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Takemusu Aikido Intercontinental

Transmitting an authentic knowledge of Traditional Aikido as founded by Morihei UESHIBA

Kajo #3
So here is the figure we drew with in the previous article:

Now let's begin with the beginning and rigorously apply the very first point of Morihei Ueshiba's
teaching.

In the only book he ever wrote, "Budo", the following fundamental point is the subject of the very
first sentence of the first page of the chapter devoted to selected techniques. This shows how
important this was for him and the amount of care we need when approaching it. He explains:

() adopt the hanmi position with your feet, opened with sixty degrees angle ()

Two lines below, he insists again on that absolute necessity but writes it differently this time:

Each of the two feet must be opened with a sixty degrees angle.

It is clearly specified each of the two feet:

both the front foot and the back foot should be open at a sixty degree angle.
English edition, Kodansha International.

Louis Boileau et Emmanuel Charlot, the French translators who worked on the English edition
haven't seen that nuance. For when they translate:

The front foot and the back foot must absolutely opened with a 60 angle.

... they only repeat O sensei's first sentence, although he had voluntarily added in the second part
of his explanation that important precision.

And indeed, let's put tori's feet according to O sensei's recommendations, ie the right foot with a
60 angle and the left foot also with a 60 angle:

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We notice that if both feet are each in a 60 angle (sector 2 and 1) then they are also between
them in a 60 angle. This is a consequence of the fact that this 60 angle divides the circle in six
equal parts.

Now we have to say that John Stevens, in the English translation, was somehow slightly unfaithful
to the Japanese text.

As a matter of fact, O sensei does not write "adopt the hanmi position", he writes "adopt the roppo
position" as it can be checked on the original text below:

As it happens, the word "roppo" means six directions .

One can clearly see below that tori can use six different directions to leave the opponent's (red
arrow) axis of attack (dotted line).

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Let's not finish this third article without noticing what O sensei writes in the footnote of the picture
illustrating the explanations he just gave on the Aikido position:

When the movement is over, it is essential that your feet remain opened in a 60
degrees angle.

In other words, in less than a dozen lines, O sensei has underlined three times, explained three
times that using that 60 angle from the beginning to the end of the Aikido movement is essential.

Maybe we would be wise to pay attention to what he wants to transmit here with so much
emphasis.

Post war, when Aikido started its international expansion, the word roppo disappeared and was
replaced by hanmi. Let's not draw any conclusion yet but let's keep in a little corner of our memory
that roppo is a word that draws attention to the notions of directions and angles, while hanmi only
indicates a rather imprecise opening of the body. Maybe the clear vision of that lost knowledge will
have some importance on this journey.

Philippe Voarino, march 2012.

Philippe Voarino next seminar: Sunday, 21 April, 2013, Aikido Gasshuku 2013, Antibes, France

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http://www.aikidotakemusu.org/en/articles/kajo-3 14/03/2013