WEAPONS AND AIKIDO WEAPONS AND AIKIDO Fall Fall 2013 2013 Newsletter Newsletter If your opponent strikes with fire, counter with water, becoming completely fluid and free-flowing. Water, by its nature, never collides with or breaks against anything. On the contrary, it swallows up any attack harmlessly. -O’Sensei Letter from the Editor John Hannon Sensei, Sandan Shugyo Center, Sebastopol, CA It is fall again. Just like meeting the mat with our ukemi, we’ll be up again shortly and ready to attack once more... to fall again and to love it—to love what it teaches us, and to be thankful for our practice of aikido. In this edition of your AWA newsletter, you will be reading thoughts about weapons training and its relationship to aikido. Weapons training is an integral part of aikido training, and there are many perspectives on it that are useful to explore. Many members of the AWA community supplement their aikido train- ing with traditional and nontraditional weapon training, and we reached out to several members to have them share their per- spectives on it that are useful to explore. Many members of the AWA community supplement their aikido training with traditional and non-traditional weapon training and we reached out to sev- eral members to have them share their experiences. Each article teaches us a bit of what they have learned and how it has supple- mented and informed their aikido. Please enjoy. This year the AWA has made some wonderful connections, most notably an alliance with the USAF. This new friendship is truly in the aiki spirit, and we are excited to train and share along side Yamada Shihan and his organization. Please stay tuned for more events like the first friend- ship seminar between the AWA and the USAF that took place at Aikido of Cincinnati, and do your best to show your support of the “bridge” that has been built between us. As always, thanks to all the contributors, to Sato Sensei, and the Technical Committee members and to all the members of the AWA. Thank you all for a wonderful 2013. We are looking forward to another great year of training in 2014!
Transcript
WEAPONS AND A IK IDOWEAPONS AND A IK IDO Fa l lFa l l 2013 2013 News le t te rNews le t te r
If your opponent strikes with fire, counter with water, becoming completely fluid and free-flowing. Water, by its nature, never collides with or breaks against anything. On the contrary, it swallows up any attack harmlessly.
-O’Sensei
Letter from the EditorJohn Hannon Sensei, SandanShugyo Center, Sebastopol, CA
It is fall again. Just like meeting the mat with our ukemi, we’ll be up again shortly and ready to attack once more... to fall again and to love it—to love what it teaches us, and to be thankful for our practice of aikido.
In this edition of your AWA newsletter, you will be reading thoughts about weapons training and its relationship to aikido. Weapons training is an integral part of aikido training, and there are many perspectives on it that are useful to explore. Many
members of the AWA community supplement their aikido train-ing with traditional and nontraditional weapon training, and we reached out to several members to have them share their per-spectives on it that are useful to explore. Many members of the AWA community supplement their aikido training with traditional and non-traditional weapon training and we reached out to sev-eral members to have them share their experiences. Each article teaches us a bit of what they have learned and how it has supple-mented and informed their aikido. Please enjoy.
This year the AWA has made some wonderful connections, mostnotably an alliance with the USAF. This new friendship is truly in the aiki spirit, and we are excited to train and share along side
Yamada Shihan and his organization. Please
stay tuned for more events like the first friend-
ship seminar between the AWA and the USAF
that took place at Aikido of Cincinnati, and do
your best to show your support of the “bridge”
that has been built between us.
As always, thanks to all the contributors, to
Sato Sensei, and the Technical Committee
members and to all the members of the AWA.
Thank you all for a wonderful 2013. We are
looking forward to another great year of
training in 2014!
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S :TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S :
A Letter from Sensei by Sato Sensei....................................03
Weapons Work and Aikido by Luke Maranto......................03
Shodan Essay: What Is Shugyo? by Isaac Gibson..............06
On the Road by Laura DeGraff Sensei................................07
Yondan Essay: The Application of Aikido in My Daily Life; Or, My Life Is Aikido by James Landry Sensei.......................07
Aiki-Weapons, Body Movement, and Old-School Artsby Josh Paul Sensei...........................................................08
Shodan Essay: What Is Aikido? by Laura Anne Hiles..........10
The Weapon as Mere Object by Ted Maclin.......................11
How Can I Help Other Students Improve Their Aikidoby Maxwell Binder.............................................................12
A Letter from SenseiAndrew Sato Sensei, RokudanAWA Chief InstructorKiku Matsu Dojo, Chicago, IL
We are again entering the end of the year and the melancholy of changing seasons. It has been a good year so far with many of you achieving higher kyu and dan ranks. Reflecting on past achievements and one’s endeavor to grow helps us understand how far one has come, yet the distance one still needs to go. It is the development and understanding of how the aikido principles work in your own daily life that will encourage you and keep your interest fresh.
If you maintain your awareness, you will see how aikido enhances and cultivates your human (both physical and emotional) move-ments moment by moment on many different levels. I suspect when I say this you automatically think of a particular empty-hand waza. Most likely we all see aikido through the empty hand move-ments from first thought or sight.
