Aiki (martial arts principle)
| Aiki | |||||
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| Japanese name | |||||
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| Hiragana | あいき | ||||
| Kyūjitai | 合氣 | ||||
| Shinjitai | 合気 | ||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Revised Hepburn | aiki |
Aiki is an ancient principle of blending and harmonizing of opposing forces within oneself, the balance of yin and yang of the universe within yourself. It is the joining of heaven and earth, with man in between. When heaven is above and earth below, man can stand on the floating bridge of heaven, and release the mountain echo.
Aiki from a Japanese term, is a principle that allows a practitioner to negate an opponents power on contact through application of internal dynamics or Ki energy to affect techniques. When applied, the Aiki practitioner controls the actions of the attacker with minimal effort. One creates aiki by understanding the intent of the practioner's own body, mind and spirit firstly. External factors are considered secondary concerns as the practitioner must first find balance and harmony in himself through the merging of opposing forces within his body. In Japanese Aiki is formed from two kanji:
The kanji for "ai" is made of three radicals, "join", "one" and "mouth". Hence, "ai" symbolizes things coming together, merging. Aiki should not be confused with "wa" which refers to harmony. The kanji for "ki" represents a pot filled with steaming rice and a lid on it. Hence, "ki" symbolizes energy (in the body). (See the qi main article for further information).
Thus aiki's meaning is to fit, join, or combine energy. However, care must be taken about the absolute meanings of words when discussing concepts derived from other cultures and expressed in different languages. This is particularly true when the words we use today have been derived from symbols, in this case Chinese and Japanese kanji, which represent ideas rather than literal translations of the components. Historical use of a term can influence meanings and be passed down by those wishing to illustrate ideas with the best word or phrase available to them. In this way, there may be a divergence of the meaning between arts or schools within the same art. The characters "ai" and "ki" have translations to many different English words.
The use of the term would be passed on orally, as such teachings were often a closely guarded secret. In some schools, concepts like aiki are described in logical, tangible, terms based on physics, while in other definitions of aiki tend to be vague and open-ended, or more concerned with spiritual aspects. The use of the term aiki can often be ambiguous.
Aiki lends its name to various Japanese martial arts most notably Aikido and its parent art, Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu. These arts tend to use the principle of aiki as a core element underpining the bulk of their techniques. Aiki is an important principle in several other arts such as Kito-ryu and various forms of kenjutsu and is found as a concept in other arts such as karate and judo as well as many Chinese internal arts like qigong, tai-chi, bagua among others, although a different terminology of aiki is commonly used in different cultures Aiki arts are generally classed as soft internal martial arts. The aiki arts place great emphasis on the use of qi energy. Techniques accomplished with aiki are subtle and require little mechanical force. However in modern times, many practioners of these 'internal' arts have placed heavier emphasis on the outer shell ie the particular form or 'shape' of the technique with little emphasis on the inner principles of aiki. Adding to the confusion is that to the untrained eye, such techniques done with muscular strength and momentum often look similar to those done with aiki.
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