Aikido Technique Videos and Self Defense Training

There's a very good blog about aikido that discusses the basic attacks, movements and principles of aikido but, unfortunately, it's not in English. However, if you want to read technical descriptions as detailed as a work of a mechanical engineer it is worth finding a Hungarian friend and ask him/her to translate a couple of posts for you although I'll try to use the knowledge I acquire from there in my posts.

The point of this new post is that on that blog there was a description of shomen(uchi) and we commenters started to compare shomenuchi with chopping wood. Indeed, they are quite similar and one can be used to get better at the other. Both are supposed to be straight vertical cuts with an instrument that is about a meter long (katana vs. axe) and both cuts are intended to separate the left and right sides of something that was a whole just before the cuts.

There are some differences, however, and I'd like to discuss them as well as pointing out whenever connection between the two cuts can still be made .

To start with, the katana should be balanced in weight whereas the axe is heavier at its cutting end. The axe is stopped by the stand the block is on if your cut is too strong and since the point of stopping does not really matter as long as the block is cut into halves it is much more useful to have some weight at the end of the axe and make the rest of it from wood so you can cut hundreds. You should also be able to cut hundreds with a katana but all your cuts must be as perfect as possible otherwise you may end up in two parts on the battlefield. It is important to finish the shomen cut at around waist level for which there are several reasons. Firstly, if you have already cut someone from head to waist it is unlikely he will fight back. Secondly, as the blade goes deeper down in your test object :) its momentum will dramatically decrease and eventually it can get stuck in the object's bone structure and you, unable to get it out quickly enough, will end up being cut into two parts on the battlefield. So try to cut until waist level because then you can pull the sword out the easiest way as you just move (your hip) away from the target horizontally (which way you can use our strength most effectively). Then you will be able to take on the next attacking dummy quickly. Thirdly, if the dummy is quick enough and moves away from your straight shomen and your cut goes all the way until the ground your katana will get dirty :). On top of this, you will become unstable and might just stumble or fall ahead which is when the back of your neck becomes open and you end up in two parts, this way head separated from body, on the battlefield.

Another difference can be that you always raise your sword, and hand if it is shomenuchi, in front of you because this is the way when your face, and basically all your front armor, doesn't become open to a straight attack, e.g. tsuki (forward thrust), from your enemy. In contrast to this, you can raise your axe at your side, the wood won't attack you. This way you might manage the weight of the head of the axe more efficiently, too.

Chopping wood can show you how to keep your instrument straight. If the head of your axe is a bit sideways you will surely see and feel that it's not the correct way of holding it. A slight difference in angle from vertical can result in very low efficiency and we surely don't want that.

Chopping wood also teaches us to keep proper distance. As it's only the tip part, say the last 15cm, of the katana that is very sharp and extremely tough you have to reach your target with that part. If you are too far you will miss the target, if you are too close your cut won't be efficient enough and unnecessary short distances in combat are very dangerous, anyway. In parallel, if you have an axe and you are too far from the block your legs (/front leg) will be in danger, if you are too close you will get a good 'shaky' indication for not doing it properly not even mentioning that you can eventually lose the head of the axe or break the handle.

Chopping wood can improve your ballance, strength and if you do it long enough your shoulders should become more relaxed because if they are stiff you will get tired very soon.

One other advantage of chopping wood is that it also produces something useful (firewood) which shomen cuts with a katana don't (apart from improving skills).

Please note that I'm not saying you shouldn't practice shomen or shomenuchi often, it is still important, just that there is this chopping exercise that shows you different aspects of a straight cut, and to quote from Calvin's dad "it builds character" :).

An almost-real-world example for the usefulness of wood chopping is that of Heihachi Hayashida from Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai). He is the one who is from the "Wood-Chop School of Swordsmanship," cutting up kindling in exchange for his meals. If he did it then it should surely be useful ;).

And finally, videos:

A katana cut (shomen. I couldn't find a proper shomen with a sword):



How not to chop...



Mixing the two ideas... (don't try this at home because it destroys your sword; never mix up two ways of cutting; don't do anything stupid :))



Please let me know if anything is missing, incorrect or, by any chance, very good :).

