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Aikido
(contributors: Eric Sotnak - esot@troi.cc.rochester.edu,
Alex Jackl - ajackl@avs.com)
Intro:
Aikido emphasizes evasion and circular/spiral redirection of an
attacker's aggressive force into throws, pins, and immobilizations
as a primary strategy rather than punches and kicks.
Origin:
Japan.
History:
Aikido was founded in 1942 by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969). Prior
to this time, Ueshiba called his art "aikibudo" or "aikinomichi".
In developing aikido, Ueshiba was heavily influenced by Daito
Ryu Aikijujitsu, several styles of Japanese fencing (kenjutsu),
spearfighting (yarijutsu), and by the so- called "new religion":
omotokyo. Largely because of his deep interest in omotokyo, Ueshiba
came to see his aikido as rooted less in techniques for achieving
physical domination over others than in attempting to cultivate
a "spirit of loving protection for all things." The extent to
which Ueshiba's religious and philosophical convictions influenced
the direction of technical developments and changes within the
corpus of aikido techniques is not known, but many aikido practitioners
believe that perfect mastery of aikido would allow one to defend
against an attacker without causing serious or permanent injury.
Descriptions:
The primary strategic foundations of aikido are:
(1)
moving into a position off the line of attack;
(2)
seizing control of the attacker's balance by means of leverage
and timing;
(3)
applying a throw, pin, or other sort of immobilization (such as
a wrist/arm lock).
Strikes are not altogether absent from the strategic arsenal of
the aikidoist, but their use is primarily (though not, perhaps,
exclusively) as a means of distraction -- a strike (called "atemi")
is delivered in order to provoke a reaction from the aggressor,
thereby creating a window of opportunity, facilitating the application
of a throw, pin, or other immobilization.
Many aikido schools train (in varying degrees) with weapons. The
most commonly used weapons in aikido are the jo (a staff between
4 or 5 feet in length), the bokken (a wooden sword), and the tanto
(a knife, usually made of wood, for safety). These weapons are
used not only to teach defenses against armed attacks, but also
to illustrate principles of aikido movement, distancing, and timing.
Training:
A competitive variant of aikido (Tomiki aikido) holds structured
competitions where opponents attempt to score points by stabbing
with a foam-rubber knife, or by executing aikido techniques in
response to attacks with the knife. Most variants of aikido, however,
hold no competitions, matches, or sparring. Instead, techniques
are practiced in cooperation with a partner who steadily increases
the speed, power, and variety of attacks in accordance with the
abilities of the participants. Participants take turns being attacker
and defender, usually performing pre-arranged attacks and defenses
at the lower levels, gradually working up to full-speed freestyle
attacks and defenses.
Sub-Styles:
There are several major variants of aikido. The root variant is
the "aikikai", founded by Morihei Ueshiba, and now headed by the
founder's grandson, Moriteru Ueshiba. Several organizations in
the United States are affiliated with the aikikai, including the
United States Aikido Federation, the Aikido Association of America,
and Aikido Schools of Ueshiba.
Other major variants include:
* the "ki society", founded by Koichi Tohei,
* yoshinkan aikido, founded by Gozo Shioda,
* the kokikai organization, headed by Shuji Maruyama,
* "Tomiki aikido" named after its founder, Kenji Tomiki.
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