Fourth rule - I am responsible for what I learn.

"The teachings of one's instructors are only to provide a minimum of assistance; applying these through one's own training is the only means of making these teachings one's own."  From the 1997 issue of "The Aikido" by Aikido world headquarters in Tokyo.  Volume 34, #4.  (Really, from the walls of the men's change room at our dojo.)

"The instructor can only impart a small portion of the teaching; only through ceaseless training can you obtain the necessary experience allowing you to bring these mysteries alive.  Hence, do not chase after many techniques; one by one, make each technique your own."  Budo

 

"The instructor can only impart a small potion of the teaching. Only through ceaseless training can you obtain the necessary experience to bring these mysteries alive." Best Aikido: The Fundamentals

 

"The teachings of your instructor constitute only a small fraction of what you will learn.  Your mastery of each movement will depend almost entirely on individual, earnest practice."  Aikido

 

Kisshomaru Ueshiba expounds on this in Aikido:

"The fourth rule relates to the assimilation of techniques.  Aikido has a few thousand variations in its techniques.  Some students are apt to chase after an accumulation of quantity rather than quality.  However when they look back on themselves, they are sorry to learn that they have gained nothing.  Soon they lose interest.  As innumerable variations of each technique are possible we instructors always emphasize the significance of "repetition" to beginners.  When you practice each basic technique, over and over again, you master it and then are able to use the variations.

 

"When the Founder first came to Tokyo, among his earnest students was Admiral Takeshita.  He wrote down all the techniques that he had learned under the Founder.  They amounted to more than two thousand, and yet there were more.  He was deadlocked, finding that he could do none of them well.  After careful consideration over several days, he understood the Founder's advice, "you should study, using the seated exercises as your base."  He practiced it and then at last became able to manage the techniques so well that he could acquire others which he had not yet been taught by his instructor.  For an elderly man of sixty years, it is the same:  repetition of the basics is the secret of improvement, no matter how awkward or unskillful one may be."

 

The exposition is a little perplexing to me in parts.  Pieces of the bare text refer to me of the importance of personal effort and exploration, and that the instructor is not the source of all knowledge.  When discussing the rule, Kisshomaru Doshu focuses on telling the student to not try to acquire more and to constantly repeat the basics, to do what we were shown and not embellish.  He does write that the first rule for practice is obedience, and maybe this extends from that.  If I tell a student to explore, I expect to see a few different things happen on the mat.

The one part of the fourth rule I think gets a little abused.  As martial artists, we have minimal training on how to teach.  No one else can do the work for you, very true.  If I do my absolute best to imitate the sensei, I am a poor copy.  I am not able to absolutely perceive everything that is happening with my eyes, nor am I able to feel absolutely everything being done when I take ukemi.  I cannot read any minds, so there is a great deal happening mentally that I do not have access to.  Maybe the teacher can tell me what the principle beneath the surface movement is, but that's no guarantee that I understand what I am being told.  I need to learn to feel what Aikido is, and then constantly hunt for it.

 

I know beginning teachers who would use this rule to divest themselves of responsibility.  If the student is confused, they just need to train harder and it's the student's fault.  Tell them, Just keep showing up.  Lessons and understanding get withheld because "that's not basic enough for you."  I was told once, "I had to figure that out for myself, so you should to."  I feel the student has the responsibility to train, teachers have the responsibility to teach.  My student's failure is my failure.  The best teachers can see how to guide you to your own potential, or they can give you ideas that will help you find your own way.  

The story of Admiral Takeshita was very inspirational to me.  (I've wondered at what made over 2000 techniques - did he write katatedori Shihonage, Shomenuchi Shihonage, and Yokomenuchi Shihonage as three different techniques?  Maybe count every single variation as a separate technique?). Get a sense of a good Shihonage, and every Shihonage starts to improve.  Get a good Kokyu Doza, and a million things become more possible.  There is a level of fundamental body movement and integration that is at the core of many basic techniques.  In Takeshita's story, I saw there was a short cut to learning an infinite number of responses - study the basics.  The spontaneous creation of technique could be possible through understanding the basic tools. (I tried to not think very hard on how Shioda, Tohei, and Tomiki all had very, very different basics from what was given to me.)

Kawahara Sensei told us at Shodan we should be self-correcting.  Not running off and doing whatever, but that we had learned enough to know what a bad Shihonage felt like, or that we knew when to switch to kaeshiwaza or henkawaza.  When something went wrong, we could examine our timing, our placement, our structure and balance.  We could move beyond, "This doesn't work!" or, "I can't do this!" and arrive at "How can I do this better?" With this understanding, it's a short leap to improving techniques I think I already do well.  

