共感する力

Shoichi Yokoi

2012-01-26T21:17:00.000-06:00

Born in 1915 and conscripted in 1941 to serve in Manchuria, before being sent to Guam in 1944
On his return to Japan he expressed embarrassment at having returned alive, rather than dying in the service of the emperor
Japan had changed utterly during his three-decade absence - some found his stoicism and loyalty inspiring, others found it absurd
He married in 1972, within months of his return and died in 1997, aged 82
He longed to meet Emperor Hirohito - in the end he was granted an audience with Emperor Akihito in 1991

Yokoi's long ordeal began in July 1944 when US forces stormed Guam as part of their offensive against the Japanese in the Pacific.

Yokoi's eel trap was one of his prize possessions

The fighting was fierce, casualties were high on both sides, but once the Japanese command was disrupted, soldiers such as Yokoi and others in his platoon were left to fend for themselves.
"From the outset they took enormous care not to be detected, erasing their footprints as they moved through the undergrowth," Hatashin said.
In the early years the Japanese soldiers, soon reduced to a few dozen in number, caught and killed local cattle to feed off.

But fearing detection from US patrols and later from local hunters, they gradually withdrew deeper into the jungle.

There they ate venomous toads, river eels and rats.
Yokoi made a trap from wild reeds for catching eels. He also dug himself an underground shelter, supported by strong bamboo canes.
"He was an extremely resourceful man," Hatashin says.
Keeping himself busy also kept him from thinking too much about his predicament, or his family back home, his nephew said.
Return to Guam Yokoi's own memoirs of his time in hiding reveal his desperation not to give up hope, especially in the last eight years when he was totally alone - his last two surviving companions died in floods in 1964.

Yokoi demonstrating the handmade loom he used in the jungle

Turning his thoughts to his ageing mother back home, he at one point wrote: "It was pointless to cause my heart pain by dwelling on such things."
And of another occasion, when he was desperately sick in the jungle, he wrote: "No! I cannot die here. I cannot expose my corpse to the enemy. I must go back to my hole to die. I have so far managed to survive but all is coming to nothing now."
Two weeks after his discovery in the jungle, Yokoi returned home to Japan to a hero's welcome.
He was besieged by the media, interviewed on radio and television, and was regularly invited to speak at universities and in schools across the country.

Hatashin, who was six when Yokoi married his aunt, said that the former soldier never really settled back into life in modern Japan.

He was unimpressed by the country's rapid post-war economic development and once commented on seeing a new 10,000 yen bank note that the currency had now become "valueless".
According to Hatashin, his uncle grew increasingly nostalgic about the past as he grew older, and before his death in 1997 he went back to Guam on several occasions with his wife.

sniper

2012-01-26T21:08:00.001-06:00

As US forces surged into Iraq in 2003, Chris Kyle was handed a sniper rifle and told to watch as a marine battalion entered an Iraqi town.

A crowd had come out to greet them. Through the scope he saw a woman, with a child close by, approaching his troops. She had a grenade ready to detonate in her hand.

"This was the first time I was going to have to kill someone. I didn't know whether I was going to be able to do it, man, woman or whatever," he says.

"You're running everything through your mind. This is a woman, first of all. Second of all, am I clear to do this, is this right, is it justified? And after I do this, am I going to be fried back home? Are the lawyers going to come after me saying, 'You killed a woman, you're going to prison'?"

It's killing that is very distant but also very personal - I would even say intimate”

But he didn't have much time to debate these questions.

"She made the decision for me, it was either my fellow Americans die or I take her out."

He pulled the trigger.

Kyle remained in Iraq until 2009. According to official Pentagon figures, he killed 160 people, the most career sniper kills in the history of the US military. His own estimate is much higher, at 255 kills.

According to army intelligence, he was christened "The Devil" by Iraqi insurgents, who put a $20,000 (£13,000) bounty on his head.

Married with two children, he has now retired from the military and has published a book in which he claims to have no regrets, referring to the people he killed as "savages".

The US marine sniper course is one of the hardest training courses in the military, with a failure rate of more than 60% and a long list of prerequisites for recruits, including "a high degree of maturity, equanimity and common sense".

Research in Canada has also found that snipers tend to score lower on tests for post-traumatic stress and higher on tests for job satisfaction than the average soldier.

"By and large, they are very healthy, well-adjusted young men," says Peter Bradley at the Royal Military College of Canada, who is studying 150 snipers in Afghanistan. "When you meet them you're taken by how sensible and level-headed they are."

When former Soviet sniper Ilya Abishev fought in Afghanistan in 1988 he was immersed in Soviet propaganda and was convinced what he was doing was right.

Regret came much later. "We believed we were defending the Afghan people," he says. "Now I am not proud, I am ashamed of my behaviour."

For police snipers, who operate within normal society rather than a war zone, doubts, or even trauma, can arise much sooner.

Brian Sain, a sniper and deputy at the sheriff's department in Texas, says many police and army snipers struggle with having killed in such an intimate way.

"It's not something you can tell your wife, it's not something you can tell your pastor," says Mr Sain, a member of Spotter, an American association that supports traumatised snipers. "Only another sniper understands how that feels."

But for the US's deadliest sniper, remorse does not seem to be an issue.

"It is a weird feeling," he admits. "Seeing an actual dead body... knowing that you're the one that caused it now to no longer move."

But that is as far as he goes.

"Every person I killed I strongly believe that they were bad," he says. "When I do go face God there is going to be lots of things I will have to account for but killing any of those people is not one of them."

NO SOSTENGA EL TELEFONO CON LA CABEZA Y EL HOMBRO

2012-01-13T14:20:00.000-06:00

ALERTA MÉDICA: MUCHO CUIDADO, CON ELAPOFISIS ESTILOIDES: ES ALGO QUE TODOS HACEMOS Y ES MUY PELIGROSO

La alerta llega de los consultores médicos del diario británico 'Neurology'.
Está comprobado que es peligroso, y hasta puede ser fatal conversar por el teléfono apoyándolo en el hombro y aguantándolo con la cabeza.

Generalmente hay una tendencia a hacer eso cuando necesitamos anotar lo que el interlocutor está diciendo. El caso relatado por la publicación científica se refiere a un psiquiatra francés que pasó una hora con el teléfono entre la cabeza y el hombro izquierdo. Cuando terminó, sufrió ceguera temporal y sintió dificultad para hablar, a lo que sobrevino un derrame cerebral.

MOTIVO: Un hueso minúsculo, pero puntiagudo, situado debajo de la oreja izquierda y detrás de la mandíbula, rompió los vasos que llevan la sangre hacia el cerebro. Ese rompimiento se produce porque la persona, sin sentirlo, va presionando cada vez más la cabeza sobre el teléfono y también, involuntariamente, va levantando el hombro.

Como es una práctica muy común este comportamiento, principalmente en las oficinas, muchas veces este problema afecta a las personas con intensidad y puede causar problemas por acumulación. Luego no sabemos el por qué ahora sufren las personas, de tantos derrames cerebrales (Accidente Cerebro Vascular=A.C.V.)

Ojo con esto. Avisa a todos sus contactos y EVITA HABLAR POR TELÉFONO SOSTENIÉNDOLO ENTRE LA CABEZA Y EL HOMBRO

Biografía de Gozo Shioda

2011-12-14T05:10:00.000-06:00

Cuando Robert Kennedy visito Japón fue a una demostración privada en el Dojo de Shioda y socarronamente comento que se veía bien el asunto pero dudaba que Shioda pudiera aplicar sus técnicas a sus guardaespaldas. Así que escogieron al más fuerte y grande para hacer un ejercicio de kokyuoho. Shioda lo controlo con extrema facilidad y contundencia y el guardia alego que no había desayunado.

Anderson Silva treina con Steven Seagal

2011-12-11T10:27:00.000-06:00

年賀状

2011-12-06T15:17:00.001-06:00

http://japanese.about.com/library/blhiraculture24.htm

Nengajo are postcards sent as a greeting for the New Year. The Japanese send many nengajo every year. It is similar to Christmas cards in the West, though there is no religious significance for nengajo. The New Year holidays (oshougatsu) are very important to the Japanese. Nengajo are used to express gratitude, or maintain friendships on this special occasion.

Nengajo often use the present year's zodiacal animal (eto) as the design. The animal of the year 2010 is the tigar (tora). The post office stocks nengajo mailed in late December, and delivers them on January 1st all at once. Unlike Christmas cards, nengajo shouldn't arrive before New Year's Day.

Many people use special nengajo with lottery numbers (otoshidama-tsuki nenga hagaki) issued by the Post and Telecommunication Ministry (yuuseishou). On January 15th, the winning numbers are picked and the results are announced the following day on television and in newspapers. The holders of winning numbers receive prizes. The prizes are not money. The first prize in a past lottery was a wide screen TV set, a car navigation system, and a washer/dryer. The second prize was a camera, a radio and a CD player. The third prize was a regional products gift pack, and the fourth prize was a collection of commemorative stamps.

The New Year's card postal system was set up as early as 1899, and otoshidama-tsuki nenga hagaki went on sale in 1949. Today more than 4.1 billion otoshidama-tsuki nenga hagaki are printed every year.

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu. 明けましておめでとうございます｡	Happy New Year.
Shinnen omedetou gozaimasu. 新年おめでとうございます｡
Kinga Shinnen 謹賀新年
Kyouga Shinnen 恭賀新年
Gashou 賀正
Geishun 迎春
Tsutsushinde shinnen no oyorokobi o moushiagemasu. 謹んで新年のお喜びを申し上げます｡

Man's Search for Meaning

2011-12-04T18:17:00.000-06:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man's_Search_for_Meaning

Interview with Dr Viktor Frankl about logotherapy and existencialism

El oficio de la violencia

2011-12-04T09:51:00.000-06:00

El trabajo es condición necesaria para la alegría y la paz;
debemos vivir con alegría y en paz.

Benditos sean los que hacen del terror su labor diaria
el cual ejercen con alegria y entusiasmo
y que la paz los alcanze pronto.

Esteban Cervantes, "El Héroe de México".

2011-12-03T23:18:00.000-06:00

OCURRIDO EL 18 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2009
CD. DE MÈXICO
METRO BALDERAS

Siempre persiguió la justicia, de niño le apodaron El Abuelo y practicó el box. Fue el único que intentó detener al asesino. ´Pudo haberla librado, pero la gente no lo apoyó´, dice su hijo.

Solo los mejores, los que creen en sí mismos, los que aman su patria, son los capaces de sacar su coraje y valentía en una situación así, no son de los que se derrotan, no son de los que se apartan, Esteban Cervantes es de los que ni siquiera dudan, es de los que dan un paso al frente, el primero en en decir "yo voy, ¡ya basta!". Bravo a todos los Esteban Cervantes, que en paz descanses.

They are us, we are them

2011-11-29T19:44:00.001-06:00

Everyday, more and more people become aware of Rachel's work in Palestine and the positivity she left behind. Her parents have tirelessly been working for the last 7 years to bring justice for the shocking and disgraceful behaviour shown by the Israeli and American governments regarding Rachel's death.

I sincerely hope you will help Rachel, her parents and supporters by spreading this video and learning more about her.

Please visit the Rachel Corrie Foundation

A child talks to the world

Severn Cullis-Suzuki is a Canadian environmental activist, speaker, television host and author. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual responsibility.

She graduated from Yale University in 2002 with a B.Sc. in ecology and evolutionary biology.

She is married and lives with her husband and child in Haida Gwaii (off the coast of BC, Canada).

They are us, we are them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie

Soldiers

Homeless

buscando pleito

2011-11-29T10:57:00.001-06:00

queria golpear pero salio golpeado

bad judgment on all sides

2011-11-29T10:25:00.000-06:00

bad judgment

2011-11-28T23:57:00.001-06:00

Walmart in Columbus Ohio. The elder was left in the car. Her family were in the process of moving and had all the silverware and kitchen stuff in the car, she cut herself out of the seatbelt because she didn't know how to unbuckle it.

Cada año, en todo el mundo, se producen 100 millones de toneladas de plásticos

2011-09-16T11:55:00.002-05:00

Cada año, en todo el mundo, se producen 100 millones de toneladas de plásticos. Un 10% termina en el mar. Así es como ha llegado a formarse el llamado trash vortex (vórtice de basura), un área de 700 mil kilómetros cuadrados ubicada entre Estados Unidos y Japón, y que puede llegar a tener, en promedio 334.000 piezas de desechos por kilómetro cuadrado.

Esta masa inmensa de residuos fue descubierta en 1997 por el investigador Charles Moore cuando volvía de una competición a vela de Hawaii. "Cada vez que subía a cubierta para inspeccionar el horizonte, veía una botella de jabón, una tapa de la botella o un trozo de plástico flotando" contó por aquel entonces. "Aquí estaba yo en el medio del océano y no había ningún lugar al que pudiera ir que no tuviera plástico".

Fue él quien dio a conocer al mundo científico sobre los seis kilos de residuos plásticos que podían encontrarse en el Norte del Pacífico por cada kilo de placton, el alimento básico de muchos de los organismos marinos.

La también llamada sopa flotante cubre 800 kilómetros de la costa de California, rodea Hawaii, y llega casi hasta Japón. "Los plásticos absorben contaminantes y liberan químicos que van a parar al pescado que comemos", contó el científico Marcus Eriksen, del centro de investigación marino Algalita.

Esta institución, fundada por Charles Moore, realizó en 2008 un estudio en el que descubrió que de 671 peces que analizaron, el 35% estaban contaminados. Más allá del peligro que eso puede representar para el ser humano, también se han encontrado cadáveres de pájaros que tenían el estómago lleno de tapas de botellas de plástico, cepillos de dientes, restos de jeringuillas, y otros restos no biodegradables.

El problema, a juicio de Moore, es que la mayoría de los productos de plásticos se usan una sola vez, y no existe un buen modo de que vuelvan al consumidor para que sean reciclados, por lo que estos residuos pueden terminar en el mar. Este oceanógrafo ha explicado cómo las corrientes submarinas han provocado que a lo largo de los años se concentren en el norte del Pacífico unas 100 millones de toneladas de basura, o dicho de otro modo, el 2,5% de todos los productos de plástico que se han construido desde 1950.

No deja de ser llamativo que el 20% de los residuos vienen de las mismas embarcaciones marinas que surcan los mares mientras que tres de los países que generan parte de los desechos del norte del Pacífico son México, Australia y China, grandes consumidores y productores de residuos.

Debido a la salinidad de las aguas, la temperatura, y sobre todo la escasez de viento, en el Pacífico Norte se ha creado una zona en la que las corrientes marinas apenas tienen movimiento. Esta área se llama Giro del Pacífico Norte, y es el más grande de los cinco principales que existen en el planeta.

"Los vientos y las corrientes tienden a dirigir a la materia que flota en el agua hacia la zona central de baja energía del remolino", explica Greenpeace. Los trozos de plástico se degradan poco a poco con la luz del sol, se desintegran en minúsculos pedazos, y así terminan en el estómago de aves y de todo tipo de animales marinos. El daño que hacen al ecosistema marino es incalculable, aunque la ONU lanza algunas cifras: cada año, mueren un millón de aves y hasta 100.000 animales marinos por tratar de deglutir residuos plásticos.

Semejante extensión de basura podría ser muy impactante sólo a simple vista, pero el plástico es transparente y la mayor parte de los residuos están justo debajo de la superficie, así que las fotos por satélite no podrían mostrar el horizonte de desechos que cubre el norte del océano Pacífico.

Soluciones, por ahora, no hay ninguna. El impacto medioambiental es extraordinario, y las medidas para revertirlo deberían plantearse a largo plazo para ser sostenibles. Hay, no obstante, algunas iniciativas como la del Proyecto Kaisei, que estudia el detritus de los residuos para evaluar la posibilidad de transformarlos en algún tipo de combustible.

Esta institución, junto con otras organizaciones ecológicas, alertan del perjuicio medioambiental que conlleva la existencia de la isla de la basura, aunque no haya fotos impactantes, y aunque no se perciba desde tierra adentro. Éste es un riesgo real del que no está excluido el ser humano.

Because of you, more people will get the lifesaving food and assistance they need.

2011-09-10T00:24:00.000-05:00

Your donation will make a genuine difference in the lives of people suffering in the Horn of Africa. With the WFP trying to reach 11 million people in the region, your gift is more important than ever!

Because of you, more people will get the lifesaving food and assistance they need.

You can be assured that your gift will immediately be put to good use in the region. I thank you from the bottom of my heart — and on behalf of the people whose lives you are changing.

Please visit our crisis page for more information regarding our ongoing work in the Horn of Africa and help us spread the word on Twitter and Facebook.

On behalf of WFP, I would like to thank you again for your gift.

Sincerely,
Marcela
Manager, Online Community
World Food Programme

If you have questions about your donation at any time, please feel free to contact us atcommunity@wfp.org.

Kindly note that refunds must be requested within 60 days of the original donation date. Please send your donation information and explanation for the request to community@wfp.org

LA COLUMNA VERTEBRAL

2011-09-10T00:22:00.002-05:00

Recibido de María Pina Di Leonardo T.
La columna vertebral está dañada en un 80 % de los adultos. Esa es mi experiencia. La ciencia médica todavía no tiene muy estudiado el asunto y casi todos los problemas derivados de la columna la trata con sintomáticos. Para casi todo utiliza Diclofenaco, infiltraciones o, incluso, la cirugía del túnel carpiano. Incluso la migraña como tal no existe, es solo un problema en las cervicales que se corrige con ejercicio y con dieta.
Hasta ahora a ningún médico de la tierra le ha dado por examinar la curvatura de la columna salvo en casos de lordosis o cifosis. En general todo lo buscan con radiografías o electro conducción y acuden a muchas cirugías innecesarias. Los problemas de columna y los que de allí se derivan ya son epidemia.
Para el humano normal es corriente pensar que los ancianitos arrastren los pies y que se hagan en la ropa. Simplemente les consiguen bastones y pañales y asunto concluido. Así es en todo el mundo. Algunas personas tienen estreñimiento tenaz y es muy frecuente encontrar síndrome de colon irritable, el cual tiene, entre sus componentes, un asunto de columna. Son muy frecuentes las cirugías en este último caso.
En realidad la migraña, la bursitis y los problemas de dolor clasificados como del túnel carpiano no son tales, son en realidad problemas de columna. La ciencia médica los trata por separado cuando en realidad se trata de simples problemas de columna y todos ellos se tratan con simples ejercicios, elementales de hacer.
La columna, en el cuello, tiene 7 vertebras. Le llaman cervicales. Cuando esas vertebras se desalinean producen migraña, bursitis, tendinitis, laringitis, hipo o hipertiroidismo, bronquitis, etc. Todos los órganos externos e internos de la parte superior del tronco, incluyendo la dentadura, quedan afectados. Allí radica uno de los problemas.
Las neuralgias son, casi siempre, causadas por desalineación de la columna, tanto si se dan en la cara, en las extremidades o en la espalda. El problema grave es que muchas enfermedades producen síntomas que la gente enmascara tomando analgésicos. No solo la gente. La ciencia médica hace lo mismo.
En realidad, para los odontólogos, debería haber una materia que les enseñase a hacerle mantenimiento a la columna ya que como su trabajo es de pié entonces les es más vital. Para uno saber cómo está de las cervicales el método es muy simple. No se requieren exámenes de tomografía, ni radiografías, ni de electro conducción. No se necesita ir al fisiatra ni al neurólogo. Yo manejo un criterio que es el de curvatura y es como sigue:
Se acuesta la persona sobre el piso, no en cama ni en camilla. Se mete la mano por el cuello, por el lado derecho. Como a tocarse la oreja izquierda. Si la mano le pasa, en gran medida, tiene problemas de curvatura. Para corregir problemas de curvatura en el cuello se procede así:
La persona se acuesta en el suelo, sobre el piso de madera, la baldosa o la alfombra, boca arriba. Mueve la cabeza como si quisiese tocar los senos. Puede comenzar con unos 10 movimientos o más si resiste. Lo importante es mirar que tanto aguanta sin cansarse. Al comienzo puede sentir molestia en los músculos del cuello o incluso en la cara. Uno empieza con 10 por una semana. A la semana siguiente sube a 15. A la siguiente a 20, etc. Hasta que pueda hacer diario 200 o 300 veces. Como puedes ver toma tiempo.
Cuando uno o una se acueste boca arriba en el piso, no en la cama, y la mano no le quepa por el cuello, está curad@. Así de simple. El suyo es un problema muy simple, aunque muy molesto. Así como un dolor de muela, que no es muy grave, pero si es inaguantable.
Hay otro problema de curvatura y es el de la cintura. Allí están las vertebras lumbares. Cuando hay problemas allí surge lo siguiente: Cansancio para estar de pié, dolor de rodillas, pies fríos o muy calientes, estreñimiento, problemas de esfínteres puede aparecer la ropa interior orinada o untada de materia fecal sin que la persona se percate de ello. Esos y muchos otros son problemas de columna.
Para saber si hay problemas de curvatura en tu cintura te vuelves a colocar boca arriba en el piso, no en la cama, y con la mano derecha la metemos por la cintura a ver si pasa. Si pasa con facilidad toda o en parte, hay líos con la curvatura. La corrección es muy simple, aunque toma tiempo y paciencia.
Compras un ladrillo farol, es decir, de los que tienen huecos y son grandes. Póngale 10x30x15 y lo forras en tela o periódico para que no talle o ensucie la ropa. También sirve un tronco de madera. Boca arriba lo metes debajo de tus nalgas y estiras los pies. 5 minuticos. Luego retiras el ladrillo y permanece boca arriba. Va aumentando la permanencia sobre el ladrillo hasta durar 20 o 30 minutos diarios. Lo puedes hacer en la mañana o en la noche.
Yo a mis pacientes les doy una pomada que fabrico la cual le ayuda mucho con las molestias. El día que te acuestes boca arriba y la mano no te quepa por la cintura estas curad@ y todas tus molestias habrán desparecido.
Debes revisar si tienes arco en el pié ya que no tenerlo desalinea la columna y entonces hay que usar los zapatos con plantillas.
Comparte este material con tus compañeritos aunque pueden armarte controversia porque hay cosas que la ciencia no sabe y los neurólogos y fisiatras te van a pelear. No les pares.

perro que se mantiene cerca de otro que está herido

2011-09-07T19:20:00.001-05:00

http://noticias.prodigy.msn.com/internacional/articulo-uno.aspx?cp-documentid=28038353

En medio del caos que envuelve a Japón, hay espacio para las historias de amor, en esta ocasión fue la especie canina quien dio muestra de la solidaridad, fidelidad y nobleza que distingue a su especie.
Y es que tras el terremoto de nueve grados y posterior tsunami que azotó Japón, un portal de noticias difundió imágenes donde se aprecia a un perro que se mantiene cerca de otro que está herido, con la finalidad de llamar la atención de un grupo de rescatistas.

La cámara muestra al perro inquieto frente a las personas que caminan en medio de la devastación, y los conduce hasta donde hay un perro acostado, pero aún con vida.

De acuerdo a reportes preliminares del mismo sitio, los animales ya fueron rescatados. Ken Sakuri, presidente de una compañía de alimento para animales, aseguró que el perro herido ya es atendido por un veterinario, y el otro se encuentra a salvo en un refugio.

Gandhi’s doctrine of nonviolent civil resistance

2011-09-04T14:58:00.001-05:00

The essence of love is empathy, the ability to put oneself in place of the other. Love requires courage, as Gandhi put it, to go smiling into gun fire. But love should not be an excuse to allow evil, even if we do not have the courage to be slaughter with a smile on the face. We must take action and strike back when we must.

the following is taken from

Resolving the Israel-Palestine Conflict: What we can learn from Gandhi
Tans Lecture, Maastricht University (13 November 2008)

Before sketching Gandhi’s doctrine of nonviolent civil resistance or satyagraha I must enter several caveats. Gandhi’s collected works come to some 90 volumes, each of which runs to 500 pages. Due to time constraints I was able to peruse only 23 of these volumes, as well as a raft of anthologies, biographies and scholarly studies. Accordingly my remarks will be partial in a single and perhaps double sense. They won’t encompass the full scope of his reflections. My reading intentionally focused on the period 1933-1942 when Gandhi’s doctrine was put to the severest tests. It is also arguable that because of this circumscribed reading I will have missed crucial transitions and ruptures in his thought, presenting a snapshot of a mind at work rather than the moving picture. Here, it seems I am on firmer ground, however. Gandhi lived a long, rich life, and one relentlessly subjected to self-scrutiny. Nonetheless he remained remarkably consistent in his bedrock beliefs. He acknowledges local errors and reversals of judgment but there are no “Gods that Failed” recantations or “Second Thoughts” revelations. His one systematic philosophical exposition is a modest, seemingly eccentric volume titled Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule) which he quickly penned in 1909. Rereading this book 30 years later, Gandhi expressed full satisfaction with it.

To be sure, Gandhi’s concrete application of his doctrine appears replete with contradictions. Asserting that “my nonviolence cannot deviate from what is practical,” Gandhi could sanction “calling in the army and having a handful of men shot” to stop inter-communal rioting. The world’s most famous exponent of nonviolence recruited an ambulance corps for the British side in the Boer War and Zulu War, again offered to raise an ambulance corps to serve the British army during World War I, and then recruited Indians to take up arms and fight in the war. Throughout his life he averred that such active wartime partisanship did not contradict his commitment to nonviolence. It must be said that on this point (and many others), the defenses he adduced for his practical activity did not carry conviction. Although trained as a barrister, Gandhi was not a persuasive arguer. Interrogated by a shrewd critic, he seldom had a compelling repartee and more often than not lapsed into mumbo-jumbo, although, humble as he indubitably was, Gandhi seemed always to believe that he had bested his interlocutors. He was also given to render sweeping verdicts on competing philosophies such as socialism although conceding that “I have read no books on the subject.”

