A WAY TO HARMONY WITH THE UNIVERSE
Why is this question of non-conflict so significant? Let's go back to the first question I asked: what is aikido? Freely translated from Japanese into English "ai- ki-do" means something like "way to harmony with the universe". A "do" is a way, the way of a saint, the way to transcendence. It denotes something like the deep truth at the heart of the universe. "Ai" means a cover. The image is that of putting a lid on a hole. It is also that of putting things together, mixing them, balancing them, combining them harmoniously. "Ki" means "spirit". It has a profound meaning in Japanese. It is used to describe the energy or life-making force that in ancient Eastern thought is believed to pervade the cosmos. The translation I've just given suggests that aikido has a physical dimension, a mental dimension, and a spiritual dimension too. I've used these categories already and I want to look at them more closely because they are very helpful in explaining aikido in words. The training methods used in aikido are physically very dynamic. Uyeshiba developed his own techniques and his own ways of doing them. Many tried to copy the form of the art Uyeshiba made and many aikido teachers still see their main task as trying to preserve Uyeshiba's techniques unchanged. What this means is hard to say since Uyeshiba changed his techniques over the years. As he got older and as he refined what he was doing his movements changed too. Those who use Uyeshiba's techniques from the 1940's look different from those who use his techniques from the 1950's and 1960's. The techniques from the earlier period, when the art was still being developed and was closer still to aiki-jutsu, look rougher and less compassionate than those developed later. Uyeshiba did concentrate on a number of basic forms, however. From the time he started to develop aikido, right up until his death in 1969, he worked on a basic repertoire of techniques. It is possible to concentrate on these techniques and Uyeshiba's son and grandson continue to teach Uyeshiba's techniques in the way they think Uyeshiba would have wanted them taught. Technique-oriented training can become very frustrating, though. Students begin to argue about what is technically "correct". The arguments become very specific and since there's no way to bring them to an end except to appeal to some higher authority, and the highest authority of all, Morihei Uyeshiba himself, is now dead, no-one can go to him anymore to ask: "Who's right? Who's wrong?"
19
