Quote:
Richard Campbell wrote:
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.
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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.