Aikido facts for kids
One version of shihōnage where the attacker (uke) is standing and the defender (nage) sitting. This is called hanmi-handachi. The uke is being thrown, and is taking a breakfall (ukemi) to safely reach the ground.
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| Focus | Grappling |
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| Country of origin |  Japan |
| Creator | Morihei Ueshiba |
| Famous practitioners | Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Moriteru Ueshiba, Steven Seagal, Christian Tissier, Morihiro Saito, Koichi Tohei |
| Parenthood | Aiki-jūjutsu; Jujutsu; Kenjutsu; Sōjutsu, Bojutsu, Iaijutsu |
Aikido (合気道, aikidō) /eye-Kee-doh/ is a Japanese martial art. It was developed by Morihei Ueshiba.
Aikido is based on Ueshiba's philosophy, martial arts training and religious beliefs. The word "aikido" is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba wanted to create an art where people could defend themselves without harming their attacker by using the attackers "ki" against them. He wanted each practitioner of aikido to develop both physically and spiritually.
Aikido is performed by blending with the way the attacker moves, using the force of the attack rather than coming against it. This is achieved by using the attackers "ki" against them. This takes very little physical strength, as the aikidōka (person who does aikido) uses the force of the attacker's own momentum using stepping and turning movements. The techniques are completed with many different throws or joint locks which can be combined with different defenses. Aikido is one of many grappling arts.
Aikido is based on the martial art of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, but began to separate from it in the late 1920s, partly due to Ueshiba's involvement with the Ōmoto-kyō religion. Ueshiba's early students' records use the name aiki-jūjutsu. Many of Ueshiba's senior students have different approaches to aikido, depending on when they studied with him. Today aikido is found all over the world in a number of styles, with different groups placing importance on different things. However, they all share techniques learned from Ueshiba and most have concern for the safety of the attacker.
Contents
Training
In aikido, as in virtually all Japanese martial arts, there are both physical and mental aspects of training. The physical training in aikido is diverse, covering both general physical fitness and conditioning, as well as specific techniques. Because a substantial portion of any aikido curriculum consists of throws, beginners learn how to safely fall or roll. The specific techniques for attack include both strikes and grabs; the techniques for defense consist of throws and pins. After basic techniques are learned, students study freestyle defense against multiple opponents, and techniques with weapons.
Initial attacks
Aikido techniques are usually a defense against an attack, so students must learn to deliver various types of attacks to be able to practice aikido with a partner. Although attacks are not studied as thoroughly as in striking-based arts, attacks with intent (such as a strong strike or an immobilizing grab) are needed to study correct and effective application of technique.
Many of the strikes (打ち, uchi) of aikido resemble cuts from a sword or other grasped object, which indicate its origins in techniques intended for armed combat. Other techniques, which explicitly appear to be punches (tsuki), are practiced as thrusts with a knife or sword. Kicks are generally reserved for upper-level variations; reasons cited include that falls from kicks are especially dangerous, and that kicks (high kicks in particular) were uncommon during the types of combat prevalent in feudal Japan.
Some basic strikes include:
- Front-of-the-head strike (正面打ち, shōmen'uchi) is a vertical knifehand strike to the head. In training, this is usually directed at the forehead or the crown for safety, but more dangerous versions of this attack target the bridge of the nose and the maxillary sinus.
- Side-of-the-head strike (横面打ち, yokomen'uchi) is a diagonal knifehand strike to the side of the head or neck.
- Chest thrust (胸突き, mune-tsuki) is a punch to the torso. Specific targets include the chest, abdomen, and solar plexus, sometimes referred to as "middle-level thrust" (中段突き, chūdan-tsuki), or "direct thrust" (直突き, choku-tsuki).
- Face thrust (顔面突き, ganmen-tsuki) is a punch to the face, sometimes referred to as "upper-level thrust" (上段突き, jōdan-tsuki).
Beginners in particular often practice techniques from grabs, both because they are safer and because it is easier to feel the energy and the direction of the movement of force of a hold than it is for a strike. Some grabs are historically derived from being held while trying to draw a weapon, whereupon a technique could then be used to free oneself and immobilize or strike the attacker while they are grabbing the defender. The following are examples of some basic grabs:
- Single-hand grab (片手取り, katate-dori), when one hand grabs one wrist.