Response from Albright Sensei:

What does a black belt in Aikido mean to you? I was told that a black belt should be able to take UKEMI from any throw. My training insured that was true. UKEMI is the Japanese term for being able to safely receive an Aikido technique from anyone. It is the ability to follow, flow and fall without injury. It is often said that the first three years in Aikido training is UKEMI. UKEMI is that important.

A few years ago, Miho and I were training in Sasaki sensei's dojo in Fujiminou City in Saitama, Japan. Many of his students were already 4th, 5th, and 6th degree black belts. Sasaki Sensei, himself, is an 8th degree black belt. So imagine me, being only a 2nd degree black belt at the time! I was intimidated to say the least. In this situation, 2nd degree black or NI-DAN means next to nothing. Their level of understanding of techniques was so deep that it would blow your mind. In this situation, the only thing I could be confident in was my UKEMI. In their presence, I wasn’t even comfortable saying that I had a basic understanding of Aikido. All I knew was that I could receive their techniques. Of course, it is by receiving their techniques that I would learn the most from them. That is where the real learning in Aikido takes place, through the physical dialogue of UKEMI.

Once you’ve learned to take UKEMI, your technique will follow. If you really want to improve your Aikido technique… focus on developing your UKEMI. A little known secret about Aikido is that UKEMI is the key to reaching black belt, not technique execution. Many students spend a disproportionate amount of their focus on the performance of techniques like KOTE-GAESHI or SHIHO-NAGE. If one is truly present during training, one will be extremely intent while be both uke and nage. Being equally skilled is what will make you a complete aikidoka.

In the previous post we saw how the whole word 'aikido' can be translated to English. Let's see now what the individual parts of the word mean. Fortunately, every sourse I came across mentioned that the aikido includes three parts, AI, KI and DO. The number of Japanese kanji for the word is also three. Let's see how the individual kanji are explained in the online sources I've seen. Obviously, there are several descriptions that are literally the same for many webpages (the old copy and paste method possibly), so I'll include one text only once. One of the best descriptions I think come from budodojo and from a web page in Hungarian (find it translated at the bottom of the list).

• Ai - harmony,
• Ki - spirit, mind or universal energy,
• Do - the Way
  
  

• Ai - harmony,
• Ki - spirit,
• Do - the Way or Path
  
  

• Ai - joining, harmonizing
• Ki - spirit, life energy
• Do - way, path
  
  

• Ai - to gather or harmonize
• Ki - universal life force/energy. This is the energy that we share with nature and all living beings
• Do - an artful path of discovery
  
  

• Ai - the kanji for AI (also pronounced GO and KATSU), as an ideogram, is often interpreted historically as a rice pot with a lid. This suggests the idea of meeting, joining or coming together. The character is often used to indicate harmony, union and reconciliation.
• Ki - The kanji for KI means spirit. It comes from the X character in the lower center, meaning rice. The radical to the top and leading down to the right represents vapor. Together they originally indicated the vapors rising from cooked rice and now indicate the idea of spirit or unseen force. Today it is generally used to indicate an invisible, spiritual energy or life force.
• Do - The DO kanji (also DO, TO, and michi) is composed of the wavy radical to the lower left meaning movement and the element to the right meaning head or chief. These were used to suggest the idea of the main road and finally came to mean way or road. In the context of aikido it takes on the common abstract meaning of way or way of enlightenment. DO is used in many Japanese words regarding traditional Japanese martial arts including; budo, judo, kendo, kyudo, karate-do, and dojo.
  
  

• Ai - translated as "harmony," this term is most commonly associated with aikido, where one combines their energy with that of their opponents.
• Aiki - "harmony meeting." When one combines an opponents' energy with their own for control.
• Ki - "spirit." Ideally, the mental and spiritual power summoned through concentration and breathing that can be applied to accomplish physical feats. This centralized energy, possessed by every person, can be manifested through the practice of just about any manifested through the practice of just about any martial discipline.
• Do - "way" or "path." When this term is used as a suffix to a particular style of the Japanese martial arts, it is indicitive of more than just a means of combat. Do indicates a disciplineand philosophy with moral and spiritual connotations, with the ultimate aim being enlightenment.
  
