AIKIDO AND THE I CHING

[Yamantaka]

Hello, Listka!

A friend of mine told me that Aikido is heavily influenced by the I Ching (concepts of non-resistance, Yin and Yang, ...). I never heard anything about that. Does anyone knows anything about such an influence?
Yamantaka

I know that Jigaro Kano was strongly influenced by the I Ching when describing his theories regarding judo applications. He was quite a scholar of the Chinese classics. I don't recall ever reading that the founder of aikido had any similar interest in Chinese philosophy, though.

[Mike Collins]

This is only my humble opinion:

I think that some of these concepts are kind of universal truths, and strongly in the psyche of oriental culture. As such they would naturally influence Aikido or any art prone to introspection or close consideration because of a depth of truth.

I haven't heard that Osensei was particularly involved with Taoism, but I have heard that Taoism and Shinto share some concepts, and Omoto Kyo is a offshoot of Shinto.

[Joseph Svinth]

You might do some digging into the philosophy of spirals -- the black and white fish of the yin/yang symbol were originally spirals. If true, then the influence may be nothing more (or less) profound than the appreciation for centered, spiraling movement.

[Yamantaka]

Originally posted by Joseph Svinth
You might do some digging into the philosophy of spirals -- the black and white fish of the yin/yang symbol were originally spirals. If true, then the influence may be nothing more (or less) profound than the appreciation for centered, spiraling movement.

Thank you, Joe! And by the way, the data on brazilian karate is on the way and almost ready to go.
Best
Ubaldo.

[George Ledyard]

Originally posted by YAMANTAKA
Hello, Listka!

A friend of mine told me that Aikido is heavily influenced by the I Ching (concepts of non-resistance, Yin and Yang, ...). I never heard anything about that. Does anyone knows anything about such an influence?
Yamantaka
The concepts that you are referring to from the I-Ching are common concepts to much of Chinese and Japanese religion and philosophy. Yin and Yang, the five elements theory, non-resistance are all integral parts of Taoist teachings that in turn influenced Buddhist and Confucian thought.

If you are talking about the general principles of Taoism relating to the underlying principles of Aikido that would be true. If you mean that O-Sensei was a big reader of the I-Ching and that he took many of his spiritual ideas from that source, I haven't heard that. The philophical / spiritual underpinnings of Aikido as O-Sensei envisioned them were primarily from the esoteric Shinto teachings that were incorporated in into the Omotkyo faith taught by Deguchi his spiritual mentor. Those teachings were a amalgamation of Shinto, esoteric Buddhism, heavily influenced by Taoist foundations in the past. I don't think the I-Ching played an important part in his development of Aikido.

[Dennis Hooker]

I agree with what George has said here. Also Yen and Yang or In and Yo are not necessarily eastern concepts and in particularly they are not exclusively Chinese concepts. They simply represent the + and – factors of life, the positive and it’s associated negative, it’s male an it’s female. M. Ueshiba Sensei was looking for (and apparently found) balance in his life and his martial art. To the passive he found the proactive to the proactive the passive thereby removing conflict and establishing what we have come to call harmony. Not harmony in the since that all is well, but harmony in the since that balance has been achieved. When “In” meets “In” and “Yo” meets “Yo” conflict is the result and when they are forced close together a violent repulse is the outcome.

[Yamantaka]

Originally posted by Dennis Hooker
I agree with what George has said here. Also Yen and Yang or In and Yo are not necessarily eastern concepts and in particularly they are not exclusively Chinese concepts. They simply represent the + and – factors of life, the positive and it’s associated negative, it’s male an it’s female. M. Ueshiba Sensei was looking for (and apparently found) balance in his life and his martial art. To the passive he found the proactive to the proactive the passive thereby removing conflict and establishing what we have come to call harmony. Not harmony in the since that all is well, but harmony in the since that balance has been achieved. When “In” meets “In” and “Yo” meets “Yo” conflict is the result and when they are forced close together a violent repulse is the outcome.

As always, a pleasure to hear from you.
Thank you, Sensei!
Yamantaka

[AikiTom]

I would agree with much of what's been said already, but here's something additional for your consideration:
O-Sensei often talked about the mixture of "kan" and "li", fire and water, which I believe are complementary opposites as yin-yang, in-yo. I would agree there's not I-ching influence per se, but if you look at the trigrams, you'll see "kan" and "li" as opposites, and I think that's the point or concept he was trying to get across, the actual example is just to illustrate.

[Yamantaka]

Originally posted by AikiTom
I would agree with much of what's been said already, but here's something additional for your consideration:
O-Sensei often talked about the mixture of "kan" and "li", fire and water, which I believe are complementary opposites as yin-yang, in-yo. I would agree there's not I-ching influence per se, but if you look at the trigrams, you'll see "kan" and "li" as opposites, and I think that's the point or concept he was trying to get across, the actual example is just to illustrate.

Excellent and Thank you very much, Aiki-Tom!

So we might conclude that :
a) Ueshiba Sensei wasn't very interested in the I Ching;
b) there's no proof of direct influence of the I Ching on Aikido;and
c) on the other side, considering that chinese philosophical ideas (and the I Ching) were heavily influent on japanese thought, we might say that, in this sense, the I Ching has had some small influence on Aikido genesis.
Thanks for all your help
Yamantaka