syutou straight from a headline is the shape of Syoumen-uchi.
Let’s think about the action of opponent’s body when the one point of Syoumen-uchi is returned.
The force to attack does not disappear till its finish. Syutou moves from the surface of hairline to
the end in front of navel. If stopping the motion in middle, the opponent would warp his body
backwards instead and approach the ground. Just getting along with the motion, and falling his arm
down in a circle, 1 Kyou will be completed.
Not collapsing the opponent, but it is nothing but his completing Syoumen-uchi.
In other words, the motion, Syoumen-uchi collapsing the relationship with the ground, but the
relationship between the two is not changed.
That is, being unite in one universe, the opponent collapses himself by attacking.
Section 2 固め技/ Katame-waza
As is often trained waza, there are 1 ~ 4 Kyou. The name of waza “一教, you are taught at first” and
“二教, secondly you are taught” shows that these are not independent. In the training, practice
from 1 Kyou to 4 Kyou with in mind that how decreasing the opponent force.
正面打ち第一教表技裏技/ Syoumen-uchi 1 Kyou Omote-waza, Ura-waza
At the time the opponent attack, mind to take a breath. Your breath is hold in actually, so the motion to take a breath is fake.
The mind of breathing only exists.
The opponent also takes a breath by Aiki. Go straight forward, and then the shape would be 1 Kyou 表技/ Omote-waza.
Leading the opponent to body side with the feeling to take a breath, the shape would be 1 Kyou 裏技/ Ura-waza.
Breathe so that it makes the opponent to take a breath, not taking a breath by him.
There are some other breath controls. By making the opponent to breathe out, you can give him
the image of something like an air pocket. He would have an image as if the air pocket inhales him.
As the opponent force is decreased, you can complete 1 Kyou by returning his force to him. In this
case, it is also the issue how decreases his force.
Even if you change your standing position, you can complete 1 Kyou. Connect you and the
opponent as a dot and a dot with a line, and then you can find out a weak point of him. When only
focusing on collapsing someone standing, you could easily achieve with knowledge of the structure
of human body. How to make the opponent lost his power is one of the biggest issues of Aikido
practice. And surely there is an aspect to execute it.
When
二教/ 2 Kyou
2 Kyou follows after controlling the opponent with 1 Kyou.
Speaking 2 Kyou, you all would have an image that it’s much painful. Is it true shape of 2 Kyou?
The theory to put the opponent under the control by pain causes its opposite result that you cannot control without the pain.
And if he broke his arm, your waza has no effect. So it comes to be very important to know how decrease his power.
In the practice of 2 Kyou, the key point would be the elbow. Returning the force to the opponent elbow, he would get off the power around his shoulder. And then you can put him under your control.
Once returning his force to the elbow, and reversing to the first position are the method to control the opponent.
You can control the opponent without fixing his wrist in actually.
When making the opponent lying face down, to have his shoulder to get off the force is the key point as same as 1 Kyou.
Rotating his shoulder in spiral, make his shoulder to landing on the ground. Following after, fixing the arm in spiral, he would not move any more. Because of not empowering himself, he could never move.
三教/ 3 Kyou
It is said that 1Kyou is the waza 腕抑え/ Ude-osae, controlling arm, 2 Kyou is the waza 小手回し /
Kote-mawashi, 3 Kyou is 小手捻り/ Kote-hineri, and 4 Kyou is 小手抑え/ Kote-osae.
Now, how twist a wrist?
The motion of 3 Kyou is similar to that of 1 Kyou. The standing position of 3 Kyou is opposite side of 1 Kyou.
But if you control the opponent by pain, it is not a perfect waza.
Rotating arm, and how decreasing the force around his shoulder is also the key point.
And the key direction of the 3 Kyou motion is ring finger. Understanding the motion of the joints and muscles in waza,
you could control the opponent only by imaging the connection of ring finger.
When you make the opponent lying face down, same thing can be said. Keeping 3 Kyou, rotating shoulder joint and controlling in spiral, he would not empower and resist.
四教/ 4 Kyou
Generally, index finger is used to work effective in 4 Kyou. But it is not correct. In actually, with the
protrusion beside the root of index finger is used to put on and work to vasculature and radial
nerve part. The efficiency is so high, and naturally the motion would come to in spiral.
It should be cared not to control the opponent with pain. The way to decrease the opponent force
and the twist of 3 Kyou are the key tricks.
Section 3 投げ技/ Nage-waza
正面打ち入り身投げ/ Syoumen-uchi Irimi-nage
At first let us consider about the steps, Un-soku at the scene, 相半身/ Aihammi.
When the opponent attacks Syoumen-uchi with right arm, focus on how to use your left foot.
In most case, you would take a big step forward in order to stand the back of him.
At that time, imagine the step to exchange right foot and left foot. Additionally, move right foot backward with drawing a circle.
Putting your right hand on the opponent right hand is enough to deal with his attack.
To make him to attack Syoumen-uchi enough is more important.
Continuously rise up your right hand, then Irimi-nage is completed. Step forward into his back side with your right foot.
In case you deal with his attack by circle drawing motion, to stand backward of the opponent, and
to continue the circle motion comes to be Irimi-nage in natural.
Lead the opponent not with being attacked, but with making him to attack. Against the attack, the
motion not with your big step forward but with his coming in is important.
In relatively viewing, those seem to be same. But you definitely regard the opponent as something not moving.
So you move a lot instead of him. Lead the opponent to do Syoumen-uchi enough and with satisfied.
