Ichikan Aikido Philosophy
Ichikan Aikido is a style of Aikido.
Aikido was created in the late 1920s. Its founder was Morihei Ueshiba, lovingly referred to as “O Sensei.” During his study of numerous Martial Art Forms, “O Sensei” discovered key Principles which explained to him how certain forces in the universe, such as Yin and Yang, operate and interact. He concluded that it is these Principles that account for the effectiveness or power that any Martial Art Form contains. In a sense, Aikido is as much a philosophy as it is a body of Martial Art techniques.
As opposed to the more traditional Martial Arts that emphasize punching, kicking, power, and force, Aikido addresses the more subtle aspects of Martial Arts. It emphasizes learning how to blend with the energies or forces that are in operation in an encounter, as opposed to combating them.
All Martial Arts, including Aikido, have a body of specific techniques that its practitioners study. These include learning how to deal with being punched, grabbed, or kicked and also include learning how to defend yourself against overhead strikes (Shomenuchi) or strikes at a 45 degree angle (Yokomenuchi.) These strike usually involve being attacked with a weapon such as a club or knife. Other techniques involve the use of a wooden sword or a staff.
Although the original Aikido was founded by “O Sensei,” there are now numerous variations on his original work and creation. Today many different Aikido Arts have been created, each with its’ own philosophy regarding how Aikido should be studied and practiced. Ichikan Aikido has its own philosophy about how Aikido should be taught and what its practitioners should learn.
The very name itself, Ichikan Aikido, is a reflection of its’ philosophy. Obviously, given the use of the word Aikido, we clearly aligned ourselves with what “O Sensei” discovered and created. The word Ichikan points toward an integral aspect of this philosophy.
In Japanese, Ichikan means “one interval or one space.” So, Ichikan Aikido emphasizes developing a keen sense of awareness of certain dynamics regarding space and time. For us, space is about the one inch, and time is about one second. (Further elaboration to follow)
The very word Aikido is a pointer towards what “O Sensei” discovered and taught. It can not be appreciated deeply enough that the meaning of the very word Aikido is the “blending and harmonizing of energies.” That is the foundation of the philosophy and the Martial Art. It is the source of the core Principles that followed it. It is also the foundation upon which Ichikan Aikido rests.
The cornerstone of his system is to: “Maintain a loving protection of all things.“
Fortunately, “O Sensei” left behind other Principles to guide us. They include concepts such as: work in harmony with the universe, minimize conflict, and blend with what is occurring. You will find more of these Principles elaborated on in our dojo handbook and on our website. We have called them: “Fundamental Principles of Aikido.”
Training and Practice
The fundamental focus in our dojo is to help our students raise consciousness … to raise awareness of self and the environment. The awareness is two-fold … it is about understanding what is occurring in themselves, as well as what is occurring in their relationship to someone else, such as an opponent. The heart of this awareness focuses on how they are “being” with potential conflict. What is explored is their ideas on the use of force, their understanding of the advantage of an opponent being out of balance, and their seeing how critical their footwork is.
We believe that training and practicing Ichikan Aikido should be about Principles, not techniques. There is no question that the techniques found in all Aikido schools are based on the founder’s Principles, but the usual means of Aikido instruction emphasizes technique over Principle. We emphasize the fundamental Principles first, allowing the techniques to flow and naturally arrive from the deeper awareness through study of the Principles, such as blending, circular motion, maintaining relationship, range of effectiveness, and footwork.
We teach techniques, but not for the sake of the techniques themselves. As students attempt to perform the techniques, their unconscious beliefs become clearly exposed, leading them to become aware of why they are doing what they are doing. For example, when a student raises his elbows and disconnects the elbows from their hips, it’s clear they’ve resorted to force, and all of their energy goes into their shoulders.
Training and practice in Ichikan Aikido is focused on the repetitive application of techniques as a means of helping students raise awareness of their movements, which opens the door for instruction. This is where the Principles come into play. As they begin to apply them and experience their effectiveness, they begin to incorporate and embody them. This requires a lot of time, attention, and repetition because Aikido is a very subtle, sophisticated Art.
