Aiki principles, Aiki in action (part 1)

Following I will talk about Aiki. To be more precise, I will talk about Aiki in which I see the principle of non-resistance to be the core principle. Again I want to declare, that whatever I say about Aiki and the principle of non-resistance just mirrors my own and limited understanding of the subject. So please don't hold it against me, if you have a different understanding of it all. I genuinely respect that. Maybe with your better understanding, you would want to help me to get to a better understanding as well. You are most welcome to do so in respectful manners. 

So then, the functioning of the principle of non-resistance is quite simple, to put it into practice though, isn't simple at all. Once we understand how it works it becomes easier, but still it's quite difficult to do it right. To understand, we have to experience first. To experience, we have to do it quite right for the least. So this is like a closed loop or circle which makes it difficult to get in or on, as there is no way that would gradually lead us there, step by step. We have to jump right into it. Sagawa sensei explains 1 : "True training begins once you understand Aiki".

To my understanding, the principle of non-resistance is the key to Aiki and Aiki is the key to Aikido. Aiki in Aikido is the invisible technique that stands behind every Aikido technique. More than a technique, Aiki is the principle that stands true in every Aikido technique. Aiki is the principle that always has to be there in Aikido. Without Aiki it simply wouldn't be Aikido.

Again, as we go back to the roots of Aikido, we might ask ourselves, if the Aiki in Daito-Ryu is the same as the Aiki in Aikido? After all, O-Sensei learned from the great Daito-Ryu master Sokaku Takeda. And O-Sensei was, without a doubt, a great Daito-Ryu master himself before he named his own art Aikido 2. Even to his last days, when doing Aikido, the techniques themselves remained about the same as they were in his day as a Daito-Ryu master. So where or what is the difference between Daito-ryu and Aikido or more precisely, where is the difference between the Aiki in Daito-ryu and the Aiki in the Aikido of the founder? O-Sensei points out that indeed there is a difference 3: "The Aiki of which conventional martial artists spoke and the Aiki of which I speak are fundamentally different in both essence and substance."

 

"you control your opponent
without trying to control him"

 

Tokimune Takeda explains Aiki in Daito-Ryu 4: "Attacking is Kiai. Aiki on the other hand, is go no sen" (self-defense). Even though Aiki in Daito-Ryu is described as “go no sen”, in Aikido it is not. O-Sensei in an interview, when asked if Aikido was "go no sen", answered 5: “Absolutely not. It is not a question of either sensen no sen or sen no sen . If I were to try to verbalize it I would say that you control your opponent without trying to control him. That is, the state of continuous victory. There isn’t any question of winning over or losing to an opponent. In this sense, there is no opponent in aikido. Even if you have an opponent, he becomes a part of you, a partner you control only”.

With this explanation, O-Sensei gives us several important clues to a better understanding of his Aiki and his Aikido. He also distances the functioning of Aikido from the functioning of Daito-Ryu with Daito-Ryu declaring it's Aiki to be “go no sen” or self-defense. 

As a side mark I'd like to remark that some of the quotes used about Aikido and about Daito-Ryu might be contradictory to other quotes. As I can only speculate about the what and why, I just let those quotes stand as the respected masters reportedly have said and told.

 

"In Aiki, if we lead our partners
according to the principles of Aiki,
indeed no force at all is needed"

 

Aiki is non-resistant. Since resistance is also a form of violence, it could also be said that Aiki is non-violent. In Aiki there is no action whatsoever against an opponent. In Aiki, if we lead our partners according to the Aiki principles, indeed no force against our partners is needed at all. Aiki allows us to lead an opponent without fighting against the opponent, thus the opponent becomes our training partner. By being in Aiki ourselves, we are also letting our training partner experience Aiki. This is the only way of transmission in Aiki from teacher to student, apart from the oral transmission.

To control a person without wanting to control the person means to control the person by following the Aiki principles. Thus we are not forcefully controlling the person to do something we want, against their own will. We can only control the person by leading the person according to the Aiki principles, which is not a thing we could possibly come up with on our own and then wanting it to happen the way we want. We can only follow the Aiki principles and let the Aiki principles work on their own. To control a partner in Aiki means to lead the partner according to the Aiki principles. In a way we let Aiki take the lead to control the partner instead of ourselves trying to control the partner according to our own will. 

Of course, I am well aware, that this all is the ideal to go after. In a training situation things may look a bit different, as we, even as we give our best to do it well, we'll still do things the wrong way as we simply aren't there yet able to do them all right. Remember, that's just part of the process to allow Aiki to manifest and there's no need at all to get frustrated about it. It's quite the contrary, as there are so many possibilities to advance and getting better at what we do, there's great joy in it.

 

"Aiki is action in harmony
with the laws of nature"

 

Aiki is action in harmony with the laws of nature. In Aiki, we ourselves are in harmony with the laws of nature and by leading our training partners also bringing our training partners into harmony with the laws of nature by letting them experience Aiki.

Just recently I took notice of an article 6 by Takuma Hisa about Daito-ryu Aiki-budo where in the subtext to a photo he speaks about "the defender's tegatana reach the point of Aiki". "Reaching the point of Aiki", what does it mean? What does it mean in Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu? Is there a before and an after reaching this point of Aiki, where there is no Aiki yet or anymore?

As I understand, the Aiki O-Sensei's speaks about, always has to be there, before, while and after an "attack". This is what it means to lead our training partner. We lead them way before the attack has formed, we are leading the attack by calling the attack. And in doing so there's not really an attack anymore.

 

1  Quote taken from "Tranparent Power" by Tatsuo Kimuro
2  "It is unclear exactly when Ueshiba began using the name "aikido", but it became the official name of the art in 1942 when the Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society (Dai Nippon Butoku Kai) was engaged in a government sponsored reorganization and centralization of Japanese martial arts". Quote taken from Wikipedia.
3  Quote taken from "Enlightenment through Aikido" by Kanshu Sunadomari
4 Quote taken from an interview with Tokimune Takeda taken by Stanley Pranin in 1987 as published in Aikido Journal online 
5  Quote taken from an interview with O-Sensei as published in Aikido Journal online
6  Quote taken from an article on Daito-ryu Aiki-budo by Takuma Hisa as published in Shin Budo magazine and translated by Guillaume Erard as published in Aikido Journal online

 

Page first published on 04.10.2023
Page last updated on 09.04.2026

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Disclaimer: everything presented in this post only represents my personal opinions based on my personal  knowledge, understanding and experiences made regarding the matter in discussion except where quotes are made. Other opinions are highly respected as long as they can withstand the argumentation. Some of the points presented may be purely speculative on my side due to the lack of evidence known to me. Any evidence presented to help clarify the points in question is highly welcomed. The post may still undergo little changes, although the content will mainly remain the same.

Notes on Copyrights: None of the content was written by AI. Neither text or parts of the text may be used or published elsewhere without the consent of the author. It is OK though to quote with correct references made to this text.
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