While that is correct, because most of us do not carry a bokken or jo everywhere we go, the secondary area supporting your growth, change, and progress is through the use and training of buki waza (weapon technique) in your practice. Training with weapons forces us to correct our posture, breath, and movements. If your posture is poor, you will get tired easily from holding and using them. Incorrect breath creates weak and ineffective strikes. Finally, poor movement reveals a weak mind-body connection and poor taisabaki (many of us can attest to the random crack of a jo or bokken across our hand or finger).
Hard training with many breakfalls and rolls is good for us, but additional work with weapons not only improves our empty hand aikido, but reminds us that we are a constant work in progress. Weapons training will dramatically increase the intensity and re-ality of what our practice is about. Small mistakes that can go unnoticed during empty hand training will be pronounced with sometime more painful results. It is a great awakening to be alert all the time with no rest. Increased awareness of time and space and our location in it is beneficial and can be good for the soul.
Use of bokken or jo is the harsher way of understanding when we let our mind and body waver or drop to dead relaxation. It keeps reminding us and nagging at us to stay sharp, when we might rather watch YouTube or munch out. Last week during class I prepared to strike with the jo and ended up hitting myself in the
head. Embarrassing yes, but it was a good reminder for me to stay sharp, too.
On the surface, they are just wooden models made to look like weapons, but as they say never judge a book or bokken by its cover. They are tools to help us see and achieve the way.
Weapons Work and AikidoLuke Maranto, YondanKyushinkan Dojo, Roswell, GA
Despite countless claims to the “ultimate martial art” that perme-ate the martial arts ether, no martial art is complete. I have seri-ously studied three of them and would hazard that I would need three more to be a well-rounded martial artist. That said, aikido is more complete and interesting than many other martial arts, but it can be enhanced by a study of weapons, and specifically study of the sword. This is why I spend some of my limited training time as the iaido study group leader at Roswell Budokan.
My weapons training outside of aikido has primarily been Mugai Ryu iaido, which I have practiced for ten years. Before begin-ning iaido and aikido, I had training, as part of my karate cur-riculum, in the traditional Okinawan kobudo weapons of bo, sai, and nunchaku, with most of that concentrated on the bo. So I have followed a well-worn path of supplementing my aikido with iaido and my karate with kobudo. These are popular (continued)
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training aid. The movements tend to be big and somewhat stylized and are meant to help with tai sabaki, balance, posture, extension and ma-ai. The details are not paramount, but rather the concepts are. It is more a “do.” Iaido movements are more precise and codified. The goal is not to improve some other mar-tial art but to master the sword itself and defeat an opponent who also has a sword. While still a “do,” it certainly is more toward the “jutsu” side of the spectrum.
Both arts are practiced to improve ourselves. While we all know a sword fight is not going to happen in our daily lives, the inten-tion of aikido is to deescalate an altercation once it starts or to avert it altogether. We want to protect our adversary to the extent possible. The iaido goal, once engaged in combat, would be to defeat our opponent, as a professional warrior would. Both arts take pains to avoid the conflict. Verbal aikido can avert a fight and would be viewed as the highest form of the art. In iaido, we are likewise admonished to “hide the koiguchi,” meaning to conceal the shame of having had to draw one’s sword in a duel.
Weapons work is but another lens to view the same picture. The training itself tends to exaggerate technical flaws, making them easier to see and correct. These corrections carry over to the taijutsu techniques of aikido. Iaido helps me refine what I believe are core elements of Japanese martial arts:
Stance, Posture and Balance (kamae): When swinging a heavy sword, it becomes readily apparent when my body is not aligned with my weapon. There is extra effort needed to start and stop a sword so a solid base is essential. Having a foot pointing 20 de-grees in the wrong direction, being careless and having the front leg straight or having the back heel rise off the ground are bad habits that are highlighted with weapons training. While these attributes are not necessarily emphasized by all aikido instructors, it is one thing that I immediately detect when watching other aiki-doka, and it speaks volumes about their skill.
Breathing: While my style of iaido has no specific teachings on breathing, the majority of my martial training has detailed the im-portance of breathing. Breathing is life itself and very important for developing ki. In fact, maintaining health is directly related to the quality of our breathing. Proper breathing is so universally important toward a healthy mind and body that both (continued)
Weapons work is but another lens to view the same picture.
The training itself tends to exaggerate technical flaws, making
them easier to see and correct.
(continuation) combinations and for good reason. Aikido traces its origins from the samurai class in which the katana was at the top of the weapons hierarchy. Indeed O’Sensei could often be seen wielding a bokken or jo because aikido techniques are de-rived from the samurai arts. Most aikido styles have aiki jo and aiki ken techniques as a core part of their curriculum. The karate and kobudo connection is equally natural as both originated from the peasant class, perhaps as a defense against the katana-car-rying, bushi warriors.
