Quote:
Alan Lamb wrote:
I was wondering, are there any techniques that were devised or adapted by o sensei, for aikido, that were designed to kill? I was under the impression that the highest level of aikido was to control the aggressor without causing serious harm? I know they CAN kill, but are they designed to be that way?
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Are you talking about the spiritual side that Ueshiba created or the physical martial side that he learned from Takeda?
I'll skip the spiritual as it pertains quite a bit of history, historical analysis, and experiences that I don't think can be very well conveyed (just the experiences, not the history) over the Internet.
If you read the accounts of when Tomiki met Ueshiba, supposedly, Tomiki was tossed like a rag doll some sixty different ways. With that kind of control, don't you think it is very highly likely that should Ueshiba have chosen to kill, he could have done so? In various manners from various techniques?
Or some of the accounts of students asking to see a technique again and Ueshiba saying they're all the same?
Or how he pinned Tenryu down and stated it was because of the secret of aiki. If he could do that to Tenryu, don't you think he could have killed him in various ways?
IMO, technique-centric thinking is completely the opposite of Ueshiba's vision of aikido. It was the body skill of Daito ryu aiki that enabled Ueshiba to mature into Takemusu Aiki. It didn't matter what technique Takeda or Ueshiba chose to express their aiki with, it was the actual aiki-built body that was the driving force. And that was what gave them the ability to be lethal in any situation.
And on that very same coin of being lethal, the aiki-built body also gave them the ability to control without doing harm and to live a bit freer in the world, unchained from fears of martial encounters.
On one side, I guess you could view them as a killing sword (setsunin to) in that they could use force of will (or rather aiki) to overpower, immobilize and strike down (kill) an opponent. But by the very same force of aiki, they also had the choice to go inside the opponent's technique and to draw them in or to pass them outward in a controlling manner (katsujin ken). I probably have described this incorrectly and if so, others who have more experience will hopefully correct me.