 

I believe with a good understanding, I can also dissect a basic technique and see the possibilities within.  Yokomenuchi Shihonage contains a dozen other techniques like udekimenage and kokyunage.  

 

Good understanding of a basic also means that I can extrapolate - a basic idea can be slightly modified, or done in reverse, or used in combination with other movements to make something more advanced.  Yokomenuchi Shihonage is Yokomenuchi Koshinage.  I can see how movements relate.  Empty hand or weapon do become the same.  Kansetsu, Koshinage, Osae and Nagewaza are the same movement.  Musashi tells us one to one duels and battles with 10000 a side are the same.  I can't avoid acquiring more when I look at the basics.

 

So how did Shioda, Tomiki, Saito, Tohei and so many others ended up so thoroughly different from each other?  Different body types, different times and needs, different thoughts on what was important?  For beginning students in these systems, there are very few basics in common.

How do we as students know when to follow, and when to explore?  How do we as teachers know when to back off and let a student know they can head off on their own?  How do we tell when a student is - or more importantly, isn't - ready to drift off on their own?  What criteria are we applying, and can we communicate it?  

The One that Extends to the Infinite

This is a second piece of random thoughts about the Rules for Practice.  This one rule is by far the most concrete.

"Aikido is based on the Way of One which extends to the Infinite - practice should always be performed not only concentrating on one's front, but while keeping aware of all sides at all times."  From the 1997 issue of "The Aikido" by Aikido world headquarters in Tokyo.  Volume 34, #4.  (Really, from the walls of the men's change room at our dojo.)

 

"Aikido is an art where one person learns to face many opponents simultaneously.  It therefore requires that you polish and perfect your execution of each movement so that you can take on not only the one directly before you but also those approaching from every direction."  Aikido

 

"Bujutsu is an art in which the one is used to strike the many.  Therefore, train yourself to always be mindful of, and alert to, opponents in the four and the eight directions."  Budo

 

"Aikido is an art in which "the one" is used to strike "the many." Train yourself to be mindful of attacks coming from four and eight directions. Best Aikido: The Fundamentals

 

While these rules are attributed to O Sensei, the English translation is not.  Kisshomaru Ueshiba is the author of the first two sources above, and the fourth source is from 2002 so even the second Doshu had passed by this time.  In Aikido, the Doshu does offer some further interpretation.  "Budo is for countering any attack from any direction at any time.  When you are merely ready for only one opponent, without being prepared for others, it will only be a common fight.  A tight, on-guard posture with an immovable spirit is the basis of every exercise in Budo.  People generally say, "that man behaves irreproachably," or "An excellent artist is completely on guard."  Those who study Aikido should thus spend their daily life thoroughly on guard, even if they are not consciously watching every direction around them."  

 

The four different sources may appear very different because of the translator and the times.  The One that extends to the Infinite sounds maybe like a basic idea with infinite applicability.  The Doshu referring to being "irreproachable" sounds like etiquette, social mores, and a desire to never give offense.  Irreproachable is a word usually reserved for people of high morale character, but maybe a better word for this case is unassailable.  If I never leave an opening for an attack, or to cause offense, then I already have the upper hand.

The four translations do agree on one point.  We keep awareness of our surroundings.  We are always aware of the other attacker. The most recent translation does talk about the Four and the Eight Directions, and I am not clear what is specifically being referred to. I do practice some exercises I have come to call the four corners. I encourage students to learn lifting up and down on each corner - does that make 8? I see Judo exercises with eight lines drawn on the ground, and this is all before paying attention to Jodan, Chudan, and Gedan. I have heard of 36 directions, and no amount of quasi-mathematical torture of concepts has me defining this. The idea of multiple directions makes sense anyway.

Omote and Ura are about our relationship to our partner, and our environment.  I stand in left hamni and Uke attacks Shomenuchi.  I respond with Ikkyo Omote.  Uke now shields me to the right side, and I can move to my left.  If I respond with Ikkyo Ura, Uke now shields my left side and I can move to the right.

I stand in left hamni and Uke attacks with katatedori.  I respond with Shihonage Omote.  Uke is turned, but falls in the direction he was originally traveling.  He shields my left side, and I can run to the right.  If I respond with Shihonage Ura, Uke falls back the direction that he came from.  He now shields my right side, and I am free to move to my left.