Many years ago before I knew his background, I saw a video of Nishio Shoji sensei (7th Dan, Aikikai) performing at one of the early Aikido Friendship Demonstrations. I was drawn to his flavor of aikido as seemingly more practical and in line with my own thinking on the matter. All of the shihan performing that day were excellent, but his aikido was the one I could relate to the most. Later I found out that he had extensive training and ranking in karate, judo, iaido, and jodo. Much of this experi-ence was had before his aikido career began, and I think his sword training was a major influence on him. What drew me to his techniques were his intentional entering movements that were obviously derived from other arts and how he incorporated them into aikido. I understand now that his style of aikido was a bit out of the mainstream and some criticized him for it but O’Sensei did much the same thing, combining his varied experience into our modern aikido. Many of the early aikido shihan also went their own way yet remained Aikikai affiliated or broke from the aikido hombu and created the major aikido styles extant today.
While aikido uses the sword as a means to an end, in iaido it is the end. Therefore, the practice, on the surface, is quite different. Aiki ken is more flowing and blending with energy. The goal is to improve empty hand technique by using the wooden sword as a
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differently each time because they are confused compared to an advance person
making aikido “their own” by trying new versions or applying oyo or henka waza. I enjoy the detailed bunkai that iaido offers and readily incorporate it into my aikido.
Atemi: At the higher levels of martial arts, all strikes are blocks, and there really isn’t the concept of offensive or defensive techniques. For that matter weapons and empty hand are the same. However one cannot evolve to that point without knowing how to strike to begin with. Weapons training informs my atemi by identifying tar-gets and gaining the precision of a directed strike. By practicing a makko cut in iaido, I am improving my shomenuchi. Iaido’s saya biki movement of the scabbard backward while drawing the sword forward helps my understanding the reciprocal motion necessary for a good munetsuki. By mastering kesa giri, I am making my yo-komenuchi strong. By applying these atemi concepts to my aikido, I can take my opponent’s balance (kuzushi), as well as his resolve.
Intent: The seriousness and austerity of iaido keiko, along with the accompanying reigi, is a benefit to my martial intention. While aikido is also quite formal, my iaido practice puts me in the mindset needed to “win” the instant I come into contact with an opponent. Everything about the structure of iaido is somehow a martially intended action. Bathing in this atmosphere carries into my aikido. This means that I do things with a purpose and with a reason. If I intend to give an earnest attack, I will, helping my partner improve. If I intend to defend myself, I will. I won’t hurt my partner by accident because I will be careful and I have control. If I do hurt my attacker, it will be on purpose because the situation called for it, such as outside of the dojo. My intentions are clear, and my mind is focused only on the situation at hand.
Kime (focus): Sword training is excellent for kime and something I often see lacking in aikido practitioners. The skill needed to wield a long heavy weapon and precisely control the power makes my empty hand strikes seem easy by comparison. The sword accen-tuates every flaw and focuses my attention on basic technique, no matter how many times I have done it.
Taking the center: Weapons only work when pointed in the right direction. That direction for personal combat is toward your op-ponent. The business end of the sword is the kensen (pointy part) and the center line is the desired location. So there is a competi-tion for the center line with the sword or jo. To have this line is to have a huge advantage. Even a few degrees off that (continued)
Weapons training ratchets up the concentration level in
a good way.
(continuation) Eastern and Western athletics and sciences in-corporate breath teachings. Think aikido, karate, yoga, tai chi, dance, weight and strength training, aerobics, meditation, zazen, biofeedback, hypnoses, treatment for panic and anxiety attacks, and overcoming fears and phobias. A skilled opponent can read your breathing pattern and attack at time when you are most vul-nerable. A good defense for a body blow is to exhale and tighten your abdomen just before you are hit. Good breathing can pro-long your stamina and concentration, as well as help you relax completely. Breath control can also improve kime and zanshin.
Ma-ai (timing and distance): Kumitachi, bokken dori, or any weapons partner practice is an excellent teacher of ma-ai. The first time you are hit accidentally because you are too slow, too fast, too far away or too close is a wakeup call. Solo drills, non-contact sparring, kata, and suburi have their place but don’t offer the “pucker factor” that a stick heading toward your head has. An oft-cited criticism of aikido is the noncompetitive, noncontact nature of it. Yes, I know breakfalls are not without contact but I am referring to what happens to the nage if they fail the tech-nique. Usually they start again or at the worst, get admonished by their sensei. Weapons training ratchets up the concentration level in a good way.
Bunkai: Iaido and weapons arts are particular about the precise application of a technique. The application and especially the target of a technique are often what would cause a technique to succeed or fail. It is fine if different teachers have different un-derstanding of the bunkai of a technique as long as it works and makes sense in the context of their teaching. I often tell aikido students that it is fine to do things their way as long as they are do-ing it on purpose and can articulate why they are doing it. There-fore, there is a difference between a beginner doing the kihon
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sions or appl ing o o
context; to grow. Shugyo allows us to come to realize our identity. It allows us to build on our character. In this way, shugyo turns concept into reality.
Shugyo is intense. It is this intensiveness that eliminates extrane-ous components and amplifies specific components of our own personal repertoire. The goal of shugyo is to refine and unify the mind, body, and spirit. We find out how we truly perform under heavy stress. This rigorous training allows our personal essence to boil to the surface. It manifests what is in the spirit and ingrains this in the mind.
