Morihei Ueshiba and Gozo Shioda
Budo – Moritaka Ueshiba’s 1938 Technical Manual
In 1938, Morihei (Moritaka) Ueshiba published the technical manual “Budo” – Yoshinkan Aikido founder Gozo Shioda (above, from the manual itself) was one of the students featured as partners in the photographs.
Budo was originally published as a simplified military manual for Prince Kaya Tsunenori, the superintendent of the Toyama Military School where Morihei Ueshiba was an instructor (the original Japanese text is available here). In many ways it was a simplified version of the more complex Aiki-jujutsu Densho, published earlier and then republished after the war and used as an instructional manual as Aikido Maki-no-Ichi.
Some of the translation issues with the “Budo” manual were discussed previously in Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae.
Here is another example from the same manual – item number 49.
In “Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido“, translated by John Stevens, this item appears as:
There is no photo (either in the original Japanese text or the English translation), and no explanation, but it was felt that “Developing Arm Power” was important enough to mention.
This is not uncommon for “secret” items, whose content would be imparted through “Kuden” (口伝), oral transmission.
In many traditions the oral transmission would be limited to a select few students, or possibly only a single student – the explanation that would “unlock” the physical training.
This particular item is included in a section on “finishing exercises” (終末動作) that includes Tai-no-Henka (體の変化), and “Ki Power Development” (気力の養成), the exercise otherwise known today as seated Kokyu-ho (座技呼吸法), both foundational conditioning exercises that Morihei Ueshiba typically included in every training session.
Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Morihei Ueshiba often stated, as repeated by Morihiro Saito, that a student could learn all the essential principles of Aikido through just these three core exercises, Tai-no-henka, Morotedori-kokyuho, and Suwariwaza-kokyuho.
So let’s look at the original Japanese entry for this item:
Most of the text is the same.
This entry is noted as item 49, to be “imparted orally” (口授ス).
The title of the section is 臂力の養成 – “Hiriki no Yosei” – so it’s here that we run into some differences from the original English translation of “Arm Power Development” by John Stevens.
The Kanji 臂, somewhat archaic, is sometimes translated as “arm”, but is most commonly noted as an obsolete form of 肘 – “hiji”, or “elbow”.
Here it is in the digital edition of the Daijirin (大辞林) Japanese dictionary – “the outer side of the joint connecting the upper arm and the forearm”, with the Kanji from Budo (臂) noted as an obsolete form of the modern usage:
So now – rather than “Arm Power Development”, we have “Elbow Power Development” – a term that most Yoshinkan Aikido practitioners will instantly recognize as one of the basic conditioning exercises emphasized by Gozo Shioda, and as previously noted – Gozo Shioda actually appears in Budo a number of times.
Gozo Shioda and his son Yasuhisa actually note this usage, in both English and Japanese:
Total Aikido: The Master Course
Gozo Shioda and Yasuhisa Shioda
“Total Aikido” notes above, that in Aikido “Hiriki” (臂力) means:
“breath power (“Kokyu-ryoku”) as expressed through the elbow”
Of course, this is a significantly different nuance from “arm power”.
The text above also notes that this is “the basic form that we use to teach the body to develop breath power”, and as Gozo Shioda used to note – Morihei Ueshiba would constantly repeat “Kokyu-ryoku, Kokyu-ryoku, Kokyu-ryoku” when instructing.
The importance of this conditioning exercise is also emphsized in another version of the Budo manual, “Takemusu Aikido Special Edition BUDO:Commentary on the 1938 Training Manual of Morihei Ueshiba“, translated by Sonoko Tanaka and Stanley Pranin:
This time Hiriki no Yosei is demonstrated as the fundamental training and conditioning exercise Morotedori Kokyuho, as taught by Morihei Ueshiba after the war in Iwama and demonstrated here by Morihiro Saito and his son Hitohira.
Another way to consider this is to reflect upon these statements by Morihei Ueshiba’s teacher Sokaku Takeda:
「合気は常に前に出る…合気は肘から先に」
“Aiki always moves forward…straight forward from the elbow.”
Sokaku Takeda, prior to establishing Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu, was well known as a swordsman, a practitioner of Ono-ha Itto-ryu:
“The sword style incorporated into Daito-ryu is Ono-ha Itto-ryu”
Interview with Tokimune Takeda, Aikido Journal
A core principle of Itto-ryu is sharin zenten, the “entering wheel” (車輪前転):
Principles of Budo: Ono-ha Ittō-ryū
Budo Japan
“If you were to describe in words what happens when you do Kiriotoshi, it probably goes something like: “When the opponent cuts down, deflect his blade away with the side of yours and cut into him.” Because the direction your sword cuts is the same as your opponent’s, you would think this could not possibly happen in an actual situation, except by accident. This is because you think of the cut as a line or a point, or consider the probability of this happening. But the true nature of this phenomena of Kiriotoshi is found in the forward rotation of a wheel. You will be able to do uwadachi instantly by rotating everything forward like it was a tire moving forward around its axle and meeting your opponent’s sword as if you were enveloping his downward cut. This is not a mere contest of speed, nor an issue of the trajectory of his sword, nor is it a form of counterattack. This rotation is a principle related to all of the other techniques. For example, techniques one through five look completely different, but they are all Kiriotoshi because they put into practice the principle of sharin zenten that is common to all.”
It may be worth considering the role of the elbow, when connected and empowered through Kokyu-ryoku, in creating the entering wheel discussed above, and its relationship to Aiki.
In Kenji Tomiki’s “Introduction to Goshinjutsu” (護身術入門), published in 1974, Kenji Tomiki discusses the “Principle of the Lever”:
In the diagram above Kenji Tomiki gives a mechanical description of Yin/Yang (In/Yo) opposing forces around a central non-moving neutral pivot.
“Aiki is an absolute neutral, therefore the neutral possesses In and Yo”
Tokimune Takeda – Aiki Kuden and Hiden
Or, as is commonly stated in the Taiji Classics:
“Taiji originates from Wuji; it is the pivot of motion and stillness, and the mother of Yin and Yang.”
Kenji Tomiki approximates this classical body usage in modern mechanics as a force couple. According to Wikipedia this is defined:
A couple is a pair of forces, equal in magnitude, oppositely directed, and displaced by perpendicular distance or moment.
Further:
Its effect is to create rotation without translation, or more generally without any acceleration of the centre of mass.
I will leave the practical application of this in the body, a much longer discussion that benefits significantly from hands on instruction, as an exercise for the reader.
Arms or elbows…your choice!
