Power Not Strength

I have just finished reading a translation of Miyamoto Musashi’s, Five Rings. Something he mentions often in the book is using power not strength and quickness not speed. While training in the kenjutsu kata on Tuesday night it was becoming more and more apparent that it is easy to say, “Use power not strength, use quickness not speed.” And I can even understand it conceptually but putting into practice is a whole other thing. There is a kata in the second set called Yoko Ate. This translates roughly as Side Strike. The intention of this movement is to deflect an incoming strike with a strike of your own but at the same time clearing a line of entry to counter. I have not been able to perform this kata “with power” ever since I was taught it somewhere near the start of last year. However on Tuesday night I think I cracked it!

Of course I cannot guarantee that I will get it right every time, but at least I have an awareness of what I am supposed to feel when I get it right. You see, my understanding of the phrase “power not strength” means to move from your centre and do not rely of individual muscle groups to do the work. Not only does this generate a lot of power, it is an efficient way to move and you are less likely to have your arms or shoulders tire so easily. I knew I was doing Yoko Ate wrong because I was using my arms so much to whack the incoming strike away, due to the tension generated in my wrists I was often too slow to defend a fast, committed attack and my shoulders were getting tired. The trick is to generate tension in the hara and legs then suddenly release this in a whipping type motion to knock the attack away. I thought I was doing this but then sensei came over and specifically talked me through creating the tension in my lower body and legs. I had an ‘aha’ moment when I released this tension during the technique and it actually worked well.

This idea of generating power in the hara is not a new idea nor is it original to TSYR but it is the first time I have really got it.

Training Resolution Two.

I wish to continue to work on relaxed power in my techniques. I guess this is an ongoing goal of mine and is not new to this year alone. However, 2010 was the year I really started to understand how to use my body completely and not rely on individual muscle groups. This is a continuum, where some techniques I feel like I am driving effortlessly from the ground up while others I catch myself focusing on certain parts and my body falling back on more forceful ways. As an indicator I am watching my uke carefully by looking to disrupt their posture with as little movement or effort from my own. Again, varying degrees of success here.

The trick with this is to try and avoid an uke who is too cooperative, otherwise I am just fooling myself into thinking I'm getting anywhere. I trained with a friend of mine a little while ago BECAUSE he did not practice aikido. He has a background in stick fighting arts. I asked him to grab me in common aikido holds while I performed the techniques. Although I took him off-balance often, the way he responded to that differed from a normal aikido training partner. It was interesting. I also asked how he was taught to attack in his art and tried to neutralize these attacks with the principles taught from aikido. All in all I found the techniques and principles learned in aikido are martially viable and it was reaffirming to see them work outside of a normal aikido dojo context.

So generating power through the center and the ground is foremost on my mind this year (again).