  

• Ai - 'to meet, to come together, to harmonize'.
• Ki - 'energy, spirit, mind'. In a larger context, Ki means 'the spirit of the universe', and not just the spirit of human beings.
• Do - 'the way'. It signifies that the study of Aikido does not involve merely self-defense techniques, but includes positive character-building ideals which a person can incorporate into his or her life.
  
  

• Ai - mutual
• Ki - spirit (from Middle Chinese khi)
• Do - art (from Middle Chinese daw', thaw).
  
  

• Ai - the first and most important kanji which means "meet, come together, harmonize".
• Ki - which means "soul, mind, spirit". In a larger context, Ki refers to the spirit of the universe and not just the spirit in human beings.
• Do - which means "the way", to signify that Aikido involves an outer and inner practice over the long term.
  
  

• Ai - unity, harmony, love, identifying with something
• Ki - living force, energy of centered power
• Do - way, means of something
  
  

• Ai - harmony
• Ki - energy, spirit
• Do - the way, path, road, philosophy of...
  
  

• Ai - it means 'harmony'. The aim of aikido is to create harmony. Harmony with ourselves, our partner we train with and harmony with the world.
• Ki - this requires a more explanation. The kanji itself has two parts. The part below the (approximately) horizontal line denote the rise fields, the part above show the vapour above the rise fields. It doesn't mean much for us westerners but the vapor above the rise fields means life and livelihood to the people of the East. The original meaning of this kanji has changed over the past centuries. Today Ki means universal living force, energy that is present everywhere. It is the same as chi in China and prana in India.
• Do - the meaning of Japanese do and Chinese tao are identical. Both of them mean 'way', 'road' or 'path', but not only the road we put our feet on but rather the road we walk on and we get somewhere; the way that leads to our objectives.

When I almost finished this post I was looking for individual kanji pictures and my Chinese colleague suddenly turned towards me and said 'I know this one!'. That was the 'do' kanji. So I took the opportunity to explore what these three kanji mean to the Chinese. Here's what she said, with approximate pronounciations:

• the AI kanji - [hei, he] - come together, fit
• the KI kanji - [chi, qi] - air, vital breath, 'if you don't have this you die'
• the Do kanji - [dao] - philosophy, path, way, direction, method, principle
  
  

For me it's very interesting. Same kanji, sometimes completely different pronounciation, similar meanings. I learned something new again :).

Did I miss something important? Please let me know in the comments.

Response from Shiraki Sensei:

When you come to an Aikido dojo, the first thing you will learn is how to fall or UKEMI. A wise Shinto priest and Aikido master once said to me, "First learn UKEMI because UKEMI is a form of losing. If you can learn how to lose and how you feel when you lose, the rest of it is easy. No ego, no nothing… Just the way it is." I learned UKEMI in very much the same way. The first thing my instructor, Iio Sensei, taught me was UKEMI. As a matter of fact, the first three years of my Aikido training was all about UKEMI. Nothing else mattered.

During this time, my husband had already earned his black belt in Aikido and had recently attended GASSHUKU (specialized training) with the Wakayama University Aikido Club. He was hoping that I would soon be able to take UKEMI at the same level of intensity as those who had been training for years. Since Jeff had significantly more Aikido experience than I, he worked with me endlessly in an effort to get me up to par so that I, too, could fully participate in the more advanced aspects of Aikido.

For months after each and every Aikido class Jeff would throw me repeatedly so that I could learn UKEMI faster. I am not talking about the regular, nice and easy UKEMI that we often practice in Castle Rock each week. I am talking about full-force break falls or TOBI UKEMI. My husband threw me as hard as he could (at least that is how it felt to me) and I tried my best to "take" good TOBI UKEMI. Unlike our Castle Rock students, I didn't have a luxury of a spring floor or soft mats to learn on. I had to take full-force ukemi on TATAMI mats which were as firm as boards. So it really hurt when you didn't land properly. After just a few nights of this special UKEMI training, my legs were black and blue all the way from my rear end to my knees and I didn’t seem to be making all that much progress. But, then one day something changed. Everything came together at once. Suddenly TOBI UKEMI wasn't painful anymore. My body had learned how to fall properly.