Gandhi liked to quote Emerson, “Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Regrettably for the little minds endeavoring to interpret his work, Gandhi was a consistent exponent of this quip. He can maintain that “in any examination of moral conduct, the intention is the chief ingredient,” and simultaneously maintain it is right that “we normally look at the action and not at the intention.” He can deplore as a species of violence “a living wall of pickets in order to prevent the entry of persons into picketed places,” yet at the same time suggest to an Indian correspondent whose seat at the cinema was grabbed by a British soldier to “deliberately so to stand as to obstruct the view of the usurper.” He can state in one breath that even in “the classical instance of the defenseless sister or mother who is threatened with molestation by an evil-minded ruffian,” use of violence would not be permissible, yet in the next breath state that he would “defend” use of violence “against the whole world if I found myself in a corner when I could not save a helpless girl from violation.” He can avow that his “sympathies are wholly with the Allies” during World War II because “this war is resolving itself into one between such democracy as the West has evolved and totalitarianism as it is typified in Hitler,” and that “There is a fundamental difference between Fascism and even this imperialism which I am fighting,” yet simultaneously avow that “Hitlerism and Churchillism are in fact the same thing,” and that “I must fight Nazism and Fascism equally with the enslaving British imperialism.” He can praise the decision of French statesmen not to resist Nazi aggression because “the cause of liberty becomes a mockery if the price to be paid is wholesale destruction of those who are to enjoy liberty,” yet also assert that “no greater evil can befall a country than that it should lose its independence,” and that nations occupied by the Nazis, as well as German Jews, should elect annihilation rather than cooperate with the occupiers.

To his credit it must nonetheless be said that Gandhi never shied away from giving critics of his pronouncements and policy a fair hearing. In conveying an intellectual or political dispute, he did not rig its terms to favor him or create straw men. It should perhaps also be noted in his defense that Gandhi conceived himself “essentially a man of action and a reformer,” a “practical reformer,” and that “no one is able to act upon a great principle, like that of nonviolence, in its entirety.” Logical consistency no doubt figured as a low priority compared to getting things done.

Gandhi’s nonviolent doctrine is not altogether amenable to rational analysis for other reasons as well. He never produced a programmatic or systematic guide on satyagraha. One has to piece together its theory and practice from scattered, often contradictory, confusing and obscure fragments. He indifferently conflated categories and collapsed distinctions. Moreover, Gandhi’s doctrine was steeped in religious faith. “It is faith that sustains me, and it is faith that must sustain the other satyagrahis.” Although eager to recruit satyagrahis for the struggle, Gandhi was emphatic that communists and other nonbelievers need not apply. When he decided to embark on civil disobedience or a fast, it was not after a secular reckoning of the “balance of forces,” but after an “inner urge,” “inner voice,” or “gift from God” prompted him. Gandhi denoted nonviolence a “science,” and conceived satyagraha not as a closed system but ceaseless experimentation in a perpetual and always incomplete search for truth. But his was a science not susceptible to external proof or refutation; its power drew from the “efficacy of the incalculable force of inscrutable divinity.” If it failed to produce the desired outcome, this demonstrated not an inadequacy of the theory but an impurity lurking in the soul of its human agents. He might be right, but it is hard to figure how one could prove him wrong, just as one is rendered impotent before his ex cathedra pronouncements and saccharine homilies such as nonviolence, buoyed by the assistance of God, being the most potent of forces in the world. Gandhi asserted proprietary right over this science as “the author of satyagraha and general in satyagraha action,” the “sole authority on satyagraha” and the “most experienced satyagrahi.” He was uniquely privy to the mysteries of satyagraha; one could not argue with him about it—“I am confident that God has made me the instrument of showing the better way”; one could only march lock step—or elect not to—behind him. Gandhi eschewed all sectarian “isms,” including “Gandhism”—“I love to hear the words: ‘Down with Gandhism.’ An ‘ism’ deserves to be destroyed.” But the not altogether satisfying substitute he offered was a doctrine that often had the feel of autocratic whimsy. He had an (as it were) party line not just on sexual abstinence but on “idle jokes” (opposed), “innocent pleasantries” (perhaps), and reading in the toilet (opposed). He sometimes sounds like Stalin pronouncing on linguistics, although deviationists might be banished from his Ashram but not deported to the Gulag.

It further warrants notice that the better known aspects of Gandhi’s nonviolent doctrine such as civil disobedience and non-cooperation, which I will focus on in this lecture,
were for him the least significant. He situated satyagraha in a matrix of practical, diurnal activities, what he called the “constructive program,” that formed the “foundation for civil disobedience.” Its constituents embraced ridding Hinduism of the “blot” of untouchability, fostering Hindu-Muslim unity, and promoting use on a mass scale of the spinning wheel (tcharka) and handspun cloth (khadi). On this (as it were) material basis, he believed, Indians could forge unbreakable bonds of unbounded love that transcended religious sect and class, thereby rendering political confrontation with Great Britain superfluous; complete independence (purna swaraj) would thence like a ripe fruit drop into India’s lap, and the nonviolent future of India would be safeguarded. “If we learn to love one another, if the gulf between Hindu and Muslim, caste and outcaste, and rich and poor is obliterated,” Gandhi predicted, “a handful of English would not dare to continue their rule over us.”

All of which is to say, Gandhi would almost certainly fault my exercise in today’s lecture for denaturing his doctrine: a rational core of satyagraha cannot be extracted from the religious content coursing through it and the religious renaissance presupposing and ensuing from it. “It is impossible that a thing essentially of the soul,” he intoned, “can be imparted through the intellect.” Nonetheless, speaking as a resolute nonbeliever and rationalist, I am convinced that he has something useful to say on the subject of nonviolent resistance. It will be for you to decide whether I am right.

What is satyagraha?
The “votary” of nonviolent civil resistance, according to Gandhi, “must not be violent in thought, word or deed,” in fact, must be “incapable of feeling or harboring anger.” The animating impulse of Gandhi’s doctrine is not however a negative “non”-principle but the affirmative or “active” principle of “unadulterated love—fellow-feeling,” which in turn springs from “faith in the inherent goodness of human nature,” and the belief that “what holds good in respect of yourself holds good equally in respect of the whole universe. All mankind are alike.” Love, he professed, was the dominant factor in human existence—“Had violence, i.e., hate, ruled us, we should have become extinct long ago” —whereas the apparent omnipresence of violence is an optical illusion— “History is really a record of every interruption of the even working of the force of love or of the soul.” Just as “families and even clans” manage to resolve conflicts nonviolently due to the binding powers of love, so can “humankind” which is “one big family.” Gandhi’s faith in the essential goodness of humankind stretched credulity to its limits. During World War II he wrote a “Dear Friend” letter to Hitler in which he averred not “to believe that you are the monster described by your opponents,” albeit acknowledging that “many of your acts are monstrous and unbecoming of human dignity.”

Because love informs it, satyagraha excludes violence. It also eschews inflicting indirect, non-physical forms of coercion such as fear and “embarrassment.” Rather it should rely exclusively on the “self-purification” that comes of self-suffering—“the more innocent and pure the suffering the more potent it will be in its effect” —to arouse from its slumber the conscience of wrongdoers in order “to convert, not to coerce” them. In another iteration, he invests in the transforming powers not of self-suffering per se but the “upwelling of love and pity towards the wrongdoer.”

Gandhi deplored resort to violence on both personal/moral and political/pragmatic grounds. It corrupts the individual who is degraded to the level of a beast—“That which distinguishes man from all other animals is his capacity to be nonviolent” —but it also corrupts the goal of enlightened political action. However just the cause, because means and ends are ineluctably intertwined—“The means may be likened to a seed, the end to a tree” —the use of violence as a political weapon cannot but bring forth a power configuration in which the “strong and mighty” dominate and the “blind, the halt and the maimed” remain disenfranchised: “violence may destroy one or more bad rulers, but…others will pop up in their places.” Even—or especially—in the face of Axis aggression, the use of armed force was to be opposed because the Allies could inflict a defeat on the Axis only by becoming “stronger than they are, and therefore worse and more ruthless”; “that would mean no deliverance from Nazism,” but “superior Nazism.” Victor will have become vanquished, while “such a victory must mean another preparation for a war more inhuman than the present, as this one had proved more inhuman than the last.” On both practical and theoretical levels, Gandhi’s argument is wanting. While hardly ideal, the Allied states emerging from World War II did not exactly mirror let alone surpass in brutality Nazi Germany. In addition, Gandhi postulates that nonviolent resistance could not produce inferior results to violent resistance: “either the enemy comes to terms with you, then you win without blood; or the enemy annihilates you. This last solution is not worse than what a violent war in any case brings about.” He willfully ignores the real possibility that nonviolence will have failed to stop the Nazis, whereas violence, however costly, will have succeeded short of the Allies’ total annihilation. It is more difficult to counter Gandhi’s assertion that, once having imitated Nazi methods, a cause “cannot be called just” —except to eke out exiguous distinctions between Auschwitz and Hiroshima.

Gandhi did not, however, unqualifiedly repudiate violence. Until and unless he converted others to his beliefs, Gandhi accepted the validity of current norms. Thus, while personally unable to condone it, he did acknowledge the legitimacy of resorting to violence in a righteous cause; “self-defense is everybody’s birthright.” In the face of personal insult, and “if you feel humiliated, you will be justified in slapping the bully in the face or taking whatever action you might deem necessary to vindicate your self-respect.” And although “not defending the Arab excesses” during the 1936-39 Arab Revolt in Palestine, and although “wishing they had chosen the way of nonviolence in resisting what they rightly regarded as an unwarrantable encroachment upon their country,” Gandhi nonetheless maintained that “according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.”

However much he deplored violence, Gandhi did deem it much preferable to inaction in the face of injustice. Should one be incapable of nonviolently resisting an outrage, the only honorable option would be to resist violently, whereas flight would be wholly shameful. For, if there was one thing Gandhi detested more than violence, it was “mute submissiveness” —and what was yet worse, such submissiveness masquerading as nonviolent resistance. He regarded not violence but pusillanimity and effeminateness as the most contemptible of personal failings while he prized the virtues—which a true satyagrahi perforce nurtured—of courage and manliness: “The fundamental thing to be borne in mind is that people should, under no circumstances, be cowardly or impotent”; “it is unmanly to run away from danger.” Gandhi tersely defined the “aim of the satyagraha struggle” he led in South Africa as being “to infuse manliness in cowards.” In a scalding denunciation of ersatz nonviolence, and in a passage that might easily have been cribbed from Nietzsche, Gandhi lectured:

Nonviolence cannot be taught to a person who fears to die and has no power of resistance. A helpless mouse is not nonviolent because he is always eaten by pussy. He would gladly eat the murderess if he could, but he ever tries to flee from her. We do not call him a coward, because he is made by nature to behave no better than he does. But a man who, when faced by danger, behaves like a mouse, is rightly called a coward. He harbors violence and hatred in his heart and would kill his enemy if he could without being hurt himself. He is a stranger to nonviolence. All sermonizing on it will be lost on him. Bravery is foreign to his nature. Before he can understand nonviolence he has to be taught to stand his ground and even suffer death in the attempt to defend himself against the aggressor who bids fair to overwhelm him. To do otherwise would be to confirm his cowardice and take him further away from nonviolence. Whilst I may not actually help anyone to retaliate, I must not let a coward seek shelter behind nonviolence so called. Not knowing the stuff of which nonviolence is made many have honestly believed that running away from danger every time was a virtue compared to offering resistance, especially when it is fraught with danger to one’s life. As a teacher of nonviolence I must, so far as it is possible for me, guard against such an unmanly belief….Self-defense…is the only honorable course where there is unreadiness for self-immolation.

And again, in another Nietzschean flourish:

Hence I ask you, is our nonviolence the nonviolence of the coward, the weak, the helpless, the timid? In that case, it is of no value. A weakling is a born saint. A weak person is obliged to become a saint. But we are soldiers of nonviolence, who, if the occasion demands, will lay down their lives for it. Our nonviolence is not a mere policy of the coward. But I doubt this. I am afraid that the nonviolence we boast of might really be only a policy. It is true that, to some extent, nonviolence works even in the hands of the weak. And, in this manner, this weapon has been useful to us. But, if one makes use of nonviolence in order to disguise one’s weakness…, it makes a coward of one. Such a person is defeated on both fronts. Such a one cannot live like a man and the Devil he surely cannot become. It is a thousand times better that we die trying to acquire the strength of arm[s]. Using physical force with courage is far superior to cowardice. At least we would have attempted to act like men.

Gandhi heaped praise on the “reckless courage” that soldiers displayed in battle and wanted “to learn…the art of throwing away my life for a noble cause” ; on the “example of Sparta,” because “though they were an armed people and also few, they laid down their lives but would not leave their places”; and on the typical “Pathan [Pashtun] boy” because he is “fearless. If there is bloodshed he does not hide himself in his house. He finds pleasure in fighting. He does not stop to think that he might be injured or even killed. He is never afraid of being hurt. I have seen one standing unmoved in the midst of blood gushing from his many wounds.” On the other hand, Gandhi (mistakenly) criticized the German Jews for pretending to nonviolence yet nourishing violent revenge on the Nazis (“There is no nonviolence in their hearts. Their nonviolence, if it may be so called, is of the helpless and the weak”), and the cowardice of his disciples who elected milder to evade severer sanctions (“The nonviolence of the person who went to jail to avoid a worse fate harmed him and disgraced the cause which he used as a shelter to escape death”). But he also freely conceded in poignant detail his own failure to rise to the heroic standard he set.

In addition, Gandhi rejected nonviolence borne of weakness as being politically ineffectual. If the votaries of nonviolence abjure force only from dread of violent retaliation, then the wrongdoer has every right to dread what might ensue should they attain power and acquire its instruments. In order to convince the wrongdoer that one’s nonviolence was not born of weakness, one needed manifest a willingness to forego violence even when no prospect of violent retaliation impended, say, where the votaries of nonviolence outnumbered and outgunned the wrongdoer. The nonviolence of “India as a nation…is that of the weak,” Gandhi lamented. “If she were nonviolent in the consciousness of her strength, Englishmen would lose their role of distrustful conquerors….If we, as Indians, could but for a moment visualize ourselves as a strong people disdaining to strike, we should cease to fear Englishmen whether as soldiers, traders or administrators, and they to distrust us.” And again: “The moment Englishmen feel that although they are in India in a hopeless minority, their lives are protected against harm not because of the matchless weapons of destruction which are at their disposal, but because Indians refuse to take the lives even of those whom they may consider to be utterly in the wrong, that moment will see a transformation in the English nation in its relation to India.” Yet, it would appear that practical realities—think of inmates in a concentration camp—would often preclude such a demonstration of strength. It will also be noticed Gandhi’s naïve premise that the fundamental barrier dividing British and Indians was psychological (“fear”) and not a material clash of interests.

In any event, on both personal/moral and political/pragmatic grounds, Gandhi insisted that true nonviolent resistance had to be yet more brave and strong than violent resistance: only such nonviolence could redeem its votary and convert the wrongdoer. “An army of nonviolence exposes itself to all the risks that an army of violence does,” he declared. “Only the latter expects to retaliate even when it is not the aggressor. An army of nonviolence runs risks without the wish to retaliate”; “I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed with his breast bare before the enemy.” Such an “army” had to accept—indeed embrace—the prospect of mutely subjecting itself to mass slaughter. Into the valley of death it must headlong march, unarmed yet “smilingly” and “cheerfully”; “if we are to train ourselves to receive the bullet wounds or bayonet charges in our bare chests, we must accustom ourselves to standing unmoved in the face of cavalry or baton charges.” “Wherein is courage required,” he rhetorically asked, “in blowing others to pieces from behind a cannon or with a smiling face to approach a cannon and to be blown to pieces? Who is the true warrior—he who keeps death always as a bosom-friend or he who controls the death of others?” “What I shall expect of you,” he lectured the “officers” of his army, “is that even if someone subjects you to the most inhuman tortures, you will joyfully face the ordeal and make the supreme sacrifice with God’s name on your lips and without a trace of fear or anger or thoughts of revenge in your hearts.” And in a macabre peroration, he avowed, “That nation is great which rests its head upon death as its pillow.” It might be said of Gandhi that he created a cult of the dead. “Whilst therefore I tender my sympathy to the parents of the two brave lads who lost their lives,” he said following the murder of these disciples,

my inmost desire is to congratulate them for the finished sacrifices of their sons, if they would accept my congratulations. A warrior’s death is never a matter of sorrow, still less that of a satyagrahi warrior. One of the lessons that a nation yearning for freedom needs to learn is to shed several fears of losing title, wealth, position, fear of imprisonment, of bodily injury and lastly of death.

How satyagraha works

Although he asserted that satyagraha was not just nonviolent but also non-coercive, the means Gandhi deployed in his civil resistance campaigns actually ranged on a continuum alloying coercion and abnegation. At one pole was what he called “non-cooperation” that rendered society ungovernable for political elites and enterprises insolvent for economic elites. Insofar as the satyagrahi faced the loss of a paycheck, punitive sanctions, even internment and death, non-cooperation also entailed varying degrees of self-suffering. At the opposite extreme was a tactic such as fasting which plainly contained a large component of self-suffering but which was also coercive, however vehemently Gandhi might deny this. Occupying the middle ground between these poles were various forms of civil disobedience, which contained equal parts coerciveness (breaking the law) and self-suffering (going to jail, paying fines). In the ensuing remarks I put to one side a very powerful if latent form of violence lurking in all of Gandhi’s activities, which he was fully aware of and which he fully exploited: if the British didn’t acquiesce in his nonviolence, they would have to cope with wholesale violent resistance: “I have claimed in private correspondence with English friends that it is because of my incessant preaching of the gospel of nonviolence and my having successfully demonstrated its practical utility that so far the forces of violence, which are undoubtedly in existence…, have remained under complete control.”

The coercive potency of non-cooperation such as a general strike for getting the lords of the land to see the light requires little elucidation. Gandhi stressed that even non-cooperation “must have its roots in love. Its object should not be to punish the opponent or to inflict injury upon him….we must make him feel that in us he has a friend and we should try to reach his heart.” And again: “We do want to paralyze the Government considered as a system—not, however, by intimidation, but by the irresistible pressure of our innocence.” He did allow that as a “practical” matter even if non-cooperation sprang from the “nonviolence of the weak”—i.e., not from love but from fear of violent retribution—it could still be efficacious “if a sufficient number of people practice it.” But Gandhi adamantly refused to concede that, however much “love” and “innocence” might assuage the abrasiveness of a conflict, it remains that the operative factor at play in non-cooperation is coercive.

The focus of Gandhi’s creed, however, was the transformative power of pristine self-suffering, and here yet more problems arise. He believed that such suffering would put on public display the “human dignity” of the victim and thereby “quicken the conscience,” strike a “sympathetic chord,” and “evoke by his truth and love expressed through his suffering” the “inherent goodness of human nature”; “the world is touched by sacrifice,” “it can tame the wildest beast, certainly the wildest man.” The satyagrahi will then be well-placed to “mobilize public opinion against the evil which he is out to eradicate, by means of a wide and intensive agitation”; “success is the certain result of suffering of the extremist character, voluntarily undergone.”

It is not clear however why suffering in and of itself—or, for that matter, allied with “love”—would convert the alleged wrongdoer. Were the “pro-life” half of the American population to engage in civil disobedience or even a fast unto the death, the “pro-choice” half would hardly be converted by such a spectacle. For, it is not suffering alone that touches but suffering in the pursuit of a legitimate goal. The recognition of the legitimacy of such a goal presumes however a preexisting consensus according to which what the victim seeks he justly deserves. Gandhi accordingly referred to the victim’s “innocence.” It is innocence in a double sense: of means—the victim’s suffering results from unilateral violence inflicted by others—and of ends—the victim seeks a right that cannot in good conscience be denied because it jibes with the “normal moral sense of the world”; the more incontrovertible the ends, the more self-suffering as a means will resonate with “enlightened public opinion.” In this light it is to be doubted the efficacy of self-suffering before wrongdoers who are convinced, either due to an inimical interest or inimical ideology or—what’s often the case—both, that the demands of the victim lack justice. Gandhi himself acknowledges that his adversary might be as convinced in the rightness of his opinions as Gandhi is of his own (“I realize what may appear to me prejudice may be enlightenment to others”); that he must be open to the possibility that his interlocutor might be right and he wrong (“The royal road of nonviolence consists of…willingness to understand another’s point of view with an unprejudiced mind”); and that in any event a sincerely-held opinion cannot easily be dislodged (“It is difficult to combat an honest belief, however erroneous it may be”). But then why should one suppose that the alleged wrongdoer will be converted by the suffering of those in pursuit of an admittedly doubtful goal? On its own, self-suffering might induce some degree of pity but it surely won’t induce fundamental concessions. Gandhi makes the commendable point that if the goal turns out to be mistaken, one’s suffering will have done no harm to the alleged wrongdoer: “He does not make others suffer for his mistakes.” But it does not alter the fact that hardened self-interest or ideology will almost certainly stifle the voice, inner or outer, of justice. The point I want to make here finds vivid illustration in this passage from Gandhi: “Our triumph consists in thousands being led to the prisons like lambs to the slaughter-house. If the lambs of the world had been willingly led, they would have long ago saved themselves from the butcher’s knife. Our triumph consists again in being imprisoned for no wrong whatsoever. The greater our innocence, the greater our strength and the swifter our victory.” If the injustice is morally assimilable, then innocence can, and likely will, prick the conscience. But did millions of innocent Jews being led to the crematoria “like lambs to the slaughter-house” prick the Nazi conscience? It might be said that they did not go voluntarily—theirs was “nonviolence of the weak” (under the circumstances how could it be otherwise?)—but if the Nazis could morally rationalize the extermination of one million Jewish children—whose innocence of means and ends could be purer?—it is probable that they would also have rationalized self-immolation.

I will now illustrate these propositions on consensus, interest and ideology with Gandhi’s key political interventions during the period I have concentrated on for this lecture:

Discrimination and immorality. Gandhi expressly launched his satyagraha campaigns for social reform in the knowledge that a majority—however latent—supported his agenda. The point of the campaign was not to create ex nihilo a constituency, but through self-suffering to “quicken the conscience” of an already existent broad consensus, “cultivating and ascertaining the opinion” of this natural constituency, and thereby bringing to bear the “force of public opinion.” Thus, in undertaking to remove the “blot” of untouchability by opening the doors of Hindu temples to the Harijans (“children of God”), Gandhi presumed that a majority of Hindus supported such a reform but needed the stimulus of satyagraha—fasting, picketing, prayers—to act finally on their consciences: “The whole idea of my fast is based on the belief that a large section of the people favor temple-entry, but they do not voice it.” (To be sure, the campaign against untouchability turned brutal and bloody, Gandhi meanwhile declaring, “Loss even of a few hundred lives will not be too great a price to pay for the freedom of the ‘untouchables.’ Only the martyrs must die clean.”) Likewise, in his campaign to rid India of the scourge of alcoholic consumption, Gandhi banked on the belief that “public opinion” could be consolidated around such a reform. When challenged why he did not also wage campaigns to rid India of other morally debasing indulgences such as gambling and the cinema, Gandhi candidly responded, “The drink evil has been recognized as such by the people of this land. But the other evils are more or less fashionable.” And again: “These vices were fashionable and therefore were not capable of being dealt with like prohibition. I claim to be a practical reformer. I know almost instinctively what vices are ripe for being publicly dealt with.” Put otherwise, absent a prior consensus no amount of self-suffering would move public opinion to do the right thing. Gandhi did also profess that self-suffering would “finally break the wall of prejudice” of those violently opposed to his social reforms—“the hardest heart and the grossest ignorance,” “the stoniest heart of the stoniest fanatic” —and “melt the hearts” of those profiting from vice. Yet, the thrust of his campaigns was clearly to energize a latently sympathetic public via self-suffering, and utilize this “force of public opprobrium” in order to democratically overrule or socially isolate or force the capitulation of or reach a principled compromise with the diehards.

Economic inequality. Gandhi cast himself as the voice of India’s impoverished “dumb millions”: “I unhesitatingly say that I am a people’s man. Every moment of my life I feel for the starving millions. I live and am prepared to lay down my life to relieve their sufferings and mitigate their miseries.” He conceived swaraj as not just political independence (“mere transfer of power”), but “complete deliverance of the toiling yet starving millions from the dreadful evil of economic serfdom” and “independence of the poorest and the lowliest in the land”; “unless poverty and unemployment are wiped out from India, I would not agree that we have attained freedom.” He also adopted a stringent, austere code of what constituted just deserts in a well-ordered society: “A thing not originally stolen must nevertheless be classified as stolen property if we possess it without needing it”; “each man shall have the wherewithal to supply all his natural needs and no more”; “all amassing or hoarding of wealth, above and beyond one’s legitimate requirements, was theft.” Eliminating “the cruel inequality that obtains today” constituted a prerequisite for eliminating societal violence: “A nonviolent system of government is clearly an impossibility so long as the wide gulf between the rich and the hungry millions persists.”

