Fear and Concentration Coupled with Trust

One of the most obvious and striking differences between Yoshinkan Aikido and most other martial arts is the lack of fluidity in the teaching methodology.

Yoshinkan relies heavily on building techniques up from a set of basic movements and using references to these movements (the Kihon Dosa) to describe how to do a technique. This results in a very stilted, robotic teaching method where you make a single movements and then stop.

I believe that this is a very good way to teach something for the following reasons:

1. It gives you the opportunity and the focus to stop at every natural point within a technique and study how it works and how to make it stronger

2. It makes it difficult to hide lack of balance or technique by using speed

3. If you can do a technique from a static position then you understand the nuances of the technique and the basic movements within it so when you do it dynamically it will be even stronger because you will have more inertia/power/energy to work with.

4. As a teacher it is easy to see if there is a single different movement in a group of people and therefore notice students who are having difficulty quickly

5. It is easy to practice safely because you stop before applying the "dangerous" part of the technique and both shite and uke know when its coming


The down side of studying a martial art like this is that you can get too focused on the small, finer details found within the technique and not on the technique itself.

There is a dynamic to technique that we must also work on as we study aikido. In Yoshinkan this dynamic is studied using hagime training and jiyuwaza. This training is also valuable and by flowing through the step-by-step points we stopped at during our "by the numbers" training we learn timing and balance and power. As uke we learn to flow and to be safe.

However, this is also not enough.

Yoshinkan is and should be devastating. Part of our learning process should be to understand this important point.

I have been told that spirit is the most important part of Yoshinkan. My experience has convinced me that this is true.

Neither the step-by-step teaching methodology nor the dynamic teaching methods really teach Yoshinkan spirit. They teach pure technique. They give strong form. They teach how to use your body together. They teach you how to keep going when you are exhausted and how to endure pain. They will push you past what you think your limits are.

However they will not necessarily teach you Yoshinkan spirit. Although I think they are a good start.

I believe that fear and concentration coupled with trust holds the key to really going past the technique to learn what Yoshinkan is and why it is a powerful martial discipline.

When attacking...

When you attack someone without holding back and you truly fear their technique you learn something about spirit. When you know that your attack is going to result in your slamming really hard into the mat you learn something about spirit. When you know that the only thing that is going to stop you from getting injured is your concentration and focus as uke because the person throwing you is terrifying then you learn something about spirit.

The interesting thing is that you can only fully commit when you trust the person you are attacking. You trust that they will be able to receive your attack, so you don't hold back. You trust that as long as you stay focused they will not injure you (although it will most certainly hurt).

You have to trust your training and that the people who taught you taught you what you need to know.

When receiving the attack...

When you are being attacked you have to fear that you will be hit and injured if you don't concentrate. You have to trust that your uke will strike you if you lose your focus.

You should also have some fear that you will injure your uke. However, you must trust your training and the training of your uke and know that as long as you stay focused and cocentrate on your technique they will not be injured.


To summarize...

Fear of injury (not fear of pain) is what will drive you to the next level. You have to trust that you and your partner will go as strong and as hard as possible and that your training is such that there will be no injury as long as you both concentrate on what you are doing.

It's an incredible feeling to trust someone that much.