Yoshinkan For Life

Innoue Sensei is well into his seventies and his aikido is incredibly fluid and powerful. This is another facinafing aspect to Yoshinkan Aikido. As I have said before, and to quote Robert Mustard, if you want power then don’t use power. This is how it possible forthe aikidoka to grow stronger as he grows older.

While the karate guy or MMA fighter gets older he gets weaker and his power wanes. His technique and strikes become weaker. In the Yoshinkan world the opposite is true.

As one gets older their experience makes them even more dangerous. A calmness and stillness to their being blends with the execution of techniques that require one not to try and use strength. This translates into an art that can be practiced for life. You can even take it one step further to say that there is truely no end as to how enlightened one may become from practicing Yoshinkan Aikido as there is no end to the journey.

I can attest to this first hand with Nikajo (my white wale). The harder I try and more effort I put into the technique the less effective it is. Sure I can put nikajo on friends and coworkers with great ease but when faced with my sensei it is a completely different feeling. Nikajo cannot be forced and I feel that this is a good representation of Aikido as a whole. When I relax and “just do” the technique it is effective – and easy. Almost tauntigly easy.

It is not an easy feet to switch of your conscious mind and just allow yourself to flow. This is how experience trumps strength when it comes to Yoshinkan Aikido and this is how such a small and humble looking man like Innoue Sensei can weild such power.