However, as against the demand of Indian socialists and communists to expropriate large property-holders and nationalize the means of production, Gandhi championed the “theory of trusteeship,” according to which large property holders would be persuaded through nonviolent civil resistance to use their “excess” wealth for the betterment of society; “I do not believe that the capitalists and landlords are all exploiters by an inherent necessity or that there is a basic or irreconcilable antagonism between their interests and those of the masses.” I will not here argue the merits of Gandhi’s alternative, but rather the practicability of the means he proposes for realizing it. Occasionally Gandhi invests in the power of the laborers’ self-abnegation to convert property-owners from ruthless exploiters to enlightened guardians. The property-owners will come to realize after “kind” gestures that they should not “squander [their] gains in luxurious or extravagant living, but must use them” for the poor: “If we treat these rich people with decency, they would fulfill the expectations we have of them”; “If we win their confidence and put them at their ease we will find that they are not averse to progressively sharing their riches with the masses”; “We should struggle against them in the same way and for the same reason, as lovingly and reluctantly and with as much respect and politeness as we do against our blood-relations.” Moreover, he makes out that the irrational “fear and distrust” of the rich are the sole barriers to reconciliation with the poor. But when pressed hard Gandhi conceded that no precedent exists for his trusteeship proposal and that it was based on a giant leap of faith. Indeed, aren’t capitalists convinced—and, for all anyone knows, rightly—that the system is fair, rewarding the enterprising few and penalizing the slothful many? However, Gandhi also instructs workers to organize and mobilize—that is, to realize their latent power—in order to get property-owners to equitably distribute their ill-gotten gains: “What is necessary is that laborers or workers should know their rights and should also know how to assert them”; “When the workers are better organized and more self-sacrificing, their power would grow. You are not conscious of your strength and therefore you are oppressed”; “As soon as laborers are properly educated and organized and they realize their strength, no amount of capital can subdue them. Organized and enlightened labor can dictate its own terms.” If the “rich” cannot be persuaded “to become guardians of the poor in the true sense of the term and the latter are more and more crushed and die of hunger,” then Gandhi advocated “nonviolent non-cooperation and civil disobedience as the right and infallible means”: “The rich cannot accumulate wealth without the cooperation of the poor in society.” What Gandhi refused to acknowledge, however, is that although he abjured “so-called class-conflict,” counseling instead that “landlords and capitalists” be “persuaded and converted,” his practical prescription ultimately relied not on the beneficence of self-suffering but on the coercion of raw (if nonviolent) power.

Aggression and occupation. In order to combat Axis aggression during World War II Gandhi advised conquered nations to lay down their arms and simply refuse to cooperate with the occupiers. Once the Axis powers realized that they could not make profitable use of the annexed territories without the enslaved population’s acquiescence they would withdraw: in the face of “quiet, dignified and nonviolent defiance,” the “tyrant will not find it worth his while to go on with his terrorism,” and “he would certainly have been obliged to retire.” Here was a tactic that made ultimate appeal not to the consciences or hearts of the occupiers but their balance-sheets, i.e., rational self-interest. Where achievement of Axis goals required not the cooperation but removal of the occupied populations, or their outright extermination, Gandhi alternatively professed that self-suffering could “melt” even Hitler’s heart, because “human nature in its essence is one and therefore unfailingly responds to the advances of love.” Yet, if Hitler was genuinely persuaded of the necessity of lebensraum and the lethal iniquity of the Jews, why should suffering allied to love convert him? Gandhi himself was apparently less than fully convinced of the efficacy of his tactic—at any rate in the here and now—for he also counseled Jews to go if need be mutely to their deaths, and believed that such a dignified demise would be their ultimate salvation: “If the Jewish mind could be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre [of Jews by Hitler]…could be turned into a day of thanksgiving and joy that Jehovah had wrought deliverance of the race even at the hands of the tyrant. For the God-fearing, death has no terror. It is a joyful sleep to be followed by a waking that would be all the more refreshing for the long sleep.” Perhaps so, but if the goal was to melt Hitler’s heart in the promise of earthly deliverance, then self-suffering must be reckoned a colossal failure. Of course, it might be argued that whatever recourse European Jewry made its fate was sealed while nonviolent resistance would have been most redemptive. But that is a matter apart from whether self-suffering is a viable tactic against ideological fanatics.

In this context it merits recalling that Gandhi’s nemesis in the epic struggle for Indian independence, Winston Churchill, was hardly persuaded by Indian suffering to dismantle the British Empire. Between interest-cum-ideology on the one side, and the suffering of the Indian masses on the other, the former proved decisive. “The English Ministers are pursuing what they believe to be an honest policy,” Gandhi acknowledged. “It is their honest belief that British rule in India has been, on the whole, for her good. They honestly believe that under it India has advanced.” Should it then surprise that—contrary to Gandhi’s expectations—the self-suffering of Indians manifestly failed to touch British imperialists or that it failed to get “British commerce with India…purified of greed” and put on “terms of mutual help and…equally suited to both”? To be sure, although Gandhi spoke of wanting to “convert the administrators of the system,” he nonetheless qualified, “the conversion may or may not be willing.” And again: “to convert them or, if you will, even to drive them out of the country.” In fact, he conceived the struggle against British imperialism in terms of making India ungovernable through a combination of nonviolence, which neutralized British bayonets by rendering use of them an embarrassment, and non-cooperation, which nullified British authority by flouting it: “Whether we convert them or not, we are determined to make their rule impossible by nonviolent non-cooperation”; “If, notwithstanding their desire to the contrary, they saw that their guns and everything they had created for the consolidation of their authority were useless because of our non-use of them, they could not do otherwise than bow to the inevitable and either retire from the scene, or remain on our terms, i.e., as friends to co-operate with us, not as rulers to impose their will upon us.” However much he professed otherwise, Gandhi did not endeavor to “quicken the conscience” of British imperialists but rather to coerce them, albeit nonviolently, into submission through “force of will.” But it is also true that he held out the hope of the “conversion” of the British “nation”—i.e., “public opinion”—through self-suffering: “I have deliberately used the word conversion. For my ambition is no less than to convert the British people through nonviolence, and thus make them see the wrong they have done to India” (emphasis in original). The imperialists might have to be driven out, but the conscience of the people might yet be pricked. Indeed, British public opinion could serve as a critical weapon for coercing dyed-in-the-wool British imperialists to leave India.

III. What can supporters of a just peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict learn from Gandhi?

Before answering this question, a few preliminary remarks are in order. Neither I nor anyone else has the right to tell Palestinians that they must renounce violent means to end the occupation. As already noted, during the Arab Revolt in the 1930s Gandhi asserted that “according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.” I cannot see grounds for revising this judgment, except to note that the “accepted canons” today would mean the current laws of war (e.g., the inadmissibility of targeting civilians). In fact, if they cannot find the moral reserves to practice nonviolence, according to Gandhi, then it is not only the right but the duty of Palestinians to hit back, and hit back hard, those who have wrecked their lives and violated their persons. Palestinians are not obliged to acquiesce in assaults on their human dignity; quite the contrary, they have a responsibility to defend their dignity against such assaults, nonviolently if they can, violently if they must. It might also be recalled that for Gandhi “no greater evil can befall a country than that it should lose its independence.” If I propose that Palestinians adopt Gandhi’s doctrine of nonviolent civil resistance, it is not because they should be held—or hold themselves—accountable to a higher ethical standard, but rather because of a compelling pragmatic insight of his. There is nothing violence can accomplish, Gandhi maintained, that nonviolence cannot accomplish—and with lesser loss of life. As a general proposition, it is obviously impossible to prove. Could the Allies have defeated Hitler had they resorted to nonviolent civil resistance, and with fewer than 60 million dead? We will never know. On the other hand, Palestinians suffered some 5,000 dead (1,000 minors) during the second intifada, and the Israelis 1,000 dead (160 minors). Apart from the dubious blessing of Israel’s redeployment in Gaza, Palestinians have little to show for the violent resistance; indeed, nearly all the reckonings after eight years of bloodletting fall squarely in the debit column. It is at least arguable that the balance-sheet would have been better had Palestinians en masse adopted nonviolent civil resistance.

But didn’t Palestinians embrace this strategy during the first intifada, and didn’t it fail? True, the first intifada was overwhelmingly nonviolent, although Israel hardly responded in kind. However, it is fundamentally mistaken to reckon the uprising a failure. The surpassing courage, integrity, humanity, solidarity and sheer cleverness of the Palestinian people during those years—which I had the unforgettable honor of personally witnessing—threw the Israeli occupation army into professional, morale and moral disarray from which it has never fully recovered, while Israel’s brutal methods of repression caused it to suffer a public relations disaster of the first magnitude. If the Palestinian leadership under Yasir Arafat had not subverted the first intifada, stifling its élan and subordinating it to a dead-end diplomatic game, the outcome might have been different. As it was, Israel entered into negotiations with the PLO and subsequently signed the Oslo Accord because the intifada had rendered the occupation untenable except through the conscription of Palestinian collaborators.

We have already seen that a crucial prerequisite for the successful prosecution of nonviolent resistance is a preexisting public consensus on the legitimacy of its goals. We have also seen that such a consensus has crystallized in the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The international community has enjoined Israel’s full withdrawal from the territories it occupied in June 1967 and a resolution of the refugee question based on the right of return and compensation. The challenge now—in Gandhi’s words—is to “cultivate” and “quicken” the conscience of this public. In practical terms, Palestinians in the Occupied Territories would have to rivet international public opinion on the brutality of the occupation by resorting to nonviolent civil resistance; in the meantime their supporters abroad must publicize the factual record showing that international opinion—whether registered in its most representative bodies such as the United Nations General Assembly, or its most enlightened bodies such as the International Court of Justice and respected human rights organizations—agrees on how to resolve the conflict, and that the only obstacles to its settlement are Israel and the United States.

It must be said here that significant lessons can be learned from the history of Zionism. The Zionist movement made sure that each of the documents that conferred—or appeared to confer—international legitimacy became a veritable household reference. Its leaders grasped how critical such legitimacy was in winning over public opinion and thereby achieving their goal. Were it not for the concerted and sustained campaign of Zionist publicists, it is inconceivable that a one-sentence declaration uttered 90 years ago by a nondescript British foreign minister named Arthur Balfour, or a United Nations General Assembly resolution passed 60 years ago recommending the partition of Palestine, would still command near-universal recognition. Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban famously said of the Partition Resolution that it was Israel’s “birth certificate.” He did not exaggerate. It ascertained that the State of Israel was not a bastard child of the international system but rather its legitimate and—at any rate, morally—irrevocable offspring. It might also be noticed that the Zionist movement never rested on its laurels. Just as it required discipline and organization to extract each of its certificates of legitimacy, so it also required tenacity to preserve these gains. Neither the Balfour Declaration nor the Partition Resolution came easy, and renewed battles ensued after both victories against powerful forces that wanted to rescind them. The contrast with the Palestinian independence struggle could not be starker. Each year the United Nations General Assembly issues the Palestinian people yet another birth certificate. The General Assembly is far more representative of humankind today than it was in 1947, and the vote favoring a Palestinian state is consistently lopsided whereas the Partition Resolution just barely passed. In addition, on nearly all the critical issues—borders, East Jerusalem, settlements—the Palestinians won a resounding victory and Israel suffered a resounding defeat in the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. Considered as a certificate of legitimacy the near-unanimous ICJ opinion manifestly carried far greater weight than the unilateral declaration of a British government. Yet—and herein lies the great tragedy—how many people even know of the annual General Assembly votes and the ICJ opinion? These landmark victories, achieved largely due to the inhuman suffering and superhuman steadfastness of the Palestinian people, have been criminally squandered one after another.

A massive mobilization of Palestinians building on the non-cooperation tactics of the first intifada (commercial and tax strikes, popular committees) could again make the Israeli occupation ungovernable. Is it so far-fetched to imagine an “army” of Palestinian satyagrahis converging on the Wall, their sole “weapons” a pick in one hand and a copy of the ICJ opinion in the other? The ICJ stated that the Wall was illegal and must be dismantled. The Palestinians would only be doing what the world should already have done a long time ago. Who could fault them for enforcing the law? No doubt Israel would fire on Palestinians and many would be killed. But if their supporters in North America and Europe publicized the ICJ opinion, and if Palestinians found the inner wherewithal to persevere nonviolently, it seems probable that far, far fewer than 5,000 Palestinians would be killed before Israel were forced to desist. No one writing abroad from the comfort and safety of his study can in good conscience urge such a strategy that entails so much death. But Gandhi’s point nonetheless stands: if Palestinians have repeatedly shown a willingness to pay the ultimate price, doesn’t it make sense for them to pursue a strategy that has a better likelihood of success at a smaller human price?

A high profile publicity campaign in the West complementing nonviolent Palestinian civil resistance in the Occupied Territories would enhance the prospects of its success. If the campaign targeted Israeli intransigence as the sole obstacle to a settlement, it would pave the way for making of Israel a pariah state, and then the implementation of sanctions against it. The tenability of such a sanctions campaign depends, however, on international public opinion being first (or simultaneously) primed with knowledge of both the consensus for resolving the conflict and Israel’s refusal to abide it. Such a campaign also cannot possibly succeed if Palestinian goals do not command international legitimacy, such as the occasional calls for eliminating the “Zionist entity” and embracing a “one-state” solution, which enjoy exactly zero international support. Again, innocence of means does not suffice; innocence of ends is also requisite. One might want to counter that the consensus is not the solution but part of the problem, and must be changed. Perhaps so, but then Palestinians suffering under occupation should be informed that they will have to endure it for many more generations to come. For, it is no small task to reconfigure enlightened public opinion where legitimacy is largely built on precedent. Every call for a Palestinian state (including the 1988 Palestinian declaration of independence) has referred back to the unfinished business of the Partition Resolution. Where is the legal or moral precedent for dismantling the “Zionist entity”—the birth certificate of which was signed by the United Nations—or a “one-state” solution—which the Partition Resolution superseded? It required 70 years of Zionist colonization and organizational will, the Balfour Declaration, the League of Nations mandate, the Nazi holocaust, and the decline of the British Empire to create a global mandate for the Partition Resolution. It would take a comparable summoning of human and material resources, and fortuitous constellation and alignment of historical circumstances, to undo it.

A nonviolent civil disobedience campaign in the Occupied Territories garnering visible international support will almost certainly open up fissures in Israeli society. To be sure, the Palestinians will perforce be practicing a “nonviolence of the weak.” If they (again) resort to nonviolence, it will not be because they “love” their Israeli oppressors, but because violent resistance failed. It must be conceded that herein lies a drawback of Palestinian nonviolence. For, Israelis will not be convinced that Palestinians, once acquiring the machinery of a state and the accouterments of power, won’t use them against Israel. From the outset they will know that Palestinian nonviolence is not an axiom but—to quote Gandhi—“mere policy.” Nonetheless, Gandhi acknowledged that, although Indians themselves had practiced a “nonviolence of the weak,” the tactic was still able to produce positive (if somewhat limited) results. Those sectors of Israeli society cultivating a liberal self-image will perforce be shamed by the “force of public opprobrium” in the West. Many other Israelis will simply calculate on grounds of self-interest: if anarchy reigns in the Occupied Territories, if the occupation army gets bogged down in an intractable war of nerves with peaceful demonstrators, if, like South Africa and South Africans during the Apartheid era, Israel and Israelis are reviled abroad, then the occupation is no longer worth the price. No doubt the diehards in Israeli society won’t budge. The self-suffering of Palestinians will no more “melt” the hearts of the ideological settlers and the generals than the self-suffering of Indians melted Churchill’s heart or the self-suffering of Jews would have melted Hitler’s heart. But a critical mass favoring a full Israeli withdrawal presumably would bring forth an Israeli leader ready and able to pull out, just as in France during the Algerian war.

Gandhi translated satyagraha as “hold on to the truth.” Herewith is our challenge: to hold on to the truth that what Israel has done to the Palestinians is wrong; to hold on to the truth that Israel’s refusal, backed by the U.S., to respect international law and the considered opinion of humankind is the sole obstacle to putting an end, finally, to their suffering. We can win if we hold on to the truth, and if, as the Negro spiritual put it with cognate wisdom, we “keep our eyes on the prize, and hold on.” That is, if we keep remembering what the struggle—the prize—is all about: not theoretical fad or intellectual provocation, not holier-than-thou radical posturing, but—however humdrum, however prosaic, by comparison—freeing the Palestinian people from their bondage. And then to hold on, to be ready for sacrifice and for the long haul—do I dare mention the example of Hezbollah’s heroic resistance?—but also, and especially, to be humble in the knowledge that for those of us living in North America and Europe, the burdens pale next to those borne daily by the people of Palestine. Whenever I harbor doubts about holding on, whenever I contemplate moving on in life, I see in my mind’s eye a dear friend and comrade who lives in Hebron where he is the field representative for an Israeli-based human rights organization, and hear his words in my head. My friend Musa, who grew up in a refugee camp, told me once, “The past 38 years should have been the best in my life. But I honestly cannot remember a single happy day.” To forsake those trapped in abject distress would be yet more wrong. Where was the world during the Nazi holocaust?, we still ask. Where is the world now? Has the Palestinian struggle gone on too long? Has it become boring and passé? Has the time come to move on? But the Palestinian people continue to be ground under, the merciless Israeli juggernaut keeps pressing on, confiscating yet more land, demolishing yet more homes, destroying yet more lives. The time now is not to move on—but to hold on!

The Caribbean poet Aimé Césaire once wrote, “There’s room for everyone at the rendezvous of victory.” Late in life, when his political horizons broadened out, Edward Said would often quote this line. We should make it our credo as well. We want to nurture a movement, not hatch a cult. The victory to which we aspire is inclusive, not exclusive; it is not at anyone’s expense. It is to be victorious without vanquishing. No one is a loser, and we all are gainers if together we stand by truth and justice. “I am not anti-English; I am not anti-British; I am not anti-any government,” Gandhi insisted, “but I am anti-untruth—anti-humbug, and anti-injustice.” Shouldn’t we also say that we are not anti-Jewish, anti-Israel or, for that matter, anti-Zionist? The prize on which our eyes should be riveted is human rights, human dignity, human equality. What, really, is the point of ideological litmus tests such as, Are you now or have you ever been a Zionist? Indeed, it is Israel’s apologists who thrive on and cling to them, bogging down interlocutors in distracting and endless intellectual sideshows—What is a Jew? Are the Jews a nation? Don’t Jews have a right to national liberation? Shouldn’t we use a vocabulary that registers and resonates with the public conscience and the Jewish conscience, winning over the decent many while isolating the diehard few? Shouldn’t we instead be asking, Are you for or against ethnic cleansing, for or against torture, for or against house demolitions, for or against Jews-only roads and Jews-only settlements, for or against discriminatory laws? And if the answer comes, against, against and against, shouldn’t we then say, Keep your ideology, whatever it might be—there’s room for everyone at the rendezvous of victory?

May we all, seekers of truth, fighters for justice, yet live to join the people of Palestine at the rendezvous of victory.

Thank you.

Norman G. Finkelstein
New York City
November 2008

Nutrition for Eyesight

2011-09-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

"Eat your carrots" is good advice for your eyes. Carrots are loaded with beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A and forms a purple pigment in the retina of the eye called rhodopsin, which is needed by the eye in order to see in dim light. If you don't get enough vitamin A or beta-carotene, your body cannot produce an adequate amount of rhodopsin. For this reason, many people end up with night blindness. The lack of beta-carotene is also attributed to macular degeneration.
Plants and vegetables that are bright and colorful are often loaded with beta-carotene. Carrots, pumpkin, dark leafy green and sweet potatoes are all excellent sources.
Lutein, a compound found in eye tissue, also aids in preventing macular degeneration. Sources of lutein include spinach, corn and leafy green vegetables. It is also available in over-the-counter supplements.
Since free radicals can cause eye damage, eating foods that are rich in antioxidants only stands to reason. Eggs, onions, avocados and asparagus all contain an antioxidant called glutathione, which attacks free radicals and aids in cataract prevention.
Other antioxidants that protect against free radicals are vitamin C and vitamin E. Found in fresh fruits and vegetables, vitamin C also protects against cataracts and clouding of the eyes. Foods with the highest vitamin C concentrations per serving are spinach, peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts and citrus fruits. Vitamin E is difficult to obtain through diet only, but it is available in wheat germ, kale, sweet potatoes, avocados, almonds and blueberries. Vitamins C and E are readily available as dietary supplements, but obtaining them through diet is the preferred method for your body to utilize them.
Healthy fats that contain omega-3 fatty acids benefit the eyes as well. They keep the blood vessels and nerves that go to the eyes healthy and young. Excellent food sources of omega-3s are sardines and salmon. Eating two to three portions a week is recommended, and daily dietary supplements also help.

Eating the best foods for your eyes can be sabotaged if you continue to include items in your diet that counteract their effects. Caffeine can deplete vitamins and minerals from your body, including the ones necessary for eye health.
Foods that are high in preservatives or highly processed also deplete vitamin stores, and are also known to cause inflammation. Inflammation increases pressure around the nerves and blood vessels that go to the eyes, causing poor vision and not allowing proper blood flow to deliver necessary vitamins and minerals to the tissues.
Free radicals in our bodies are increased by poor lifestyle choices, such as smoking and stress, and other factors such as pollution. Try as much as you can to limit your exposure to these things as you add the above healthy foods to your diet.

tomar agua en la hora correcta

2011-07-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

2 vasos de agua después de despertar ayuda a activar los órganos internos.
1 vaso de agua 30 minutos antes de comer ayuda a la digestión.
1 vaso de agua antes de bañarse ayuda a bajar la presión sanguínea.
1 vaso de agua antes de irse a dormir evita apoplejías o ataques al corazón.
1 vaso de agua antes de hacer el sexo ayuda al relajamiento del organo femenino
2 vasos de agua ante de ingerir bebidas alcoholicas ayuda al higado
1 vaso antes de enojarse ayuda a tomar las cosas con calma

Cancer

2011-07-01T19:55:00.000-05:00

DESPUÉS DE MUCHOS AÑOS DE DECIRLE A LA GENTE QUE LA QUIMIOTERAPIA ES LA ÚNICA MANERA DE TRATAR (tratar literalmente) Y ELIMINAR EL CANCER, EL HOSPITAL JOHN HOPKINS ESTA FINALMENTE EMPEZANDO A DECIR A LA GENTE QUE HAY ALTERNATIVAS:

1. Toda persona tiene células cancerigenas en el cuerpo. Estas células no se ven en los chequeos regulares hasta que se han multiplicado a unos pocos billones. Cuando los doctores le dicen a los pacientes de cáncer que no hay mas células cancerigenas después del tratamiento, solo significa que los chequeos no las detectan porque ellas no han llegado a un tamaño detectable.

2. Las células de cáncer ocurren 6 de 10 veces en la vida de las personas

3. Cuando el sistema inmunológico de una persona es fuerte, las células cancerigenas serán destruidas y se prevendrá la multiplicación y formación de tumores.

4. Cuando una persona tiene cáncer, esto indica que esa persona tiene muchas deficiencias de nutrición. Esto puede ocurrir por diferentes motivos como genéticas, de medio ambiente, alimenticios y por modo de vida.

5. Para resolver esas muchas deficiencias de nutrición, el cambiar de dieta e incluir suplementos es imprescindible para reforzar el sistema inmunológico.

6. La quimioterapia en realidad envenena las células de cáncer pero también destruye las células sanas de la medula espinal como así también del intestino y eso produce daño en los órganos como el hígado, riñones, corazón y pulmones.

7. La radiación cuando destruye las células cancerigenas también quema y daña a las células sanas, y los órganos así como también los tejidos.

8. El tratamiento inicial de quimioterapia y radiación muchas veces reduce el tamaño de los tumores. Pero prolongado uso de la quimioterapia y la radiación no tiene como resultado la destrucción total de los tumores.

9. Cuando el cuerpo tiene muchas toxinas debido a la quimioterapia y la radiación el sistema inmunológico esta comprometido o destruido, por eso las personas pueden sufrir varios tipos de infecciones y complicaciones.

10. Quimioterapia y la radiación puede causar la mutación de las células cancerigenas, que se resistan y se haga difícil su destrucción total. La cirugía puede también provocar la invasión de las células a otros órganos.

11. Una manera efectiva de combatir 'el cáncer' es no darle de comer a las células cancerigenas con aquellos alimentos que necesita para multiplicarse.

LAS CÉLULAS DE CANCER SE ALIMENTAN DE...:

a. AZÚCAR es un alimento del cáncer. No consumiendo azúcar se corta uno de los mas importantes elementos de las células cancerigenas. Existen sustitutos del azúcar como sacarina pero esos están hechos con Aspartamo y es muy nocivo.. Un mejor sustituto del azúcar es miel de manuka o melaza pero en pequeñas cantidades. La SAL tiene un químico que se le agrega para que se vea blanca. Una mejor alternativa para la sal es la sal de mar o sales vegetales.

b. LECHE causa al cuerpo la producción de mucus, especialmente en el conducto intestinal. Las células cancerigenas se alimentan de mucus, eliminando la leche y sustituyendo por leche de soya, las células de cáncer no tienen que comer por consiguiente se mueren

c. Las células de cáncer maduran en un medio ambiente ácido. Una dieta basada en CARNE ROJA es ácida, es mejor comer pescado, y un poco de pollo, en lugar de carne vacuna o cerdo. La carne además tiene antibióticos, hormonas y parásitos, que son muy nocivos, especialmente para las personas con cáncer. La proteína de la carne es muy difícil de digerir y requiere muchas enzimas. La carne que no se digiere queda en los intestinos y se putrifica y lleva a la creación de mas toxinas.