- Both-hands grab (諸手取り, morote-dori), when both hands grab one wrist; sometimes referred to as "single hand double-handed grab" (片手両手取り, katateryōte-dori)
- Both-hands grab (両手取り, ryōte-dori), when both hands grab both wrists; sometimes referred to as "double single-handed grab" (両片手取り, ryōkatate-dori).
- Shoulder grab (肩取り, kata-dori) when one shoulder is grabbed.
- Both-shoulders-grab (両肩取り, ryōkata-dori), when both shoulders are grabbed. It is sometimes combined with an overhead strike as shoulder grab face strike (肩取り面打ち, kata-dori men-uchi).
- Chest grab (胸取り, mune-dori or muna-dori), when the lapel is grabbed; sometimes referred to as "collar grab" (襟取り, eri-dori).
Basic techniques
The following are a sample of the basic or widely practiced throws and pins. Many of these techniques derive from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, but some others were invented by Morihei Ueshiba. The precise terminology for some may vary between organisations and styles; the following are the terms used by the Aikikai Foundation. Despite the names of the first five techniques listed, they are not universally taught in numeric order.
- First technique (一教 (教), ikkyō), a control technique using one hand on the elbow and one hand near the wrist which leverages uke to the ground. This grip applies pressure into the ulnar nerve at the wrist.
- Second technique (二教, nikyō) is a pronating wristlock that torques the arm and applies painful nerve pressure. (There is an adductive wristlock or Z-lock in the ura version.)
- Third technique (三教, sankyō) is a rotational wristlock that directs upward-spiraling tension throughout the arm, elbow and shoulder.
- Fourth technique (四教, yonkyō) is a shoulder control technique similar to ikkyō, but with both hands gripping the forearm. The knuckles (from the palm side) are applied to the recipient's radial nerve against the periosteum of the forearm bone.
- Fifth technique (五教, gokyō)is a technique that is visually similar to ikkyō, but with an inverted grip of the wrist, medial rotation of the arm and shoulder, and downward pressure on the elbow. Common in knife and other weapon take-aways.
- 'Four-direction throw' (四方投げ, shihōnage) is a throw during which uke's hand is folded back past the shoulder, locking the shoulder joint.
- Forearm return (小手返し, kotegaeshi) is a supinating wristlock-throw that stretches the extensor digitorum.
- Breath throw (呼吸投げ, kokyūnage) is a loosely used umbrella term for various types of mechanically unrelated techniques; kokyūnage generally do not use joint locks like other techniques.
- Entering throw (入身投げ, iriminage), throws in which tori moves through the space occupied by uke. The classic form superficially resembles a "clothesline" technique.
- Heaven-and-earth throw (天地投げ, tenchinage), a throw in which, beginning with ryōte-dori, moving forward, tori sweeps one hand low ("earth") and the other high ("heaven"), which unbalances uke so that they easily topple over.
- Hip throw (腰投げ, koshinage), aikido's version of the hip throw; tori drops their hips lower than those of uke, then flips uke over the resultant fulcrum.
- Figure-ten throw (十字投げ, jūjinage), a throw that locks the arms against each other (the kanji for "10" is a cross-shape: 十).
- Rotary throw (回転投げ, kaitennage) is a throw in which tori sweeps uke's arm back until it locks the shoulder joint, then uses forward pressure to throw them.
Weapons
Weapons training in aikido traditionally includes the short staff (jō) (these techniques closely resemble the use of the bayonet, or Jūkendō), the wooden sword (bokken), and the knife (tantō). Some schools incorporate firearm-disarming techniques, where either weapon-taking and/or weapon-retention may be taught. Some schools, such as the Iwama style of Morihiro Saito, usually spend substantial time practicing with both bokken and jō, under the names of aiki-ken, and aiki-jō, respectively.
The founder developed many of the empty-handed techniques from traditional sword, spear and bayonet movements. Consequently, the practice of the weapons arts gives insight into the origin of techniques and movements, and reinforces the concepts of distance, timing, foot movement, presence and connectedness with one's training partner(s).
