When martial arts, religious beliefs, philosophy, and a way of life come together, synthesized by the legendary Japanese martial artist Morihei Ueshiba, we get the popular martial art called Aikido.

The unique feature about Aikido is that while you are preparing to defend yourself, you also protect your attacker from injuring themselves while you defend yourself against them. Aikido reaches the level of an art by combining mental powers, physical abilities and natural forces, and directs the energies of life and nature while channeling them in a harmonious manner. The phrase translates as “the way of the harmonious spirit” and is a method of finding harmony of the spirit and natural forces by working in tandem.

The art of aikido is composed mainly of circular movements and the insights into swordsmanship and the martial art of Daitoryu Aiki-Jujitsu of Morihei Ueshiba the early 20th century martial artist.

Aikido is not merely a way of defending yourself but much more, almost a way of life. It helps you to achieve greater control over your mind, body and its surroundings as well as helping you to gain peace of mind. You learn to use your body as well as your internal energy called Ki to protect yourself instead of brute force and physical energy to attack someone.

There are four techniques involved that need to be mastered in order to be an Aikido practitioner. The first technique or Katai teaches you to master how to move your body and breathe in specific patterns for added control and concentration. Yawarakai is the second technique that enables the defendant to use the power of the attacker against him and deflect the attack from you.

Ki-no-nagare is a technique that enables the defendant to protect himself or herself by aligning their bodies in a particular manner with the movements of someone about to attack, even before contact is made by the attacker. The final technique Ki, is all about linking the spirit of the defender and the attacker for greater effect of the above three techniques.

Learning Aikido would entail that you have a partner to spar with for your practice and training. Mastering Aikido requires the active participation of two people, namely Uke and Nage, who are the initiator of the attacks and the defender of the attacks respectively. The Uke and the Nage need to practice together in order to train and learn Aikido,

Ikky is a basic Aikido technique which entails the defender putting one hand on the wrist and the elbow of the attacker and wresting the attacker down on the ground. The Niky is a move that allows the Nage to grip the Uke in a wristlock and draw him in towards the ground into a desirable position. Another technique is the Sanky, which involves a rotating technique to turn the entire arm using the elbow and the shoulder region. Controlling the shoulders by using both hands to grip the forearm is a technique called the Yonky, while the Goky is another variant of the Ikky.

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Sensei Malcolm

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