Aikido – The Martial Art of Peace.
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On Power by Steve Kanney
Let’s look at power for a moment. Power in the animal world may come mainly from physical strength. But as humans, as soon as we emphasized intelligence, physical power became obsolete. In the context of human existance, we will look at two types of power – authentic and temporal. Consider for example Stalin and Mohatma…
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On Money by Steve Kanney
Money is an important aspect of our society that lubricates the wheels of commerce. Looking at the history of barter and the gold standard, fiat currency is clearly better. In this sense money is undeniably a good thing. But our culture revolves around the accumulation of money, so how important should we view it in…
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What Exactly have we Stumbled upon Here? by Steve Kanney
We are all very busy in our lives. We need to earn a living, take care of family, etc. In the midst of our busy lives, we suddenly stumble upon a practice that teaches us viscerally to respond to violence with compassion, and not just on a superficial level. As we have seen in previous…
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The State of the World: The Legal System by Steve Kanney
In this blog we will take an approach that is more casual and looks to relate Aikido principles to our experience in daily life. We will start out observing the state of our world and comparing it to the principles of Aikido noting the differences. Later we will move into more practical individual problems in…
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Section of The Fire Book from Musashi’s “A Book of Five Rings” which describes subsidiary strategies
To Hold Down a Pillow To Hold Down a Pillow means not allowing the enemy’s head to rise. In contests of stategy it is bad to be led about by the enemy. You must always be able to lead the enemy about. Obviously the enemy will also be thinking of doing this, but he cannot forestall…
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Basic Strategies by Steve Kanney
In Aikido, we are taught that O’Sensei utilized two major strategies: Break Maia (or distance) and inviting the attack in order to counter attack. While there are other strategies, these are the two he emphasized for the most part. First we will look at these strategies. In a later article we will consider ancillary strategies. The text we…
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Methods to Remain Calm during Violence by Steve Kanney
This is a very good question as a suggested topic. While it may be possible to write extensively on it, I will give several examples. I recall when I was about 18 years old, and had been practicing aikido for about a year or two, my teacher developed an exercise where he would attack with a wooden…
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ON KI – USAGE IN MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING (2ND ARTICLE IN SERIES) by Steve Kanney
First, let’s look at what ki is: (Note: All quotations with pages given are from Zen and Aikido by Kamata Shimizu) “Aikido is a martial art which aims at the cultivation of ki. The aiki in aikido refers to harmonizing one’s ki or vital energy not only with a partner, but with all living beings…
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On Ki – History of the Term (first in a series of two articles) by Steve Kanney
Ki (or Chi – Chinese) are central to many martial arts. In fact, two martial arts use the term in their name: Aikido and Tai Chi Chuan. The notion of ki will be explored in two articles below, detailing the historical development and usage in martial arts training. Before embarking on these two topics I first wish…
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Takuan’s Unfettered Mind
Takuan Soho, as legend would have it, was friend and teacher to famed Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the greatest swordsman in the history of Japan. As a Zen monk, poet, painter, calligrapher, etc, he lived during a particularly violent period of Japanese history. He therefore confronted war and violence, instructing both shogun and emperor and befriending the likes of…
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