The following is my own understanding of ma-ai or distancing. It is a complex concept and one I’m still coming to grips with, but here are my thoughts.

Ma-ai is one of the most important concepts in any martial art but is often not emphasized in our daily training. Ma-ai although directly meaning ‘interval’ translated very roughly means ‘engagement distance’ or ‘proper distance’. Mastery of distance is essential to make any effective use of Aikido or any martial art for that matter. If you understand distance, you instinctively know how far exactly you need to be to avoid strikes/attacks and how much to move in to deliver a technique effectively. In fact with proper distancing, you can effectively control a ‘fight’ without much fighting at all since you are controlling the pace and the terms of the encounter and engage and disengage on your own terms.

In Aikido, the distance that we learn to maintain is actually “Ittsiko-itto no Maai” or “one step striking distance”. Traditionally this means you are one step away from executing a strike to your partner. However as Aikido is a more defensive and reactive art (at least traditionally), I would prefer it to mean the minimum distance in which you can be safe from an attack from your opponent. There is a difference between the two. If following the concept of Ittsiko-itto no Maai (Itto-Ma), a smaller person might already be in the striking range of his partner despite him maintaining Itto-Ma. This is not an ideal position to defend from whereby you can be hit without being able to reach your opponent.

Proper distancing therefore changes all the time. This can be influenced from a whole bunch of factors including:

1. Physical attributes: Speed, height, size, reaction time. For e.g. If your opponent is very fast and has quick burst speed, you may need to stay further off to give you sufficient time to react. Or if your reaction time is very fast, you can be closer to your opponent since you can react quickly to an incoming strike. Also if the person is very proficient with kicks, the distance also opens up.
2. Angle: For example, if you are behind a person, you can practically be very close to the person and yet be safe from attack. If you are off on the side, you can also be closer.
3. The introduction of weapons: The introduction of weapons changes ma-ai drastically. Even a short weapon like the knife extends ma-ai by several inches especially when the consequences of getting cut are much higher. A longer weapon of course increases the range even further.

Our Tuesday and Saturday classes are now on hold as Jeff has gone back to Canada and the Swinburne students are having their semester break.

We’re also thinking of organizing an end of year makan this Saturday lunch time. Let Desmond or me know if you’re interested and we’ll fill you in on the details.

Seminar Timetable

Light refreshments will be provided but please bring your own water as well!

22 Oct.  

11pm  – 12:30  Warm up by Haji M.Sula
1st Seminar by Atsushi sensei
12:30 – 14:30   Lunch
14:30 – 16:00  2nd Seminar by Shihan J.Yamada
16:30 – 18:00  3rd Seminar by Atsushi Sensei

23 Oct    

09:30 – 11:00  4th Seminar by Shihan
11:00 – 12:00  Demonstration by each Dojos.
Atsushi Sensei
JCKL Dojo by Ladies
Kota Permai Dojo
Fudoshin Dojo
Francis Dojo
Sekishin Dojo
Seishinkan Dojo

The Swinburne Aikido Club is now back in full swing and we have had a very encouraging response.

For Swinburne students who are interested in Aikido, you may contact Eileen: 016 8829707. Transportation from Swinburne to our dojo and back can be arranged.

Practice Times

Our fees are nominal as we are a strictly non-profit school:

Full details can be found on the Swinburne Aikido Blog.

We are pleased to invite all dojos under Academi Aikidojyuku to our seminar jointly hosted by Seishinkan Aikido Dojo and Sekishin Aikido Dojo to commemorate the 40^th year since Aikikai Aikido was introduced to Malaysia by Shihan Jun Yamada.

Details of the seminar are below:

DATE     :               22 October 2011 – 23 October 2011

TIME      :               11 a.m. – 6 p.m. (22nd October); 9 a.m. – 12 a.m. (23rd October)

VENUE  :               Swinburne University Multipurpose Hall

There will be a nominal seminar fee of RM30.00 to cover costs for Seishinkan/Sekishin Members, RM50 for other dojos affiliated with Academy Jyuku.

Light refreshments will be provided for participants. Meals are to be handled individually but there are several eating places nearby the venue so it should be relatively convenient.

Please confirm your participation by contacting Desmond, Reuben or Eileen by the 14th October 2011

In conjunction with the 40th Anniversary, these shirts are available for sale from the Academy Aikidojyuku Malaysia Aikikai and will be brought by Shihan on his visit here. Please let us know as soon as possible if you wish to order.

Shirts

1. T-Shirt without collar RM35 (S, M, L, XL, XXL)
2. Polo Shirts RM40 ( S, M, L, XL, XXL)

Sekishin Dojo is finally visiting us!

We hope everyone can attend.

Venue is our own dojo.

Date and time is on the 24th June 2011, Friday, 7.30 PM – 8:30 PM (or however long you want it to be ). We will still have classes commencing at 7.00 PM if you want to warm up or practice your special techniques to show off to Sekishin (kidding) .

There will be drinks and some food as well so don’t eat too heavy a dinner! Please let us know if you’ll be attending so we can estimate the amount of food and drinks required. Thanks!

We were invited by Kyanime to perform a demo/workshop at the Hills over the weekend.

We didn’t manage to get that many pics but luckily a Japanese blogger took some nice shots!