COMO CONTRIBUIR A LA SOLUCIÓN DEL PROBLEMA

a) Una dieta de 80 % de vegetales frescos y jugos, granos, semillas, nueces, almendras y solo un poco de frutas ponen al cuerpo en un ambiente alcalino. Solo un 20% se debe consumir en comidas cocidas, incluidos los porotos. Jugo de vegetales frescos proporcionan al cuerpo coenzimas que son fáciles de absorber y llegan a las células después de 15 minutos de haber sido consumidos para nutrir y ayudar a formar células sanas. Para obtener enzimas vivas que ayudan a construir células sanas se debe tratar de tomar jugos vegetales (casi todos incluido alfalfa) y comer muchos vegetales frescos 2 o 3 veces al día.

b) Evitar tomar CAFÉ, TE Y CHOCOLATE, pues tienen mucha cafeína. El TE VERDE es una mejor alternativa y tiene propiedades que combaten al cáncer. EL AGUA es mejor tomarla purificada, o filtrada para evitar las toxinas y metales pesados del agua de la canilla. Agua destilada es ácida, no tomarla.

c) Las paredes de las células de cáncer están cubiertas por una proteína muy dura. Evitando de comer carne, estas paredes liberan mas enzimas que atacan las proteínas de las células de cáncer y permite al sistema inmunológico destruir las células cancerigenas.

d) Algunos suplementos ayudan a reconstruir el sistema inmunológico ( Florescence, Essiac, anti-oxidantes, vitaminas, minerales, Efas (aceite de pescado) para ayudar a las células a luchar y destruir las células cancerigenas. Otros suplemento como la vitamina E son muy conocidas porque causan apoptosis, el método normal del cuerpo de eliminar las células innecesarias o defectuosas.

e) El Cáncer es también una enfermedad de la mente, el cuerpo y el espíritu. Una ACTITUD mas activa y positiva ayudara a combatir al enfermo de cáncer a convertirse en un sobreviviente.
'La rabia y la incomprensión, el no perdonar pone al cuerpo en una situación de estrés y en un medio ambiente ácido.'Aprender a tener un espíritu amable y amoroso con una actitud positiva es muy beneficioso para la salud. Aprender a relajarse y disfrutar de la vida.

f) Las células de cáncer no pueden vivir en un ambiente oxigenado. Ejercicio diario, y respiración profunda ayuda a recibir mas oxigeno hasta niveles celulares. Terapia de oxigeno es otro elemento que ayuda a destruir las células de cáncer.

1. No contenedores de plástico en el microondas

2. No botellas de agua en el freezer

3. No papel plástico en el microondas

g) Químicos como las dioxinas causan cáncer, especialmente de seno. Dioxina es muy destructiva especialmente para las células del cuerpo.

No ponga en el freezer sus botellas de agua de plástico ya que el plástico elimina dioxina y envenena el agua.

Recientemente, el doctor Edward Fujimoto, Wellnes Program Manager at Castle hospital, estuvo en un programa de televisión y explico el peligro de la dioxina.

El dijo que no tenemos que poner contenedores de plástico en el microondas. Especialmente las comidas que tienen grasas, El dijo que la combinación de grasa y calor fuerte con el plástico elimina dioxina dentro de la comida y por consiguiente luego a nuestro cuerpo. En su lugar se puede usar vidrio, como Pirex o cerámica para calentar la comida.

Mental control

2011-06-22T21:57:00.000-05:00

http://youtu.be/j25qV5RO-nU

http://youtu.be/3xVuBEOJhK4

http://youtu.be/CIIz2FAgwcw

http://youtu.be/Gi2cvop3vbM

Milgram 2

2011-06-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

Mikhail Ryabko

2011-06-21T09:25:00.000-05:00

http://www.systemaryabko.ru/

Internal Wave Energy

2011-06-16T09:43:00.000-05:00

No Contact Combat

2011-06-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

http://www.systemaspetsnaz.com/blog/category/no-contact-combat/

The goal of any martial artist is to overcome an attacker as quickly as possible with minimum amount of force and time. All humans are genetically born with abilities and instincts to survive in extreme life situations, but the training methods of improvement of these abilities are different in each Martial Art. Different styles of combat around the globe developed their own methods of self defense and pass the knowledge from one generation to another. Systema SpetsNaz Russian Style Combat carries old traditions of the Cossacks and the modern training of Special Forces. One of the unique aspects of Russian System that it was created based on laws and principles of anatomy, physics and mechanics. There are no techniques to memorize; the motion itself serves as the technique utilizing internal wave energy, making the applications efficient and realistic for combat. Life is one continuous motion; constant change and adaptation are elements of survival. Russian Style utilizes same elements of natural flow of energy in offensive and defensive techniques applying internal and external exertion of force.

No Contact Combat Techniques

Technique of No Contact Combat draws its knowledge from historical experience of Russian Warriors and developments of science in the area of reserve human’s abilities. This system is continually upgraded, discovering new psycho-physical abilities of the human mind. Throughout the history, Russia was involved in many wars acquiring a great deal of combat experience. Russian fighters were not scared of death, their mental training gave them courage and wisdom to survive and win; sacrificing their life for their country, family and friends was and still is considered a great honor.

The energy which makes the person fall without physical touch is applied to the energy field of an opponent. It works similar to the remote control of the television, creating wave impulse which directs the motion and stability. In Asian Martial Arts, chi can be extended beyond physical body – in Russian Martial Art the concept of chi is used in similar way, adding modern developments of science as well.

Psychophysical training prepares SpetsNaz fighter to last a long time without food or water, travel long distance by foot, ignore physical and mental pain and rehabilitate himself in case of an injury. This method is an excellent tool for the improvement of personal health, in overcoming stress, strengthening immune system, improving breathing and central nervous systems, clearing mental functions. Training prepares and individual to become emotionally balanced, achieving positive results in personal and professional sides of life.

To develop the sensitivity of the chi, exercises are practiced in a relaxed physical and mental state. Meditation techniques with breathing applications are used to tap into the sub consciousness, generating invincible spinning power, which catches an attacker and makes the body drop to the ground as if it was thrown or knocked down. It is considered as the highest level of mastery in Martial Arts.

There are several steps in No Contact training. The first is to learn how to generate and use you own energy. Training prepares a student for the higher mental level, allowing the body to remember how it was initiated by using imagination and feelings. Training is done in the relaxed physical and psychological state – without the presence of thoughts, similar to being drunk.

The concept is to direct an opponent’s consciousness, an effect is exerted on the right hemisphere of the brain creating images and illusions. The opponent’s brain does not have the time to process the information making him chase the ghost. When a person is within this state of mind he becomes like a robot easily controlled. The task is to guide an attacker within the trajectory of the fall motion.

Start by finding something similar with an opponent: posture, breathing, same body motions with equal speed and rhythm using linear or mirror concept of copying an opponent’s movement. When connection is established, you become a twin or outward reflection. The concept is to imitate the opponent’s movement and then change it. For example, you can suddenly squat and lean to the side – pulling an attacker in that direction. An effect is applied to the brain creating an illusion. If an opponent is punching towards the head blend in with the speed of the motion, imagine that your hand is virtually extending toward an opponent. This will create an energy field and invisible connection between you and opponent, between your and his bio-system. The next step is to break that connection. Attacker will feel emptiness and fall or miss the strike.

Human brain is affected in many ways; it reacts to the information that surrounds us. Visual and hearing receptors carry thousands of massages into the mind everyday. Lifestyle of the individual at home and at work affects him on physical, mental and emotional levels. For example, you can make someone blush just with one word. Scarring someone will make the heartbeat faster. The ability of psychological influence on individual or a group of people comes from individual mastery. Energy which is generated by the person is unseen, but attacker can feel it. After the physical connection is made by coping the movements, it creates a bridge – which allows crossing over into sub consciousness and guiding the attacker.

The main secret of Systema SpetsNaz No Contact Combat is an ability to blend in with an opponent unnoticeably. The system of psycho-physiological control of an opponent is a complex process. Everything is important: the person who does it, an opponent, distance, body language and movement. Decision must be made quickly. Brain needs 0.5-0.7 seconds to process the information. The energy is transferred during that time, otherwise the connection will be lost and you need start from the beginning.

Another concept of No-Contact Combat is the use of verbal influence against an opponent like screaming or use of various sounds to create noise. This will shrink the consciousness and create feelings like stress, astonishment, fear and stupor. Unexpected signals affect the sensory part of the brain pressing down the fighting spirit of an attacker. The major goal is make an opponent not just to lose orientation, but to lose the control of the whole nervous system.

There is a lot that could be learned using this system, but more important is to discover which natural abilities a person was born with, locate the source of your own energy and apply it to advance your fighting skills. Systema SpetsNaz “Russian Style” Combat is adoptable with other martial art styles – widening the knowledge of new principles, techniques and applications, helping to discover your own natural abilities and improve your fighting skills.

Oleg Spector
Chief Instructor – USA Branch
www.SystemaSpetsnaz.com

Rendez-Vous With Adventure

2011-06-15T21:15:00.000-05:00

Ueshiba

2011-06-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

1935 Asahi News Film

Tomiki

2011-06-15T18:11:00.002-05:00

Tsunami

2011-03-14T21:01:00.005-06:00

the LEGENDARY XIN

2011-03-06T22:37:00.000-06:00

http://www.myspace.com/neoninjax

Atención

2011-02-02T17:22:00.000-06:00

The technical curriculum of Iwama Aikido

2007-08-04T12:40:00.000-05:00

After examining the structure and organisation of a number of technical curricula from other Japanese Martial Arts, I realised that the Aikido Curriculum is arranged, from basic to advanced, in a completely different and unique way to these other arts. There are no secret techniques in Aikido, nor does it draw any distinction between Shoden, Chuden, Hiden and Okuden levels of teaching that the Koryu (Classical) arts do. Instead, Aikido techniques are graded from basic to advanced by levels of technical complexity, both in taijutsu (hand-techniques) and bukiwaza (weapons). While probably not as extensive as the curriculum of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu or other Koryu arts, Iwama Aikido does retain a large number of techniques as compared to other styles of Aikido.

Techniques are divided into three main groups, Aiki Tai-jutsu (body techniques, or empty-hand), Aiki Ken jutsu (sword techniques) and Aiki Jo jutsu (stick techniques). These three major groupings of techniques are inter-related through the innovative concept of Riai that O-Sensei developed during the Iwama period. There are also a number of supplementary groups of techniques, such as Tanto-dori (knife-taking), and Tenugui waza (techniques with a hand towel) both of which are included within tai-jutsu, Juken-dori (bayonetted rifle disarming), which are absorbed into Aiki Jo Jutsu, and Shuriken Jutsu (blade throwing), which was taught separately to uchi-deshi of Saito Sensei and probably did not play a role in O-Sensei's concept of Riai.

Finally there is a collection of movements which fall outside the categorisation of the above groups, but which are essential to all, and they are everyday movements such as rolling etc, which for lack of a better term I call Kyotsu Waza, common techniques shared by all.

A. Aiki Tai-jutsu

Categorisation method 1.
This categorisation method shows techniques listed both in progressive order of technical difficulty, within labelled sections that describe each step of an attack/defense movement.

Techniques are named, when applicable, according to the following classification:
a) Posture,
b) Directional Aspect - Attack,
c) Type of attack,
d) Technique being executed,
e) Directional Aspect - Defense,
f) Method of finishing.

Many combinations of these classifications are not possible, due to the nature of the movement of some techniques, however this categorisaion method is a simple and practical way of defining more than 1,000 techniques.
1. Posture - 3 possible combinations of postures that attacker and defender can take
  1. Suwari Waza - both seated
  2. Hanmi Handachi - nage seated, uke standing
  3. Tachi Waza - both standing
  Suwari Waza is regarded as basic training, because it teaches basic principles of body movement, while helping to physically develop the hips and rest of body. Even though it is more difficult to perform than in standing position, it learned first in order to impart the correct principles of movement early in the course of learning.
2. Directional Aspect - Attack - 2 possible directions from which an attack may come.
  1. Mae Waza - frontal attacks (including from side)
  2. Ushiro Waza - rear attacks
    Although Ushiro Waza techniques are essentially a repeat of all the frontal attacks, it is regarded as more advanced because of the added complexity of dealing with the opponent gripping from the rear. Attacks from the side can be adapted to become frontla attacks by a simple turn of the body. They are all grouped together because they are within the field of view, whereas attacks to the rear are outside the field of view, and so are treated separately to frontal and side attacks.
3. Type of Attack - 24 different attacks, upon which the full range of possible attacks are based
  1. Shomen-uchi - palm strike to centre-line, raising
  2. Shomen-uchi-komi - edge of the hand strike to centreline from above
  3. Yokomen-uchi - edge of hand strike to side of body
  4. Katate-dori - wrist being grabbed by one hand of attacker
  5. Sode-dori - cuff below / shirt at elbow grabbed by one hand of attacker
  6. Sode-guchi-dori - inside cuff held
  7. Kata-dori - one shoulder grabbed by one hand of attacker
  8. Muna-dori - one hand grab/strike to centre-line, chest level
  9. Kosa-dori - wrist grabbed in reverse grip by one hand of attacker
  10. Tsuki - punch to centre line
  11. Ryote-dori - both wrists grabbed by both hands of attacker
  12. Ryo-sode-dori - both elbows grabbed by both hands of attacker
  13. Ryo-kata-dori - both shoulders grabbed by both hands of attacker
  14. Ryo-muna-dori - two-handed grab to centre-line, chest level
  15. Morote-dori - both attackers hands grab one arm
  16. Kata-dori/shomen-uchi (or tsuki) - shoulder grab and strike with other hand
  17. Muna-dori/shomen-uchi (or tsuki) - chest grab and strike with other hand
  18. Ushiro-eri-dori - neck lapel gripped by one hand from behind
  19. Ushiro-ryo-kata-dori - shoulders grabbed by attacker from behind
  20. Ushiro-ryote-dori - both wrists grabbed from behind
  21. Ushiro-eri/katate-dori - neck lapel and wrist grabbed from behind
  22. Ushiro-katate-muna-dori - wrist/collar at front grabbed from behind
  23. Ni-nin/san-nin gake - 2 or more persons grabbing
  24. Geri - variations on hand techniques against a variety of kicks
  These attacks are listed in order of progressive difficulty, as well as in order of basic principles being imparted through the training with such attacks. The attacks themselves are not absolute, and the list is not exhaustive, however, these 24 attacks define the full range of possible attacking movements that could be encountered by the Aikido-ka, according to the principles of "Takemusu Aiki".
4. Technique being executed - 6 core techniques, with a further 4 regarded as variations of these techniques, and a further 3 regarded as specialised techniques.
  1. Ikkyo kara Rokkyo - 1st teaching to 6th teaching
  2. Shiho Nage - four directional throw
  3. Kote-gaeshi - wrist turning
  4. Irimi nage - entering throw
  5. Kokyu Nage - abdominal breath power throw
  6. Koshi Nage - hip throw
  Ikkyo kara Rokkyo refers to all the elbow taking techniques, Ikkyo, Nikyo, Sankyo, Yonkyo, Gokyo and Rokkyo, which are themselves ordered in a progression of technical complexity. Rokkyo was previously labelled as a separate technique: "hiji-katame", but now appears to be regarded as a progression from Ikkyo. The following techniques have their own classification, but are technically regarded as being variations of the above Movements
  1. Kaiten Nage - rotary throw (variation of sankyo)
  2. Tenchi Nage - "heaven and earth throw" (mixture of irimi & kokyu nage)
  3. Ganseki Otoshi - big rock drop (variation of irimi nage)
  4. Sumi Otoshi - corner drop (vaitaion of kokyu nage)
  5. Juji Nage - cross-shaped or cross-twine throw (specialised technique)
  6. Kubi Nage - neck throw (specialised technique)
  7. Aiki Nage - throwing with energy (specialised technique)
5. Directional Aspect - Defense - 2 possible directions the defender can move against the attackers force
  1. Omote - entering across the front
  2. Ura - turning to the rear
  This directional aspect is the movement of the defender against the attacker, as opposd to the above, which is a movement of the attacker against the defender. Omote and Ura are treated as being equally as important, rather like two sides of the coin.
6. Method of Finishing the techniques - 4 methods of dealing with the attacker.
  1. Nuke - escaping
  2. Atemi - striking
  3. Nage - throwing
  4. Katame, or Osae - pinning, or controling
  These finishes are listed in order of progressive difficulty, however it is Nage and Katame that is usually practiced, because if one in proficient in these, Nuke and Atemi are readily apparent. To make matters clearer, a technique name can be generated by following the path of movement through the above categories, from the beginning of the movement to the end, as seen in the chart below.

Categorisation Method 2.
This categorisation method defines the above techniques in a particular training method according to the type of martial principles being taught. Certain of the above techniques can be regarded as teaching basic principles, while others only appear in special circumstances, and all of the above techniques can be defined in terms of one of these training methods.
1. Kihon Waza - basic techniques
2. Henka Waza - variation of basic techniques
3. Oyo Waza - applied techniques
4. Sutemi Waza - sacrifice techniques
5. Kaeshi Waza - reversal, or counter techniques
6. Iko Waza - techniques to deal with counter techniques
7. Jiyu Waza - free techniques
These methods are listed in order of progressive difficulty and complexity, which is consistent with an increasing depth of martial principle.

Categorisation Method 3.
This categorisation method defines the level of intensity in physical movement and amount of intention in the mind of both the attacker and the defender when performing the movements.
1. Ko Tai - "hard body" or solid,
2. Ju Tai - "soft body" or flexible,
3. Ryu Tai - "flowing body"
4. Ki Tai - "energy body"
This list shows the training method in order of progressive difficulty, which is consistent with an increasing development in performance. Ko Tai and Ju tai have come to be known as "Kihon" and "Ki-no-nagare" respectively, while Ryu Tai and Ki Tai have become grouped together to form what is known as "Ki-musubi". A distinction should be made between Ryu Tai and Ki Tai however, as Ki Tai is performed with the same physical movement as Ryu Tai, but with the most intense level of intention that borders on fully-intended attack.

B. Aiki Ken Jutsu.

Ken Suburi - 7 techniques - basic cuts and steps from ken kamae, starting from right hanmi

Suburi Awase - 7 techniques, as above, but in conjunction with a partner

Happo giri - 5 techniques - 8 directional cut from ken kamae

Ken awase - 7 techniques - sword blending patterns with a partner, each with several variations

Ki-musubi-no-tachi 1 technique - a 3 step pattern to practice awase, and introduce kumi-tachi)

Kumi-tachi - 25 techniques, with partner, 5 kihon, each with 2 set sword and 2 set body variations, further variations

Tachi-dori - 10 Techniques - sword disarming

Ken/Tai Jutsu No Riai - 10? techniques, with 2 partners, showing relationship between sword and body movement

Tanren Uchi - supplemental training, heavy striking

Suburito Keiko -supplemental training with a heavy sword

C. Aiki Jo Jutsu

Jo Suburi - 20 techniques, basic strikes and blocks

Roku no jo - 3 techniques, a 6 step combination of suburi that condenses to 4 step, with variations

Tenkan Waza - 6 techniques, 180 and 360 deg. turning movements based on suburi

Sanjuichi-no-Jo - 31 step kata

Jusan-no-Jo - 13 step kata

Jo Awase - 8 techniques, stick blending patterns with a partner

Kumi-Jo - 10 techniques, applied techniques with a partner

Sanjuichi-no-Kumi-Jo - partner practice to the 31 step kata (kata bunkai)

Jusan-no-jo Awase - partner practice to the 13 step kata (kata bunkai)

Jo Dori - 11 techniques, stick disarming

Jo/Tai Jutsu No Riai, or Jo Nage - 10 techniques, throwing attacker who grabs stick

Ken-Jo-no Riai (or Ken-Tai Jo) - 10? techniques, stick defence against sword

D. Tanto Dori
a) Tanto Dori - 10 techniques, disarming knife, based upon Tai-jutsu

E. Tenugui Waza
These techniques utilise the traditional Japanese cotton hand-towel (tenugui), and involve trapping the attackers arm and throwing. They are based upon taijutsu movements and are performed rarely, usually in a Demonstration setting. It is possible they derived from manriki-gusari (double weighted chain weapon) arts of the 19th Century and earlier.

F. Juken Dori
These are pre-War bayonetted rifle techniques that the founder trained in and taught while in the army, and have become absorbed into the Jo-Jutsu curriculum, however they still appear occasionally in Demonstration settings.

G. Shuriken Jutsu
While O-Sensei is not known to have studied, or even mentioned Shuriken Jutsu, the founder's teacher Sokaku Takeda and Morihiro Saito Sensei both were masters of this art, Negishi Ryu Shuriken Jutsu. Saito Sensei taught Shuriken to uchi-deshi after they had signed a "keppan" or oath of sincerity.

F. Kyotsu Waza
These are not really techniques as such, but movements and understandings that students need to learn to enable safe participation in traditional Japanese dojo life. Kyotsu means "shared by all" and simply refers to the common sense things that one should know when ina dojo.
a) Shikko - moving around while kneeling
b) Ukemi - falls, rolls, and high falls (tobu-ukemi)
c) Osoji - cleaning
d) Rei - Etiquette

G. Kuden
Kuden is the oral teachings and written material produced by O-Sensei over his almost 70 year martial career. It consists of calligraphy, poems, oral teachings, poems and writings, all of which contain further information and detail about the art the the founder taught. It is not all collected and kept in a single place, rather, it is spread out over private collections, reproductions in publications, on display in dojo around the world, and held in the memories of the remaining students of O-Sensei and their deshi.

Descripción de kata de jo

2007-08-04T12:31:00.000-05:00

31-count jo kata and kumi-jo
by Jonathan Diesch

For this transcription, I have tried to avoid using japanese terms for various techniques, partly because I can never remember them all, and mostly because it will limit the number of ppl who can follow what I'm saying. This is only a description of the kata as I know it, and may bear no relation whatsoever to anything your sensei has taught you.

Throughout this transcription YOU are 'doing' the kata side, HE is 'doing' the "anti-kata". numbers 1-31 are you, numbers 1a-30a are him!

1a: starting L posture, he makes a straight thrust to your chest.

1: Starting L posture, you step off the line to your L and make a reverse thrust over his jo, to the chest.

2a: stepping back, and slightly left, he rotates his jo to cause a deflection of yours, taking your balance to your rear L, and then makes a straight thrust to your face.

2: Stepping to your R, you raise your jo to protect your face, and block upwards, cocking your wrists as you do so, to keep contact, and stop his jo flying off into space. From here rotate your jo from under his to on top, and strike it down, taking his balance to his front R, and...

3: Thust to his L floating ribs.

3a: keeping the end of his jo low, he steps back into R posture, and turns his hips towards you, blocking your strike with his jo vertical. From here he makes a spiral movement with his jo, that brings on-line with your face, and takes your jo, and your balance, to your rear L. Then he makes a straight thrust at your face.

4: You avoid this thrust by making a BIG step to your R, across the line, raising the jo to protect your face, NOT blocking him! As you bring the jo up, allow your back hand to slide into the middle of the stick, then let go with your front hand so that you can rotate the jo through 180 deg. catch the end again, step forward and...

5: make a straight cut (shomen).

5a: stepping back, he absorbs your cut by making an identical cut to yours, in mirror-image.

6: So drop the end of the jo to your R, step forward, around the end of his jo, and cut again. You should now be in L hanmi.

6a: he makes another identical cut, but is a little slow with it, this time you catch his jo, and send him off-balance to his rear L. He should now be in L hanmi.

7: You now pivot to face the opposite direction, and make a straight cut to an imaginary persons' head.

7a: he recovers his balance, and attempts a straight thrust at your back.

8: You step forward, making shomen again.

8a: he raises his jo to hit you on the head, stepping forward into R posture.

9: You are in L posture, L hand forward on the jo. You raise the end of your jo to your front L, and then make (kaiten-ashi) by pivoting on the balls of you feet through 180 deg. then stepping FORWARD with your L foot. As you do this swing the jo round, and down diagonally, to strike at his knees. Ensure that you turn your wrists over so that you PUSH the jo round not pull it. If you pull you cannot stop the jo easily. Do not allow the jo to go further than 90 deg past his knees.

9a: with his jo still raised he steps back (quickly!) then steps in again to strike your head.

10: Step forward on your L foot, bringing the jo up horizontally under his elbows, to prevent him cutting you, IRL you go under his chin, or put the tip straight in his throat.

11: now drop the end of your jo, allowing him to finish his cut, stepping round to your L, and making shomen.

11a: he avoids being hit by drawing back, and meeting your strike,

12: You are now in L posture, so is he. This is a neutral position. Release the jo with your L (back) hand, uncross your hands and grip the jo firmly, pointing towards him maintaining zanshin.

12a: he does the same as 12.

13: Step forward, L posture, and thrust to his chest.

13a: he steps to his R, and spirals under your jo, as in no 2a, then thrusts at your face.

14: Step across to your R, and avoid the jo as in no 4

15: Make shomen as no 5.

15a: he steps back, and makes a mirror image shomen, as no 5a. He is now in R posture, with the R hand forward.

