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Aikido is a gendai budo—a modern Japanese martial art. It was
created by Morihei Ueshiba (called by Aikidoka by the respectful title "O
Sensei" or "great teacher") over the period of the 1930s to the 1960s.
Ueshiba created aikido from his experience in Daito-ryu Aiki-jutsu and sword
work.
Aikido is a defensive art, in which the defender redirects the
attacker's motion and energy back into the attacker. It is practiced by men
and women of any size or age. It is one of the most difficult of the martial
arts and it takes several years of practice to really be able to defend
oneself.
Traditional Aikido shuns competition. It is a martial art for its own
sake. The emphasis is on developing mind, body and spirit until perfect
harmony is achieved. Classes involve watching a demonstration of techniques
from a teacher and then working with a partner(s) to try and replicate
these, thereby improving your technique and understanding of the art.
Movement, positioning, precision and timing are all important to the
execution of techniques and students learn to be flexible and adaptable in
their application.
Aikidokas train together as partners. The "attacker" (uke) initiates
an attack against the "defender" (nage), who neutralizes it with an aikido
technique. In practice, uke generally attacks nage four times and then the
roles are reversed and uke becomes nage for 4 times.
Aikido practice attacks include various standardized strikes and
grabs. There are generally three parts to an aikido defensive technique.
First, nage avoids the attack by either moving away from uke ("tenkan",
turning), or moving inside the attack, close to uke ("irimi", entering).
Second, nage takes uke's balance away from him. Third, nage either throws
uke or uses a wrist, arm or leg lock to bring uke down to the mat.
Aikido emphasizes that while nage executes the aikido defense and
theoretically "wins" each encounter, uke is also gaining valuable experience
in coping gracefully with being repeatedly "thrown" or subjected to locks.
In a real-life encounter an experienced Aikidoka should instantly return to
a poised and ready standing position automatically upon being thrown.
History and Styles: The name Aikido is formed of three Japanese
characters (or Kanji), 合氣道, written with Roman characters as Ai, Ki and Do,
often translated as meaning Harmony, Energy and Way (or Method), so Aikido
can be translated as "The Way of Harmony with Energy". This draws attention
to the fact that Aikido's techniques are designed to control an attacker by
controlling their energy and not by blocking it. An analogy is often made of
the way a flexible willow bends with the storm whereas the stout oak will
break if the wind force is too high. (The martial art commonly known as
Hapkido uses the same three characters. There may even exist a historical
link through the Daito Ryu)
Mr. Ueshiba developed Aikido from Daito Ryu aikijutsu, incorporating
the training movements of Yari (spear), Jo (a short quarterstaff), and Juken
(Bayonet). Daito ryu had strong influence from sword schools; as result,
many of the flowing movements of the bokken, a wooden katana or "samurai
sword" have been translated into unarmed aikido defense. Traditional Aikido
training is mainly unarmed practice, but the three weapons, sword, staff and
knife (usually wooden training weapons) often play an important part. Some
styles place less importance on weapons training than others.
The roots of Aikido as a sword art play an important role in the
development of the techniques. Most Aikido techniques can be performed
equally well either unarmed or armed with a sword. This also bears on the
fact that Aikido techniques rarely involve blocking an opponents strike, as
if the opponent were armed with a weapon; the blocking limb would be
severed.
The major styles of aikido each have their own Hombu Dojo in Japan;
these define their various syllabi. Aikido was brought to the United States
in the 1960s, to Australia in 1965 and to many other countries. Today there
are many aikido dojos available to train at throughout the world.
Aikido as formulated by O Sensei is not a sport and competition is not
allowed in traditional aikido. Partners work together so each can perfect
their technique and progress in rank is made by demonstrating techniques
with a partner who is not an opponent in the sense of sporting opponents.
However, there are a number of styles of sports Aikido. Aikido training can
be a very vigorous cardiovascular workout and improves flexibility.
Shodokan Aikido the main sporting form has on a system of rule based
competition. Tomiki Aikido, as it is popularly known, tends to place more
emphasis on kata training than more competitive or sports oriented martial
arts. People tend to compete to train rather than to train to compete.
In kata training, the objective of the student is to perfectly copy
the style demonstrated by their teacher during a series of formal set
movements. This form of Training is usually reserved for work with weapons.
Its purpose is the preservation of traditional technique rather than
training in the usual sense. The degree to which variations to this form
appear varies between styles and teachers. Yoshinkan has a reputation for
being the most rigidly precise.
As with most martial arts, Aikido is not without differences of
opinion. Over time instructors have split off from the mainstream
organization Aikikai to go their own way, and this has resulted in a great
diversity of Aikido styles. For example, at one extreme of training is the
approach followed by the Ki Society, which emphasizes very soft flowing
techniques with very few blows. At another extreme are styles of Aikido with
very martial and physical techniques, more similar to the original "Aiki
Jujutsu" from which Aikido was derived. Most Aikido schools are somewhere in
between.
Ki is often translated as 'breath power' or 'power' sometimes even as
'soul'. The kanji for Ki (氣) is the pictograph of a steaming rice pot -
steam above, the handle of the pot to the right and the star-like sign
stands for rice. When Aikidoka say that someone (usually high ranking
teachers) is training with a lot of Ki they usually want to express that the
respective person has developed a high level of harmony in the execution of
his technique. Timing, a sense for the correct distance and a centered
(undisturbed) mind and body are particularly important. Most teachers locate
Ki in the Hara (the center of gravity of the body, lower abdomen, right
under the navel). In training it is constantly emphasized that one should
keep ones Hara in order not to lose the Ki. Very high ranking teachers
sometimes reach a level of coordination that enables them to execute
techniques with very little or sometimes even without touching an opponents
body. A related martial art is the art of KiAi or war cry which specializes
in transporting Ki via the voice.
(From Aikido FAQ): "you may not believe in Ki, but you sure as hell
cultivate it" Aikido makes extensive use of the concept of ki. Aikido is one
of the more spiritual martial arts and has been referred to as 'moving zen'.
The name Aikido can be translated as 'the way of harmony of ki'. Exactly
what ki 'is' is a somewhat controversial issue.
Some believe that the physical entity ki simply does not exist.
Instead, it is a concept used to teach spirit, intention, the
bio-physico-psychological coordination through relaxation and awareness are
concepts being used needed. These aikidoka sometimes tend to frown upon the
philosophical/spiritual aspect of ki.
Other aikidoka believe that ki does exist as a physical entity and can
be transmitted through space. They, on the other hand, make use of concepts
such as ki of the universe, extending ki etc.
The fact of the matter is that there is a large portion of aikidoka who
are still, and no doubt will continue to be, on their 'quest for ki'.
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