Thanks to Steve for participating and everyone else who helped out and Kyanime who invited us.

Teaching simple hand grab escapes to a cosplayer

Little girls bullying the Aikidoka

Steve also took this drama mama video slo-mo version of us going through the various pins in Aikido.

Happy Gawai! Just to let you know our schedule for the Gawai Holidays are as follows:

30th May Monday: Classes as per normal
1st June Wednesday: Closed for Gawai Holidays
3rd June Friday: Classes as per normal
4th June Saturday: Closed for Agung’s birthday
5th June Sunday: Classes as per normal

For the next two months we’ll be also shifting our Saturday class to 4pm to 5pm as Swinburne University goes into their semester break.

Atemi are blows to a body and in Aikido are delivered not to maim or destroy the person but with the main aim of breaking his attention or balance to allow you to execute an Aikido technique.

Often in Aikido practice we neglect the atemi or do a half hearted attempt at it merely ‘acting it out’. The views of atemi’s role in Aikido is quite varied. Some feel that atemi is not required in Aikido and proper body movement and timing is all that is needed in Aikido. Others feel that Aikido without atemi is ineffective in a real fight. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between in that atemi is indeed very important but should not be relied on exclusively much as one should not just rely on Aikido ‘techniques’ exclusively without the use of atemi (which can be also considered as Aikido techniques).

It is interesting to note that O-Sensei, the founder of Aikido has often been quoted to say

“My technique is 70 percent atemi (striking) and 30 percent nage (throwing).”

Gozo Shioda, the founder of the Yoshinkan Aikido school repeats this

“The founder, Ueshiba Sensei, said, In a real battle, atemi is seventy percent, technique is thirty percent. The training that we do in the dojo is designed to teach us various sorts of techniques, the correct way to move our body, effective ways of using our power, and how to create a relationship with the other person.”

“Atemi is virtually omitted in Aikido training on the ground that a preliminary blow should not become a matter of predominant concern. However, there are quite a few cases in which the meaning of a technique becomes incomprehensible if the attendant atemi is left out. I suggest therefore that study should be made as to when atemi should be delivered in the execution of a technique and cases of it’s omission.”

My own understanding is that we cannot be over-reliant on atemi as a ‘fix it’ for ineffective techniques but we should make every opportunity to practice it in our daily training. Often the most difficult part of Aikido is not the actual technique itself but the entry, blending and getting uke in an ideal position to carry out the technique.

When learning basics, to simplify matters, we often teach it without the atemi. Basic techniques are on their own ineffective and are merely stepping stones to understanding Aikido movement and techniques. However these basics form the very foundation of your Aikido and should not be neglected! However, once you are familiar with the basic technique, you should try to spot atemi opportunities and make it a habit to apply atemi where possible so that in a real situation it happens without thinking.

George S. Ledyard post an excellent an article on atemi here and I summarize and extract some portions below

He breaks down atemi into three different types:

A Strike as a Technique in Itself:

For example karate, boxing, and striking arts where the strike itself is the technique and causes the damage. This is contrary to Aikido principles since it usually involves serious injury to the opponent and is to be used as a means of last resort.

A Strike as a Means to Facilitate Another Technique

This is very common in Aikido practice where the atemi distracts the opponent and shifts his attention to the atemi rather than the technique in which you are performing. The atemi occupies his ‘mind’.

Some atemi is based out of pain of the strike which according to George, is unreliable to a determined attacker and I have to agree with my experience in boxing. People who are determined to get you expect to get hit a bit and will just ignore it and continue with their attack.

Another atemi merely changes the structure of uke to put you in a position to execute your technique, for example strikes to the back of the thigh to affect a resistant uke’s balance.

The “Not Striking of Striking”

This is perhaps the most interesting use of atemi.

The strike needs to be just fast enough that the attacker can not avoid or block it but is just slow enough that the attacker can respond to it by breaking his posture and taking a fall in order not to be hit. The emphasis on this type of interaction is unique to Aikido. It is actually a valid martial interaction in a type of coded form. An uke trained in the use of strikes as throws will be airborne the instant the strike is perceived.

This can give an onlooker the impression that the attacker is throwing him self. At that point he either decides what he is seeing is bogus and involves the cooperation of both partners or, if mystically inclined, he believes that he is seeing people being thrown energetically, without the need for actual physical contact or force. In fact on one level each of these points of view is true but not for the reasons they would think. The point is that here we are looking at a form of Aikido interaction which doesn’t normally exist outside of the dojo. If one tried to throw an untrained partner without touching him it would merely manifest itself as a strike which hit. The partner would not understand that the agreement exists that I run the strike in just such a way that there is just one “out”, to take the fall.

It is the timing and intention that differentiates the “Not Striking of Striking” and “Strike as a Technique itself”.

Remember that awesome Sho-Dan test you saw the other day? Here is some more from the same ‘lineage‘.

Take a look at the fluidity at which the tachidori techniques are done here. There are visible jujitsu influences here (for e.g. the atemi with a kick) and you can see some interesting counters (kaeshi-waza) which do not form part of the official Aikikai syllabus but I still think it remains very much Aikido.

Take a look at their test requirements here. Time to really step up our training!