Ten years later I look back and appreciate the extra training my husband gave me. It greatly allowed me to advance my Aikido training. It definitely made me more confident when I trained with high ranking black belts at outlying dojo.

If you want to speed up your Aikido training, focus on UKEMI. You will quickly see that if you can take good UKEMI, the higher rank students will want to work with you more. Your ability to take good UKEMI is often proportional to your commitment level to the art and senior students recognize that and reward it by working with you more. Aikido is team work between the NAGE (thrower) and UKE (throwee). Techniques and UKEMI are both equally important in your training.

The fastest, most expedient way to learn Aikido is not to be prepared, but to make mistakes… a lot of mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the faster you will progress in your training. Our brains assign cause and effect through contrasting experiences. An improperly executed technique is contrasted with a properly executed technique. The "gap" or distance between the two experiences creates "perspective" in the brain and within that gap is where learning occurs. The more out-of-place you feel, the faster you will viscerally internalize the techniques and the lessons they contain.

If you think about it, you have probably experienced this in other areas of your life. Haven't your greatest lessons in your life been the product of mistakes more so that successes? Early 20th century success researcher, Napoleon Hill, states that the key to success in any endeavor is failure. So if you want to progress your Aikido training faster then come to class and make more mistakes! Just be sure to do so with a sense of humor and a smile!

Would you like to try Aikido? We offer a week trial for $25. This will give you the opportunity to see if you enjoy our style of Aikido training and get a chance to meet our students. Click here for the $25 Aikido class trial.
www.CRaikido.com

• "A way of harmonizing with the universal spirit"
• "An artful path of discovering how to gather and harmonize the energy of the universe"
• "Together the characters ai ki and do indicate a spiritual path to unionizing or harmonizing spiritual energy"
• "The way of harmonious spirit"
• "The way of harmony with universal energy"
• "The path of harmony"
• "The way of harmony"
• "Harmony of spirit to find a way"
• "The harmony of body and spirit"
• "The art of non-resistance"
• "The non-fighting martial art"
• "The way of harmonizing with the universe"
• "The art of creating unity"
• "The way of unionising with the inducement of the universe"
• "The way of harmonious inner power"
• "The way of spiritual energy"
• "Martial art of harmony"
• "Art of love"
• "Harmony of love"

My personal favourites are the 'way of harmony' and the 'art of non-resistance'. These sound simple enough to understand and clearly describe the main principles I see in aikido. Aikido is a martial art, so art describes it well. It is a way of life if practiced in a devoted manner so way is also a good descriptor. Our aim is to use the attacker's energy so we should not resist his attack but redirect it. If there is no collision of forces then both harmony and non-resistance can be achieved. I think it is not possible to describe ki in one word so I wouldn't use the direct interpretations spirit, energy or inner power as they individually do not capture the total meaning of the word. Also, I need to learn much more to be able to understand translations that include the words universe and universal energy. Maybe later I will understand these as well and then I'll use them to explain what the word aikido means.

Audio Interview between Sean, a student at Castle Rock Aikido and Aikido instructors, Jeff Albright Sensei and Miho Shiraki Sensei

Sean: Let's get to know about your Aikido school. Who are your students? Do they all come from Castle Rock?

Jeff: We get all types of students, they come from all over the place, outside of Castle Rock – as far north as Westminster and we have two students from Colorado Springs as well.

We get all kinds of different students, working professionals, parents; we've got a couple of college students, so we have a wide variety. We tend to get students in the 30-40 range, people who are searching and looking for different things as far as self development and personal development goes.

Sean: And don't you guys have students older than that also?

Jeff: Oh yes, we've had students as old as, I think 77 in Castle Rock.

Sean: Wow. I bet a lot of people do not think of practicing martial arts in their 60's and 70's, do they?

Jeff: They probably don't but there are many students and instructors who are well into their 80's and even their 90's who have thrown me around quite well. It is definitely a martial art you can do for a lifetime.

