Choosing a way to train with weapons in line with the principles.
Based on my many years of training in the Aiki weapons of Saito Sensei from Sensei Tony Sargeant, many years of tai chi practise and some very useful insights into Ki Aikido from Sensei Huw Collingbourne, I’d like to share some thoughts on training with weapons.
The Iwama style weapons training has given a foundation of techniques and applications. Their purpose is to change the body, express and extend spirit and develop skills in timing and distance. Tai chi has brought a philosophy and a set of principles that sit in harmony with my idea of aikido. The symbol we so often associate with tai chi represents opposites that abide in harmony not in conflict. The symbol has no beginning and no end; there are no straight lines and no breaks. The principles of Ki aikido, difficult to master as they are, offer abilities that seem at times, akin to magic. (Essential to find the right teacher)
Would you agree that Aikido requires sensitivity, connectivity and relaxation of the right kind, to effect the desired result on your training partner? Are Aiki principles generally counter intuitive to the human condition, which note, is also its greatest asset?
Training with weapons is an interesting and useful way to develop the harmony necessary for Aikido and can help find the effortless power exhibited by some of the great past masters.
Only the receiver experiences the force but cannot identify clearly where it came from, rendering them unable to counter.
How often have you heard expressions like, ‘accept the gift,’ ‘please come past,’ ‘care for the attacker,’ ‘respect the partner’s ki,’? All these expressions are there to take your mind away from the point of contact and allow your whole being to engage in the movement without tension and in a harmonious manner that leads to a failure to harm or control you. Success for you is not over them, but over yourself.
If aikido requires sensitivity and leading the attacker to where they are willing to go – not where you force them to go against their will – then to exert unnecessary force will be counter to aikido principles. Any force the attacker feels, not in line with their own, will provide them with information to use against you.
Like it or not, weapons training was a big part of O-Sensei’s practise and development of his art and his own amazing skills.
If harmony is required in taijutsu then it must be also found in weapons or bukiwaza.
Taking the Jo or short staff as our example, it should be possible to make all the suburi and kata with the lightest of grip and to experience the moment without any effort except intention. Whether you wish to hold stronger is up to you and circumstances. But, if you can perform katate toma uchi (suburi number 12) with only a light thumb and finger grip, then you must have been in harmony with the Jo. Both you and the Jo travelled on a mutually agreeable path. The sort of harmony that you need in taijutsu and for what I now believe is the real essence of aikido. The passive overcomes the strong. Yin overcomes yang.
All of your moves with weapons should take the path that is agreeable to the weapon. There are certain directions, almost exclusively along the length of the weapon, that provide that effortless path to aiki.
The weapon is not used to block but to blend, connect and neutralise and your own movement should be at one with that blend. ‘Never have conflict at the point of contact’, is the prevailing principle here.
If you can’t do it with the Jo, then perhaps you’ll struggle to achieve it empty handed.
A harsh grip on the Jo can only slow and restrict your movements and possibly worse still, encourage you to ‘make the Jo travel where you wish – right or wrong’. Lighter grip more sensitivity, more harmony, better feeling.
It’s the body and not the arms, that makes the move whole and in doing so, will affect the training partner in the same way too ie their whole body.
I neither know nor claim that this view is right but it represents my current belief based on the feelings I have during training. Perhaps it is worth a try!
Based on my many years of training in the Aiki weapons of Saito Sensei from Sensei Tony Sargeant, many years of tai chi practise and some very useful insights into Ki Aikido from Sensei Huw Collingbourne, I’d like to share some thoughts on training with weapons.
The Iwama style weapons training has given a foundation of techniques and applications. Their purpose is to change the body, express and extend spirit and develop skills in timing and distance. Tai chi has brought a philosophy and a set of principles that sit in harmony with my idea of aikido. The symbol we so often associate with tai chi represents opposites that abide in harmony not in conflict. The symbol has no beginning and no end; there are no straight lines and no breaks. The principles of Ki aikido, difficult to master as they are, offer abilities that seem at times, akin to magic. (Essential to find the right teacher)
Would you agree that Aikido requires sensitivity, connectivity and relaxation of the right kind, to effect the desired result on your training partner? Are Aiki principles generally counter intuitive to the human condition, which note, is also its greatest asset?
Training with weapons is an interesting and useful way to develop the harmony necessary for Aikido and can help find the effortless power exhibited by some of the great past masters.
Only the receiver experiences the force but cannot identify clearly where it came from, rendering them unable to counter.
How often have you heard expressions like, ‘accept the gift,’ ‘please come past,’ ‘care for the attacker,’ ‘respect the partner’s ki,’? All these expressions are there to take your mind away from the point of contact and allow your whole being to engage in the movement without tension and in a harmonious manner that leads to a failure to harm or control you. Success for you is not over them, but over yourself.
If aikido requires sensitivity and leading the attacker to where they are willing to go – not where you force them to go against their will – then to exert unnecessary force will be counter to aikido principles. Any force the attacker feels, not in line with their own, will provide them with information to use against you.
Like it or not, weapons training was a big part of O-Sensei’s practise and development of his art and his own amazing skills.
If harmony is required in taijutsu then it must be also found in weapons or bukiwaza.
Taking the Jo or short staff as our example, it should be possible to make all the suburi and kata with the lightest of grip and to experience the moment without any effort except intention. Whether you wish to hold stronger is up to you and circumstances. But, if you can perform katate toma uchi (suburi number 12) with only a light thumb and finger grip, then you must have been in harmony with the Jo. Both you and the Jo travelled on a mutually agreeable path. The sort of harmony that you need in taijutsu and for what I now believe is the real essence of aikido. The passive overcomes the strong. Yin overcomes yang.
All of your moves with weapons should take the path that is agreeable to the weapon. There are certain directions, almost exclusively along the length of the weapon, that provide that effortless path to aiki.
The weapon is not used to block but to blend, connect and neutralise and your own movement should be at one with that blend. ‘Never have conflict at the point of contact’, is the prevailing principle here.
If you can’t do it with the Jo, then perhaps you’ll struggle to achieve it empty handed.
A harsh grip on the Jo can only slow and restrict your movements and possibly worse still, encourage you to ‘make the Jo travel where you wish – right or wrong’. Lighter grip more sensitivity, more harmony, better feeling.
It’s the body and not the arms, that makes the move whole and in doing so, will affect the training partner in the same way too ie their whole body.
I neither know nor claim that this view is right but it represents my current belief based on the feelings I have during training. Perhaps it is worth a try!