Aikido: Thoughts on Randori
by Nick Lowry Don’t take a step you don’t have to take. Don’t put pressure in your hands unintentionally. Once you do have to step, try to keep at least one foot pointed at your target at all times. Invest … Read More
Thinking Back on Aikido
by Nick Lowry Thinking back to the aikido I learned in the 1980s ….The ukemi and the Walking are mostly identical to what we do today. The 17 was very linear and clunky, but still very strong. Movement and angles … Read More
Aikido: Empty Hand versus Knife
Kyle Sloan Let me start with this: If you play with knives, you’re going to get cut. Period. I seriously doubt there is anyone reading this who hasn’t been cut with a kitchen knife while performing some task of slicing, … Read More
Aikido Koan
by Nick Lowry Simple ink on paper, three figures in a line. Circle. Square. Triangle. Terry Dobson once asked O Sensei to tell him what the circle, square, and triangle meant in aikido.The master told him to figure it out … Read More
Aikido: Thoughts on Multiple Attackers
Kyle Sloan One of the things Aikido is known for is the way it deals with multiple attackers. We see it in Above The Law, Steven Seagal’s debut movie as a star. Here’s a little video of this idea in action: … Read More
Pre-Emptive Aiki: No-Touch Throws
by Nick Lowry Sugino sensei once said that if you are seeing aiki for the first time and you can understand what you are seeing, then you are not seeing aiki. It’s interesting seeing the beautiful variety of “no touch … Read More
What is Rank About?
by Nick Lowry As an institutional device we can say that there is no such thing as rank in an absolute term– institutionally Rank is always based on a relative scale – some systems rank players/practitioners against each other – … Read More
The Price of Knowing
by Nick Lowry Experiment: Read the following aloud A bird in thethe handis worth two inthe bush Almost everyone reads this as “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Almost no one catches the second “the.” … Read More
Are There Any Such Things as Kata in Aikido?
by Nick Lowry Are there any such things as kata in aikido? Of course there are – it’s a silly question, but if you take it that aikido is the invention of M. Ueshiba, then originally, surprisingly No. Nor were … Read More