Pillars of Aikido

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[dps]

Michael Siminig in the thread ,"Real Aikido please not fakeydo" mentions the five pillars of Aikido. I have heard anywhere from three to nine pillars of Aikido. Do the different styles have different amount of pillars and different pillars? What are they?.

[Rupert Atkinson]

My own style has two pillars, namely, legs.

[villrg0a]

not sure, but some of them could be:

iriminage??
kotegaeshi??
kokyunage??

[ian]

John Stevens book called something like 'The Secret of Aikido' mentions something like 5? pillars of aikido. I remember Ushiro waza being one of them. (maybe kokyu, irimi and others?) Sorry for lack of clarity, don't have book with me. Maybe someone can assist my failing memory.

[wayneth]

Suwari-Waza Kokyo-Ho

[eyrie]

Secrets of Aikido, John Stevens, 1997.

Six pillars:
1. shiho-nage - gratitude
2. irimi - entering
3. kaiten - open and turn
4. kokyu - breath power
5. osae-waza - firm control
6. ushiro-waza - 6th sense

In his later book "The Philosophy of Aikido", 9 pillars are listed:
1. Shiho (4 directions/universality)
2. Irimi (entering & blending)
3. Kaiten (opening and turning)
4. Kokyu (breath power and timing)
5. Osae (control - of self and a situation)
6. Ushiro (rear - dealing with the unknown)
7. Tenchi (heaven and earth - to stand firmly between)
8. Aiki-ken & aiki-jo (the sword of resolution and staff of intuition)
9. Ukemi (7 times down, 8 times up)

[eyrie]

For those who might be interested, here's a discussion thread I started on FightingArts last year on this very topic...

http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/15773341/an/0/page/3#15773341

[Yann Golanski]

Pillar one: train
Pillar two: train hard
Pillar three: train harder and with an open mind
Pillar four: train still harder with an open mind and a smile.
Pillar five: Oh, just shut up and train!!!!
...

[Amir Krause]

1. Tai Sabaki
2. Kata \ Waza
3. Randori


Amir

[Eric Webber]

1. Aiki
2. Kuzushi
3. Shisei

(blending, taking balance, posture)

[Rupert Atkinson]

Pillar one: train
Pillar two: train hard
Pillar three: train harder and with an open mind
Pillar four: train still harder with an open mind and a smile.
Pillar five: Oh, just shut up and train!!!!
...

I think I'll follow Yann ... might learn something.

[Roman Kremianski]

Pillar six: Alright fine, a 2 month break. But once the cast comes of, it's back to training!

[eyrie]

Whilst I agree that training is important, I believe the pillars refer to the foundational principles on which the art is based. At the risk of stating the obvious... understanding the pillars are important to understanding the rationale for the what, how and why of training.

[dps]

I believe the pillars refer to the foundational principles on which the art is based. What are they? :)

[dps]

Pillar five: Oh, just shut up and train!!!!
... Best advice my first Sensei gave me. One of my personal pillars of learning anything. :)

[Don_Modesto]

AJ online has a poster, "The Three Pillars of Aikido" with pics of Ueshiba, Takeda, Deguchi.