It's a nice little mental exercise and a bit of variety, but the point really hits home when I think about where the exit is to the room, where is the weapons rack, where is the second attacker.  If I have a wall to my right side, I cannot move to the right and I cannot move my Uke to the right for any significant distance but I can make Uke have a forceful impact to my right.  The whole environment, including Uke, is my shield and my weapon.

I see this needing a different level of awareness, both of the environment and of the practice.  What we really don't need are different techniques.  The same basic movements let me travel in the environment, turn to face or move in other directions, throw Uke in whatever direction is useful.  

When a student talking about practicing some more combat effective stuff, invariably I see them take an MMA or boxers pose and develop tunnel vision on one partner.  Nothing wrong with these other arts, but if you've only trained in aikido your boxing will probably suck.  From there, take a Kotegaeshi and finish with jujigatame.  Drop to the ground from standing, losing many striking options and mobility. 

Our usual pins leave us safer and more able to respond to someone else - they're just not as forgiving to apply.  Pinning with one hand is not for style points so much as for making use of a tool or for manipulating an incoming attack.  I'm not saying Judo's (and many other arts) Ne waza isn't great stuff, and fun to practice, and high level.  

                                          The guy on the bottom is winning.

The little Judo I did, I had great success with this pin.  Against a second attacker - with my face on the ground and my testicles and femoral arteries raised up and exposed, I'm in trouble.

The next six pictures are all locks that straighten and hyperextend the elbow joint.

This pin has Nage's leg pinned, his other leg engaged to lock the elbow, and both hands on the other arm.  It's a great lock.  Nage cannot disengage quickly, cannot defend against another attacker, can't punch or kick without letting up on the pin.

This lock attacks the same joint and controls Uke in much the same way.  If Uke was holding a knife, sword, or club the pin wouldn't change much if at all.  The surface doesn't matter for Nage.  Disengaging can happen instantly.  Nage is gently kneeling beside Uke, but the knee could be dropped on Uke easily.  Strikes are possible, seeing the whole room is possible.  Versions on this pin are used to handcuff an assailant.

This is the same elbow lock again

And again.  Hamni Handachi and Suwari Waza are practice in fighting from this pinning posture.

And again.  This time, Nage has all four limbs tied up attacking one of Uke's limbs.  The influence of MMA in the martial arts world today has made this pin much more prominent.  I feel Nage is more vulnerable with a second attacker.

This is another version of the same pin, and this time Nage is face down with one leg pinned underneath Uke.

I love practicing all of this stuff, and it is important to know.  But, as dojos are coming into competition with MMA and BJJ, we're letting other businesses define what combat even looks like.  Then, we apologize, and we say we are less combat oriented than the local strip mall.  Where they train for the Octagon - one on one, no weapons, in a controlled environment on a safe surface with a referee.  The skill sets are so different that they need not be mutually exclusive.

When I talked with a friend recently who has an Aikido dojo close to a large military base, he was clear about what the soldiers he taught told him:  going to the ground in a war zone with sharp shrapnel, explosive devices, unpredictable terrain, knives, and guns is unthinkable to a soldier in Afganistan.  I've heard the same thing from a contractor in Iraq.  They want to be mobile, free to use weapons, free to disengage, free to take and provide cover, free to work as a unit.  They don't approach one attacker as a one on one confrontation, even when they don't see a second attacker.  Everyone is also a potential suicide bomber.  I'm not military, but I spent time working in corrections.  I wouldn't lay on my face to pin one person in that environment.

When other arts like Baguazhang say they are for multiple attacker situations, this defines what techniques are Baguazhang - always in control of the relationship to their environment, rarely going to the ground, rarely getting entangled.  

I find it interesting that apparently modern soldiers don't argue much with tactical recommendations from military trainers like O Sensei and Tomiki sensei.  (Aside from the part where "fighting" means helicopters and firearms). Saito Sensei had exercises for fighting a larger group, and Shirata Sensei had a series of exercises based on Shihonage against two swordsmen.

The questions now come from ourselves.  I think we break this guideline a little too much.  We don't train a committed two on one attack.  The best randori I ever saw was done by a basketball coach who played a great 2 on 1 game.  It was rare to see.  

On my Sandan test, the examiners ordered my attackers to come one at a time and avoid any collisions in a huge open mat with all yudansha attackers with great ukemi.  Five attackers coming in quick succession is not as hard as two coming at the same time, particularly if the two are trained to work as a team.  It's hollow to claim we're more useful in this regard than other martial arts when we've never actually trained this ability.  This awareness of the environment and the ability to manipulate it to advantage is maybe the most self defense oriented skill of all.