Aikido - Among Other Martial Arts - Part #2

Aikido - Among Other Martial Arts - Part #2

Excerpt from : "The Elements of Aikido" by Greg O'Connor

Some other arts can be considered linear and static, insisting on maintaining one's position regardless of the force coming in. Attacks are blocked and deflected. In order to effectively perform those blocks conditioning of the forearms and shins is needed, resulting in tissue bruising and damage, calluses, calcium build-ups on the bone from hairline fracturing, and general trauma of the body. Aikido does not require such conditioning.

In Aikido, the attack is not blocked, but blended with. It is not deflected; it is redirected. Force is not met with direct force. We blend with the attack's force, adding our own balanced energy to it and sending it safely by us. We can describe Aikido as being non-linear, circular and fluid. We maintain our position by moving it. Our body movement, not our body, absorbs the power of the attack. When the attack comes in, the aikidoist envelops it, at the same time adjusting safely to a new position while guiding the passing attack safely away.

Other arts may also use similar principles (ie, absorption and redirection) but often conclude the interaction with the more violent options of striking or kicking. Some have only limited interaction with a live practice partner and some not at all, preferring solitary practice, but in Aikido you must practise with a partner. Aikido requires personal interaction with its various degrees of commitment and intensity. Just as you cannot learn to ride a horse without the horse, you cannot learn to blend Aikido technique to another's attack without that other person. You must see the other person before you; you must feel his or her presence, and how it affects your heart.

Other martial art systems are typically competition based. They have contests and tournaments where qualities of assertion and fortitude are brought out and developed. These qualities represent the healthy side of competition. The down side is that overemphasis on competition may develop into aggression. Assertion is desirable. Aggression is not. It can lead one to the assumption that 'might makes right' or 'to get what you want you have to fight'. This may also lead to the belief that you must defeat someone else in order to achieve your goals. In Aikido we strive for a more evolved approach. Through principles based on respect, co-operation and benevolence Aikido strives for mutual benefits resulting from any interaction. Using Aikido, we are hoping to have learned something from the struggles of those who have gone before us; something that not only allows us to survive as individuals, but also as a responsible and continually evolving species.

Other arts pit the practitioner against one solitary opponent. These contests, being essentially sports contests, require participants to follow specific rules, necessary for safety and good sportsmanship. Because of this the full range of the opponent's attack capabilities and options is restricted. They are sports contests where a sort of gentlemen's Marquis de Queensbury rules apply. In a real-life physical assault there is no such thing as sportsmanship. These sport combatants do not have to be concerned with such things as unnecessary roughness, biting, vitals being viciously attacked, eyes being gouged out, the introduction of weapons, or additional attackers coming at them simultaneously.

Traditional Aikido, as conceived by Morihei Ueshiba, has no contests, competitions or tournaments. Some Aikido styles, such as Tomiki style, do have competition. That may be fine for those who wish to compete but, nevertheless, it is contrary to the basic philosophy of traditional Aikido.

The competition that traditional Aikido encourages is the one that endeavours to improve upon and evolve our own characters, to balance ourselves, and to correct and refine our own behaviour patterns. The founder of Aikido said that it was not an art for correcting others, but for correcting our own minds. The battle is not with an outside enemy, but with the inner demons that work to prevent us from living a life of deep fulfillment and contentment - a life of true peace. The competition is in the challenge to balance ourselves on all levels - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual - regardless of the situations in which we find ourselves. The challenge is also to accomplish all this on our own merit, not at the expense of damaging another's health or well-being, or resorting to the defeat of someone else; destruction and violence are undesirable alternatives. The ideal result of Aikido training is to simultaneously better ourselves and others, whether they are attackers or supporters.

The rules contained within competition restrict an opponent's full options, limit the contest to one attacker, and foster a certain level of complacency. This is something that can be very detrimental in a real-life attack. With Aikido training we assume the attacker is not going to 'stick to the rules'. Using any of our Aikido techniques in an actual self-defence scenario, we must be able to neutralize one attacker and still use them to effectively shield against any further attacks. All this is done while retaining the option to throw one attacker into the others in order to stop or impede them.

 <Continued – part 3>