On Takemusu Aiki, Judo’s Maxims, and Inferential Hypnosis
In October of 1930 the founder of Judo, Dr. Jigoro Kano paid a visit to the mystic and martial arts master Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido at the Meijiro Dojo. Upon witnessing Ueshiba’s technique, and in particular Ueshiba’s ease in handing out techniques to some of Kano’s top students it is recorded that Kano exclaimed “This is the ideal budo — true Judo!” Following this, Kano went as far as requesting that Ueshiba take on a few of his top students and allow that they routinely report back and share their training with him. Ueshiba obliged.
Today, Judo remains one of, if not the most respected of the traditional martial arts in the face of modern mixed martial arts training methods. Aikido on the other hand is probably the least, that is to say when it is even regarded as a martial art rather than an obscure system of physical culture on par with the likes of Tai Chi. There seems to be many reasons for this, not the least of which is that Judo went the way of negotiating the cinch, whereas Aikido remained hyper focused on relating to classical sword work, albeit often in an empty hand fashion.
In Aikido the focus of the day tends to be negotiating an infinite array of static wrist grabs (big concerns for a swordsman seeking to deploy a blade, and for opponents seeking to seize such deployment), and when not static wrist grabs then overhead striking maneuvers mimicking the downward, diagonal, and horizontal cuts of a sword. In other words, physical methods that are seldom encountered in the modern world, or even in the dojo with the amount of intent and energy to allow them to become dynamic rather than static initiations of technique.
To be clear the foundational techniques and principles of Aikido are remarkably well curated, condensing the knowledge of Daitoryu Aikijutsu (especially) into a workable system of concepts that can manipulate the human physiology quite well, to varied effects ranging from gentle neutralization (the ideal) to more dramatic arresting outcomes. However, in many Aikidojo, the focus tends to veer too quickly to what O’sensei Ueshiba called Takemusu Aiki.
Takemusu Aiki is a most advanced stage of Aiki training and cultivation wherein technique is spontaneously birthed rather than repetitiously learned. Here concerns for physiology and kinesiology are ultimately transcended, not for a lack of regard but for their integration and incorporation at more and more minute levels overtime, allowing for an almost magical expression of subtle technique in both look and feel. Arguably at this level techniques incorporate as much psychology as physiology, in blending with and manipulating the spirit (literally the psyche) and intent of the opponent or training partner. For this to be possible, though, intent must be present.
Ultimately Kano’s Judo is founded upon two central maxims, namely minimal effort with maximal result, and mutual welfare and benefit for all. These apply equally to the dojo environment as they may to the so-called real world, and perhaps can contextually help Aikido reclaim a respectable place as a “true Budo.”
Kano’s maxims have always been applied in a milieu of live training, that is of dynamic initiations with appropriate intention and resistance. In this environment relatively few Aikidoka can manifest efficacious foundational technique let alone true Takemusu Aiki. This goes to say that more time should be spent in the relentless pursuit of basic waza in increasingly dynamic circumstances, which means less time negotiating the seeming intricacies of static wrist grabs. Ultimately dynamic, live practice of the fundamentals is the only thing that can give yield to the spontaneous and authentic expression of Takemusu Aiki, which is frequently confused in this day and age with physical culture oriented parlor tricks, and more insidiously with mutual inferential hypnosis.
Takemusu Aiki is an extension of Shugyo - daily training of sufficient austerity to give rise to total integration of mind and body, wherein spirit manifests and transcends the limits of our conceptual engagement with practice. For this to be possible, though, for practice to eventually manifest as Shugyo one should break a sweat and push through the limits of boredom that will eventually accompany a relatively small number of principles expressed as techniques, engaged over, and over, and over again. In this, resistance and intention are the true bedfellows of Shugyo.
~Sunyananda