16: To avoid having the end of your jo smashed by his shomen, pull the jo back along your L side. Pull the jo with your back hand, through the front until the end of the jo is in your front hand, then push the jo through the back hand with your front. If you do this in reverse you will get your hand broken! Keep the jo in close to your body, with the front R hand at about chest height. You should be in R hanmi.

17: Now step forward with your L foot, around his jo, and punch it forwards to strike his R knee.

17a: he steps back into L posture, and simultaneously turns his hand over, allowing the end of the jo to drop, he puts his left hand in front of the R, and slides the R hand to the back of the jo. This blocks the knee strike, and exposes you to...

18a: he draws his jo back, and makes a straight thrust at your knee/thigh

18: you step forward and to the R, turn to face him, and rotate your jo through 180 deg. to strike his stick down with the back end, being carefull to keep the jo at an upward angle so that he is knocked down and away from you. This also exposes his leg, so...

19: Draw back slightly, and thrust at his ANKLE.

19a: he steps back, drawing his L foot out of the way, and turning to face you, as he does this he lifts the back end of his jo, so that is vertical, and blocks your ankle thrust to the side. At this point he thinks he can hit you on the head, so raises his jo for shomen uchi.

20: You raise your jo to protect your head, but then realise that you can hit his R knee, so step forward and to your R, turning L to face him, and strike to the back of his knee, dropping onto one knee as you do so.

20a: having raised his jo above his head for shomen, he sees you going instead for his knee, so steps back to withdraw the leg, and swings the jo back down to block your strike vertically.

21: You pull you jo back against your side, to avoid it being hit, as in no 16.

22a: he raises the jo to make a straight strike to your head.

22: You are in R posture, sitting on your L leg, you stand up and step forward, bringing the back end of the jo forward, to thrust at his chest.

23a: to avoid this thrust he pivots his lead foot, turning off the line, and facing you. the jo is still raised. He then slides the jo though his hands to thrust downwards at your chest, over the top of your jo.

23: You step to your R side, turning to face him, and rotate the jo vertically through 180 deg. to strike his jo downwards and away from you, exposing his side.

24: You make a straight thrust at his L side.

24a: he pivots to his R, avoiding the thrust, then back to his original position, at the same time he drops the end of his jo under yours, and spirals it over the top, knocking you off balance to your front and L, this is similar to nos 2a and 13a, only upside down.

25: You draw your jo back to regain your posture, and make another straight thrust to his ribs.

25a: he turns to his L again, this time rotating the jo through 180 deg. vertically to strike your stick down. He then makes a straight thrust to your face.

26: You make a BIG step back and slightly off the line to your R pulling the stick back to your R side, as in no 16

27: Now step forward, punching the jo forwards to strike his knee as in no 17. You are now in R posture.

27a: he steps back, dropping the front end of his jo to block

28: Step forward, and to your L, moving past the end of his jo, and raise your jo ABOVE your head, so that you can thrust downwards at his chest/neck, with the lower end.

28a: he lifts the front end of his jo to vertical, and steps back, avoiding the thrust. As he does so, he strikes the end of your jo sideways, and he finishes with the jo held vertically, to side of his head (hasso no kamae (?))

29: When your jo is stuck sideways, allow it to rotate HORIZONTALLY through 180 deg. then drop the jo down to a mid-level position, and...

30: thust at his chest (chudan tsuki).

30a: he steps off the line to his R, and makes a straight strike to the end of your jo.

31: Absorb the force of his strike, letting the jo travel naturally around your body, step forward and to your L, turning to face him, and strike him powerfully across the back of his head, caving in his skull, and finally finishing the whole business!

You should finish in L posture, with your right hand forward on the jo. He should be flat on the floor, bleeding, or alternativley in R posture, with his R hand forward on the jo.

This is not a perfect transcription, many of the techniques are really hard to explain in words, as you have probably seen(!) So dont take this as gospel! (also dont leap down my throat for getting it all wrong!) I am intending to put a pamphlet together with a full set of photos to illustrate this kata at some point, perhaps then it might make some sense :)

Entrenamiento militar con bayoneta

2007-08-04T12:10:00.000-05:00

En el proceso de indoctrinamiento militar el entrenamiento con bayoneta es escencial por su caracteristicas de inmediatez con el asesinar y luchar en condiciones de vida o muerte.

Muy distinto del entrenamiento de los responsables de realizar asesinatos masivos como pilotos, donde se abstrae el proceso de matar y se usan eufemismos sin carga emotiva para referirse al proceso de masacrar personas.

The Marine Corps Martial Arts Bayonet System

Every Marine is a rifleman.

This is the enduring credo of the United States Marine Corps. Whether it has become more ideal than reality in recent years is not as important as the concept behind it: Every Marine is a combat Marine; every Marine is trained for combat.

Recently, the Marine Corps has been engaged in developing a new close combat program, the Marine Corps Martial Arts. A major portion of the new program is a revamped bayonet system. Working with the ICS, the developers of the program have derived the new bayonet system from previous, proven bayonet systems, research into spear use around the world, and input from those with modern real world experience in close combat and bayonet fighting.

The aim of system is twofold. First, there is the goal of developing the capability within individual Marines to effectively use the bayonet to dominate in close personal combat. In spite of a tendency among many to claim that there is no need for the bayonet in modern warfare with modern weapons, vast amounts of anecdotal evidence proves otherwise. From World War II through Korea to Vietnam, from the Falklands to Somalia, infantry troops have time and again had to resort to this oldest of weapons. There is no argument that the bayonet is the deciding factor on the modern battlefield, but in too many cases to list it has been (and will be again) the deciding factor for individuals on who lives or dies. The Marine bayonet system is designed to ensure that it is the Marine who dominates.

Secondly, though not in importance, is the fact that there is growing evidence that bayonet and close combat training is the most effective means of training the Marine with the combat mindset necessary for success on the battlefield, whether with bayonet at 20 feet or fire at 200 meters.

Due to the both the nature of the weapon and the time restraints in training, the basic premise of the Marine Corps bayonet system to "keep it simple," and is aimed entirely at bayonet combat; there is no fencing, sparring, or concepts of lengthy exchanges of blows in this system. Following the geometric principle of "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line," the emphasis on the weapon's use is in the thrust. Slashes and butt strokes are used secondarily, and mainly in situations where the Marine is "tied up" with an opponent. Even here, the slash or butt stroke is mainly used to regain the distance from which a killing thrust can be delivered. An important consideration in the ascendancy of the thrust over the slash or butt stroke is the type of military apparel and armor worn in modern combat. In tests conducted with the various types of strikes, only the bayonet thrust was found to effectively penetrate the modern armor vest worn by most troops today. Even simple web gear and helmets were found to be fairly effective at preventing disabling wounds from the slash or butt stroke.

The Training System

In learning to use the bayonet, the Marine is first taught the basic posture, commonly called the "basic warrior stance" by the Marines (the ICS "stalking posture"). The Marine is taught to effectively and firmly tie to the weapon to the body, by locking the rear hand to the hip/waist area. The Marine is taught to thrust the weapon by using the force of the body and rear hand/arm. The front arm is used to control the length of extension and direction of the point. The weapon and arms should not be overextended. The power of the thrust comes from the body, and is extended through and by the arms. One of the most important elements for the Marine to learn is the ability to keep his arms and weapon strongly tied to the body.

After basic thrusting practice the Marine is taught to move with the weapon. This is an important element, as moving with the weapon is 2/3 of bayonet fight.

Initially the Marine practices the basics of movement and thrusting as a solo exercise, using either a real weapon or wooden rifle-bayonets similar to the Japanese mokuju used in the Japanese bayonet fighting system, jukendo. However, very quickly, the Marine is introduced to adversary training, where the main training tool is the mokuju.

Training against an adversary is where the Marine learns the most important elements in the combat against an enemy. Working with an adversary (usually an instructor), the Marine and his opponent will start roughly 20 feet apart. Generally, for the first attack, the adversary will close on the Marine to make a slash attack to either side of the Marine's weapon. As the adversary lifts his weapon for the slash, the Marine must initiate his thrust attack, beating his opponent to "the punch." In this exercise, the Marine is taught to not react to the adversary's weapon, but to carry through his own attack. At the same time, he experiences how much more effective in range and power the thrust is over the slash. A similar drill is done with the adversary initiating a butt stroke attack.

After gaining some competence and confidence thrusting against a slash or butt stroke, the Marine then learns to work against a thrust. Again starting at around 20 feet apart, the instructor-adversary and the Marine will start towards each other. At the appropriate distance, the adversary will initiate a thrust attack to a pre-designated side of the Marine's weapon. Here the Marine, again must learn to ignore the adversary's weapon, and concentrate on making an effective thrust with his own. It is important for the Marine to learn to avoid the tendency to unnecessarily "block" or "parry" the adversary's weapon, but only use enough disrupting movement of his own weapon against his adversary's to create an opening for him to carry his own thrust home. Here, it is vital that the instructor help bring the student along in learning to have full intent in carrying through his attack. In this regard, those in charge of the Marine Corps Martial Arts program are going to great lengths to ensure that the instructors understand that their jobs are not to prove how good they are, but to develop the capability of their student Marines.

The average Marine quickly develops to the point where he can be brought to the next level of training. At the next level, the Marine is introduced to working with a partner against single and then multiple opponents. Due to the immense amount of teamwork training Marines do in their normal training, they generally excel in this area.

After the initial two-man team training, the Marines begin training in four-man teams (similar to their normal fire team configuration). Here they can work both the basics of individual bayonet combat along with team tactics. In this training the Marine team will face opposition from two up to six adversaries. Even though the emphasis at this stage is on team work combat, the Marines are periodically forced to engage at the individual level again to maintain their individual competence.

The Marine Corps Martial Arts program is still its infancy, but has come a long way in a short while. In particular, the bayonet system portion of the training, arguably the most likely to be utilized component, has reached a high level of development and acceptance.

Referencia basica

2007-08-04T10:29:00.000-05:00

Como ponerse la hakama
Conceptos de la asociación italiana de Aikido
Glosario en Microsoft Access
Glosario en Microsoft Word
Glosario en Microsoft Word estilo Iwama
Glosario en Microsoft Word en ingles
Glosario en Microsoft Word de tecnicas

13 jo kata

2007-07-17T20:14:00.000-05:00

YouTube - 13 jo kata.

YouTube - 13 jo kata

Morihiro Saito; 31 jo kata

2007-07-17T20:07:00.000-05:00

Aikido Morihiro Saito Sensei 31 jo kata

YouTube - Saito Sensei - 31 Jo Movements

YouTube - 31 jo-kata

YouTube - Aikido Morihiro Saito Sensei 31 jo kata & kumijo

Demostración de Shioda

2007-07-17T12:45:00.000-05:00

YouTube - 養神館合気道、aikido Shioda Gozo demonstration 1978-1981

jo （杖）

2007-07-16T12:40:00.001-05:00

Formas de jo

YouTube - Aikido 31 Count Jo Kata Pairs Practice

YouTube - 31 Count Ken-tai-Jo Henka

YouTube - 31 Count Partner Practice

YouTube - Jo Kata 13 &31

Morihiro Saito; ken （剣）

2007-07-16T11:40:00.000-05:00

Técnica de espada.

YouTube - Aikido Morihiro Saito Sensei 7 bokken suburi

YouTube - Morihiro Saito - Sword Techniques Part 1

YouTube - Morihiro Saito - Sword Techniques Part 2

Morihiro Saito; jo （杖）

2007-07-16T11:33:00.000-05:00

Aikido Morihiro Saito Sensei Jo techniques

YouTube - Aikido Morihiro Saito Sensei Jo techniques part 1

YouTube - Morihiro Saito - Jo Techniques Part 2

Morihiro Saito; taijutsu （体術）

2007-07-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

Morihiro Saito - Body Techniques

YouTube - Morihiro Saito - Body Techniques Part 1

YouTube - Morihiro Saito - Body Techniques Part 2

Morihiro Saito

2007-07-16T11:22:00.001-05:00

El más devoto de los discípulos del maestro.

YouTube - Saito Aikido Lessons

YouTube - Aikido Morihiro Saito Sensei

Karate

2007-07-16T03:31:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Way of the Warrior - Karate, Way of the Empty Hand

YouTube - Way of the Warrior - Karate, Way of the Empty Hand [1/4]

YouTube - Way of the Warrior - Karate, Way of the Empty Hand [2/4]

YouTube - Way of the Warrior - Karate, Way of the Empty Hand [3/4]

YouTube - Way of the Warrior - Karate, Way of the Empty Hand [4/4]

Takemusu Aiki

2007-07-16T02:50:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido - Takemusu Aiki

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido - Takemusu Aiki (1 of 3)

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido - Takemusu Aiki (2 of 3)

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido - Takemusu Aiki (3 of 3)

Rendez-Vous with Adventure

2007-07-16T02:37:00.001-05:00

50 años después, las mismas ideas de la gente que ve Aikido por primera vez.

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido - Rendez-Vous With Adventure 1

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido - Rendez-Vous With Adventure 2

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido - Rendez-Vous With Adventure 3

Judo

2007-07-16T02:13:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Budo Masters: Kosen Judo Hirata

Kendo

2007-07-16T01:45:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Budo Masters: Kendo Nakayama

Error en la pagina

2007-07-15T20:15:00.000-05:00

La ligas de las etiquetas de temas en el encabezado estaban rotas pero ya se corrigió el problema.

Cualquier problema o sugerencia sobre la pagina favor de reportarlo a

arnulfo@acm.org

Gracias

Castings

2007-07-15T13:24:00.001-05:00

Buscando a Bruce Lee

YouTube - best karate moves ever!

La mosca en la telaraña

2007-07-14T10:12:00.001-05:00

El jujitsu brazileño muestra un gran oficio para ganar aún antes de comenzar el encuentro

El encuentro es en su terreno bajo sus condiciones.
No le dan oportunidad de asentarse al visitante. Todo esta listo y entra con el competidor de casa listo y posicionado.
Lo ponen contra la pared.
Vale todo. Pero cuando el competidor local comete un error no se vale picar los ojos.
Al competidor local lo estan diriginedo y apoyando

Impresionante, aunque definitivamente un camino distinto del Aikido.

YouTube - Jiu jitsu vs Karate

El significado de katatedori (片手取り)

2007-07-14T09:04:00.001-05:00

Aunque completamente fuera del contexto de 合気道 (Aunque por lo mismo dentro del esquema mental de los de la teoría del 受け mala onda) un claro ejemplo del significado de gyakuhanmikatatedori (逆半身片手取り)

YouTube - (合気達人)柳龍拳 VS (総合格闘家)岩倉豪

Televisión japonesa

2007-07-14T05:27:00.001-05:00

Programa japones sobre la extensión de energia (Que tan real no lo sé)

YouTube - SRS伝説の武道家　達人　日野　晃　1

YouTube - SRS伝説の武道家　達人　日野　晃　２

YouTube - SRS伝説の武道家　達人　日野　晃　３

Kenji Tomiki

2007-07-14T04:35:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Aikido Tomiki Kenji sensei

YouTube - Aikido Tomiki Kenji sensei　合気道富木謙治先生

Gozo Shioda

2007-07-14T04:29:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Budo : Aikido Shioda

Historia del Aikido

2007-07-14T04:18:00.001-05:00

YouTube - History of Aikido

YouTube - History of Aikido pt 1

YouTube - History of Aikido pt 2

Koichi Tohei

2007-07-14T04:08:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Koichi Tohei

YouTube - Koichi Tohei - authentic Aikido - no audio

El fundador del Aikido

2007-07-14T03:38:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - The Founder of Aikido

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - The Founder of Aikido (complete) 1 of 5

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - The Founder of Aikido (complete) 2 of 5

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - The Founder of Aikido (complete) 3 of 5

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - The Founder of Aikido (complete) 4 of 5

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - The Founder of Aikido (complete) 5 of 5

Técnicas divinas

2007-07-14T03:14:00.001-05:00

YouTube : Divine techniques Morihei Ueshiba

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - Divine Techniques (complete) 1 of 4

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - Divine Techniques (complete) 2 of 4

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - Divine Techniques (complete) 3 of 4

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - Divine Techniques (complete) 4 of 4

¿Se debe atacar en serio o dejarse llevar?

2007-07-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

Uno de los puntos difíciles del Aikido es la actitud que se debe tomar en la práctica. ¿Suave o duro? En la práctica en parejas, ¿se debe atacar en serio o dejarse llevar?

El Aikido (合気道) es Budo (武道) pero no nos podemos sustraer del contexto social. No es lo mismo practicar artes marciales como un joven aristócrata con aspiraciones a una carrera militar en un imperio en expansión en un dojo (道場) al que solo se puede entrar bajo recomendación que ir a un centro comunitario a socializar haciendo alguna actividad física después del trabajo.

En el Japón de los 1930s morir en el dojo durante la práctica era un riesgo razonable y socialmente aceptado. De la efectividad del entrenamiento dependía la vida del soldado imperial. Aunque seguramente no se practicaba con hoja viva todos los días o todo el tiempo (en los videos se pueden ver bayonetas de madera), definitivamente la practica con armas reales era una posibilidad al entrar al dojo y las practicas eran intensas y orientadas al combate militar cuerpo a cuerpo.

Después de la guerra la situación cambio. La justificación práctica del uso de armas vivas se perdió, aunque su uso continúo todavía, los accidentes inevitables cuando practicantes de distintos niveles de competencia y concentración usaban armas vivas terminaron por inducir su prohibición en los dojos de Aikido.

Aparte del aspecto social, Ueshiba mismo era otro. Cambio a los ambiciosos aristócratas de Tokio por los sencillos campesinos de Iwama （岩間), que se inscribían en el dojo, algunos, para tener donde comer. El sentido de la práctica de Aikido, se volvió difuso, misterioso. Las palabras del maestro （翁先生) un enigma.

La formación de la asociación de Aikido no fue iniciativa del maestro, sino un negocio de sus allegados, la verdad sea dicha. Esto no quiere decir que Ueshiba no estaba interesado en difundir su mensaje. El problema es que su mensaje ya no era el Budo (武道) como bujitsu (武術), sino como do (道). ¿Hacia donde? Hacia un conexión con dios y el universo. Esto claro tiene un potencial comercial nulo ya que no se puede enseñar, ni aprender.

No es extraño que de un nacimiento tan difuso y contradictorio nadie entienda de qué se trata el Aikido. Las técnicas （技）de la curricula son practicas y su validez comprobada en combate cuerpo a cuerpo, pero ¿sinceramente estas dispuesto a perder la vida en un practica cualquiera? Si la respuesta es si entonces con toda tranquilidad puedes usar el Aikido en una situación de combate real, entrenando claro, con la concentración e intensidad correspondiente. En la práctica, el entrenamiento no es normalmente así, a menos que estemos hablando de soldados o policías.

Un mal entendido común es que tori（取り・捕り）es el que hace Aikido mientras que uke （受け）se sacrifica haciendo el papel de malo que no sabe Aikido y no sigue sus principios. De este error fundamental nace mucha de la confusión sobre la efectividad y de si se debe atacar con todo o hacerle al tío Lolo.

Complicando la situación esta el problema didáctico: ¿Cuál es la mejor manera de enseñar (aprehender) una técnica? Que esta relacionado pero no es lo mismo que el problema técnico: ¿Cuál es la manera más efectiva de practicar una técnica? Que es a su vez otro al problema practico:¿Cómo se aplica una técnica en una situación real? Las tres preguntas estan relacionadas pero son asuntos distintos.

Ignoremos la situación didáctica por el momento y asumamos 三段 para arriba, o una capacidad técnica ilimitada.

Tanto tori como uke están practicando Aikido, en el espíritu de Aikido. La técnica de uke no es defectuosa o inferior. Es un ataque valido y efectivo, ejecutado con sinceridad.

Inmediatamente surgen una serie de dudas en mi mente: ¿Qué significa ejecutar una técnica con sinceridad? Si teóricamente el Aikido es invencible, y uke esta usando Aikido de forma correcta ¿Cómo lo puede controlar tori? Si Aikido es amor y armonía ¿Cómo se puede atacar con sinceridad? Preguntas difíciles.

La sinceridad se refiere a limpio y abierto. En términos negativos, no alterar el ataque en base a una presunción o conocimiento de la técnica que usara tori. Reiterando, el ataque debe ser sincero, no una finta de otra cosa. En el Aikido no se usan fintas, no por un sentido de fair play que no existe en el Budo, sino porque su dinámica nunca se basa en sorprender, sino al contrario, en conectarse con el compañero.

Entonces ¿Cómo controla tori a uke si la técnica de uke es valida? Una respuesta es que en la practica de Aikido no se usa kumite en el sentido del Karate y las practicas en pareja o grupo son ejercicios de conexión. En ese sentido se predispone el papel inicial de agresor （受け） y este echo en si es la ventaja de tori （取り). Pero no es tan sencillo y esta explicación parece implicar que tori es reactivo y que la iniciativa la tiene uke, por lo menos al principio. No es así.

Consideremos shomenuchi ikkyo（正面打ち一教). En la manera en que se practica actualmente, los principiantes asumen invariablemente que es una técnica de bloqueo usada como reacción a un ataque a la cabeza (el problema didáctico). Pero no es así, el que bloquea es uke. Tori ejecuta un ataque a la cara y al defender uke, bloqueando, tori aplica el primer control. En el libro Budo de Ueshiba se ve esto claramente. En el Aikido convencional moderno en la práctica formal, siempre se empieza con un claro ataque por parte de uke, por la cuestión filosófica y mercadológica de presentar el Aikido como un arte defensivo.

El punto clave esta en la conexión. Lo importante es estar conectado con el compañero. Sentir su intención. Fluir con su movimiento. Todo esto requiere una concentración intensa.

El punto final del amor apache es el más problemático. El Budo es amoral, más allá del bien y el mal. Tal vez en el sentido del carnicero que no tiene sentimientos de enojo contra los pollos o los cerdos, pero el practicante prefiere verlo más bien como una piedra rodando por un despeñadero. Simplemente sigue su curso. La mente de no mente. El vació del Kara en Karate.

Al aplicar el Budo no hay una intención de lastimar, pero tampoco de no lastimar. El Aikido ve un encuentro en términos de estar conectado al compañero. Nuestra capacidad de no lastimarlo es proporcional a nuestro nivel de conciencia.

Retomemos el ejemplo de schomenuchi ikkyo. La idea en Aikido es siempre dirigir al compañero. En el caso de la versión clásica del libro de Ueshiba, el ataque inicial no es una finta, pero su intención es inducir un movimiento reflejo de parte uke para aplicar el primer control. En caso de que por alguna situación de parálisis uke no reaccionara, este recibiría un golpe (当身）en la base de la nariz entre los ojos y aunque de otra manera seria controlado también.

Una realidad de la práctica es que el nivel de participantes es variado y el aspecto didáctico toma precedencia sobre el aspecto técnico. La medida de la intensidad de la práctica es la capacidad del más débil. Independientemente de nuestra capacidad técnica y física debemos estar concentrados en la practica, atentos al entorno, y practicar con sinceridad.

Morihei Ueshiba

2007-07-10T13:21:00.001-05:00

Videos de Morihei Ueshiba

YouTube - Aikido - O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba at Iwama

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba

YouTube - Budo : Aikido Ueshiba

La profesionalización del instructor de Aikido

2007-07-10T12:56:00.001-05:00

Una de las cosas que me llaman la atención al ver el registro videográfico de Ueshiba es el virtuosísimo del Aikido moderno, comparado con el original.

La famosa practica filmada por NHK consiste en técnica básica ejecutada con una contundencia terrible, pero sencilla y sin adorno alguno. En cambio, en la actualidad, los instructores de jerarquía muestran un refinamiento y elaboración técnica que no es aparente en los videos antiguos. Esta situación es una consecuencia natural de la profesionalización del instructor de Aikido, con todo lo que implica.

La profesionalización del instructor de Aikido era un tema controversial con los alumnos del Maestro, de los cuales por cierto ya no queda nadie, todos han muerto. Shirata, por ejemplo, aseveraba claramente que el instructor de Aikido debe ganarse su pan afuera de la enseñanza del camino. Que el enseñar es simplemente parte del proceso de aprender y comercializar el arte es comprometer su esencia. Por otro lado, los que fueron mandados al extranjero a evangelizar, en términos prácticos no tenían otra opción a vivir de su enseñanza.

Cuando estuve en Japón, mi instructor era un empleado del ferrocarril, y así todos los instructores locales; taxistas, ingeniero en sistemas, mecánico, ferretero. No conocí ningún instructor profesional con la excepción de los funcionarios de la Asociación, que en cierta forma confirmaban la regla, ya que su trabajo profesional era más bien administrativo y logístico, como es natural.

En México, el ambiente es totalmente distinto. El amateurismo en la práctica del Aikido, en forma o esencia, no es aparente, y la gente habla y se preocupa del concepto de linaje técnico. Recuerdo cuando regrese y empecé el club del ITESM. Un de los que llegaron me pregunto quien era el instructor, a lo que le conteste que no había y que la idea era aprender juntos. Se fue inmediatamente. Otro me pregunto retadoramente que quien era mi instructor. Lo cual me pareció muy extraño. ¿Pretendía el tipo conocer a todos los instructores del mundo? Le conteste que el Sr. Gohara, lo cual le sorprendió muchísimo al inquisidor. Me dijo con verdadera sorpresa que no sabía quien era. Entendí entonces que su expectativa era la mención de algún instructor profesional establecido.

