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Matthew_Eastwood
Matthew_Eastwood's picture
Aiki in Karate

Ive started reading into the concept of Aiki recently, and am wondering where and how it can be used in karate. I understand this is likely to be a rather general and open ended question!

I guess in addition to this, after reading about his concept of blending with the opponent, I really started to reflect on how I react to combat (my only experience thus far is dojo sparing- ive always avoided "real" combat).  Based on the training I have recieved over the past few years of study, I noticed I always retreat. Im struggling to react fast enough to move out of the way, but also I find that retreating forces my momentum in the opposite direction to the opponent, and changing it requires precious time.

So, how can aiki be applied effectively to flow around and/or with the opponent? And are there any drills/methods anyone can suggest to help me alter my reflex action of retreating?

EDIT: I noticed Mr. Abernethy has written an article on Aiki in Karate, but I cant seem to access it...?

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Hi Matthew,

Matthew_Eastwood wrote:
Based on the training I have received over the past few years of study, I noticed I always retreat. I’m struggling to react fast enough to move out of the way, but also I find that retreating forces my momentum in the opposite direction to the opponent, and changing it requires precious time.

I think we always need to me mindful of the realties of what is achievable. There is also an important distinction between what is an “ideal” and the realties of how things play out.

While much is made of moving “as one” with the enemy and blending with their movements, it needs to be acknowledged that there will always be a lag, no matter how small, between action and reaction. The only time that lag is not there is when the enemy’s motion is anticipated and hence the “reaction” starts before the “action” has been fully committed to.

We can see this kind of “anticipation” in demonstrations where the nature of the attack is known, and when highly skilled practitioners work with other highly skilled practitioners i.e. the nature of the motion is well known and is hence “instantly” recognisable. Things are different with the wild and chaotic attacks in the violent world of actual conflict where the enemy is highly unlikely to be a skilled practitioner of your own discipline, and far more likely to be highly skilled at criminal violence (i.e. hit them hard, fast, brutally and without warning).

The point is that trying to achieve the “seamless” flow one may see in the dojo is one thing. Trying to achieve that same flow for self-protection purposes is probably not the best way to go. You’d be better focusing on being proactive and shutting down the enemy and their options as opposed to focussing on reacting and blending with whatever the enemy may throw at you.

Matthew_Eastwood wrote:
So, how can aiki be applied effectively to flow around and/or with the opponent? And are there any drills/methods anyone can suggest to help me alter my reflex action of retreating?

Putting the above caveats to one side, slow motion practise is a good way to go. Learn the flow at a manageable speed, and then increase the speed ensuring that flow remains.

To get over the reflex to retreat, you may want to try some drills up against a wall so your only options are forward or to the side. Being able to hit on the retreat is a key skill, but generally speaking forward and off line are better options tactically. The kind of “crashing” drills I show in this video may also help develop a more “positive” reaction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHaivlqvNA4

Matthew_Eastwood wrote:
EDIT: I noticed Mr. Abernethy has written an article on Aiki in Karate, but I cant seem to access it...?

If I have it’s news to me :-) I think you must have me mistaken with someone else.

All the best,

Iain

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

For me it's helpful to break these things down into simple components, you can either move in an effective way with the body, or in an effective way against the body. Karate starts with the latter, and IMO as one goes up in experience you begin to toy with a bit more of the former. I like to think of it like this - working against the body is hitting someone with a door, working with the body is opening the door in such a way that the person misses the doorknob as they grab..sounds silly but the analogy works for me.  Karate doesn't look or fuinction much like Aikido (even common techniques liek Irimi Nage can be very different), but you could say that somewhere in there there are common principles, sure.

I feel like moving with a body is a specific, and pretty refined skillset, the only Karateka I know who have it in their Karate seem to be those with cross training in a grappling art.

In terms of "blending" though, one thing Iain points out that is very much worth thinking about is that doing so often requires that you already have the jump on the person timing-wise, only other ways of "blening" are through tactile stuff such as you learn in Judo or Jujutsu, you could say the principle is the same, but so much of Aikido is so long range, it is often hard to translate when things are closer and sloppier.

If you want something to play with Karate wise for blending learn Irimi Nage from a Aiki person, and examine it, it is one technique that actually contains alot of really useful principles, though I think the Aikido way of doing it is mostly for show to be honest - with exaggerated movement and distance.

JWT
JWT's picture

HI Matthew

Do you mean Aiki as in harmonisation, or Aiki as in the approach to unbalancing epitomised in the Aikido disciplines?

I come from quite a different 'soft art' training background with my Karate to Iain; so whereas when I see Iain unbalancing his movements remond me of Judo expressed through Karate, when I unbalance using Karate I do so with angles and principles used from Aikido, and the two aren't quite the same.  It's a conceit but I tend to see (with very little evidence to support me) my approach as an 'Azato' one and Iain's approach as an 'Itosu' one. 

Matthew_Eastwood
Matthew_Eastwood's picture
JWT, i havent tried aikido or judo yet, so i dont really know the differences!! What i think i have been taught to do is meet force with force- a concept that many might think karate is about, but im not sure that is the case anymore. most of my training has revolved around basics in lines, as well as competition style sparring, so this concept of blending and moving round the opponent- flowing one might say, is really something i want to explore.
Matt Perlingiero
Matt Perlingiero's picture

Matthew_Eastwood wrote:
so this concept of blending and moving round the opponent- flowing one might say, is really something i want to explore.

I feel that it's a good thing to add to your karate, and seeds of the idea can be found in the practice of kakie (if you're familiar with that).  I would suggest that you start there.  Trying to blend with a person based on visual cues is a very difficult game to play, especially in the chaos of self-defence as Iain pointed out.  

One thing that I think you should keep in mind that is difficult to pick up on if you haven't been raised in aiki is that what is mostly practiced is demonstration by people who suffer from OCSS (Overly Compliant Student Syndrome) with little clue as to what violence looks like and have even less knowledge of what changes have been made to things for safety of practice.  That's what happens when a large portion of the art becomes a "spritual" and everybody lives in theory for however long.  Good thing that never happened to karate. 

Anyway, the point I was going to make is to not get too tied up in blending, especially how you see it in Aiki-d'oh.  There's no reason you can't aggressively blend, forcing your opponent to adapt to you; it's a two-way street.  To make purple, do you mix red with blue, or blue with red?

Oh, and one more thing: practice the techniques to perfection, but nothing helps a kote-gaeshi like a good ol' fashioned, honest-to-god punch in the mouth.

DaveB
DaveB's picture

I would suggest looking into the sensitivity skills expressed in Chinese martial arts. As pointed out, percussive fighting tends to work blending and flowing skills through making, maintaining and exploiting physical contract. This is most commonly recognized in the chi-sau of Wing Chun but is present in various forms in a wide range of Chinese martial arts (of which karate is a fairly close relation).