To be successful, shugyo must be all consuming. My personal shugyo of an aikido regimen includes attending every available class at both Morgantown (WV) dojos. Each time, I train harder and push myself further. I teach the classes that are requested by my sensei. I have collected and borrowed aikido videos and books that I have been studying. I review attack, tai sabaki, and technique combinations at red lights, waiting in lines, and other “down times.” I practice weapons katas in my backyard. I discuss aikido with anyone who is interested and with some who may not be so interested! Writing these essays is part of my shugyo of shodan. Shugyo is what my sensei is communicating when he says “you should eat, sleep, and breathe aikido.” (continued)
Shugyo allows us to come to realize our identity. It allows us
to build on our character. In this way, shugyo turns concept
into reality.
(continuation) line can be detrimental. In aikido taking that center line is important as it is where your partner is vulnerable to atemi and where his center is. In keeping your own weight underside and denying your attacker the midline, he will be off-balance and weak.
Angles and shear lines: By learning and understanding how to strike with weapons or empty hand atemi, you naturally gain a feel for when you are at risk of being hit by those same attacks. Iaido is heavily focused on angles of attack, and this certainly helps me avoid getting hit in aikido. I strive to move just enough to avoid being hit while simultaneously positioning myself for a counter strike. Being able to tell that my partner is not able to reach me from a certain direction frees me to concentrate more fully on the smaller number of possibilities remaining.
Concentration and maximization of power: The human body is only capable of so much power, which is why we developed weap-ons to extend and maximize our offensive abilities. Weapon arts give us the keys to making the most of these extensions to our bodies.
All of the factors I have mentioned in this essay contribute to my ability to most efficiently use my strength. That is where some of the mystique of martial arts originates. We see a weaker, smaller, older, or slower person maximizing his ability by the improvements that come through training with an attention to detail. We see a single person able to handle multiple attackers. We see the ability to control a situation. We see a confident person skillfully avoid-ing conflict. A famous quote of questionable provenance is “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Similarly I would say, “I like to do things the easy way and the more varied and complete my training, the easier things become.”
Shodan Essay: What Is Shugyo?Issac Gibson, ShodanAikido of Morgantown, Morgantown, WV
Shugyo is a deliberately self-imposed experience by which an indi-vidual intends to temper their own existence. This experience may be typified by an intense and rigorous period of training. It may, then, be incorporated into a person’s nature such that they may be said to “have shugyo.”
Tempering one’s own existence may be interpreted as a rite of passage. It is a method to take what is in us, albeit loosely, and solidify it. In seeking shugyo, we are seeking to transcend a current status. It begins with the desire to change in a specific
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and supported the event were wonderful, they were all so welcoming and friendly. The seminar was the first time that these two organi-zations had come together for an official seminar. Admittedly, there were few AWA members but I am ever hopeful that should we have this opportunity again, more AWA folks will come out. Demko Sensei’s instruction and presence on the mat were awe-some. I came home with some great new things to think about and many warm memories of a great weekend.
As I sit here I am now getting ready to head to Japan. This will be my third trip, and I’m just as nervous and excited as I was the first time I went. We will be once again training at Hombu Dojo. It’s always a special experience for me to be on the mats where so many have trained. Simply stepping onto the tatami reminds me how lucky I am to be part of such a large and wonderful family of people. No matter where your travels may take you, aikido will always give you a common language.
Yondan Esssay: The Application of Aikido in Daily Life; Or, My Life Is AikidoJames Landry Sensei, YondanRoshinkan Dojo, Spokane, WA
Often in my description of aikido I say that it is rich in metaphors for living life. This can be easily reversed to say that life is rich in metaphors for aikido. You see, I cannot really separate the two. I do not apply aikido to life. I do not apply life to (continued)
(continuation) Shugyo is also a lifelong venture. It is a disciplined approach to achieving a particular existence. The shugyo of an intense, rigorous, all-consuming training period does not end when the intensity settles. It is the follow-through of what is trained in shugyo that extends beyond the period of intense training. This follow through, the result of much hard work, is a transformation of what was practiced into an identity that is now part of us and that becomes the natural way of things; that is the goal of shugyo.
On the RoadLaura DeGraff Sensei, YondanAWA Technical and Teaching Committee MemberKiku Matsu Dojo, Chicago, IL
Greetings, Aikidoka. I hope that you have all had the opportunity to travel and train this year. Perhaps you’ve finally had a chance to get to that seminar that time or distance has in the past pre-vented you from attending.
I’ve had a wonderful year of traveling and training both nationally and internationally. In August, I participated in the 15th anniver-sary of Wadokan Dojo in Poland. It was a terrific event with AWA members from Poland, Greece, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and the US all joining together in celebration. I had an opportunity to meet some of the AWA’s newest members and to reconnect with some folks I hadn’t seen in years. I highly recommend the events in Poland. The friendship and hospitality of our friends overseas is amazing.