El maestro Gohara vino a México y practico con nosotros por unos meses. Después de que se fue vinieron los Moreno y nos dieron un seminario. La técnica del maestro Gohara era sencilla y la de los Moreno barroca y espectacular. El maestro Gohara aplicaba su técnica de manera suave y gradual, adaptándose a la capacidad de uke de recibir la técnica. El Maestro Moreno invariablemente ejecutaba su técnica de manera rigurosa y con mucha fuerza, a veces rayando en la brusquedad. Uno de los alumnos percibió la situación de esta manera: El interés del maestro Gohara era que nosotros aprendiéramos, el de los Moreno verse bien.

YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - The Founder of Aikido (complete) 2 of 5

Se puede ganar en cualquier circunstancia.

2007-07-08T03:28:00.000-05:00

Una de las paradojas de la práctica de Aikido (合気道) es que enseña que se puede ganar en cualquier circunstancia.

Se puede usar un palo (杖) para controlar a una persona desarmada, pero una persona desarmada puede controlar a uno con un palo. Una persona puede controlar a 10. Esto último es extremadamente paradójico, porque esos 10 no son necesariamente una turba desordenada, sino bien pueden ser peladores competentes y coordinados. ¿Cuál es entonces la esencia de ganar?

En combate hay un elemento aleatorio importante y las ventajas tácticas tienen también su peso. Es mucho más probable que un grupo de sicarios armados con rifles de asalto AK y el elemento de sorpresa asesinen a una victima desarmada a que esta los despache estilo Steven Segal. Este ejemplo cotidiano nos permite explorar la cuestión. El momento de la emboscada en el crucero ya es demasiado tarde. El encuentro lo perdió la victima mucho antes.

Factores que determinan el resultado incluyen, antes que nada el estado de conciencia. Idealmente nuestra capacidad de percibir la realidad debe trascender procesos conscientes lineales, de tal manera que podamos intuir un resultado. Decía Ueshiba que durante su estancia en China podía percibir líneas de luz que marcaban trayectorias de balas. ¿Alucinaciones post-traumáticas? ¿Hipersensibilidad?

Otro elemento es la intención y las leyes del karma. Como dice la Biblia: El que a hierro mata, a hierro muere.

En todo el mundo animal, la criatura que defiende su espacio vital tiene un elemento de ventaja sobre cualquier agresor. Hay experimentos con peces agresivos que modifican su comportamiento, dependiendo si se sienten en su territorio o fuera de él. Mucho del entrenamiento militar esta dirigido a compensar esta realidad mediante los elementos de sorpresa y momento. Si el agresor despacha a su victima en el primer ataque sin perder la iniciativa, el costo para el agresor en términos de esfuerzo y daño recibido se minimizan. Pero si el atacado alcanza a recuperarse y se percibe en el derecho y necesidad de defender su posición, el costo para el atacante aumenta significativamente. Nuevamente el estado de conciencia y el estar en armonía con el entorno son factores clave.

Otro elemento es la fuerza del amor. El no absorber la furia y encono del atacante, sino re dirigirla con la intención de mostrarle que inevitablemente, la intención de destruir repercutirá en autodestrucción, independientemente de las incidencias del combate, porque todo y todos somos uno. Lastimar es lastimarse. Matar es suicidio.

Este último punto es problemático porque solo las criaturas más simples, pueden vivir sin la muerte. Hasta los árboles dependen de procesos de descomposición orgánica para sus nutrientes. El problema esta en la violencia y la intención.

Resumiendo, para ganar se necesita no pelear. No pelear no significa pasividad, sino al contrario, integración activa con el entorno y la percepción de las intenciones y necesidades de los otros, ante lo cual debemos actuar con amor de manera pro activa.

Glosario japonés-ingles

2007-07-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

In order to see the Japanese text within this post you will need a Japanese language pack installed for your choice of browser.

Aikidōka - 合気道家　(あいきどうか): Aikidō practitioner. The last kanji 家 (it can be read “ie” also) means family, house and, better, when used as a suffix, like here, it takes the meanings of: house; family; person; expert; -ist (sort of: Aikidō-ist).

And now let’s talk about directions:
Hō - 方　（ほう） [ho]: direction (example: shi-hō-nage = four-direction-throw)

Mae - 前 (まえ): front, before
Ushiro - 後 (うしろ): back, behind
Migi -　右　(みぎ): right
Hidari -　左　(ひだり): left
Omote -　表 (おもて): forward direction, or in the front side of the opponent
Ura - 裏 (うら): backward direction or in the rear side of the opponent

And let’s define the basic stance too:

Hanmi - 半身　(はんみ): half-facing stance. Composed by the two kanji 半 (はん, han) = half; 身 (み, mi) = body.

Or, the stance is also referred as:

Kamae - 構え　(かまえ): it comes from 構う [かまう] to mind; to care about; to be concerned about

Migi Hanmi - 右　半身　(みぎ　はんみ): right foot forward half-facing stance
Hidari Hanmi - 左　半身　(ひだり　はんみ): left foot forward half-facing stance
Gyaku Hanmi -　逆　半身　(ぎゃく　はんみ): opposite half-facing stance (one is in left stance and the other in right, for example)
Ai Hanmi -　相　半身　(あい　はんみ): same half-facing stance (both are either in left or right stance)

http://aikidude.wordpress.com/2006/10/06/glossary-updating/

Martial Arts Planet

A
ai (合)　meeting, harmony, unity, blending
aihanmi　(合半身） basic relation between partners: both have same foot forward (left or right),
aihanmi katatedori （合半身片手取り）wrist grip, right on right or left on left, also called kosadori
aiki （合気）Meeting one's ki or energy with that of the partner
aikibatto （合気抜刀）sword drawing exercises, solo or paired
aikibudo （合気武道）budo based on the aiki principle, earlier name for aikido
aikido （合気道）-The way through the life energy to harmony/unity
aikidoka （合気道家） - An aikido practicioner
aikido toho （合気道刀法）Nishio sensei's iaido school
Aikijinja （合気神社）the aikido temple in Iwama
aikijo （合気杖）aikido jo-staff exercises
aikijujutsu （合気柔術）name on the Daito ryu Martial art, also called aikijujutsu
Aikikai （合気会）organization and "label" for Ueshiba's aikido
aikiken （合気剣）aikido sword exercises
aikinage （合気投げ）aiki-throw, throwing technique
aiki no michi （合気の道）aikido (michi=do)
aikiotoshi （合気落とし）aiki-drop, throwing technique
aikitaiso （合気体操）aikido warm-up exercises
aite （相手）partner in training
arigato （有難う）thanks
arigato gozaimasu （有難う御座います）thanks for something going on
arigato gozaimashita （有難う御座いました）thanks for something completed
ashi （足）leg, foot
ate （当て）hit, strike
atemi （当身）strike to the body
awase （合わせ）harmonizing/blending movement
ayumiashi （歩み足）alternating footwork, like natural walking.

B
batto （抜刀）To draw the sword. Can also be an abbreviation of sword drawing arts or technique.
bo (棒）A staff. A staff of any length can be referred to technically as a bo, but usually this term refers to the 6' rokushakubo.
bokken （木剣）wooden training sword
bokuto （木刀）See bokken
budo （武道） Martial ways/the Japanese Martial arts
budoka （武道家）A practicioner of budo
bugei （武芸）Martial crafts. An older term still used in some circles
bugeisha （武芸者） A practicioner or exponent of martial crafts
bujutsu （武術） Martial arts
bukiwaza （武器技）weapons techniques

C
choku （直） direct
chokusen　（直線） Direct/Straight line
chokutsuki （直突き）direct strike with the jo, like a spear thrust.
chudan （中段）middle level, compare jodan and gedan
chudan no kamae （中段の構え）guard position with a weapon at belly height. Also known as Chudan gamae
chudan tsuki （中段突き）strike at belly/solar plexus, with weapon or empty hand

D
Daito ryu aikijujutsu　（大東流合気柔術） The main influence in Ueshiba O'sensei's formulation of aikido.
dan （段）level, black belt grade in budo
deshi （弟）student
do （道）way, also michi
dogi （道着）training dress, also keikogi
dojo （道場）training hall
dojo cho （道場長）head of a training hall
domo arigato gozaimasu （どうも有難う御座います）Thank you so much, for something going on
domo arigato gozaimashita （どうも有難う御座いました）thank you so much, for something completed
dori （取り） Suffix version of tori. To take, grab or catch.
dosa （動作） Exercise
doshu （道主）way leader, head of a budo. Lit. Master of a way.
dozo （どうぞ）please/proceed/by all means

G
gassho （合掌） The meeting of hands in respect to the kamiza and to the anscestors in the art.
gasshuku （合宿）Training camp, lodging together
gedan （下段） Low level, compare jodan and chudan
gedan barai （下段払い）Low sweeping block
gedan no kamae （下段の構え） Low level posture
go （五）Five
gokyo （五教）Fifth teaching, pinning technique
gomen nasai （ごめんなさい）Excuse me /Sorry
gyaku （逆）Reverse, opposite
gyaku hanmi （逆半身） Left side hanmi and can also refer to two partners in hanmi on different sides.
gyakuhanmi katatedori （逆半身片手取り）Wrist grip, right on left or left on right,
gyaku tsuki （逆突き）Thrust punch with opposing arm and leg forward,

H
hachi （八）　eight
hajime （始め） The verbal command to begin.
hakama （袴）traditional wide pants, used in aikido and other traditional budo.
hanmi （半身） half body
hanmi gamae （半身構え）angled guard position
hanza handachi （半座半立）sitting versus standing. A situation commonly found in Daito-ryu aikijujutsu, aikido and koryu bujutsu.
hantai （反対）opposed
happo （八方）eight directions,
hara （腹）stomach
harai/barai （払い）sweep away, parry
hasso gaeshi （八相返）jo-staff technique
hasso no kamae （八相の構え）guard with weapon at shoulder level
henka waza （変化技） Technique variations.
hidari （左） left (right: migi)
hiji （肘）elbow
hijidori （肘取り）grip on elbow
hijikime osae （肘極め押さえ）pinning technique, sometimes called rokkyo
hiki （引き） From the verb "hiku", to pull
hineri （捻り）Twist. From the verb "hineru".
hito e mi （一重身）making the body small, guard position, more triangular than hanmi
hiza （膝）knee
ho （法）method
ho （方）direction, side
hombu （本部）head quarters
Hombu dojo （本部道場）headquarters dojo

I

iaido （居合道）the art of drawing the Japanese sword
iaijutsu （居合術） older term for iai
iaito （居合刀）training sword, usually not sharpened
ichi （一）one
ichiban （一番）first, best
ikkyo （一教）first teaching, pinning technique
ikkyo undo （一教運動）exercise of the basic ikkyo movement
ipponken （一本拳）strike with one knuckle
irimi （入り身）in to the body, inwards
irimi nage （入り身投げ）entering throw, throwing technique
Iwama （岩間）the town in Ibarai prefecture, where Osensei had a dojo and a home.
Iwama ryu （岩間流）Saito Morihiro sensei's aikido style. Since Saito sensei's passing, his son, Saito Hitohiro formed the Shin Shin Aikishurenkai.

J

jiyu-geiko （自由稽古) free training or practice
jiyu waza （自由技）free technqiues
jo （杖）wooden polearm of roughly four feet in length.
jo awase （杖合わせ）jo exercises
jodan （上段）high level, compare chudan and gedan
jodan no kamae （上段の構え） High level posture, usually armed.
jodan tsuki （上段突き）thrust at head
jodori （杖取り）defense against jo-staff
jo-tai-jo　（杖対杖）jo vs. jo
jo-tai-ken　（杖対剣） jo vs. ken
ju （十）ten
ju （柔）soft, pliable, flexible, gentle
judo （柔道） the flexible way
jujigarami/jujinage （十字絡み・十字投げ）cross throw
jujutsu （柔術）the flexible/pliable art
junbi taiso （準備体操）warm-up exercises, also called aikitaiso
jun tsuki （順突き）strike with the same arm and leg forward, also called oitsuki, compare gyakutsuki
jutsu （術）technique/art

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kaeshi/gaeshi （返し）return, turn, reverse
kaeshi tsuki （返し突き）reverse strike with jo-staff
kaeshi waza （返し技）counter techniques
kai （会）club, association
kaiten nage （回転投げ）rotation throw, throwing technique
kaiten osae （回転押さえ）rotation pinning technique
kakae dori （抱え取り）embrace or bear hug
kakari geiko （掛り稽古）attackers in line, one after the other
kakudo （角度）angle
kamae/gamae （構え）guard position/posture
kami　（神） divinity/the gods
kamiza （神座）honorary place in a dojo,
kansetsu （関節）joint (on body)
Kashima Shinto-ryu （鹿島新当流）Koryu kenjutsu style that Ueshiba O'sensei and some of his uchideshi in Iwama trained in. Their names are historically recorded on the ryuha's eimeiroku (register).
kata （形）form, pre-decided movements
kata （肩）shoulder
kata dori （肩取り）shoulder grip
katadori menuchi （肩取り面打ち）shoulder grip followed by shomenuchi
katame waza （固め技）pinning techniques
katana （刀）the Japanese sword, also ken, to and tachi
katate （片手） Single handed
katate dori （片手取り）single handed wrist-grip
katate ryote dori （片手両手取り）grip with both hands, also called morotedori
keiko/geiko （稽古）training
keikogi （稽古着）training dress, also dogi
ken （剣）sword, also katana, to and tachi
kendo （剣道）Japanese modern sport focused fencing
ki （気）spirit, life energy
kiai （気合）gathered ki, usually used for shout in budo
kihon （気合）basics
kihon waza （基本）basic training
kikai tanden （気海丹田）the ocean of ki in the body's center
kime （決め）focusing
kimusubi （気結び）Tying one's ki to that of the partner
kinagare/ki no nagare （気の流れ）Ki flow.
kiri/giri （切り・斬り）Cut
kirikaeshi （切り返し）Returning cuts in kumitachi. Is also a training exercise in kendo & kenjutsu
kobudo （古武道）Older budo
kobujutsu （古武術） Older martial arts
kogeki （攻撃）attack
kogekiho （攻撃法）Attacking techniques
kokoro （心）Heart or mind, also pronounced shin
kokyu （呼吸）Breathing
kokyuho （呼吸法）Breathing exercise/breathing method
kokyu nage （呼吸投げ）Breath throw
kokyu ryoku （呼吸力）Breath power
koshi （腰）Hip
koshi nage （腰投げ）Hip throw
kote （小手）Wrist & forearm area
kote gaeshi （小手返し）Reversed wrist, throwing technique
kote hineri （小手捻り）Twisted wrist, sankyo
kote mawashi （小手廻し）Turned wrist, nikyo
ku/kyu （九）Nine
kubi （首）Neck
kubi shime （首絞め・首締め）Neck choke
kumi （組み）Group, set
kumijo （組杖）Jo-staff exercises, jo against jo
kumitachi （組太刀）Sword exercises, sword against sword
kumite （組手）Free sparring, not unlike judo randori.
kumi-uchi （組討）An older term for jujutsu. Some of the techniques in kumi-uchi are very similar to sumo.
kuzushi （崩し） To break balance
kyo （教） teaching
kyu （級）Grade before blackbelt

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M
ma-ai （間合）harmonious, balanced distance between training partners
mae （前）front, forward, compare ushiro
mae geri （前蹴）straight kick
mae ukemi （前受身）forward fall
makiwara （巻藁）target for hitting practice in karatedo
maru （丸）circle
mawashi （回し）revolving, turning
mawashi geri （廻蹴り）roundhouse kick
mawate （回って）Vocal order to turn
me （目）eye
men （面） Head area
Me Tsubushi （目潰） To distract the uke by attacking the eyes.
michi （道）way, also do
migi （右）right (left: hidari)
misogi （禊）purification, cleansing
mochi （持ち）hold/grip, also called dori
mochigata （持ち方） Ways of grabbing
mokuso （黙想）meditation,clearing of the mind
morote dori （諸手取り）grip with both hands, also called katate ryotedori
mu （無）nothing, empty
mushin （無心）empty mind
mudansha （無段者）trainee without dan grade, compare yudansha
mune （胸）chest
mune dori （胸取り）collar grip by the chest
musubi （結び）tie together - connection
nagare （流れ）flow, streaming. Also nagashi
nage （投げ）throw, also used for the one doing the aikido technique, compare tori

N
nage waza （投げ技）throwing techniques
nana （七）seven, also pronounced shichi
ni two
Nihon/Nippon （日本）Japan
nikyo （二教）second teaching, pinning technique
ninindori （二人取り）two attackers, also called futaridori , from the tasunindori exercises in Daito-ryu.
noto （納刀）resheathing of the sword into the scabbard
nukitsuke （抜き付け）drawing the sword, also called batto

O-r

O
obi （帯）belt
omote （表）front, surface
onegai shimasu （お願いします）please, asking for something
osae （押さえ）press down, pinning
osensei （翁先生）great teacher, in aikido Morihei Ueshiba
otagai ni rei （お互いに礼）bow to each others
otoshi （落とし）drop
oyo waza （応用）applied techniques, modified for efficiency

R
randori （乱捕り）
rei （礼）bow
reigi （礼儀）etiquette, also called reishiki （礼式） or reiho （礼法）
renshu （練習）training
renzoku （連続）continuous
renzoku uchikomi （連続打ち込み）jo-staff exercise
renzoku waza （連続技）consecutive techniques, a series of techniques
renraku waza　（連絡技） Combination techniques
ritsurei （立礼）standing bow
rokkyo （六教）sixth teaching, pinning technique, see hijikime osae
roku （六）six
ryo （両）both
ryotedori （両手取り）gripping both wrists
ryu （流）school, also ryuha （流派）or ryugi （流儀）

sabaki （捌き） movement/handling
san （三）three
sankaku （三角）triangle
sankakudai （三角体）triangle shape, position of the feet in hanmi
sankyo （三教）third teaching, pinning technique
sannindori/sanningake （三人取り・三人掛け）three attackers
sanpo （三方）three directions
saya （鞘）scabbard
seiki （生気）life energy
seiza （正座）correct sitting, sit on knees
sen no sen （先の先） initiating at the same instant as an attack
sensei （先生）one who has gone before - usually applied to a person leading a class in aikido
sensen no sen （先々の先）initiating before the attack begins.
shi （四）four, also pronounced yon
shiai （試合）competition or match, meaning to literally meet and test. The older meaning was a lot more serious; （死合） to meet with death.
shichi （七）seven, also pronounced nana
shidoin （指導員）instructor, middle title for aikido teacher, 4-5 dan
shihan （師範） Literally means teacher. Japanese practicioners who reach rokudan are automatically titled Shihan.
shiho （四方）four directions
shihonage （四方投げ）four directions throw, throwing technique
shihogiri （四方切り） Cutting in four directions, one of the kihon taught in aikiken.
shikaku （四角）square
shikko （膝行）knee walking
shime （絞め）choke
shin （心）heart, will, mind, also pronounced kokoro
shinken （真剣） A live Japanese sword. Also refers to being serious in modern day Japanese.
shinken shobu （真剣勝負） A life or death match. Teachers in Japan sometimes refer to shinken shobu keiko - Training as if your life depended upon it.
shinzen （神前） front of the gods, facing towards the kamiza.
shisei （姿勢）posture
shizentai （自然体）natural body posture
shodan （初段）first dan grade
shomen （正面）front of the head. Also, the front of the dojo where the kamiza is.
shomen ni rei （正面に礼）bow to head place of the dojo
shomenuchi （正面打ち）cut or blow to head
shoshinsha （初心者）beginner
shuto （手刀） sword hand
sode （袖）sleeve
sodedori （袖取り）sleeve grip
sodeguchidori （袖口取り）grip on the cuff of the sleeve
soto （外）outside, outer, compare uchi
soto deshi （外弟子）student who lives outside the dojo, compare uchideshi
soto kaiten （外回転）outer rotation, compare uchikaiten
soto uke （外受け）block from outside, compare uchiuke
suburi （素振り）basic exercises with sword or staff
suki （隙）opening or a weakness in one's technique or posture
sumi （隅）corner
sumikiri （隅きり）sharpness of body and mind
sumimasen　（すみません） excuse me/sorry
sumo （相撲）traditional Japanese wrestling
sutemi waza （捨て身技） Sacrifice techniques where you give away your position to exploit your opponent's vulnerability
suwari waza （座り技）seated training, also called suwate. In jujutsu, usually referred to as Idori （居捕）
suwatte waza （座って技）seated training, also called suwariwaza

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tachi （太刀）sword, also nihonto, ken and katana
tachi ai （立ち合い） training where both parties stand
tachidori (太刀取り) defense against sword. lit. "Sword taking"
tachi waza （立ち技）standing techniques
tai (体)body
taijutsu （体術）body techniques, unarmed techniques. Also another term used instead of jujutsu
tai no henko （体の変更）body turn, also called tai no tenkan
tai no tenkan （体の転換）body turn, also called tai no henko
tai sabaki （体捌き）body move, evasive movement in aikido
taiso （体操）exercises
takemusu （武産）improvised Martial art. The unification of mind, body and principle in aiki. "The spontaneous execution of limitless techniques".
takemusu aiki （武産合気）improvised Martial art through the principle of aiki
tameshigiri （試し斬り）cutting test with sword
tanden （丹田）body center, compare seika no itten
tanren （鍛錬）drilling to forge the spirit
tanto （短刀） Japanese style dagger
tantodori （短刀取り）defense against knife
tatami （畳）mat
te （手）hand
tegatana （手刀） sword hand. To use the hand to strike in sword-like movements.
tekubi （手首）wrist
tekubi osae （手首押さえ）pinned wrist, yonkyo
tenchi nage （天地投げ）heaven-earth throw, throwing technique
tenkan （転換）turn
tobikoshi （飛び腰）fall over hip, break fall
tori （取り・捕り）the one who takes, defender in aikido, also called nage and shite (Pronounced "Shtay" for you wiseguys out there!)
torifune （取り船）rowing exercise, also called funakogi undo
tsuba （鍔）sword guard
tsugiashi （次足）sliding step, back foot following and not passing front foot
tsuka （柄）sword hilt
tsuki （突き）to thrust with a weapon or empty hand

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U

uchi （打ち）to strike or hit
uchi （外）inside, within, inner, compare soto
uchi deshi （内弟子）student living in the dojo, compare sotodeshi
uchi kaiten （内回転）inner rotation, compare sotokaiten
uchi gata （打ち方）striking methods
uchikomi （打ち込み）hitting repeatedly
uchi uke （内受け）block from inside, compare sotouke
ude （腕）arm
ude kime nage （腕極め投げ）arm lock throw
ude nobashi （腕延ばし）extended arm, gokyo
ude osae （腕押さえ）pinned arm, ikkyo
uke （受け）the one receiving, attacker in aikido
uke （受け）block, parry
ukemi （受身）falling
undo （運動）exercise
ura （裏）backside, inside, reverse side, compare omote
uraken （裏拳）backfist strike
ushiro （後ろ）behind, backwards, compare mae
ushiro kiriotoshi （後ろ切り落とし）rear cutting drop, throwing technique
ushiro ukemi （後ろ受身）backward fall
ushiro waza （後ろ技）techniques from behind

W

waka sensei （若先生）young teacher, used in aikido for successor of Doshu
wakarimasen （分かりません）I do not understand
waki （脇）side
waki gatame　（脇固め） side armlock in jujutsu, similar to hiji shime
wakizashi （脇差）short sword, also called a kodachi （小太刀）
waza （技）technique, skill, training method

Y

yame （止め）verbal order to stop
yari （槍・鑓）spear
yoko （横）side, sideways, horizontal
yokomen （横面）side of the head
yokomenuchi （横面打ち）strike to the side of the head
yoko ukemi （横受身）side fall
yon （四）four, also pronounced shi, however is rarely used, since shi rhymes with the Japanese word for death （死）
yonkajo （四ヶ条）older term for yonkyo
yonkyo （四教）fourth teaching, pinning technique
yudansha （有段者）dan graded, compare mudansha

Z

za （座）seated, sit
zanshin （残心）remaining spirit, continued concentration. Awareness focused on the opponent after the execution of a technique.
zarei （座礼）sitting bow
zazen （座禅）sitting meditation, also called mokuso
zen （禅）a form of buddhism
zengo （前後） forward and back, front and rear
zori （草履）sandals

__________________

Como una piedra

2007-07-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

Uno de los aspectos sorprendentes y fundamentales del Aikido, 合気道, es la proyección de energía vital, 気.

Se pude ver en videos de Ueshiba como con una mano sostiene un jo, 杖, contra el que empujan 8 o 10 personas y no lo pueden mover.

En mis años de práctica una vez y solo una vez he experimentado algo parecido a eso. Después de que salí del ITESM, por algún tiempo continué yendo durante la mañana temprano a practicar. Iba de 6:30 a 8:00 en la mañana y regularmente solo asistía un estudiante. Era tranquilo, de baja estatura y robusto. Practicaba con entusiasmo y los ataques, cuando le tocaba hacer de aite (uke), 相手, los hacia con mucha fuerza e intensidad, entre probándose, probándome, y tratando de ser honesto. Siempre terminábamos con kokyu-hô, 呼吸法.