Sean: Well that is pretty amazing. It sounds like people are willing to travel if necessary – quite a distance to come train with you guys. I think that is probably pretty unusual considering there is, in most towns, at least one martial arts school on every street corner; so the idea that people would travel, it sounds like well over an hour in some cases to come train with you guys is quiet a credit to your program.

Jeff: Well, thank you. I think people just like the whole atmosphere – it is pretty energetic and upbeat and we have a good time, so I think they are willing to drive a little bit to be a part of that.

End of this segment of the Aikido interview. To find out what students of Castle Rock Aikido are saying about their dojo and the Aikido instructors, please visit www.craikido.com

To learn how businesses work and how they should be started, I entered the 'Pitch your idea business plan competition' at the university I'm at. It included a series of one-day courses about finance, marketing, intellectual property rights, etc. and we were asked to come up with a business plan of our own and create a short executive summary of our plan. The summaries were judged and the best 10 got into the final where we needed to 'pitch our ideas', convince the panel of 8 businessmen and -women that our plan was very good. We had to talk for 5 minutes and there was 10 minutes for questions. They it was like in Dragon's den but I haven't seen any episodes from that TV programme.

But why is this interesting to our aikido blog? Because my idea was related to aikido. Initially I just thought I wanted to set up a fictional business and teach aikido - fictional because I wouldn't start a proper aikido class with my 2nd kyu, obviously. So I worked on this idea and soon realized that there isn't too much money involved, so unless I have 40 years experience I won't start a highly profitable aikido business. Just read some of the latest entries from aikiweb by Erik Calderon (titled 'I QUIT!' and 'Aikido SUCKS!').

The modified idea was to do an aikido therapy, which was based on the idea of martial arts therapy. I set up and submitted the new business plan, talked about it in the final, answered questions and received a certificate of participation.

I didn't win but I still won. Not a prize but experience, opportunity to talk to knowledgable people and other students with ideas. I also got a £20 book token which was given to each finalist, a free certificate to put on my wall :), several free lunches and a half-ready business plan with feedback to improve it.

ps. The final took place in a very nice building near Barbican station in London (right next to the building which is used in the Poirot films as the detective's office/home) so I couldn't help asking someone to take a picture of me in the room during the break after my session :).


Have a nice day everyone.

This is just another week when I read something, think about it, observe it and write a post about it. This time I read an article about the correct posture in modern life and aikido.

The main idea I understood was that the skeleton but especially the muscles of humans are not evolved for sitting in chairs and in front of computer screens. Our ancestors had to walk a lot, lift heavy objects and they needed the optimal body structure for this as well as a proper use of this structure. A very interesting point in the article is that knees and leg muscles (e.g. the quadriceps) of modern mankind are much weeker than those of our fathers, grandfathers, etc. We don't need to sit on the floor any more because we have chairs and tables. We don't need to lift heavy objects as often because we have forklifts :). Since we don't need to exploit our muscles and bones to achieve highest efficiency, unfortunately, we tend to use them in a far from optimal manner. Just think about how you pick up something from the floor. You will probably bend and use your muscles in your back to lift that thing. Bending becomes our default motion to 'go down' to reach something positioned low and since our body is not designed for this our back, and life at an older age, will suffer its consequences. Just to experiment, I counted how many times a day I bent instead of squatting, but I stopped counting after 40...

I think the Japanese are luckier in this sense because they still actively sit in seiza and it might be easier for them not to overuse their waists.

The proper practice to lift up something, for example, a watermelon :), would be to keep your upper body straight and upright, squat, pick up that melon and stand up while you are still in an upright position. You need to use the strength of your legs and position your hip for the ideal lifting position.

This is the same for aikido. We tend to bend too often and it's very hard to learn to keep the proper upright posture. It also sounds easier to bend when you take down your uke but as the pain in my back and waist the day after training proves there should be a better way to execute techniques. I feel lucky that we can practice suwari waza as well. There we need to use our toes and leg muscles that are otherwise not exercised and taken care of properly. We also need to use our hips so there is a higher chance that if we do it properly won't suffer that much when we grow old. And even when we grow old, we can still practice aikido which is a very good thing. Just have a look at aikido masters over 70.