Mental training
Aikido training is mental as well as physical, emphasizing the ability to relax the mind and body even under the stress of dangerous situations. This is necessary to enable the practitioner to perform the 'enter-and-blend' movements that underlie aikido techniques, wherein an attack is met with confidence and directness. Morihei Ueshiba once remarked that one "must be willing to receive 99% of an opponent's attack and stare death in the face" in order to execute techniques without hesitation. As a martial art concerned not only with fighting proficiency but with the betterment of daily life, this mental aspect is of key importance to aikido practitioners.
Uniforms and ranking
| rank | belt | color | type |
|---|---|---|---|
| kyū |  |
white | mudansha/yūkyūsha |
| dan |  |
black | yūdansha |
Aikido practitioners (commonly called aikidōka outside Japan) generally progress by promotion through a series of "grades" (kyū), followed by a series of "degrees" (dan), pursuant to formal testing procedures. Some aikido organizations use belts to distinguish practitioners' grades, often simply white and black belts to distinguish kyu and dan grades, although some use various belt colors. Testing requirements vary, so a particular rank in one organization is not comparable or interchangeable with the rank of another. Some dōjōs have an age requirement before students can take the dan rank exam.
The uniform worn for practicing aikido (aikidōgi) is similar to the training uniform (keikogi) used in most other modern martial arts; simple trousers and a wraparound jacket, usually white. Both thick ("judo-style"), and thin ("karate-style") cotton tops are used. Aikido-specific tops are available with shorter sleeves which reach to just below the elbow.
Most aikido systems add a pair of wide pleated black or indigo trousers known as hakama (used also in Naginatajutsu, kendo, and iaido). In many schools, the wearing of hakama is reserved for practitioners with dan ranks or for instructors, while others allow all practitioners to wear a hakama regardless of rank.
Aikido styles
Aikido styles vary in their intention as due to its holistic nature. The most common differences noted in aikido, when observed externally, relate to the intensity and realism of training. Stanley Pranin has observed that some criticism may stem from weak attacks from uke, allowing for a conditioned response from tori, resulting in underdevelopment of the skills needed for the safe and effective practice of both partners.
To counteract this, some styles allow students to become less compliant over time, but, in keeping with the core philosophies, this is after having demonstrated proficiency in being able to protect themselves and their training partners. Shodokan Aikido addresses the issue by practicing in a competitive format. Such adaptations are debated between styles, with some maintaining that there is no need to adjust their methods because either the criticisms are unjustified, or that they are not training for self-defense or combat effectiveness, but spiritual, fitness or other reasons.
Reasons for the difference and diversity of teachings, intention, and forms of aikido can be traced to the shift in training focus after the end of Ueshiba's seclusion in Iwama from 1942 to the mid-1950s, as he increasingly emphasized the spiritual and philosophical aspects of aikido. As a result, strikes to vital points by tori, entering (irimi) and initiation of techniques by tori, the distinction between omote (front side) and ura (back side) techniques, and the use of weapons, were all de-emphasized or eliminated from practice.
Conversely, some styles of aikido place less importance on the spiritual practices emphasized by Ueshiba. According to Minoru Shibata of Aikido Journal:
O-Sensei's aikido was not a continuation and extension of the old and has a distinct discontinuity with past martial and philosophical concepts.
In other words, aikido practitioners who focus on aikido's roots in traditional jujutsu or kenjutsu are said to be diverging from what Ueshiba taught, as some critics urge practitioners:
[Ueshiba's] transcendence to the spiritual and universal reality were the fundamentals of the paradigm that he demonstrated.
Related pages
Images for kids
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Ueshiba in Tokyo in 1939
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Takeda Sōkaku
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Onisaburo Deguchi
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"Shite" (Nage), in this case, is the person on the right. He is doing Kokyu-Nage (呼吸投げ). "Uke", in this case on the left, is doing rolling Ukemi. (France, 2002)
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Ikkyo, first principle established between the founder Sensei Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平) (December 14, 1883 – April 26, 1969) and André Nocquet (30 July 1914 – 12 March 1999) disciple.
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See also
In Spanish: Aikidō para niños
