GUEST POST: Aikido Essay by Dick Willems

It gives me great pleasure to present this essay on TrueAiki.com.  Dick is a talented martial artist with a broad background that gives him a unique perspective.  He happens to be Dutch, and,  as you will soon see, is very skilled at English.  Dick works in law enforcement where his expertise in psychology and computer science is put to good use.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with him both in The Netherlands and in the U.S.A., and (don’t tell him I said this) but I think he is a really great guy!

~ Allen

Aikido Essay by Dick Willems

How do you see Aikido as a martial art?  

That’s one of the questions that was posed to me when I was applying for an Aikido teacher certification. It should be easy to answer. I’ve been practicing Aikido for about 15 years, training hard, read all the books and traveled all over the world to learn more. Yet I still find it a hard question to answer.

Martial arts have been part of my life since I was a teenager. Before I started studying Aikido, I’ve mainly been doing Judo and Wu Shu. Besides Aikido, I also practice Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu. And I’ve done a lot of dabbling in other martial arts. I don’t claim to know all there is to know about any of these systems, but at the very least they have given me a broader perspective on what martial arts are.

Martial arts are supposed to help you survive fights one way or the other, in the sense that there is at least one opponent who is doing his best to beat you. Different martial arts focus on different scenarios and types of fights. There are fights with rules, and fights without. Sometimes there are weapons, sometimes there aren’t. Sometimes the fight is fair, sometimes it isn’t. 

Given the domain that a martial art covers, there are also approaches to the fight in that domain. Judo, for example, is known for it’s use of leverage to submit opponents in a sparring match. The Wu Shu system I practiced focused on the development of powerful punches and kicks to be able to deliver blows from various angles to the (unarmed) opponent. Other systems focus on bypassing the fight and escaping the situation altogether.

So, how do I think Aikido fits in this framework?

It’s complicated. Even though I’ve always approached Aikido as a Budo, there were always doubts in my mind about the martial validity of what I’ve learned. The domain that Aikido covers is actually pretty broad. Armed situations are covered, unarmed situations, armed versus unarmed, one-on-one and one-on-many. To have a good chance of survival in such diverse  situations, it stands to reason a martial art should have a reliable and effective approach to fighting. So what is the approach that Aikido uses to this domain?

A generally accepted definition of modern Aikido seems to be: “Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on.” Blending/redirection is commonly explained as “getting off the line of the attack”, and subsequently using the energy of the missed attack to “lead” the attacker into a throw or lock. The model here is that the momentum of the attacker is used against him or her. 

There is a problem with this definition, namely the assumption of sufficient momentum. In all other martial arts I’ve practiced, one of the first things you learn is to deliver force without producing the kind of momentum that modern Aikido capitalizes on. It’s considered a mistake called overcommitment. While there’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of an opponent’s mistake in a fight, it seems strange to have this as a key strategy in a martial art. After all, the other guy will be aware of overcommitment as well and will try to avoid it!

Consider this montage of the master of ma’ai, Muhammad Ali:

Picture yourself as a modern aikidoka with Ali’s ability to control distance and positioning. Now you’re the ultimate Aikidoka! Do you notice how seldomly Ali’s opponents overcommitted?  And when they do, how fast they recover? Do you think that, even with Ali’s incredible ability, you would have been able to slip in an iriminage?

Of course, there are some that say dojo techniques are but stylized versions of the real thing. In reality, you would apply atemi/spit in his eyes/apply other dirty tricks before applying the technique. Given my experience with other martial arts this seems, with all due respect, contrived and unreliable. Check out the clip again, do you see how many punches Ali’s opponents can absorb and remain in a stable position?

You might get lucky, but martial arts are not about luck! The well-known swordsman Miyamoto Mushashi famously said: “Pray to the gods, but do not rely on them.” It is documented that the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba took on all challengers, irrespective of their backgrounds. Judo men, Karatekas, swordfighters, sumo wrestlers, he granted matches to all and left a lasting impression. It seems unlikely he achieved this with luck alone, something else must have played a role.

Maybe the definition of Aikido is suboptimal. There is also another, older definition of Aiki, namely the one that Morihei Ueshiba used. In fact, you can read about it in this very blog^*! The terminology O-sensei used is not as concise, but there are three elements: maintaining your body in such a way that your tissues are in tension and your bones in compression, so that the body becomes a biotensegrity (Aiki 1)^**, ^***, and while doing that, negating or neutralizing incoming forces by continuously creating either rotational (Aiki 2) or spiral forces (Aiki 3) through the body.

From my own personal experience, I can attest that if these principles are applied correctly, the effect is overwhelming. As uke you are rendered utterly powerless, and enormous forces are released, even if your momentum is minimal. It is absolutely unnecessary (even impossible) to “help” the person applying Aiki to you.

I am convinced that this is the engine that Aikido and Daito Ryu run on. Consequently I think the older definition is more valid than the modern definition. This is not to say that Aiki alone will teach you how to survive a fight. They are different skillsets. Things like getting off line are still situationally important (a sword is still a sword, after all, and nobody likes to be punched in the face). But if you can manifest Aiki and know how to fight with it, you’ll be much more powerful than your average opponent.

This has consequences for how to teach and learn Aikido. To manifest Aiki, you need a body that can manifest Aiki 1 optimally, and that means a lot of conditioning and testing to prove that you’ve got it right. Welcome to the world of solo training! Furthermore, in Aikido, formalized techniques like Ikkyo and Nikkyo are usually practiced as combat techniques and are the sole focus of a lesson, but might have more merit if they are seen as learning tools to study Aiki^****. Throws and locks are nice to know, but they can also distract from learning deeper principles. If the focus is solely on getting techniques to work, one might be tempted to take the route of applying muscle power, thereby destroying any chance of manifesting Aiki 1. After all, contraction is the antithesis of tension. There are other things that should also be trained and checked. Are you unusually stable? Do you feel resistance while practicing? Can you move your partner if he doesn’t want you to?

Interestingly, by studying these concepts, a lot more sense can be made of what Morihei Ueshiba had to say about Aikido. O-sensei is often described as being unintelligible in his lessons. But if you know what to look for, Ueshiba’s words can be understood and there is much to be found that actually pertains to the mechanics of Aikido.  

Ame no uki hashi? Check^*****

Ichirei, sangen, shikkon, hachiriki? Check^*

Yamabiko no michi? Check^******

Returning to the original question to explain Aikido as a martial art, and having presented the information above: Aikido is the art of dealing with incoming force/an attack by continually creating rotational and spiral forces in the body, and respecting martial preconditions such as avoiding getting cut by sharp objects. The result of this manifests as an overwhelming force aimed at the attacker, that can result in a throw, lock, strike, kick, cut, stab, the protection of one’s attacker, or simply survival.

That’s how I see aikido as a martial art. Now, I hope to learn how to do it!

Dick is looking for training partners in the Amsterdam area. If you’re interested, friend him through Facebook and let him know: www.facebook.com/dick.willems.3

^*https://trueaiki.com/blog-post-title/  

^**https://trueaiki.com/aiki-as-a-state-of-being/

^***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity  

^****https://trueaiki.com/1186/

^***** https://trueaiki.com/shikon-hachi-riki/

^****** https://trueaiki.com/cosmology-recap-kokyu-intro-lecture/

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