In the practice, using the breath method as making an air pocket is effective.
There are several methods in the breath. Before the attack, have opponent to take breath.
At the time he attacks, have him to breathe away. The opponent tries to break the state of 無/ Mu, in which you are holding breath. Simultaneously his attack would be end as if the attack returns to himself.
Nothing changes in the relative relationship between you and the opponent. His attack means him attacked and collapsed.
片手取り四方投げ/ Katate-dori Shihou-nage
Now let’s consider the Katate-dori with 逆半身/ Gyaku Hammi.
At the 1st section, I had mentioned about Kamae.
The state, the opponent grasping your wrist, is your synchronizing with him.
The carelessness movement of yours causes the opportunity to attack for others.
So both of you cannot attack anymore each other.
In case the opponent grasps my left wrist with his right hand, the attack of my opposite right hand would be inhibited by his pulling my left wrist inside. Synchronize his motion to pulling my wrist and take his right wrist.
If you were standing with Hammi, the position you grasping his wrist is in front of your navel.
And that will break the equilibrium between you. The opponent cannot do anything more.
The motion drawing a circle naturally makes the waza, 四方投げ/ Shihou-nage. It’s not necessary to collapse or twist the opponent.
If you dare say something additional technic, try to touch his Ulna, the thinner and longer of the two bones in the human forearm,
on the side opposite to the thumb, with your base of index finger. You could feel and confirm the opponent body collapsed.
In case Ura-waza, the Un-soku is similar to that of Tai-no Tenkan. Your wrist is moved with turning down your thumb in spiral.
When the opponent wrist comes to be seen overlapping your forearm, grasp it and reverse 180 degree.
That comes to be the Ura-waza.
突き小手返し/ Tsuki Kote-gaeshi
The opponent attacks your waist with Tsuki. Make him to attack in ease. With a moment you getting off your tension, he can do nothing but only attacking there. An air-pocket is made in the space. Inhale the opponent to the air-pocket, and control the opponent’s wrist. That makes him not to move. To control the line of 気/ Ki connected to the ring finger makes him not to move.
Sometimes Kote-gaeshi is understood as to the waza twisting wrist. But by making the line of Ki in circle, and the diameter small, the energy of the opponent turns to himself.
両手取り天地投げ/ Ryoute-dori Tenchi-nage
There is a practice called 合気挙げ/ Aiki-a-ge, and 合気下げ/ Aiki-sa-ge with your both wrists grabbed.
The waza with one hand, Aiki-a-ge, the other hand, Aiki-sa-ge is called 天地投げ/ Tenchinage.
Tenchi-nage is 天/ Ten, the sky, and 地/ Chi, the ground, and doesn’t mean collapsing diagonally.
For not getting the beginner injured, diagonally collapsing him and dividing both hands to Ten and Chi, then throw him.
When vertically divided in Ten and Chi, the opponent would feel as if your hands split the space into left and right.
It would be difficult to do 受け身/ Ukemi for the beginner.
When taking your hand down, the opponent would resist and lift your hand, so lift your opposite hand up.
When lifting your hand up, he would resist and taking your hand down, so take your opposite hand down.
In the practice for the beginner, repeat the motion continuously, and then he would come to naturally understand the meaning of Tenchi-nage.
Section 4 入り身/ Irimi
Irimi is like a black hole.
When you move, the equilibrium is broken. So the opponent is collapsed.
If you connect you and the opponent as a dot and a dot with a line, you can make every state Irimi.
Continuing the equilibrium, a little motion of breath comes to be Irimi.
Irimi doesn’t mean not only the motion in a plane, but also the motion in 3 dimensions’ space.
Irimi is the motion moving to the side of the opponent.
Considering the Irimi in the view point of 受け/ Uke, at the time 取り/ Tori standing on the point, Uke can no longer move.
When Uke tries to move, there appears weak point to attack.
No motion comes to be the best Ukemi.
How leading no-resistance state out is the issue.
Irimi is the waza suitable for making the opponent no-resistance.
In relative viewing, it is a state of Irimi for the opponent and for you. Because that is Aiki, to make the opponent no-resistance, you must keep no-resistanceism. At very the time you keeping noresistanceism, the opponent doesn’t resist.
That no-resistance might be very great noresistanceism.
Please find the conclusion by yourself.
Postscript
If move, that comes to be waza. It is very true.
The waza of Aikido, is simple. Because you also have muscles, joints, bones to move.
There is nothing special. That is also same in the breath method. You are continuing since you born without stopping.
It cannot be difficult. The motion and the flow of Ki are same. That is originally owned by yourself. Find out yourself.
The way of reaching out the opponent, the way of Un-soku, the way of breath, it is important to verify each one.
In order to achieve, let you to stop denying what you don’t know, and answering within your knowledge.
There may be four-dimensional space.
To deny the existence is easy.
In the brain, the world is freedom. A delusion is also free. A delusion might be the real.
It is the human brain to find the conclusion.
An invisible world might come to see through Aikido.
The opponent, the human being, is a thing to collapse. Trying him to collapse causes the resistance.
If you make him no-resistance, he would collapse naturally. It is miracle for human to stand.
Because a dead man cannot stand.
In pursuit of the technique of Aikido, it seems that I forget important things.
The superiority of Aikido is “武は愛なり” and “我即宇宙也”
Waza has many types and appearances.
Softening the way of thinking and capturing things, lead a new answer out.
Ryoichi Kinoshita