This year also marked the first “friendship” event between Kiku Matsu Dojo and the MAC Dojo, a member of USAF. Walter Van Enck Sensei’s instruction and enthusiasm during Shochugeiko in Chicago left all of us with not only huge smiles on our faces, but also with some new perspectives on our techniques. For many, it was the first opportunity to train with an instructor from another or-ganization, and I know that there was some apprehension regard-ing style and technique. The transitions between Van Enck Sensei and Sato Sensei were seamless, and many people discovered that aikido is aikido and creates a common language between all of us.
I recently returned from another “first”—this time at Aikido of Cincinnati. AoC hosted the first bridge seminar between the AWA and USAF. Instruction was provided by Andy Sato Sensei and Andy Demko Sensei. Demko Sensei is a 7th dan Shihan under Yamada Shihan. This seminar was truly a special event. Special in many ways. Sato Sensei has a long history with the folks at AoC and their dojo-cho, Charles McGinnins Sensei. As an attendee at the seminar, it appeared like old home week for Sato Sensei in many ways. The USAF members that came out
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eani
As we practice on the mat, our under-standing develops, adding textures and colors to our movement. My movement, not to throw my partner down, but to generate such a quality movement so as to energize both myself and my partner, to fill each with color and texture. As we explore our life, our perceptions of who we are and how we blend with each other, and how we play our roles, develop more intricate connections and reveal deeper overlays of color and nuance, constantly refining our communications.
Aikido and my life are the same. I seek to understand my place in this world and to live in balance with the energies around me. Whether on the mat or in the market, or on the street, I walk a journey learning to be in balance with the energy around me, to present what is needed in any given moment, to develop com-munications that are truly effective at creating harmony. It is this constant exchange that invigorates and feeds my soul, and if I am living right, it feeds the souls around me. It is this artful and inten-tional exchange that gives substance to my life and to my aikido.
Aiki-Weapons, Body Movement, and Old-School ArtsJosh Paul Sensei, SandanAikido of South Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
It is often said that aikido is largely—perhaps even entirely—based on traditional sword and staff practices. In fact, Volume I of Morihiro Saito’s classic book series Traditional Aikido is de-voted almost completely to weapons training. But the relation-ship between aikido weapons and empty-hand techniques has always puzzled me. It was not until I studied shinto muso ryu jodo (SMR)—the way of the stick—and began to see some of the differences between aiki-weapons and a koryu (continued)
(continuation) Aikido. They are one in the same and the same in one.
If we understand that the word aikido translates to the path of harmonizing with energy or with nature, and we understand that our life is really all about harmonizing and fitting in with the world around us as we perceive it, then life and aikido are the same.
From before our birth and each moment after, we seek a balance in our existence. We seek to reconcile a need to explore and ex-pand our new existence with remaining safe within the womb. We seek to understand how to move or walk while constantly being pulled down by gravity. We seek to connect newly learned knowl-edge with our internal feelings and the things we “just know.” We seek to soar above the clouds while holding firm to the safety of earth. We seek to become successful in our lives while seeking to understand the questions of where we came from and where we are going.
What we do on the mat is a physical practice of painting our existence in the universe. The dojo is a sketchpad to safely hone our brush technique, to learn the nuance of blending color and texture. The final canvas is the life we lead. The painting we cre-ate by living our lives is our gift to the universe.
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t to
Whether on the mat or in the market, or on the street, I walk a
journey learning to be in balance with the energy around me,
to present what is needed in any given moment, to develop
communications that are truly effective at creating harmony.
SMR & AIKI-WEAPONS—There are many commonalities between SMR and aikido (and other arts), such a focus on balance, timing, moving from the center, and ma-ai, but there are also some no-table differences. In the broadest terms, SMR emphasizes the jo in combat versus the sword, and developed techniques and katafor that purpose. These techniques and strategies can sometimes make aiki-weapons seem somehow “less martial,” but the pur-pose and goals of aiki-weapons are not necessarily about the combative applications of the weapons. They are more about the weapons relative to your own body movement and, by extension, empty-hand technique.
This is first represented by the jo itself. In SMR, the jo is a weapon of a specific length, relative to the length an early seventheenth-century tachi. In aikido, we use the 128-cm jo, as well as jo that are sized relative to a user’s height (the distance from floor to armpit). A jo sized relative to individual height is not primarily about defense against the tachi. It is about making the jo a part of your body—an extension and exaggeration of movement. It is a tool than calls attention to body movements—posture, steps, hand position, kamae—that may otherwise go unnoticed.
The style of striking with the jo is also different between arts. In SMR, there is no high jodan stance with the jo and, when striking, the weapon, not the body, moves first. In aikido, a shomen- or yokomenuchi strike starts in jodan, we step, settle, and then strike, and we emphasize finishing the step before beginning the strike. This style can be tricky against a sword because it leaves your middle unprotected, but it is a sound approach to practicing ai-kido. For a powerful strike, the arms must be relaxed, the hands extended, and the lower body in a stable, two-footed stance. Ex-tension, a relaxed upper body (Koichi Tohei says heavy arms) and a stable, engaged lower body are the starting point for all ai-kido technique. It is not necessarily about hitting the guy with the sword or jo. It is about practicing principles of aikido. So, in both examples, as well as others, the emphasis is more about body movement than about combat.
