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Old 04-21-2005, 05:40 PM   #86
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
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Re: Shioda, Tohei, and Ki Things

Quote:
Mark Murray wrote:
Mike Sigman wrote:
>Maybe it's simpler if I say that the defining moment of "aiki" is, *to
>me*, the moment nage engages with uke... that is the moment
>you actually "aiki" with his force and the way you do it determines
>your level of skill, in reality. From there on, I don't care too much

So, following this reason of thought, what do you think about the timing issues at this moment (where nage engages uke)? (snip)

Where does the "aiki" defining moment begin?
Let me try again. I had always thought of "aiki" as meaning all the factors involved in the technique... the timing, the entry or whatever, the taking of balance, the follow-through, and so on... and that was "The Way of Aiki". The combined techniques and approach were sort of a composite philosophy for dealing with an attack, etc. Pretty much as most practitioners see it. Suddenly I realize that I may have been viewing it wrong, or at least somewhat skewed from what the real idea is. The real idea is, I think now, focused on the skill of blending kokyu to an opponent's force. Inaba Sensei actually says that. Shioda delights in showing that. It's pretty sophisticated and maybe worthy of the religious significance O-Sensei attached to it, after all.

Think of it as a martial art with a secret, powerful punch called "Punch-Do". This is a spectacular punch that no one else really has and you have to be shown how to do it right because to an outsider it appears to be a normal punch. To apply this punch you need to have timing, yes, and you need some sort of finishing followup as part of your full strategy, yes. But the secret is in the moment of the punch... that's why it's called "punch-do", not because of the timing, the followup, the different ways you apply the punch, etc. If you follow my reasoning (you don't have to agree, of course). So this art of "punch-do" becomes popular and people learn all these approaches, punches, and followups that are in the art, but they use a normal punch while doing it. Of course, they would be outraged if you told them they weren't doing the punch correctly... heck, some of the are Go-dans!!.. anyway, you get the drift.
Quote:
I'm still working out aiki, ki, kokyu, etc. That's the reason for the questions. To me, it's just like a major strategy game and all the good players are working on not just a few levels, but on major levels.
Don't get me wrong... I'm not trivializing the rest of an Aikido technique or diminishing the importance of working on those things. I'm just saying I personally have a different perspective. Go back and look at what Inaba Sensei said... he would not have separated it out like that if all parts of a technique were the "aiki". Suddenly, "aiki" is not just another marketing tool and there's not a big mystery why O-Sensei thought his art was different than Aiki-jujitsu ... it's actually pretty high level if you look at it as being at heart a system that uses sophisticated kokyu controls in an engagement.

My opinion, FWIW,

Mike
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