Progress comes to
Those who train in the
Inner and outer factors.
Do not chase after “secret techniques,”
For everything is right before your eyes!
Learn to sense the
Rhythm of attacking
Thrusts and cuts:
The secrets of training
Lie right on the surface.
Kojo wa
Hiji mo keiko mo
Araba koso
Gokui nozomuna
Mae zo mietari
Oshie niwa
Uchitsuku hyoshi
Satoku kike
Gokui no keiko
Omote narikeri
“Masakatsu Agatsu”
is a saying coined by
O-Sensei. It means
“True (correct) victory is victory over (your) self.”
O-Sensei wrote a number of doka, “poems of the way.” Each of these has a “secret” or “truth” of Aikido hidden in it.
Doka are used by teachers as a method of imparting knowledge to their students. In literary structure, the poems follow a pattern of syllables that is 5-7-5-7-7.
Japanese culture seems to always have two sides to something - the omote and the ura, the front and back, the irimi and the tenkan, the hidden (unrevealed) and the manifest (revealed or seen).
I think it’s that way with these doka. See what you can find in them as regards aikido, its strategy, technique, execution, etc. These are my favorites (perhaps because they are the ones that I can understand on at least one level!).
Seeing me before him
the enemy attacks
but by that time
I am already
standing behind him.
I let the deluded enemy
attack my form
but instantly
I stand behind him
and cut down the foe.
Of what use is it
To fix your gaze on
Your opponent’s sword?
It is his hands that reveal
Where he will cut.
Seeing me before him
the enemy raises his sword
to strike,
but by that time
I already stand behind him.
(Tom’s note: Notice the difference in translation between this and the first doka to the left. Using the word “attacks” or “raises his sword” really changes the way we view the instruction doesn’t it? Do you see the implications?)
As soon as the
Demon Snake
attacks
I am already behind it
guiding (evil) with love.
(Tom’s note: Notice how similar this is to the second doka to the left, and then notice the difference in meaning. I don’t know when each was written, but “cut down the foe” seems to me more aiki budo, and “guiding evil with love” more aikido, showing an evolution of thought, and or purpose in executing a technique.
Tachi furui
Mae ni aru ka to
Osoi kuru
Teki no ushiro ni
Ware wa tachikeri
Oni orochi
Ware ni mukaite
Osoi koba
Ushiro ni tachite
Ai ni michibikeri
These doka are taken from various texts on aikido and O-Sensei authored by John Stevens Sensei. I have picked ones that are personal favorites, and that I feel might help share an understanding of the thoughts and hopes O-Sensei had with his art of harmony.
Click here for more doka.
Favorite Dokas