Al practicar kokyu-ho, cuando me toca hacer de uke, 受け, normalmente hago un truco o trampa que consiste en mantenerme relajado y ofrecer resistencia solo cuando tori, 取り, trata de moverme. En aquel memorable día me senté relajado, en la actitud que los chinos llaman de los ojos suaves y tome las muñecas de mi compañero sin verme las manos y empecé a esperar a que tratara de moverme. Paso más tiempo de lo normal sin que sintiera ningún intento por parte del estudiante por moverme y caí en la cuenta de que estaba dando su 100 % por moverme y yo ni siquiera lo sentía. Justo en el momento en que me di cuenta de lo que estaba pasando, perdí mi concentración de la sorpresa y tori pudo moverme. Ni antes, ni después he logrado ese estado mental de ser inamovible.

Cabe aclarar que la proyección de energía no es puramente mental sino que por supuesto se manifiesta en lo físico. En ocasiones en que me toman muestras de sangre puedo controlar el flujo de sangre por mi brazo proyectando mentalmente energía a través de mis dedos.

Proyección vital

2007-07-06T09:36:00.000-05:00

Desde tiempos ancestrales la naturaleza ha impresionado al ser humano con comportamientos que parecieran indicar a la existencia de alguna fuerza o presencia superior.

Por ejemplo:

La capacidad de la materia para interactuar a distancia, i.e., ondas electromagnéticas y gravedad.

La capacidad de los elementos, aire y agua, de pasar de un estado estático y tranquilo a otro de un fuerza y violencia incontenible, como tifones, tornados, tormentas.

La esencia indefinible pero evidente de la vida, comparada con las cosas inermes.

La capacidad de la actitud mental de alterar o inducir resultados.

La capacidad de algunas personas de controlar y dirigir multitudes.

El efecto de una situación de estrés en las capacidades físicas y mentales de las personas.

De estas observaciones surge el concepto de ki, 気. Es un concepto difícil de entender en parte porque en diferentes contextos y para distintas personas significa cosas distintas. Etimológicamente, el carácter 気 denota el vapor de arroz cocido. En Japón, el arroz es 米, pero al prepararlo como alimento se convierte en　御飯. Un término de respeto y agradecimiento. Entonces 気 se refiere a la esencia de la vida, la vitalidad fundamental. Se entiende como un fluido que permea todo. En este contexto los seres vivos son como receptores de radio que tienen la capacidad de sintonizar el 気 del universo.

En aikido （合気道）el punto de conexión con el 気 universal es el tanden （丹田). Los conceptos basicos para que fluya el 気 es estar relajado, con la mente tranquila, y el culo apretado, de tal manera que mente y cuerpo coinciden en un punto, el tanden （丹田).

¿Cómo es que practicar a matar lleva a la paz?

2007-07-05T18:37:00.000-05:00

Budo es aceptar el bien morir.

Antes de entrar en materia voy a divagar un poco para establecer el tono de lo que quiero trasmitir contando una historia vulgar y ancestral, tal vez milenaria.

En tiempo y circunstancia de escasez y frugalidad se casaron una viuda y un viudo, cada uno cargando sus hijos de la unión anterior. La mujer considero en su corazón que su deber de madre era dar prioridad a sus hijos sanguíneos sobre los políticos. Siendo escasa la comida, la mujer cocinaba todo en abundante agua, que no faltaba, y le daba a sus vástagos la masa y los otros el vil caldo. El resultado de este ejercicio es que, como lo nutrientes estaban disueltos en el agua, los que en realidad se llevaban la mejor parte eran los otros y no los estos. Como todo cuento popular este tiene muchas aristas pero aquí me interesa una: Nuestras fallas de percepción de la realidad a veces nos hacen despreciar lo esencial por lo superfluo.

He tenido la experiencia de escuchar a un cinta negra en Karate con 20 años de practica comparar superficialmente videos de Ueshiba con algún instructor del catalogo de Panther Productions. Para mi es como comparar a García Márquez con Corin Tellado en base a la manera en que agarran el lápiz.

En un sentido estricto en Aikido no hay ni posturas ni técnicas, pero si tomamos esa visión extrema es difícil estructurar una práctica y una curricula de desarrollo personal.

El problema de entender el sentido de la práctica no es fácil. He visto también practicantes experimentados y competentes, que en la expresión de su técnica son más bien rudos, hablar con arrogancia del amor y la armonía. Aquí puede ser simplemente que su nivel de desarrollo les permita ver cosas que yo no veo y que el sentimiento, una intuición, de que tal vez perdieron el camino, es más una muestra de mi ceguera.

A mí en lo personal me confunde el Orweliano

Ignorance is strength. War is peace. Freedom is slavery.

Hay un incidente, fundamental por cierto en la concepción del Aikido, que nos puede iluminar en esta cuestión.

Después de practicar con Takeda Sokaku, Ueshiba abrió un dojo, esto antes de que el Aikido como tal estuviera completamente conceptual izado, o tal vez, inclusive, concebido. Paso por ahí un militar que se sintió ofendido por lo que percibió como arrogancia por parte de Ueshiba al ofrecer una variante sobre las enseñanzas de Takeda.

Así que decidió darle una lección al descarado de su condiscípulo. Entro al dojo y amablemente reto a Ueshiba a un duelo con sables. Ueshiba acepto pero le dijo al militar que no usaría arma alguna. Esto encrespó más al militar que advirtió una vez más que la cosa iba en serio y que si Ueshiba se negaba a defenderse como quiera lo iba a matar.

El militar hizo su mejor intento por lastimar al maestro y este ni siquiera lo toco. Cuando por fin se canso el soldado, se disculpo y pidió su admisión al dojo. Después del incidente, Ueshiba se retiro al jardín a descansar donde experimento una revelación mística.

¿En que consistió exactamente esta experiencia mística? Es imposible decirlo, aún si la reprodujeramos, que no es el caso, seria imposible transmitirla. Solo se puede vivir individualmente. Pero si no podemos entrar a la mansión, la podemos admirar por fuera.

Un elemento es que Ueshiba percibió claramente la intención del visitante desde que entro al dojo y ocultaba sus intenciones de lastimar y decidió de manera pro activa no lastimarlo y mostrarle el camino de la paz.

Otro elemento es que Ueshiba acepto la muerte gratuita e insensata de manera absoluta e incondicional. Era mucho más sencillo y seguro incapacitar inmediatamente al militar que mostrarle el camino de la paz.

Otro elemento es que en cada uno de los ataques del militar, la verdadera iniciativa la tenía Ueshiba y terminaba en posición de control, y si no lo incapacitaba o mataba era por plena y clara auto restricción. Esto claro, es una suposición mía bajo el precepto de que en combate, tener la iniciativa es razón necesaria y suficiente para ganar, y si Ueshiba domino la situación desde el principio hasta el fin, siempre debió conservar la iniciativa. El Aikido no es reactivo, solo parece serlo al ignorante.

Ueshiba llego a ese estado de conciencia superior a través de la práctica del Budo, y a través de la practica de Budo quiso ayudar a otros a seguirlo, no porque sea El Camino, sino sencillamente porque era El Camino que el andaba.

Es cierto que cada uno y cada cual debe seguir su camino, pero eso no debe ser excusa para transgiverzar o trivializar el camino. Ver el Aikido como un catalogo de técnicas suavezonas para controlar borrachos es un visión muy limitada y desafocada del legado de un gran hombre.

Ueshiba insistio mucho en que el Aikido debe preservar la esencia del Budo y no ser practicado como un deporte. No porque el deporte sea malo, o inclusive inferior, sino porque son caminos que van a lugares distintos. El deporte es competencia. El Aikido es unión. El deporte es ganar y prevalecer. Budo es aceptar el bien morir.

El sentido de la practica

2007-07-05T17:09:00.000-05:00

Para aquellos cuya actividad, oficio, circunstancia, u ocupación requiere de matar, noquear, fractura, luxar, o controlar, su capacidad y método de pelea son herramientas de oficio. El guerrero debe poseer virtudes o características apropiadas a su rol como coraje, astucia, y sangre fría.

En muchas culturas, existen ritos de iniciación que fomentan y prueban estas cualidades y son requisito indispensable para una aceptación plena en la jerarquía social. Sin embargo, el estudio y práctica de técnicas de pelea no tienen una calidad mágica de creación de virtud o valor. Independientemente del rigor de un entrenamiento, el momento de la verdad, donde se puede conocer con certeza la capacidad de combate de un individuo, es la batalla misma.

Aparte del hecho general de que a través de la búsqueda de la perfección en cualquier actividad se puede crecer como persona, el aprender técnicas para lastimar o controlar, o si se quiere para no ser lastimado o controlado, no es un método particularmente propicio de desarrollo espiritual.

Gandhi recomienda abandonar el consumo de carne en la búsqueda del ser mejor pero advierte que el ser vegetariano en si mismo no quiere decir entender el sentido de la paz. De manera similar, aquel que ha estado en peligro mortal o ha causado destrozos y desasosiego, en algún momento de su vida puede llegar a una encrucijada donde súbitamente vea las cosas con naturalidad y claridad. Pero el usar sus ropas, imitar sus gestos, o copiar sus técnicas no nos va permitir repetir su experiencia.

Cuando estaba en el ITESM, un estudiante me hizo una pregunta, exactamente que no recuerdo, pero comente que el Aikido se manifestaba en tres niveles: físico, mental, y espiritual. La verdad, sin tener plena conciencia de lo que estaba diciendo. A la siguiente clase, se presento el estudiante, un poco después de empezar, con una guitarra. Pude percibir claramente su intención de ponerse a cantar para ayudarnos a salir de nuestros errores paganos.

Afortunadamente para todos, a la hora de la verdad le falto el coraje de sus convicciones o la certeza de tener razón y simplemente se retiro en silencio después de observar la práctica por un rato. La siguiente semana me explico que había estado involucrado con los Rosacruces, lo cual le había causado mucha confusión y conflicto interior y que ahora que había reencontrado a Dios mi mención de espiritualidad lo había espantado sobremanera ya que no quería involucrarse nuevamente con cultos místico-religiosos.

Entre las apologías comunes que uno puede encontrar en Internet en el material introductorio de centros de práctica que se autodenominan de Aikido las omnipresentes son racionalizaciones de la aparente inefectividad del Aikido y el aparente sentido religioso de la rutina de práctica.

En la cuestión de la efectividad, hay alguna variedad dependiendo del temperamento del instructor entre:

No pero si; Si pero no; Depende; Solo para controlar gente (locos, borrachos, familiares neuróticos, etc.) sin lastimarla.

En la cuestión de la religiosidad hay unanimidad:

Claro que no, es simple cortesía a la japonesa.

Aquí la variedad es en cuanto a lo que esto significa: Un verdad a medias; una mentira; Un mal entendido.

La palabra Aikido ha sido secuestrada por muchos, desde los que tienen algún grado de asociación con su historia, linaje, e ideas hasta los viles piratas oportunistas. En consecuencia Aikido significa todo y nada a la vez.

En términos de lo que Ueshiba entendía por Aikido, su sentido profundo y último se lo llevo el maestro con el a su tumba, pero el mensaje básico esta documentado:

Vive en armonía contigo mismo y con lo que te rodea.

Primero trabaja en ser mejor persona tu mismo, luego en ayudar que los que te rodean, y finalmente en contribuir a un mundo mejor.

Pon atención a las necesidades de los demás, en la medida de lo posible y en contexto del bien común, ayúdalos a satisfacerlas.

Tú eres una manifestación de Dios y debes buscar conectarte con tu naturaleza divina.

Para Ueshiba, la practica diaria si es una experiencia mística-religiosa. Pero una cosa es el mensaje de Ueshiba y otra distinta las interpretaciones de sus distintos alumnos que se encargaron de difundirlo y expresarlo. La variedad de interpretación no es solo por las diferencias de temperamento y espiritualidad entre los individuos involucrados. Más aún porque el Aikido no es es un un conjunto estático y bien definido de preceptos sino una nube difusa y dinámica que fue cambiando y tomando diferentes formas en la vida del Maestro. Las ideas y métodos de entrenamiento a los que fueron expuestos aquellos que practicaron con el Maestro en los 1930s son otra realidad distinta y casi desconectada a las enseñanzas de los 1960s.

Por ejemplo, para Shioda, que se formo en los años de la segunda guerra mundial, de la cual fue veterano con experiencia en el frente de batalla, el Aikido es Bujitsu, un método de combate. Debido a la diferencia básica de interpretación, Shioda se separo y formo su versión de Aikido, Yoshinkan Aikido, el cual forma parte de la curricula de entrenamiento de las policías y fuerzas armadas japonesas. Otros, como Tohei, se enfocaron en aspectos internos de desarrollo de la energía vital o ki.

La Asociación de Aikido se quedo con aquellos que no tenían una visión clara y definida que pudiera entrar en conflicto con la línea oficial. Sin embargo, la necesidad de crecer y sustentar una base regular de participantes ha echo que consideraciones mercadotécnicas tomen precedencia en la manera de como se presenta el Aikido. Sin llegar a ocultar o negar el significado espiritual que Ueshiba le daba a la practica, este se desenfatiza y se presenta el Aikido como una experiencia estética, de higiene mental, religiosamente neutra. Esto no es falso, pero ... ¿Cual es la esencia del Aikido y el propósito de su practica? Se los dejo de tarea.

El olvidado

2007-07-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

Se cerro el viejo sitio

La pagina en Angelfire ya estaba llena de ligas muertas y se cerro. Ahora esta re-direccionada a este blog. Tal vez publique en ingles ahí pero se ve limitada la interfaz. Primero tengo que encontrar como respaldar el sitio (RSS?)

Aikido 3D

2007-07-02T23:32:00.000-05:00

La idea de aplicar las técnicas de los videojuegos a la creación de material didáctico se nos puede ocurrir a muchos pero hace falta disciplina para llevarla bien a la práctica.

Solo he visto el demo en el sitio pero Aikido 3D se ve como un trabajo serio e interesante. Cuando estuve en Filadelfia fui un día al dojo de Donovan y me pareció una buena persona y asumo que el material es bueno.

El equipo de producción tambien tiene material de TKD con campeones olimpicos.

El CD vale 55 dólares y se puede bajar el material directamente de Internet

Professor Yamashita Goes to Washington

2007-07-02T23:23:00.000-05:00

Journal of Combative Sport, Oct 2000

By Joseph R. Svinth

What if we made our judo known abroad? Wouldn’t it be a great thing which would allow us to get people to know Japan better? …What do hardships
matter? For any pioneer, it is not a matter of harvesting, but of sowing.

-- Yoshiaki (Yoshitsugu) Yamashita, circa 1887

In 1902, a wealthy Seattle businessman named Sam Hill was routinely working ten hours a day, six days a week. This prolonged absence caused his nine-year old son to turn "sickly," as being spoiled and selfish was then known. Rather than spend more time with the boy, Hill decided that judo, which he had seen demonstrated during a recent business trip to Japan, would be just the thing to imbue young James Nathan Hill "with the ideals of the Samurai class, for that class of men is a noble, high-minded class. They look beyond the modern commercial spirit."

Hill therefore asked I. Shibata, a Japanese friend living in New Haven, Connecticut, to find him a good judo teacher. In February 1903, Shibata told Hill of a Professor Yoshiaki (Yoshitsugu) Yamashita of Tokyo. [EN1]

Yamashita was born in Kanazawa City, in Ishikawa Prefecture, on February 16, 1865. The son of a minor samurai, he received some martial art training as a youth. In August 1884 he became the nineteenth member of Jigoro Kano’s Kodokan Dojo, where he began studying the jujutsu style that later became known as judo.

Yoshiaki Yamashita, early 1930s.

Photo courtesy of the Joseph R.
Svinth collection.

Despite all the stories about how it took years to get rank in the old days, Yamashita earned his 1-dan ranking after just three months at Kano’s school. Subsequent promotions continued apace, and he received his 4-dan after just two years. He was further promoted to 6-dan in 1898, and, upon his death in October 1935, he became the first person to receive posthumous promotion to 10-dan. Highly educated and urbane – he spoke good English and wrote beautiful Japanese – Yamashita quickly became a top-notch instructor. His postings included the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and Tokyo Imperial University.

Yamashita’s skill was not solely theoretical, either. He was a member of the Kodokan teams that wrestled the Tokyo police jujutsu club in 1883 and 1884, and in 1946, the British judo pioneer E.J. Harrison, who studied judo at the Kodokan around 1905, told the following stories of Professor Yamashita’s practical fighting skills in the Budokwai Quarterly Bulletin:

It chanced that some years before I joined the Kodokwan Yamashita and a friend were assaulted by seventeen coolies in a Tokyo meat-shop – a sort of popular restaurant. Although some of the coolies were armed with knives the gang were dispersed in a twinkling, three of them with broken arms and all with bruised and battered faces. [EN2]
As fast as one of the two experts artistically ‘downed’ his man the other would pick the victim up like an empty sack and dump him unceremoniously in the street. The only evidence of the conflict on the side of the two experts took the form of skinned knuckles where the latter had come in contact with the coolies’ teeth. On another occasion Yamashita fell foul of a coolie in the upper room of a restaurant and promptly threw him downstairs.
The coolie returned to the fray with fourteen comrades, but Yamashita calmly sat at the head of the stairs and as fast as the coolies came up in single file, owing to the narrowness of the passage, he simple choked them in detail and hurled them back down again. In the excitement of the moment he was rather rougher than was strictly necessary, and so broke one man’s neck. The rest fled in terror, carrying off their dead and wounded. Yamashita was arrested, but as he was easily able to prove that he had been one man against fifteen he was, of course, acquitted. Nevertheless, the Kodokwan temporarily suspended him for his conduct, which was deemed unduly violent.

Hill knew none of this, however. All he knew was that his friend in Connecticut said that Yamashita was a good judo teacher, that judo was supposed to build character in boys, and that his son James Nathan was badly in need of stronger character. So Hill wrote Yamashita on July 21, 1903, saying:

My dear sir: --

Referring to the correspondence between Mr. I. Shibata and myself regarding your coming to America, I beg to state that I am now ready to carry out my proposition to you as made in February last.

My son will be next year in the city of Washington, D.C., from the first of October on. I have arranged so that if you will call at the office of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha [Japan Mail Lines] [EN3] in Tokyo they will furnish you transportation for yourself and your wife from Yokohama and Seattle, and I will pay for same. The steamship ‘Shinano Maru’ leaves Yokohama on the 22nd of September. If possible, I should like you to sail at that time. I shall, of course, furnish you with a railroad ticket from Seattle to Washington, D.C. for yourself and wife as well.

I am greatly interested in this matter and believe that you will do well, and I am very anxious that my boy should learn the art.

Trusting that you will be able to come to America and that I may hear from you at earliest moment to that effect.

To which Yamashita responded on August 26, 1903:
Your letter dated 21st July is duly at hand and I greatly appreciate your kindness in furnishing transportation for myself and my wife.

In reply to your favor I am very glad to inform you that we are ready to start for America on the 22nd of September on board ‘Shinano Maru’ as you so kindly arranged for us.

I had been much bothered about how to show you the true art of our ‘jujutsu’ before accepting your proposition because I was afraid that there is no Japanese resident there who is able to show you the art as my opponent, but fortunately I have got a young Japanese gentleman, one of my pupils who is very clever and whose father is a judge of the Tokyo Supreme Court, who voluntarily applied to go to America with us at his own expense which I have gladly consented to.

Asking you to give our kindest regards to Mrs. Samuel Hill and your son.

So, on September 23, 1903 the 38-year old Yamashita, his 25-year old wife Fude, and his 19-year old assistant Saburo Kawaguchi boarded the SS Shinano Maru in Yokohama. Since Hill was paying his fare, Yamashita traveled first-class. On the other hand, Kawaguchi traveled second-class, doubtless because his father was paying his way. Still, neither man traveled steerage. So when they arrived in Seattle fifteen days later Yamashita proudly told immigrations officials that he was a professor hired to teach "jujitsu" to Mr. Hill’s children. Kawaguchi just as proudly proclaimed himself Professor Yamashita’s assistant.

On Saturday, October 17, 1903 Yamashita and Kawaguchi gave a judo exhibition at the Seattle Theatre. This was a private show, not a public one; the theater was between shows, and Hill hired it for the evening. Guests included Sam Hill’s mother-in-law Mary Hill (wife of railroader J.J. Hill, the man of whom it was said, "In the West there are many mountains, but only one Hill,"), Senator Russell Alger (a Republican from Michigan, and a former Secretary of War), and several Seattle sports writers. So far as I know, this was the first time Kodokan judo was shown to a non-Japanese audience in North America. (Since journalist H. Irving Hancock had begun studying jujutsu in New York City as early as 1896, this statement refers solely to Kodokan judo.)

During his show, Yamashita told the audience that judo was a word meaning "victory by pliancy or yielding." What this meant, he was quoted in the Post-Intelligencer as saying, was that:

When the opponent in a hand-to-hand conflict exerts the greatest muscular power he is easiest to overcome, for the expert in judo, by a subtle trick of yielding, converts the antagonist’s momentum into his own destruction. The unfortunate leans too far, loses his balance, and swift as lightning the adept exerts one of his peculiar holds on the neck or arm...

Furthermore, judo was an exercise in Social Darwinism:

Only the fittest survive, and the life of each master is a long struggle for supremacy. The devotees of the science and the art say that the same stern principles exhibited in the physical practice are carried into the moral precepts… Only a few reach that stage, the majority stopping at physical development and the lessons of honesty and sobriety.

Speeches done, Yamashita and Kawaguchi demonstrated various throws and holds for the crowd. People seeing such demonstrations for the first time invariably thought that they were prearranged gymnastics rather than real wrestling. Sportswriter Ed Hughes of the Seattle Times, for example, wrote in January 1912 that:

Sam Hill years ago brought over some jiu-jitsu experts from Japan and showed them at the Seattle Theatre… The Japanese Mr. Hill brought over here used to give clever exhibitions, but it was exhibition stuff purely. It was not the real thing.
Doubtless thinking the same thing, Hill quietly arranged for Yamashita to meet someone who was not part of his personal troupe. After all, he wanted a jujutsu teacher, not an acrobat. Toward this end, Hill arranged a bout with some professional wrestlers in Seattle. When the wrestlers failed to appear, he substituted a guest named C.E. Radclyffe, a 210-pound Englishman who was a properly trained amateur boxer. According to the British wrestling writer Percy Longhurst, writing in Superman Magazine in May 1936, "Here is what the boxer has to say about the encounter:"

‘I confess I have never been up against such a slippery customer as the little Jap. To land him fairly on the head or body was impossible. He avoided punishment by falling backwards or forwards, and once even passed between my legs, almost throwing me as he did so, and recovering his feet behind me in time to avoid a vicious back-hand swing. I tried everything, from straight punches to ‘windmill’ swings, but he was too good for me. Once he had come to close quarters a certain fall for me was the result. After taking three or four heavy tosses, I had had enough of it, having due regard to the fact that I had an hour or so before just got through a long and good dinner.’

His worries about the Professor’s abilities gone, Hill then took his Japanese to the District of Columbia to meet James Nathan Hill. What James Nathan thought of the Professor and his judo is unknown, but as James Nathan was notoriously lazy, what he had to say about it is probably better imagined than repeated.

For Yamashita, the trip east was hardly wasted. For one thing, he got to see a lot of railroads along the way, which after all may have been one reason for the trip in the first place. (Yamashita’s sponsors included several leading Japanese industrialists.) For another, he had no trouble finding a job teaching judo to the children of the Washington elite. While his regular students were mostly rich men’s daughters -- Irving Hancock’s Physical Training for Women by Japanese Methods (1904) was then quite fashionable -- he didn’t mind, as according to an article in the New York World, Yamashita’s only requirement in his judo classes was "an absolute good temper." His wife was equally fortunate, and her students included the
daughters of the Democratic vice-presidential candidate and a former governor of Mississippi. [EN4]

While in the District of Columbia, Professor Yamashita gave some lessons at the Japanese Legation. The Japanese naval attaché, Lieutenant Commander Isamu Takeshita, was from a samurai family and knew a good thing when he saw it – in 1926, he persuaded aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba to move to Tokyo, and in 1935 he introduced aiki budo, as aikido was then known, into the United States. [EN5] So it is hardly surprising that in March 1904, he also arranged for Professor Yamashita to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt in the White House.

As Roosevelt put it in a letter to his sons, he believed in "rough, manly sports" so long as they did not "degenerate into the sole end of one’s existence… character counts for a great deal more than either intellect or body in winning success in life." And he thought he knew all about jujutsu. After all, in 1902, his wrestling instructor, a Philadelphia policeman named James J. O’Brien, had shown him some tricks he had learned in Japan. (O’Brien had been a constable at Nagasaki's Umegasaki Station from 1895 to 1899, so the instruction was legitimate.)

According to an article published in Literary Digest in August 1927, O’Brien began his demonstration by showing Roosevelt some technical illustrations. Suddenly Roosevelt stopped at a photo of a woman sticking her stiffened fingers into a man’s eyes.

A little worried lest this maneuver should make an unfavorable impression, the Captain [O’Brien] stammered:

‘Mr. President, a dangerous situation requires a desperate defense. That was invented to give a woman protection against a thug who suddenly attacked her.’

Colonel Roosevelt’s response, according to a writer in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, was reassuring.
‘I think, Captain,’ he is reported to have said, ‘that this is the best thing in your repertory.’

No matter. What Yamashita showed was a complete system rather than a few simple tricks. And, despite what everyone thought, his acts were not prearranged: they were that good. Therefore, in the words of the New York World, Yamashita and his partner "caused Mr. Roosevelt to quit winking and gasp. They showed him what jiu-jitsu really is and they were engaged on the spot."

