Chapter Two- The Way of the Harmonious Spirit
On a Thursday night sometime in October 1974 I donned a silly looking white suit, which was too small for me, and stepped on to a martial arts mat for the first time. I had no idea what I was getting myself in to!
Like all aikido sessions we started by bowing to the instructor, who on this occasion was a senior student of the actual instructor. After a brief explanation of what was going to happen we started a series of warm up exercises followed by an introduction to break falls.
One of the guys was a yellow belt and he looked so cool, even though he hadn’t done it for long. I later found out his name was David Miller, we have been friends ever since. As it turned out, cool as he was that night, I actually got my first dan black belt about six months before him or in fact before any of the guys who joined around that time.
I met my instructor, Irvine Cleydon the following week. Within two or three weeks I was travelling to other clubs and before the year was out I was training up to five times a week.
At this point I would like to do a little potted history of aikido, and in particular my part in it. For those who know nothing about aikido it has its roots back in 12th century Japan and the rise of the Samurai and their many martial practices.
Daito Ryu Aiki jutsu was apparently founded by a Japanese prince. In reality its probably another case of attributing something to the royal family in order to make it look good and give it some sort of royal seal of approval. Anyway, whatever the origins it did become a well established and practical form of combat which survived through to the 20th century.
Morehei Uyeshiba learned the system, amongst others. And from this developed what came to be known as aikido. Now this is where I may upset a few people, especially aikido practioners.
Its long been held that Uyeshiba, a very good martial artist in his day, studied several Japanese martial systems, including aiki jutsu and used these to develop aikido. Aikido then went through several transformations before he held it up as a complete system. Of course Uyeshiba also claimed he went through a mystical revelation which also changed the emphasis of the art from purely combative to universal love. Here we go then, firstly not all aikidoka subscribe to the universal love bit. And secondly aikido has probably got a lot of Chinese influence in it!
Now I have your full attention, let me explain further. Aikido has several schools it has been split in to. Some of those schools or styles take Uyeshiba's later teachings as their lead. But some of the earlier developed schools like Tomiki and Yoshinkan aikido take the more practical and active combat elements of the art to heart.
Yoshinkan appears on the surface to be quite close to the 'home' style Uyeshiba finalised. That is until you attempt to practice it and find out how much more practical and violent it is. While Tomiki, or sport aikido, and its later branches have a more competitive edge, although in a lot of clubs retaining that combat edge to it as well. It is Tomiki that I was taught.
Most of the people I trained with in Tomiki style, and later in Yoshinkan style, were not your 'peace be on to you' types, all they wanted was an effective fighting system. And this attitude flies in the face of Uyeshiba's later ideas.
For those people with little knowledge of aikido it differs from other Japanese arts in several ways. Its circular, not linear like modern karate. The movements are quite soft and relaxed. And the use of internal force or ki is taught. None of these ideas are common to modern Japanese martial arts.
The probable reason for this was identified by T K Francis, an authority on Chinese internal martial arts, but also a black belt in aikido. As he rightly points out Uyeshiba was a good martial artist and also studied several systems, it seems unlikely that given the chance to expand his knowledge he wouldn’t do so. And for several years, while in the army in China he had such an opportunity.
Francis is of the opinion that while serving in China Uyeshiba had the opportunity to see and practice some of the Chinese internal arts, some of the most sophisticated martial systems devised. In all probability it was Bagua that Uyeshiba was exposed to and he incorporated some of the concepts in to aikido. This would fit with the aikido concept of leading ki (or chi) which is fundamental to the system but also at odds to other Japanese systems. The idea of leading chi is probably most familiar to practioners of Tai Chi Chuan when incorporated in to the 'pushing hands' exercise.
In practice, and when used as a proper combat system, rather than a vehicle of 'love', aikido is a specialised branch of ju jutsu. It incorporates mainly wrist, elbow and shoulder locks and throws to defeat an opponent. However, there other techniques incorporated including strikes but these are often not seen in the 'softer' versions of the art. Both Yoshikan and Tomiki aikido do retain these harder elements.
