AIKIDO APHORISMS

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  1. Aikido is like Latin: a dead language. To revive it, first learn its grammar.
    • And like Latin, it still exerts power—through law, theology, science.
  2. Aikido is an art of commitment. Hesitation corrodes.
    • Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back.
  3. Laughter relaxes the body. Relaxation signals safety. Can one laugh and strike at the same time?
  4. Excellence is cultivated only in the body. Pressure testing drives the art into the hara. Like mochi, the body must be pounded into form.
  5. Tanren-geiko is the forge. Without it, the art dissolves into gesture.
    • Because this is a physical art it is embodied physically- the stuff of soma. It has to be pressure tested to become forced deep in the hara – the center of movement. I was told the body had to be molded like mochi pounded into shape. Tanren-geiko is the only way I have seen it manifest.
  6. The spirit is purified through hard work – misogi – that is the way.
    • The importance of seriousness in training cannot be understated. It cannot be spoken or transmitted by words alone.
  7. Tradition is preserved not only in techniques but in stories. Memory is the hidden technique.
    • You are following a tradition and to stay connected to that lineage you have to know the stories. Those collective memories provide your cultural heritage.
  8. Without a center, an acephalous dojo drifts into haze.
  9. Inspiration: to breathe into. Aikido now breathes with difficulty.
  10. I did not train with O-Sensei, but I trained with his son and grandson. Transmission is a chain of bodies, not of books.
  11. It was not O-Sensei who codified technique. That task fell to Kisshomaru, Saitō, and the post-war uchi-deshi. The war swallowed the rest.
    • The wonderful work that Josh Gould is doing with preserving the biographies of the pre- and post-war instructors showcases the depth of instructors who really developed the art.
  12. To transmit Aikido is also to transmit pedagogy. Yamaguchi, Chiba, Yamada — their vigor is gone.
    • I am hyper sensitive to the impending sense of loss in the world of Aikido. I have watched the luminaries of the art dwindle and die.  
  13. My generation failed to inspire. The art offered neither martial competence nor spiritual enlightenment. A poor product, or a poor market?
    • Despite her family’s multigenerational ownership of a temple in Japan – Yoko never taught or spoke about the spiritual history of Aikido – she told me years ago she would sit zen only when she was old. Spiritual development was in the art – moving zen.
  14. To disguise incompetence as spirituality is fraud. Weakness is not a virtue.
    • I have a visceral reaction to highlighting spirituality to compensate for the lack of the instructor’s ability – spiritual growth is not a panacea for physical incompetence.
  15. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is truly ready, the teacher disappears.
    • Tao Te Ching was part of the inspiration for my pursuit of Aikido and as much as I like the sentiment of the quote – and time has taught me it is true – it always seemed to be an excuse. Over the years I have tried multiple pedagogical approaches to transmitting the art. The most honest approach for me is a “coach” because I cannot be a guru – my New England reticence and sardonic mocking of cultism wouldn’t allow it.
  16. Time teaches that sentiment is not structure.

Aphorisms are not conclusions. They are stepping stones. Each must be tested in practice, hammered into the body, or abandoned.

And of course, I could not resist my own commentary for each.

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