Year of the Rat 1996

(Editorial from Vol 2 # 1 "Hakama" Jan/Feb 1996)

It is easier to say what aikido is not that what it actually is.

Thanks to the lack of precedent for budo (martial ways) in our culture, we virtually have to describe the art in negative terms like non-competitive, non-aggressive, not a sport, and so on. For many people these statements are puzzling and contradictory. How can you have a martial art that is not aggressive? After all, “martial” means “warlike”. And where’s the fun in doing something when you have no chance of winning?

For most of us who practise aikido these questions resolve themselves in the course of our training, whether we can articulate the answers or not. They become insignificant and, on the contrary, it strikes us as rather strange that people should take them so seriously.

This is particularly so when you encounter arguments over which martial art is “the most effective” and international competitions pitting one martial art against another in search of “the ultimate”.

Some people will never be persuaded that a creative and non-competitive approach to life is realistic and will argue that society is based on competition and anyone thinking otherwise would be seriously handicapped in the competitive world, i.e., the rat-race.

I wonder if it occurs to such people to question whether their great competitive society has been an unqualified success, given the number of ongoing wars, the pitiful plight of vast populations and the threat of total annihilation posed by the “ultimate” weapon?

Ueshiba Osensei founded aikido after deeply studying questions like this, rather than searching for the ultimate in “effective” (i.e., destructive) technique.

He had been down that road and found it wanting.

The art Ueshiba passed down to us is the product of profound insight from which he was able to affirm that “aiki is love”. This should be our guide to what aikido is, rather than the narrow focus on its martial techniques alone, much less technical comparisons with other martial arts.

It is easier said than done, no doubt, but by sticking to first principles we can at least see more clearly what aikido is not, and so not have to waste our time on side issues.

There is more to life than the rat-race.