Yoshinkan Aikido’s Three Key Principles

It is often said that kamae, aikido’s basic posture holds the secrets to its power. I’m sure you have heard this from other teachers, if you have been to seminars. I know my students have all heard it more than once. Ando Sensei reinforced the point regularly. And of course he was taught by Shioda Gozo Sensei who obviously transmitted the lesson to him. But what does it mean; if you understand kamae you understand the secrets to aikido’s power. Perhaps it would be helpful to look at the key principles used to govern Yoshinkan Aikido’s techniques. It is important to understand that these principles are build upon the one another, meaning if the first principle is weak the others can’t be achieved. They may be all practiced concurrently however, and the results of the training are cumulative.

Chushin Ryoku, Centre Power is simply the body’s ability to maintain an erect posture and control its centre of gravity. This is easily said, not so easily done. We must first be able to sense our centreline and understand when it is perfectly straight. Of course, aikido is a dynamic art requiring at times explosive body movements. As babies, we had to learn to stand before we could walk and walk before we could run. Why? Because we had to develop a sense of our centre of gravity and how to control it before we could begin to move first slowly then fast. Aikido is the same, but at a different level. Throughout our life we develop what is akin to coping strategies to bad posture, poor gait, and misaligned body parts and so on. We have to relearn how to feel our centre of gravity and our body alignment in aikido in order to develop Centre Power. Without understanding this principle, it is impossible to truly go further. Aikido can never have real power unless you develop it. How is it developed? Through kamae Centre Power is born. The first step is to understand and practice kamae.

Shuchu Ryoku, Focused Power is the second principal. This power is realized by being able to coordinate all of your power to one point – one point of contact and one point in time. In other words you must learn to move your strong centre and apply your power to one point of focus. This means that once you can maintain your centre in a static position, kamae, you must then learn to coordinate it on the move. In come the kihon dosa, basic movements. The kihon dosa are the tools we use to learn to maintain our Centre Power on the move thus developing Focused Power. The kihon dosa have other purposes as well to support the development of this power including: leg and hip strengthening; developing knee and ankle flexibility and; stabilizing the shoulder girdle. But in truth their main purpose is the development of Focused Power.

Kokyu Ryoku, Breath Power is the most elusive of the principles. It often defies description and because so few of us have achieved a level where we can ‘summon’ it at will, we have very few explanations of what it is and how it is developed. Because Breath Power, the direct Japanese translation of the words, sounds so out there for some of us who prefer more tangible concepts, I often explain it to my students as Timing Power. It seems to give more meaning to the principle when you think of it as a coordinated effort to match your partner’s speed, energy, power, and rhythm, than it does to think of it as a coordinating your breath with that of your partner’s.

There is nothing you can do to develop kokyu ryoku, but practice aikido diligently with the right spirit and by training to develop the first two principles. kokyu ryoku cannot be taught. It develops naturally from continual training.

Ando Sensei once described kokyu ryoku like this. He said kokyu ryoku is acquired unconsciously. We can develop shu chu ryoku through training in the basic movements and basic techniques. The feeling is like breathing out, consciously. Think of it. The techniques always have us pushing our power out, into our partner. We can consciously breathe out again and again, but eventually we will have an involuntary reflex to breathe in, to absorb the energy we have consciously expelled. We will inspire naturally without any conscious effort. This is the analogy of how kokyu ryoku develops. Practice the movements and techniques again and again, developing shuchu ryoku and one day, without knowing how it came about, you will be able to absorb your partner’s power, timing your movements, speed and breath with their’s. You will have experienced and achieved that which is known as kokyu ryoku.

That is what is meant by the ‘secret to aikido is in kamae.’ If you don’t understand the purpose and training required each time you stand in kamae, your kamae will not develop and you will not develop Centre Power. Consequently, you will not be able to achieve true Focused Power despite all your efforts. And Breath Power will remain something out of a science fiction movie that only little old Japanese masters can understand and use.

Train hard everyday at Aikido and remember everything you do in training has a purpose. The secrets lie in the details and the simplest things – Kamae!

~Stephen Ohlman