Ichikan In Action
Again, Ichikan means “one interval or space”, which we translate as one second or one inch. This captures the essence of two very critical variables that we emphasize in our practice. The “one inch” was the first one that we discovered and became a part of the name of our dojo … the Tenchi One Dojo. What we discovered was that if you can lead an opponent one inch out of balance, the opponent can be moved or thrown with almost no effort.
The “one second” variable has to do with the timing and fluidity of a technique. If you don’t maintain constant energy or the flow of Ki in the application of a technique, the opponent has time to reset. This means they can reclaim their balance and resist the technique. In contrast, maintaining the timing and fluidity means that the opponent never has the opportunity to regain their balance, therefore they naturally go where you guide him.
Several other variables have also been discovered and are emphasized in our work. One is learning to appreciate the significance of ones’ contact with an opponent. If I grab an opponent harshly, or am aggressive and use more force, the opponent will immediately react to this, responding by tensing up and becoming more rigid. This has the effect of blocking the flow and requiring more effort to perform a technique.
In contrast, if I respond to an opponent with light contact, and blend with the direction of their Ki, they will not respond with reactive resistance. It’s as if they don’t know that anything is being done to them. Students who finally appropriately blend with an opponent and perform a technique usually have a response such as, “It’s like I didn’t do anything.”
We also emphasize the circular flow of movement, many times referring to it as a “sword cut” motion. This keeps one directing his Ki outward and downward in an arch fashion. This has two very important outcomes. First of all, it keeps leading the opponent out of balance. It also directs the attention of the person performing the technique away from attempting to do something to the opponent. Students often get locked up in trying to do something to the opponent, which blocks the flow of Ki, has them literally looking back at an opponent, and cancels the effect of circular motion.
The Tenchi One Dojo
The atmosphere at our dojo has several significant focuses … respect, fun, a sense of accomplishment, and community.
Martial Arts in general, and Aikido more specifically, demand and engender a sense of respect. Those who have come before us, true Masters, the creators of what we now study, should be acknowledged for what they have done, and recognized for their contributions to our lives. Martial Arts are rich in history and tradition. Ichikan Aikido recognizes and honors that.
We have a lot of fun in our dojo. We laugh often. We tell jokes. We poke fun at each other in an appropriate way. We take what we are doing very seriously, but we don’t necessarily do it so seriously. We are a community. We are a family. We spend a great deal of time together. We share our humanity and learn to work with, and adjust to, being with each other. That necessarily includes all of our faults, and especially an appreciation of our “signature errors” … those repetitive ways that we attempt to perform techniques, which never worked, and never will.
We certainly don’t overlook accomplishment. It would be hard for someone who has not studied a Martial Art to appreciate now much time and energy is involved in obtaining a Black Belt. It requires a lot of time, practice, and patience. The time is strictly about how much dedication and commitment is required to learn a Martial Art. The practice is about just doing it over and over and over again. The patience is about understanding what is actually occurring … the undoing of a way of thinking and being.
That is the real heart of studying Ichikan Aikido. Everyone who comes in to our dojo has an instinctual, albeit unconscious, sense of how they should respond to an aggressive act … like a punch, grab, club attack. There is little or no recognition of their reliance on force, meeting attack with attack, a “me against you “ mentality, etc. The way of Aikido absolutely challenges that. That is not a simple or easy process to be with.
Everyone comes in with the naivety of what they think it should take to learn a Martial Art, to “get’ a Black Belt. Everyone has a sense of what that should look like andhow long it should take. That is merely yet another faulty appreciation of how process works in life. We can all see what needs to be done in the performance of some task, long before we can actually do it.
So, in our dojo, we strive to just be with each other … to share our vulnerability, our unconsciousness, our mistakes. There is a clear understanding that we are all on the same path and that we all have a lot to learn. That equally applies to both Students and Instructors. The Instructors are on their own paths towards the Mastery of this Martial Art, as well as on a simultaneous path to Mastery of learning how to Instruct.