Like judo, aikido boasts that it uses the enemy's own power against them selves. Principally this means that if someone wants to push you, you don’t resist you go with the direction of the push and the same goes for pull. By speeding up the persons attack and, or, redirecting it you can throw the opponent with ease. Similarly to several Chinese internal styles aikido uses circular movements to avoid, parry and counter an attack. The circles allowing for movement in small areas as well as large and also for the transmission of huge amounts of power.
As well as opened handed techniques, which can be performed standing or kneeling, there are also techniques with and against the knife, bo staff and sword. And many people do not realise that much of the fundamental footwork and movement is based on that used in aiki ken or aikido sword play.
In principle aikido is a stunning martial art, and there have been many displays by top masters which have impressed the martial arts world. But, note I said top masters. It is only Uyeshiba and some of his top pupils that have been able to capture the imagination in this way.
For the average student Aikido is very difficult to learn, let alone master. Even black belts can be little more than mediocre in their application of the art and few can use it in a full on combat situation.
That said I remember my early years in Aikido as being full of pain! My first and principle instructor Irvine Cleydon was very much in the old martial artist tradition. That said he was no street fighter, but nor was he a bully or a pretender. He was just a martial artist who believed in total involvement in his art and the extension of that art in to his daily life.
Irvine was one of two brothers, both gifted in aikido but in totally different ways. I was unlucky in that Peter, Irvine's brother, had left to live in Australia just months before I started. However I did meet him a few years down the line. Peter was the fighter, while Irvine the technician. Peter was a leader to Irvine's politician. Peter was a battering ram to Irvine’s rapier. Peter was also the kind of guy that, when surrounded by several muggers, had pissed himself laughing so much at their attempt to intimidate him that they decided they had other things to do and bolted for it.
Of course in those days Peter wasn’t the only nutty martial artist about. During the making of the James Bond film You Only Live Twice the film makers had flown over a dozen or so experts in Japanese martial arts. There were connections between our Aikido set up and them and apparently some of the Japanese were taken on a little pub crawl. It didn’t start too well when, as they passed a club in Soho, a doorman made a derogatory remark about oriental’s and one of them went for him. He dashed back in to the club and slammed a wooden door shut, only to find a fist going right through it. On the same night, when the party split up, one of the Aikido instructors found himself with a Japanese exponent of Karate when they were confronted by a gang of skinheads. The unfortunate leader of the gang found himself on the way to hospital with two broken legs!
In Tomiki there are four distinct phases, movement practice, ki practice, kata and free practice. Peter excelled at free practice, which included various forms of sparring. Irvine on the other hand was just as good at kata, the basic sets of techniques which aikido and many other martial arts use to encapsulate the essence of the system.
Like I said Irvine was totally involved in what he did. And, just like the old masters, his teaching did not stop when the lesson did.
Most people who have never been involved in martial arts have the mistaken idea that it's adherents are pure in mind and body, that their body is a temple and disgusting substances, like alcohol and tobacco would never pass their lips....WRONG! Even the world renowned Shaolin Monks are allowed to drink (although in their case it was by special dispensation from the Chinese Emperor). There is even a fairly well known story about a Chinese kung fu master who was having a couple of drinks with friends while sitting on a windowsill, half way through a conversation the friends looked away from him and when they looked back he wasn't there, it was a one storey fall and they looked out the window expecting to see him dead or injured below. As they did he strolled back in the room totally unharmed. In his intoxicated state he had leaned back, fallen, rolled and climbed back to the room he had fallen from all in a matter of seconds!
Maybe it's just me and I get attracted to the wrong people, but all the martial arts I have done are normally capped off with a visit to the pub. Aikido was no exception. In fact over the years we organised a few pub crawls. It was on one of these we felt Irvine's wrath for letting our guard down.
It was on the surface a pretty silly thing we did. About four or five of us chatted to some
Scandinavian tourists who wanted directions, there were a few of them and they surrounded us as we gave them instructions of how to get to their destination. After they had gone Irvine went ballistic, pointing out how we could have been attacked from any direction! He was right of course and I paid more attention to his instructions on and off the mat after that. Even today I normally stay on the outside of a circle of people and I always sit facing the door of a pub or restaurant when ever I can.