There are other differences, which, even if they are a bit off-top-ic, are nevertheless interesting. For example, in aikido, because we assume multiple attackers, we use an open, unfocused gaze, whereas in SMR you maintain direct eye contact with (continued)
(continuation) (old-school or, sometimes, old-flow) art that it start-ed to make some sense.
ABOUT SMR—The origins of SMR date to early seventeenth cen-tury Japan (exactly 1605 according to some sources). Its actual creation is of course shrouded in legends written after possibly real events, and goes something like this: Muso Gonnosuke, a master martial artist of the day, was participating in musha shugyo—travel-ing the country challenging other martial artists. Gonnosuke, re-portedly a hulking 6 or more feet tall, encountered and challenged famed swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. He fought Musashi’s two-sword style with either a very large bokken or bo (a staff approxi-mately 6 feet in length). Musashi defeated Gonnosuke by crossing his two swords in an x-block called jujidome, trapping Gonnosuke’s weapon and neutralizing both Gonnosuke and the weapon.
Ashamed, Gonnosuke retreated to the shrine on Mount Homan where he engaged in austere training and meditation for 37 days. On the 37th day, he had a divine vision, which essentially (ac-counts vary) told him to create the jo—a wooden staff exactly 128 cm long and 2.4 cm in diameter. In feudal measurements, it is4 Shaku, 2 Sun, 1 Bu in length and 8 Bu in diameter. This is now the “correct” jo size according to the SMR branch of the All Japan Kendo Federation.
After creating his weapon and developing its use, Gonnosuke again challenged Musashi. This time he emerged victorious. The 128-cm jo was longer than the standard tachi of the era, but more maneuverable than the long weapon Gonnosuke first fought with. Because of its manageable length, Gonnosuke could escape Musashi’s jujidome block. Based on these events and subsequent evolution, several SMR lineages are now practiced worldwide.
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d
...but the purpose and goals of aiki-weapons are not
necessarily about the combative applications of the weapons.
They are more about the weapons relative to your own
body movement and, by extension, empty-hand technique.
Shodan Essay: What Is Aikido?Laura Anne Hiles, ShodanWadokan Dojo, Spring, TX
When I was a little girl, I grew up alongside a big brother who was my idol. I tried so much to be like him, and grew up as a tomboy, learning how to ride four wheelers through backcountry mud trails and learning to fight with him and my neighbors. When he was about eight he started taking karate lessons, and from that first time I watched him take a belt test I felt an unexplainable desire to learn martial arts. Of course, I was a girl, and my step-father was determined that I would grow up to be a lady...so instead of karate I had to go to ballet, tap and jazz dance lessons. Needless to say, I did not last long in these classes, but I kept that fire for martial arts hidden deep inside, like some forbidden love. When I finally moved away to college, I began my court with the arts, looking into the various styles and trying to find that one that would hold my gaze and get my heart racing.
I didn’t find it until I moved a second time, to Wilmington, NC. I had barely just arrived when I noticed a sign for a self-defense class. Intrigued, I decided to check it out. And there it was...sitting at the demonstration at the end, watching the students, that feeling that I remembered from so long ago. Only this time it wasn’t from envy or jealousy, but in anticipation of a potential relationship with this art, one that I had been dream-ing of for years. The honeymoon phase was everything I had ever hoped for. I was consumed with my passion, and I would take every opportunity to attend class, going four nights a week almost every week. I found myself sitting in my college classes, daydreaming about the previous night, going over each min-ute in my head and reliving it right there in my (continued)
...if you’re actually practicing one aspect of aiki-weapons,
you’re practicing them all, and you’re simultaneously
practicing the underlying skills of empty-hand technique.
(continuation) an opponent throughout a kata. The kimochi and zanshin are rather unsettling until you grow accustomed to it. There is also a formal and specific etiquette for exchanging weap-ons. According to my sensei, making a mistake when exchanging weapons is a sure way to fail a dan exam. Dan exams, too, are much different. Unlike the AWA where every dan candidate tests individually, I tested for shodan in one of Tokyo’s budokan (like a gym but solely designed for martial arts training) as part of a group of more than 100 shodan candidates. I wore the number 84 badge and was evaluated by a group of All Japan Kendo Fed-eration judges seated at a table and clad in formal business suits.
WEAPONS & EMPTY HANDS—I studied SMR for only a few years, but it made an enormous impact on how I think about weapons. For one thing, it improved my technique and ability to memorize kata, which made weapons training more fun. But it also helped me discover and experience some of the relationships between aiki-weapons and empty-hand technique. I now think that weapons and empty-hand technique share postures, stances, and hand and foot positions, as well as zanshin and kimochi. Sometimes, sword movements (especially those involving drawing the sword) and empty-hand technique are the same. Sometimes, the weapons are an extension of our center and used as tools to refine empty-hand movements. And, sometimes, fundamental ai-kido movements like shomenuchi ikkyo undo are like sword forms. There are probably others examples, too.
