Aïkido and Karaté, Synergy
Aïkido and Karaté, synergy The Way Yves Thelen Editor : Th. Plée Budo Editions Paris, 2013 Translation: Carlos Miguel Garcia Jané Photographs: Bernard Champon Yves Thelen is the technical director of the Shudokan, in Liège, and was Master Murakami’s representative in Belgium. His school has produced around sixty black belts in Karatedo, both in Shotokan and Shotokai styles, and in Aikido. He has also developed an original synthesis of their fundamental disciplines: Aiki-Karate-do. We can practise combat sports to release tension, to feel stronger than others, to win prizes in competitions, or to defend ourselves against an act of aggression. Nevertheless, the martial Way invites us to go beyond these considerations: the archer aims at himself through the target. The budoka seeks to sublimate all ideas of opposition and reassurance of the Self; he humbly walks the Way of letting go of the ego. « To win or lose or measure oneself according to techniques is not true Budo. » « In true Budo neither opponents nor enemies exist. We just need a spirit that brings Peace to all human beings in the world, not one that wishes to be strong and that practises only to beat an opponent. » Nocquet, A. « O Sensei Morihei Uyeshiba », Paris, 1975, pp 45, 61. « If instead of opposing the movements of your opponent, you moved with him in a natural way, what would happen? You will find that both become as one, and that when he moves to strike, your body will move naturally to avert the blow. And when you become capable of this, you will discover a completely different world- one that you had not know existed (…) The meaning of Karate ni sente nashi (There is no first strike in karate) cannot be understood until you achieve this state.» Egami, Shigeru « The Heart of Karate-Do », Kodansha Int., Tokyo, 1980, p 19 " The Zen and the martial arts have the same flavour.
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