Ivan’s Journal - The Voice of Aikido

It is difficult to differentiate between sports, arts, and cultures because all of them are closely related to each other. Culture gave birth to our habits, arts, and sports. They can be our trademark or identity. Every nation has its own original sports, arts, and cultures. They’re the one that makes the country and nation become unique and special. If we talk about cultures, sports, and arts, the results can be endless.

I don’t know if I should call Aikido a sport, an art, or a culture, because it involves all the three elements altogether. Aikido is a sport, an art, and also a culture. Some people even call it “their way of life”. I heard about this great culture when I was still in senior high and had a chance to experience it directly in college. It is a very precious culture originated from Japan.

A friend of mine gave me a book about Aikido. He told me to learn it because it was more suitable for me due to my small body posture and great speed – I was the fastest runner in my class at senior high and also fast with my hands. He was right though, as I joined Karate at that time, got whacked so many times and not being able to defend myself. My opponents were simply more powerful than me.

There’re times when a man had to fight to defend himself or others. All the things that he had learned can mean a difference between life and death. In street fights, you don’t have a second chance. You don’t have time to think and whether you end up standing or lying on the ground is absolutely up to you. There were times when I found myself being in the situation like that, and all I could do was run like hell. My “Sensei” used to tell me to avoid street fights and only defend yourself when it’s really necessary – In Aikido, you call your teacher Sensei.

My sensei once demonstrated how he defeated 4 men all at once, with time less than 10 seconds. All I could say was, “Wow”. I didn’t understand how he managed to grab my hand and suddenly I was on the floor in pain. He only needed one hand to handle attacks from 2 men. Sensei was still young and had a tall and tough body posture. He used to carry a big and heavy wooden sword when practicing. The wooden sword was too heavy for me, but he always lent me whenever I needed to practice myself with a sword.

Aikido is like a wind or waves. It absorbs opponents’ strength and uses it against them. The stronger the opponents the better – The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Timing, precision, and techniques are very crucial in Aikido. No need for excessive strength – In fact, if you have to use your strength to the maximum, then there must be something wrong with your techniques or timing. It moves with your whole body in one rhythm as the rhythm should not be disturbed and must flow with correct timing and precision until the opponent is defeated. If you move too soon, mostly you’ll loose momentum needed to absorb the opponent’s strength. If you move too late, you’ll obviously get your ass kicked.

The most important thing about learning Aikido is you must not memorize the techniques and movements. The correct way to learn is to practice the techniques and movements so that they finally become one with your mind and body. The moment that you practice a technique, you actually are absorbing it and try so that it can be a part of your mind and body. Many people memorize the techniques and try to use them according to the situation. This may help you at the start, but this will not help you to master Aikido.

You cannot forget Aikido – Even if you had amnesia, Aikido will still be in your mind and body. Once you face dangerous situations and become one with your surroundings, your mind and body will automatically tell you when to move, how to move, and what to do. It will tell you how to start and end your combat. So listen carefully… Listen to the “Voice of Aikido”.

I imagine Aikido as a samurai without a sword. An empty-handed samurai is still deadly. I fit myself well in Aikido as I am able to practice and advance real quickly. I say Aikido had a nice-and-quick-less-messy fighting style. Many women joined and felt its usefulness in combat. There’s once a girl who liked to practice with me because we both have the same body postures. Never saw her since then, but I believe she got along just fine.

I was not able to finish my training due to the thesis and graduation. I had to move back to my home far away from my dojo – We used to call our place for training a “Dojo”. I was brokenhearted as I had to leave Aikido. Thanks a lot Sensei… Hope we’ll meet again as I will definitely miss listening to the Voice of Aikido.

Aikido had long stories to tell and great histories to learn. As you advance in your training, you will find that it’s more than just a self-defense or a martial art. As you go deeper to its great history, you’ll find lots of things to learn. Be prepared though as Aikido is one of the most difficult martial arts to master.

Ivan the Freelancer