My first teacher said that if you practice one of aikido’s Four Basic Principles (see the Spring 2012 issue of the AWA newslet-ter), you’re actually practicing all four. I think something similar happens with weapons: if you’re practicing one aspect of aiki-weapons, you’re practicing them all, and you’re simultaneously practicing the underlying skills of empty-hand technique.
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NEWSLETTER Fall 2013
at your worst times, feeling like it will never work out. At other times you may get it in your head that you know more than most, and close your once open-mind off to new ideas and views. If you close yourself off, you miss some of the most meaningful lessons and experiences that aikido has to offer, and from what I have experienced, the times that you are gaining the most are the times that you are giving the most. Aikido does not require students to spend hours in lecture on dedication, perseverance, respect, and integrity, but just by participating and really opening yourself up, these are principles that are slowly instilled in you over the years. Just like love, it can teach you things about yourself that you never knew, and things you never knew you never knew.
In many eyes, marriage seems to be the second start of a relationship, and a profound mark of accomplishment for two people. Even though you get a piece of paper that says you are married, most anyone will tell you it is not about that silly piece of paper, but about everything that went into the relationship leading up to that point. That is my upcoming test. It cannot be summed up to a certificate that hangs on the wall, and it is not even about the single day of the test. It is about every day up to this point that I have trained, tried, taught, persevered, learned, laughed, grit my teeth, sweat, bled….loved. That is aikido.
The Weapon as Mere ObjectTed Maclin, NidanKeishinkan Dojo, Memphis, TN
As far as I know, Malala Yousafzai has never studied aikido. Ms. Yousafzai is the Pakistani teenager who, while advocating for the edu-cation of girls in the Swat valley, was shot in an attempted assassi-nation. After being shot in the head and recovering, she has gone on to become a global advocate for the rights of women and girls. In doing so, she is directly challenging the so-cial order of the Taliban.
A few quick definitions here: by social order, I mean the rela-tionships between people, places, ideas, and objects. A given social order is about power relations—who has it, under what conditions, and who doesn’t. Not power in our usual (continued)
Just like love, [aikido] can tach you things about yourself that
you never knew, and things you never knew you never knew.
(continued) imagination. I watched videos on it, read books and articles, talked about it with anyone who would listen. On some of the nights that I did not have aikido, I would sneak out into the courtyard to practice in the light of the single street lamp that il-luminated the circular stage.
Just when I thought that I could not possibly love aikido any more, I went to my first seminar. It was a rush my first time, meeting a host of new people that loved aikido just like I did, who had the look of enthusiasm on their face that matched what I felt inside. Just the opportunity to do nothing for a weekend but eat, sleep, and breathe aikido was overwhelming. I became like an ad-dict, and started to put all the money and time that I could spare into traveling to as many seminars as possible. Each one was like a hit, and left me salivating over when my next one would come. There were some days that I was overcome with stress, many around exam periods, and I took valuable time I could have spent studying or working and went to aikido instead. It was the one thing during those times that could keep me grounded and reminded me to have balance, doing more for me than any num-ber of hours of studying could. I would come back from aikido refreshed and recharged, and felt I could tackle anything thrown at me.
It has been years since those first experiences, and, though I will in no way say that the aura or shine has worn off aikido for me, many of those novel aspects of it have become more normal. What ai-kido is to me…well, its very difficult to explain. I suppose the best way to put it is, practicing aikido has been like falling in love…it is hard to explain to someone who hasn’t truly experienced it. And for those who have, an explanation can hardly do it justice. In the beginning, when everything is novel and breathtaking, it is very easy to be excited every day just to be there, and work hard out of pure enthusiasm. But just like in any relationship, it is easy to become lazy, and stop putting in the same effort that you did in the beginning. At times you can get frustrated and lost, feeling like you don’t understand anything and can become catastrophic
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NEWSLETTER Fall 2013
nd
i. r -, -doeg-
the attack. In fact, you have given the wea-pon legitimacy. It is still a power-object—it was the attacker who was illegitimate. Rather than thinking of things in terms of paired opposites (attack/de-fense, aggressive/passive, violent/non-violent), it may be useful to think of situations in terms of complex social arrangements. To return to Ms. Yousafzai’s example, her work after her recovery is so powerful precisely because she rejected the entire idea of a gendered social order that was embodied within the gun.
In terms of aikido, I think this approach has two implications. A sword, gun, knife, or other weapon is often not just a tool. It is a culturally-created object that is vested with power. As aiki-doka, it is important to de-fetishize weapons, to make them into simple objects that we can deal with in an immediate fashion. At the same time, we should take that perspective into our off-mat practice. If weapons are to remain mere objects, we need to work within our communities to develop alternative practices that will allow social relations to be continually exposed, maintained, and sometimes re-organized—dynamically and collaboratively.
How Can I Help Other Students Improve Their Aikido?Maxwell Binder, 3rd KyuKyushinkan Dojo, Roswell, GA
There are a many different
ways I can help other stu-
dents improve their Aikido.
