The Art of Peace is the principle of nonresistance. Because it is nonresistant, it is victorious from the beginning. Those with evil intentions or contentious thoughts are instantly vanquished. The Art of Peace is invincible because it contends with nothing.
―Morihei Ueshiba
Yesterday I came across rare film footage of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, doing a demonstration with students in 1957. My favorite part starts at 10:42 where he is working with two of his students. He is the clear calm center of a whirlwind, and his students fly about like leaves tumbling in the wind. At the same time, I was struck by how much love and peace he seems to emanate, and how much care he has for the physical safety of his students, even as they are flying around. There's even one section where he catches his student's head so it won't hit the ground.
My martial arts training is primarily in tai chi, in which we seek to cultivate internal strength. I was fortunate to train with Master Yang Jun, lineage holder for the Yang family. He used to say that whether a martial art is a hard style or a soft style, both styles lead to the same place in the end. The soft style practitioners become more hard, the hard style practitioners become more soft, until yin and yang are balanced. (See my blog post Relaxing into Form for a more information on hard vs. soft styles, stiff strength (external) and internal strength.) If you will forgive the commentary of someone with almost zero aikido training (I took one or two lessons in Ki Aikido in college), but many years practicing an internal martial art, I was very impressed and hope to convey my appreciation and respect.
After watching these videos, I appreciated how Morihei Ueshiba was clearly present and aware to a very high degree. I was further inspired to watch three other videos, from 1935 (age 57), 1957 (age 74), and 1969 (age 85). And I feel like I learned a lot, just from watching the old film footage. I could see a clear progression in these films from hard to soft, such that in the final film, he appears to be using mostly chi (ki, or vital energy) alone, with very little muscular strength at all. This is a hallmark of extremely high skill.
In the 1935 film (below), although he is clearly an amazing master of his art, I could see that he still retained a small degree of stiff strength in his contact with opponents. His ting jin (listening energy) operates closer to the point of contact, and shifts to minute degrees to adjust for variances in his opponents' structure and posture, in contrast with later footage, where he appears to apprehend the totality of each person in an instant.
My martial arts training is primarily in tai chi, in which we seek to cultivate internal strength. I was fortunate to train with Master Yang Jun, lineage holder for the Yang family. He used to say that whether a martial art is a hard style or a soft style, both styles lead to the same place in the end. The soft style practitioners become more hard, the hard style practitioners become more soft, until yin and yang are balanced. (See my blog post Relaxing into Form for a more information on hard vs. soft styles, stiff strength (external) and internal strength.) If you will forgive the commentary of someone with almost zero aikido training (I took one or two lessons in Ki Aikido in college), but many years practicing an internal martial art, I was very impressed and hope to convey my appreciation and respect.
After watching these videos, I appreciated how Morihei Ueshiba was clearly present and aware to a very high degree. I was further inspired to watch three other videos, from 1935 (age 57), 1957 (age 74), and 1969 (age 85). And I feel like I learned a lot, just from watching the old film footage. I could see a clear progression in these films from hard to soft, such that in the final film, he appears to be using mostly chi (ki, or vital energy) alone, with very little muscular strength at all. This is a hallmark of extremely high skill.
In the 1935 film (below), although he is clearly an amazing master of his art, I could see that he still retained a small degree of stiff strength in his contact with opponents. His ting jin (listening energy) operates closer to the point of contact, and shifts to minute degrees to adjust for variances in his opponents' structure and posture, in contrast with later footage, where he appears to apprehend the totality of each person in an instant.
In the 1957 film (the first video in this post), his movements are very soft and flowing. I could see how he met incoming force or contact with no resistance, simply joining with it and guiding students to fall or flip by borrowing their energy, joining their trajectory. His ting jin (listening energy) in this film encompasses the whole of his opponents' trajectory - the sum total of all the various physical motions of each of their bodies. It's hard enough to become aware of the sum total of all of one's own motions, much less understand those of multiple people! Nonetheless, he does. I could feel a very high degree of peace coming from him, such that he is very much without contention.
In the final film, from 1969 (below), he is 85 years old. He has mastered his chi or ki to such a high degree that he is able to knock opponents down with the force of his energy alone. Alternately, when he uses physical strength, it is combined with a complete mastery of rooting energy, internal energy, and listening energy, that he understands the sum total of not just their bodies' movements, but also their yi or intention. He is able to hold and control the entire energy of their system, and thus throw or restrain without undue force.
In the final film, from 1969 (below), he is 85 years old. He has mastered his chi or ki to such a high degree that he is able to knock opponents down with the force of his energy alone. Alternately, when he uses physical strength, it is combined with a complete mastery of rooting energy, internal energy, and listening energy, that he understands the sum total of not just their bodies' movements, but also their yi or intention. He is able to hold and control the entire energy of their system, and thus throw or restrain without undue force.
Moreover, it even seems inappropriate to call the people he is demonstrating with "opponents" or to say that they are "fighting" because I perceive no sense of opposition. Due to the grainy quality of the 1969 footage, I think it is easier to perceive the sense of peace he conveys in the 1957 film footage.
If you'd like to read more about O Sensei's thoughts on peace and martial arts, have a look at his book The Art of Peace.
Update 8/27/14: Wow, I think I learned a thing or two just from watching these videos. I went to push hands practice last weekend, and found that I had a greater sense of relaxation and peace; my perceptiveness and speed had increased; I was able to acquit myself competently and hold my own joyfully against a couple men who are tournament champions. I received some nice compliments from these normally taciturn martial arts brothers afterwards -- because although I was able to unbalance them repeatedly, I did not unbalance their egos because I was operating peacefully and without contention.
Thanks for reading my post. I'll leave you with the following quote: