Aikido: one of the main martial arts in Spirit Combat

 by Sensei Rachael Muscat

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Spirit Combat can be said to be a mix of martial arts. One of these arts is Aikido. Aikido was developed in Japan in the early 20th century by Morihei Ueshiba. The word Aikido is a combination of three concepts: ai meaning ‘harmony’; ki meaning ‘spirit’; and do meaning ‘way’. In spiritual sense, this means harmonizing your individual spirit or ki with the spirit of Nature. In the dojo this means that you harmonize with an attack, lead it to a point of exhaustion and then neutralize it with a throw, joint lock or an immobilization.

So, what is aikido? If you look at the classic Chinese yin and yang icon, you see a symbol explaining that all phenomena are governed by antagonistic, yet complementary opposites, forming the two halves of the whole. You will also observe that the two halves are not entirely opposite, however since they have elements of each other with in them- the black dot in the while half and the white dot in the black half- and this symbol is designed to suggest that all life and nature is a perpetual sense of flux.

If you are attacked by a force (yang) and you apply force yourself (yang), a collision of energies which results on disharmony and accordingly the strongest form wins. If however, you meet the force with an absorbing movement (yin) and then exhaust it to the point of imbalance before applying force of your own; you are in effect restoring harmony or redressing an imbalance. This is the basic logic and underlying philosophy of aikido.

Aikido is a discipline that seeks not to meet violence with violence but instead looks towards harmonizing with and restraining an opponent. Aikido techniques are usually aimed at joint immobilization and throws which utilize an opponent’s energy, momentum and aggression. Many body movements have been taken from Japanese sword and fighting arts, and the use of the bokken and jo, is intended to develop the practitioner’s understanding and skill.

Aikido teaches one on one and multiple- attack defence. It incorporates knife-taking, sword and stick taking and even defence from kneeling position. Differences in size, weight, strength or age are negated, as one learns to use its inner ki.

 The philosophy of aikido helps us understand that in order to defend one self; one does not strictly need to be stronger or tougher because if one uses harmony and body movement one can defeat the attacker.