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Old 07-03-2014, 11:14 PM   #7
Mario Tobias
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 261
Philippines
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Re: Aikido is all about "Engineering and Physic's"

Quote:
Richard Campbell wrote: View Post
On the mat the other night I was told this...Aikido is all about "Engineering and Physic's"...WTF. (excuse me)Then as it sank in the meaning became clear. You engineer a technique in order for physic's to apply. So what happened to the Aiki?, I ponder.
How I simplified explaining Aikido in physics terms is through the Physics concept of Work

Work = Force X Displacement X cosine (angle between force and displacement)

You are doing maximum work if the angle is 0 or 180 (push or pull)

You are doing 0 work if the angle is 90 degrees, that is why 90 degrees has a magical meaning in aikido. I disagree with others if they choose other angles different from 90.

Cosine(angle) ranges from 0 to 1 only.

Cosine(0) = 1 (maximum)
Cosine(90)= 0 (minimum)

The comparison:

Work = the degree of resistance or non-resistance, or how an effective aikido technique is
Force = Ki (the direction of energy or attack), just simplify the body as a stickman and the lines will symbolize the direction of ki
Displacement = direction where uke will be moved or thrown
angle = angle between uke's ki and nage's ki

So my simple explanation

Nonresistance happens if you are doing 0 work. This is achievable if nage's ki engages with uke's ki at 90 degrees to each other. This to me is a very basic principle and can be seen in all aikido techniques, whether it be applied on the smallest part of the body or on the whole body.

Examples:
Aikiage, Tenchinage
In these techniques the thumb is attacked and perpendicular to the forearm in order to raise uke's elbow and shoulder

All wrist techniques - nikkyo, sankyo, gokyo, kotegaeshi - all 90 degrees

shomenuchi ikkyo omote - nage engages 90 degrees to uke's elbow
ikkyo ura - nage's arm is 90 degrees to uke's elbow all throughout the spiral

shihonage omote - nage initiates technique 90 degrees across uke

Juji nage, juji garami, hijigime, rokkyu, sumi otoshi - 90 degrees to elbow

shomenate, rippo - 90 degrees to uke's face

all koshinage - uke's body 90 degrees to nage

kotegaeshi - initiates parry 90 degrees to uke (not 180 IMHO), saito sensei also stresses this

yokomenuchi/tsuki parry - 90 degrees to uke's elbow
morotetori techniques

kaitenage omote or ura. uke's arm 90 degrees to his body

iriminage - 90 degrees to uke's spine (ki) direction to break his balance

Not surprisingly, the physics concept of power = the rate of work/time = rate of energy consumed/time. If you do 0 work, then you use 0 power, and you use 0 energy (ideally). The magic angle is 90 degrees and apply it to any of uke's joint or spine. It's that simple. I think this is also applicable to judo.

This is just a starting point though.
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