IAF - 2024 Summit
Aikido is about the eternal return of the same thing : movement doesn't vary according to circumstances, it obeys a single law, a geometric law that governs the action.
Philippe Voarino studied at the dojo of the Founder of Aikido, in Iwama. Master Saito passed on his method to him, encouraging him to discover, beyond this teaching tool, the true art of O Sensei.
Aikido is about the eternal return of the same thing : movement doesn't vary according to circumstances, it obeys a single law, a geometric law that governs the action.
Is it not on the edge of life and death that the ability to adapt to reality is best judged ?
Tai no sen involves jutai-type practice: union with the dynamics of the opponent's movement, conforming to the flow of his energy (ki no nagare).
It is not the irimi time that causes uke to loose balance, it is the tenkan time. This second time is therefore absolutely essential, as without it a step is missing.
The spirit that made the Iwama dojo such a virtuous place when Morihiro Saito ruled there as a patriarch: a quality of human relationships in which ego has no place, and which is akin to family spirit...
It was a cold January day in 1986 in Iwama, and Master Saito was filling the bottles of sake that would warm up the uchi deshi after training...
The movement of Aikido (tai no henka) perfectly combines two requirements that are unrelated at first sight...