Although The World reported that there were seven degrees in jiu-jitsu, and Roosevelt intended to have at least five of them, Roosevelt’s primary goal in all this was not rank, but weight reduction. Since becoming President, his weight had soared to over 220 pounds, and he hoped to be down to 200 by the elections. So, during March and April 1904, Roosevelt practiced judo three afternoons a week, using a ground floor office in the White House as his workout space. Then, for the rest of the summer, he practiced occasionally. He stopped training during the elections, and there is no record showing that he resumed his studies afterward.

The President’s training partners included his sons, his private secretary, the Japanese naval attaché, Secretary of War William Howard Taft, and Secretary of the Interior Gifford Pinchot. When these people were unavailable, then Roosevelt tried his tricks on husky young visitors. The latter included Robert Johnstone Mooney, who with his brother visited the White House on the afternoon of Thursday, August 18, 1904. According to an article published in The Outlook in October 1923, Mooney’s brother was a noted amateur boxer. So, after doing a little sparring with the two young men, Roosevelt:

sprang to his feet and excitedly asked: ‘By the way, do you boys understand
jiu-jitsu?’

We replied in the negative, and he continued, pounding the air with his arms, ‘You must promise me to learn that without delay. You are so good in other athletics that you must add jiu-jitsu to your other accomplishments. Every American athlete ought to understand the Japanese system thoroughly. You know’ – and he smiled reminiscently – ‘I practically introduced it to the Americans. I had a young Japanese – now at Harvard [A. Kitagaki] – here for six months, and I tried jiu-jitsu with him day after day. But he always defeated me. It was not easy to learn. However, one day I got him – I got him – good and plenty! I threw him clear over my head on his belly, and I had it. I had it.’

Then, to prove his point, Roosevelt demonstrated his techniques on the Mooneys using considerably more enthusiasm than control. Professor Yamashita remarked the same problem, of course. According to an American journalist named Joseph Clarke, Yamashita later said that while Roosevelt was his best pupil, he was also "very heavy and very impetuous, and it had cost the poor professor many bruisings, much worry and infinite pains during Theodore’s rushes to avoid laming the President of the United States."

The president probably agreed with these statements. For example, on March 5, 1904 he wrote his son Kermit:

My throat is a little sore, because once when one of them had a stranglehold I also got hold of his windpipe and thought I could perhaps choke him off before he could choke me. However, he got ahead.

A month later, he wrote his son Theodore Jr.:

I am very glad I have been doing this Japanese wrestling, but when I am through with it this time I am not at all sure I shall ever try it again… I find the wrestling a trifle too vehement for mere rest. My right ankle and left wrist and one thumb and both great toes are swollen sufficiently to more or less impair their usefulness, and I am well mottled with bruises elsewhere. Still I have made good progress, and since you have left they have taught me three new throws that are perfect corkers.

Yamashita left Washington around May 1904. Apparently someone – probably Hill or Roosevelt -- had suggested that he teach judo to Harvard football players, thereby reducing their risk of death or serious injury. But this never occurred, as at the insistence of President Roosevelt, Yamashita instead took a position teaching judo at the US Naval Academy.

Yamashita started at the Naval Academy in January 1905. Training took place Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. He earned $1,666 for the semester, but had to pay his own assistants. The class had about 25 students.

While teaching these classes Yamashita constantly stressed that what he taught was a gentlemanly art rather than something done by ruffians or professional wrestlers. Opinions regarding the quality of his instruction varied widely. According to the Army and Navy Journal for February 18, 1905 some believed "it was the best possible means of physical training, while others regard it of little value, indeed, of positive harm as inculcating unfair and unsportsmanlike ideas of physical contests."

Such debates occurred throughout North America during 1905. Much of the debate was engendered by the Russo-Japanese War, in which Japanese propagandists routinely attributed their successes to military judo training. And Irving Hancock and Robert Edgren, a pair of journalists who were touting the wrestling skills of a jujutsu man named Katsukuma Higashi, engendered more. [EN6] While the latter grossly exaggerated Higashi’s actual ability – he lost in three straight falls to an American wrestler named George Bothner in April 1905, and in minutes to a British judoka named Yukio Tani in November 1905 – the hype generated much controversy. Wanting to know the answer for himself, on Thursday, February 23, 1905 the President arranged a private match between Professor Yamashita and a middleweight catch-as-catch-can wrestler named Joseph Grant. In a letter to his son Kermit, Roosevelt described the outcome:

Grant did not know what to do except to put Yamashita on his back, and Yamashita was perfectly content to be on his back. Inside of a minute Yamashita had choked Grant, and inside of two minutes more he had got an elbow hold on him… [Still,] Grant in the actual wrestling and throwing was about as good as the Japanese, and he was so much stronger that he evidently hurt and wore out the little Japanese.
Meanwhile the US Army also expressed interested in learning if judo had as much merit in military training as the Japanese propagandists claimed. Toward answering this question, Brigadier General Albert L. Mills and Captain Frank W. Coe of the Military Academy and Captain Peyton C. March of the Army’s Bayonet and Sword Committee visited Annapolis on Saturday, March 4, 1905. [EN7] After meeting with Commander William F. Halsey, Sr. and Surgeon Edward S. Bogert, Jr. of the Naval Academy, the officers observed a demonstration given by Yamashita and his midshipmen. Afterward their official report said that:

jiu-jitsu is not of great value as a means of physical development, but that the possession of a knowledge of this system would inspire the individual with a degree of self-confidence; hence it is recommended that jiu-jitsu be incorporated in the [physical training] course with boxing and wrestling.

As it turned out, the Military Academy hired a retired world champion wrestler named Tom Jenkins instead, and never once regretted the decision.

Three weeks later Yamashita, Kitagaki, and Midshipmen McConnell, Piersol, Ghormley, and Heim gave their first public judo demonstration. [EN8] While the crowd watched politely, it greatly preferred the boxing and wrestling shows that followed. A second show given in May 1905 met an equally cool response. Said the Army and Navy Journal afterward:

While some of the holds were undoubtedly serviceable if procured, the contestants worked together in such a way as to give no indication that the Americans had learned anything that would be of real use to them in a tight place. Exhibitions were given of how to stop an opponent who hit, kicked, or rushed, but it was noticeable that the man on the defense… [had an] understanding of the particular attack he had to meet and received his opponent as prearranged.

Although disappointed by this response, Yamashita left Annapolis in June fully expecting to be rehired in the fall, and the only judo he did publicly during the summer of 1905 was for a Russo-Japanese War benefit held at the Lafayette Theatre in Washington, DC on June 30. His partner in this demonstration was Saburo Koshiba of Tokyo. Then, come October, the Naval Academy told Yamashita that it had no money for a judo program and that his services were no longer required.

Understandably upset, Yamashita complained to friends at the Japanese Legation that he had turned down several jobs during the summer, thinking that the Navy would be rehiring him in the fall. And, as this left him with insufficient funds for another year in America, he began making plans to return to Japan.

About the same time that Yamashita was packing his bags, President Roosevelt happened to ask the Japanese ambassador how his former judo teacher was doing. Upon hearing the answer, the President asked the Secretary of the Navy if there was some reason that Yamashita should not be rehired for at least one more year. As Secretary Charles J. Bonaparte could not think of a reason he cared to tell the President, he immediately sent a letter to the new Superintendent of the Naval Academy, Rear Admiral James H. Sands, asking him to "please take the necessary steps to comply with the wishes of the President." As one would expect, Admiral Sands in turn wasted no time telling his staff to find a way of funding the President’s judo program.

Within two weeks the Naval Academy staff had designed a curriculum and moved $1,700 into the appropriate budget. Admiral Sands then asked Yamashita to please come by his office in Annapolis "to arrange for the course of instruction in Judo." On December 4, 1905, Admiral Sands signed a contract with Yamashita in which the latter was to give fifty one-hour lessons at $33.33 per lesson. The class was taught during the first half of 1906. On May 6, 1906 Admiral Sands wrote the Navy Department to say that the course had been completed, but suggested that it not be repeated in 1907, as it was the opinion of both himself and his staff that "a knowledge of Jiu-jitsu is not of great value to those who are being prepared for a life on shipboard." President Roosevelt once again begged to differ, and so money was allocated for the purpose of bringing Yamashita back for a third year. But following the end of the 1906 academic year Yamashita left the United States for Japan, and on July 24 he attended an important judo conference held in Kyoto. His absence was hardly remarked by the US Navy, which did nothing more with judo until 1943. [EN9]

Meanwhile, back in Seattle, Sam Hill was annoyed. He had brought Yamashita to America to teach judo to his son, and then the Professor had deserted James Nathan for that damned cowboy in the White House. So, for the rest of his life, Hill would complain to anyone who would listen that Roosevelt had "taken away from Harvard my judo man without my permission or even asking."

And with that proclamation, Kodokan judo quit being of much interest to Seattle’s elite, and instead became something done almost entirely by the sons of Japanese immigrants.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Financial support from the Japanese American National Museum and King County Landmarks and Heritage Commission contributed to the completion of this article.

The assistance of Richard Bowen, Alice S. Creighton (US Naval Academy, Nimitz Library, Special Collections), Wallace Dailey (Harvard College Library, Theodore Roosevelt Collection), Shinji Kozu, William J. Long, Judith Sibley (US Military Academy Archives, Special Collections), Robert W. Smith, and David Waterhouse is also gratefully acknowledged.

ENDNOTES

EN1. The ideogram used to write Yamashita’s first name could be transliterated as Yoshitsugu, Yoshiaki, or Yoshikazu. In Kodokan documents it is usually transliterated Yoshiaki, but his passport in 1903 read Yoshitsugu.

EN2. The assault was probably politically motivated. In Revue Judo Kodokan, II (September 1952), 125, Kainan Shimomura wrote, "Yokoyama and Yamashita, the pioneers of Judo,
were appointed Professors to the State Police Force, following on a Gala of Budo (martial arts) during which different Schools of Jujutsu opposed one another, but the numerous Societies of the ancient Jujutsu, which continued to exist, despised the ‘Judo of Kodokan’ at the bottom of their hearts. Encounters between Professors of the State were the exception. However
public opinion got so worked up that in January 1891 an inter-group combat took place…"

EN3. On August 31, 1896, the steamer SS Miike Maru became the first NYK ship to enter Puget Sound. The ship carried 186 tons of cargo and one steerage passenger to Seattle and on its return to Japan carried six first-class and 33 steerage passengers. Thus the arrival of the NYK initially reduced Seattle’s Japanese population by 9%! For further
details, see http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/centennial/january/partners.html.

EN4. For details, see "Jiu-Jitsu for Women: Sandow's Magazine," http://ejmas.com/jalt/jaltframe.htm.

EN5. See Stanley Pranin's article at http://omlc.ogi.edu/aikido/talk/osensei/bio/mori4.html
and Joseph Svinth, "Aikido Comes to America, September 1935," at Volume I of Journal of Combative Sport at http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsframe.htm.

EN6. See, for example, "The Fearful Art of Jiu-Jitsu" by Robert Edgren at http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsframe.htm.

EN7. In March 1918, Peyton C. March became Chief of Staff, US Army, a position he held until retirement in January 1921. Frank W. Coe became the Chief of Coast Artillery in May 1918, a position he held until retirement in March 1926. For a biographical sketch and portrait
of General March, see http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/cg&csa/March-PC.htm.

EN8. Between 1881 and 1906, sixteen Japanese attended the US Naval Academy. A. Kitagaki, however, failed to gain admission because in 1906 Congress passed laws that prohibited the Academy from accepting foreign students. Robert L. Ghormley of Moscow, Idaho played three years of varsity football at the Academy. He was supreme commander of Allied naval forces during the Guadalcanal campaign of 1943 and retired as a vice admiral in 1946. Philadelphia’s William Burton Piersol was injured while playing football at the Academy and resigned immediately following graduation. He then got a job designing propellers for various marine firms and served as a commander during World War II. Riley Franklin McConnell of Gate City,
Virginia was the heaviest man in his class at the Academy. His sports included football, track, and what the school yearbook, the Lucky Bag, called "jui jitsu." He retired as a commander in 1924. Finally, Schuyler Franklin Heim of Plymouth, Indiana was the Academy lightweight wrestling champion. Lucky Bag 1907 said that Heim looked "like a Jap, and can beat all
comers at the art of Judo, which he asserts is more refined than Jiu Jitsi [sic], because it is sure death." He retired as a commodore in 1946, and is commemorated by the Terminal Island Bridge in Long Island, California that carries his name.

EN9. The Department of the Navy’s subsequent interest in judo dates to February 1943, and a contest in which a 143-pound judoka choked a 200-pound professional wrestler unconscious in 1 minute, 20 seconds. For a description of that contest, see Joseph R. Svinth, "Judo Battles Wrestling: Masato Tamura and Karl Pojello," Furyu, The Budo Journal, 3:2 (Summer/Autumn 1999), 30-36, 72.

JCS
Oct 2000

Vocabulario básico de Aikido

2007-07-02T23:19:00.000-05:00

Vocabulario

* AGATSU Victoria sobre uno mismo. De acuerdo con el fundador, victoria verdadera. (MASAKATSU) es AGATSU, entonces MASAKATSU AGATSU
* AIKIDO Ai armonía, Ki vitalidad, Do camino
* AIKIDOKA Persona que practica AIKIDO, tiene la connotación de experto y por lo tanto no se debe usar para referirse a uno mismo.
* AIKIKAI Asociación de Aikido creada por Morihei Ueshiba
* AI HANMI Guardias iguales para UKE y NAGE
* AI NUKE Escape mutuo. Nadie sale lastimado
* AI UCHI Muerte mutua, los dos AITEs mueren. Tradicionalmente en las artes marciales se consideraba el estado ideal. Espíritu de IKKYO OMOTE por ejemplo.
* ASHI SABAKI Desplazamientos de pies
* ATEMI Golpe con el propósito de distraer
* BOKKEN o BOKUTO Espada de madera
* BUDO El camino de las artes marciales
* CHOKUSEN Directo, eg. CHOKUSEN NO IRIMI
* CHUDAN Nivel medio
* CHUSHIN Centro
* DAN Grado de cinta negra
* DO camino
* DOJO El lugar de practica
* DOJO CHO Director técnico
* DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMASHITA Muchas gracias por lo que hiciste.
* DOSHU Máxima autoridad del IAF, Kisshomaru Ueshiba.
* FUDO SHIN Mente inmovible
* FUKUSHIDOIN Instructor asistente
* FURI KABURI Movimiento de levantar la espada, IKKYO
* GEDAN posición baja GEDAN NO KAMAE
* GI, DOGI, KEIKOGI Ropa para practica
* GYAKU HANMI Posturas opuestas
* HAKAMA faldón usualmente para grados DAN
* HANMI Postura triangular
* HANMI HANDACHI NAGE sentado, UKE de pie
* HAPPO 8, ejemplo:. HAPPOUNDO, HAPPOGIRI
* HARA Centro donde se concentra la energía y masa en el cuerpo, fuente de Ki
* HASSONOKAMAE Postura del 8
* HENKA WAZA Variaciones de técnicas y combinaciones
* HOMBU DOJO DOJO central
* HIDARI Izquierda
* Hiji Codo
* IRIMI Entrar al cuerpo
* JINJA Templo AIKI JINJA templo en IWAMA
* JIYU WAZA Forma libre
* JO Palo
* JODAN Posición alta, ejemplo: JODANNOKAMAE
* KACHIHAYABI Victoria a la velocidad de la luz. Cuando se a logrado estado de control total sobre uno mismo y perfecta armonía con el universo AGATSU se es uno con el universo y la mera intención de alguien de romper el estado de armonía es suficiente para vencer, instantáneamente. La vida humana es una vida de amor AI y el amor no tiene enemigos
* KAESHI WAZA Contra técnica. Forma avanzada de entrenamiento
* KAISO Fundador
* KAMAE guardia
* KAMI Dios o fuerza divina
* KAMIZA Altar
* KANSETSU WAZA Técnica de control sobre coyunturas
* KATA hombro o forma predeterminada
* KATAME WAZA técnicas de control
* KATSU JIN KEN Espada salvadora. Técnicas desarrolladas con la intención de no lastimar al AITE
* KEIKO Practica
* KEN espada
* KENSHO Iluminación
* KI Vitalidad
* KIAI Concentración de energía con voz
* KIHON básico
* KI MUSUBI KI NO MUSUBI Liga de KI con el AITE
* KOHAI Estudiante con menos experiencia
* KOKORO Corazón o espíritu
* KOKYU Respiración, ejemplo: KOKYU HO, KOKYU RYOKU
* KOTODAMA Practica religiosa usando sonidos
* KU vacío
* KUMIJO Practica de parejas con JO
* KUMITACHI Practica de parejas con BOKKEN
* KUZUSHI Romper el balance del AITE
* KYU Rango de principiante
* MA AI Distancia correcta
* MAE frente
* MASAKATSU Victoria verdadera
* MIGI Derecha
* MISOGI Ritual de purificación
* MOCHI Agarre
* MOKUSO Meditación
* MUDANSHA Estudiante no cinta negra
* Mune, muna Pecho, solapa
* MUSHIN Mente limpia o en blanco; sin mente
* NAGARE fluido
* OBI cinta
* OMOTE Frente
* OMOTOKYO Grupo religioso al que perteneció Morihei Ueshiba
* ONEGAI SHIMASU Por favor
* OSAE WAZA Técnica de control
* OSENSEI Gran maestro Morihei Ueshiba
* RANDORI Estilo libre. Ataques múltiples
* REIGI Etiqueta
* SATORI Iluminación
* SENSEI Maestro
* SEIZA Posición sentado
* SEMPAI Estudiante mas avanzado
* SETSU NIN TO Espada que mata
* SHIHAN Maestro de maestros
* SHIKAKU Angulo muerto, punto ciego
* SHIKKO Caminar de rodillas
* SHINKENSHOBU Duelo con espadas afiladas
* SHINTO Religión japonesa
* SHODAN Cinta negra
* SHOMEN frente de la cabeza, frente del DOJO
* Sode Manga
* SOTO Fuera
* SUBURI Practica individual con JO o BOKKEN
* SUKASHIWAZA Técnicas de anticipación
* SUKI Abertura o falta de concentración.
* SUTEMI Abandono del cuerpo para realizar una técnica
* SUWARI WAZA Técnica sentado
* TACHI Espada o posición de parado
* TACHIWAZA Técnica parado
* TAIJITSU Practica sin armas
* TAINOHENKO TAI NO TENKAN Vuelta 180 grados con AITE
* TAI SABAKI Desplazamiento
* TAKEMUSU AIKI AIKIDO
* TANINSUGAKE Practica contra ataques múltiples
* TANTO cuchillo
* TE Mano
* TEGATANA Mano de espada
* TENKAN vuelta
* TENSHIN salida a 45 grados
* TSUKI Golpe recto
* UCHI Dentro
* UCHIDESHI Estudiante que vivió con Ueshiba
* UESHIBA KISSHOMARU DOSHU Hijo del fundador
* UESHIBA MORIHEI KAISO
* UESHIBA MORITERU DOJOCHO Nieto del fundador
* UKE Persona que recibe la técnica
* UKEMI Técnica de recibir sin lastimarse y manteniendo contacto con NAGE
* URA atrás
* USHIRO Hacia atrás, ejemplo: USHIRO UKEMI
* WAZA Técnica
* TORI o DORI agarre
* YOKO Lado
* YOKOMEN Lado de la cabeza
* YUDANSHA Cinta negra
* ZANSHIN Concentración; continuar la técnica mentalmente
* ZEN Budismo
* ZORI sandalias

Elementos de la practica

2007-07-02T23:06:00.000-05:00

Dosa, shuden, giho, saho

* DOSA Movimiento
* SHUDEN Repetición
* GIHO Pureza de la técnica
* SAHO Etiqueta

Ejemplos de ataques

2007-07-02T23:03:00.000-05:00

Uchi, dori, tsuki, shime

* SHOMENUCHI
* YOKOMENUCHI
* KATATEDORI
* RYOTEDORI
* MOROTEDORI
* SODEGUCHIDORI
* SODEDORI
* MUNAKATATEDORI
* MUNARYOTEDORI
* KATADORI
* TSUKI
* KOSADORI
* USHIRORYOTEDORI
* USHIROMUNADORI
* USHIRO ERIDORI
* Hiji dori Agarre al codo
* Eri dori Agarre al cuello
* Kubishime Estrangulación

Técnicas básicas

2007-07-02T23:00:00.000-05:00

Las técnicas generalmente se dividen en OMOTE (IRIMI) y URA (TENKAN). Pueden ser practicadas como TACHIWAZA, SUWARIWAZA o HANMIHANDACHI. Además se pueden practicar de manera básica (KIHON) o fluida (KI NO NAGARE).

* DAI IKKYO
* DAI NIKKYO
* DAI SANKYO
* DAI YONKYO
* DAI GOKYO
* SHIHONAGE
* IRIMINAGE
* KOTEGAESHI
* KAITENNAGE
* KOSHINAGE
* TENCHINAGE
* JUJINAGE
* KOKYUNAGE
* KIRI OTOSHI
* KIRIAGE
* HENKAWAZA

Aikido, el arte de la esfera dinámica

2007-07-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

El Aikido es un arte moderno fundado en el siglo veinte por Morihei Ueshiba en base a la tradición japonesa de BUDO, o sea las artes marciales. El Fundador, Morihei Ueshiba nació el 4 de diciembre de 1883 en Tanabe, provincia de Kishu, hoy Wakayama, en el sur de Japón.

El Aikido se puede manifestar a diferentes niveles de conciencia, desde un nivel puramente físico, hasta manejar conceptos metafísicos difíciles de interpretar o comprender. Para poder tener un desarrollo en la practica del Aikido, es necesario respetar ciertos principios básicos, que no solo nos permiten desarrollar una técnica de auto defensa, sino que son aplicables a la vida en general. Entre estos principios básicos podemos mencionar

* Mantener un solo punto.
* Mantener el centro y la alineación corporal y mental.
* Estar relajado.
* Mantener una actitud mental positiva.
* Extender Ki.

La practica del Aikido es normalmente por parejas. Es esencial armonizar y acoplarse con el compañero durante los ejercicios. Es por lo tanto muy importante la practica de recibir correctamente la ejecución de una técnica, a lo cual se le llama en japonés ukemi. La practica de ukemi incluye diferentes tipos de caídas y requiere de un estado mental alerta, relajado y conectado con la persona ejecutando la técnica, llamado en japonés nage.

Uno de los aspectos característicos del enfoque del Aikido es el concepto de irimi, o sea el entrar en dirección al ataque, en vez de retroceder, como es el enfoque convencional. Irimi y el uso de desplazamientos circulares son la base de las técnicas de Aikido. Se entra cuando se es jalado y se gira cuando se es empujado. Irimi es una herramienta de acoplamiento con el compañero, mediante la cual alineamos nuestros centros, propiciando un movimiento circular armónico.

La importancia de los ejercicios de Aikido no esta en la secuencia misma de los movimientos sino en la practica de los principios básicos y el desarrollo de un sentido de distancia y ritmo, esencial en la interacción con otra persona.

共感する力

Shoichi Yokoi

sniper

NO SOSTENGA EL TELEFONO CON LA CABEZA Y EL HOMBRO

Biografía de Gozo Shioda

Anderson Silva treina con Steven Seagal

年賀状

Man's Search for Meaning

Interview with Dr Viktor Frankl about logotherapy and existencialism

El oficio de la violencia

Esteban Cervantes, "El Héroe de México".

They are us, we are them

A child talks to the world

They are us, we are them

Soldiers

Homeless

buscando pleito

bad judgment on all sides

bad judgment

Cada año, en todo el mundo, se producen 100 millones de toneladas de plásticos

Because of you, more people will get the lifesaving food and assistance they need.

LA COLUMNA VERTEBRAL

perro que se mantiene cerca de otro que está herido

Gandhi’s doctrine of nonviolent civil resistance

Nutrition for Eyesight

What Not To Eat

tomar agua en la hora correcta

Cancer

Mental control

Milgram 2

Mikhail Ryabko

Internal Wave Energy

No Contact Combat

Rendez-Vous With Adventure

Ueshiba

Tomiki

Tsunami

the LEGENDARY XIN

Atención

The technical curriculum of Iwama Aikido

Descripción de kata de jo

Entrenamiento militar con bayoneta

The Marine Corps Martial Arts Bayonet System

Every Marine is a rifleman.

The Training System

Referencia basica

13 jo kata

Morihiro Saito; 31 jo kata

Demostración de Shioda

jo （杖）

Morihiro Saito; ken （剣）

Morihiro Saito; jo （杖）

Morihiro Saito; taijutsu （体術）

Morihiro Saito

Karate

Takemusu Aiki

Rendez-Vous with Adventure

Judo

Kendo

Error en la pagina

Castings

La mosca en la telaraña

El significado de katatedori (片手取り)

Televisión japonesa

Kenji Tomiki

Gozo Shioda

Historia del Aikido

Koichi Tohei

El fundador del Aikido

Técnicas divinas

¿Se debe atacar en serio o dejarse llevar?

Morihei Ueshiba

La profesionalización del instructor de Aikido

Se puede ganar en cualquier circunstancia.

Glosario japonés-ingles

Como una piedra

Proyección vital

¿Cómo es que practicar a matar lleva a la paz?

El sentido de la practica

El olvidado