Helping teach someone a
specific technique would be
one way, however, it is only
one of many ways to be
helpful. The five ways that
I feel I can most help other
students with Aikido are: set
a good example; be encour-
aging; positive attitude; be
a good uke; and help with
techniques.
SET A GOOD EXAMPLEI can set a good example by the way I act, speak, use my posture, respond to questions, or ask questions while at aikido. Clowning around during aikido is not the proper way to act. Having fun, but being serious, is the proper way to act. Saying, “That looks stupid” is not the proper way to speak. Saying, “I don’t understand the pur-pose of that” is the proper way to speak. Slouching, (continued)
If weapons are to remain mere objects, we need to work within
our communities to develop alternative practices that will
allow social relations to be continually exposed, maintained,
and sometimes reorganized—dynamically and collaboratively.
(continuation) martial arts sense, but as in who has the legitimate capacity to shape the social order directly, and who is coerced into action or inaction.
People are not alone in shaping specific social orders; we invest a certain amount of that power into objects or fetishes. A fetish here is a cultural object that contains, reflects, and maintains a particu-lar social order. It can be a statue, a crown, a piece of clothing, or any other object. A crown, for example, reflects a social order. At the same time, the act of wearing a crown reinforces that order, and the crown commands respect even when it is alone. I argue that weapons can serve a similar function. In this case, a weapon is not simply a tool for maintaining social order—it is culturally and socially a thing with its own life.
In aikido, we tend to focus our attention on the threat of physi-cal violence. When approached by an armed attacker, we enter and/or blend with the attack to neutralize whatever weapon is in play. When Malala Yousafzai was attacked, she chose a passivist response, but in one way she disarmed the attacker more effec-tively than many aikidoka—by rejecting the social order that was culturally embedded within the gun, she effectively de-fetishized the weapon and turned it into a mere object.
In this case (and, I argue, in many others), the threat or use of violence with a weapon is not just an attack: it is a statement supporting or rejecting a specific social order. This was the case with Ms. Yousafzai—the attack was intended as a message about power and gender. It is the case when police or other citizens use weapons in defense. The weapon serves to maintain order even if it is never seen, spoken about, or implied.
It is also the case when weapons are used unlawfully. From a cultural perspective, the fetishized weapon is still being used in a consistent way if it functions to establish, change, or maintain a particular social order. An armed robbery, then, is a case of a weapon being used to rearrange the relationship between people, money, or other things and establish (even temporarily) a new social order. An unarmed robbery functions in a similar way; the thought that there might be a gun or knife is enough to rearrange the momentary order.
In aikido, new students often flinch or express fear when con-fronted with weapons practice. If threatened with a plastic bottle instead of a wooden tanto, the reaction may be completely dif-ferent. If the weapon captures your mind, then even if you disarm the attacker you have still not addressed the underlying basis of
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NEWSLETTER Fall 2013
r
experience. I wouldn’t go nuts attacking someone who was new to aikido, but you also don’t want to go too easy on someone who is very good at aikido. For instance, when doing munetsuki kotegaeshi: For someone who is new to aikido, I wouldn’t want to try to hit them as fast as I could. I would want to move slow so they have time to think and move while doing the technique. But, for someone who has a couple of years of aikido, I wouldn’t want to be too easy to move around if they tenkan poorly. By giving them more resistance, they can better their technique.
HELP WITH TECHNIQUES Helping people learn techniques is the final way that I can help other students with their aikido. Examples of how I can do this are: walking them through the technique slowly; have them mir-ror my movements with another uke; break the technique into small steps; find a similar technique they are good at and show how they are similar; don’t become frustrated or give up if they struggle; find a sensei or a higher ranked student to help if I’m unable to teach the technique.
There are many ways I can help students with their aikido. All theexamples I have listed are easy if you just behave like a nice person.
(continuation) laying down, or excessive floppiness is not good posture posture. Correct and relaxed seiza and stances is a good posture. Saying, “I need a drink” while sensei is talking is not the proper way to ask a question. Waiting until sensei is done speak-ing and asking, “Sensei, may I leave the mat for a drink” is the proper way to ask a question. Answering, “uh huh,” is not the proper way to say “yes” in aikido. “Hai,” or “ Hai, sensei” is the proper way to say “yes” in aikido.
BE ENCOURAGING:Encouraging other students makes them feel better about their ai-kido, especially if they are having trouble with a technique. Being over critical when someone fails a technique is not encouraging. “Much better” or “You can do it” are both encouraging things to say. I always want to try to compliment more than correct people.
POSITIVE ATTITUDE Being frustrated never helps. By keeping a positive attitude, I can show others that struggling on a technique doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it just means that you have to keep trying. Saying, “I’ll never be able to do koshinage” is a negative attitude. Saying “I can figure this out” is a positive attitude.
BE A GOOD UKE Being a good uke is important. If you want people to learn the technique, you need to change your attack based on their
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NEWSLETTER Fall 2013
“Opponents confront us continually, but actually there is no opponent there. Enter deeply into an at-tack and neutralize it as you draw that misdirected
force into your own sphere.”
- Morihei Ueshiba SenseiFounder of Aikido
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