Kinomichi Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu Nguyen Thanh Thiên, enseignant principal

Article by NGUYEN Thanh Thiên, originally published in French in Dragon martial arts magazine. Kinomichi is a martial art that was created by Master NORO Masamichi in Paris in 1979. Since then, it has been developed in Europe and in numerous countries, including Mexico, Brazil and Tunisia. Master NORO Masamichi studied directly with Master UESHIBA Morihei, the founder of Aïkido. Kinomichi is a recognized affiliated discipline of the Federation Francaise de l’Aïkido, Aïkibudo et Affinitaires or FFAAA. Translation: Elizabeth Guez and Ann Moradian. A Transmission In 1955, Master NORO met his master, UESHIBA Morihei. This meeting was a revelation for him. He renounced his plans and studies, then, in order to dedicate himself entirely to studying at the side of this man, old yet so powerful. Thus, he became a live-in student (uchi deshi) and, with 4 fellow students, lived an existence dedicated to the exercises and training of the dojo. From morning until evening, sometimes at night, the disciples subjected themselves to the austerities of the training that earned their dojo the nickname “The Dojo from Hell.” They looked after their master day and night, cooking for him, carrying his luggage while traveling, waking at night to look after his comfort. “I remember that each day, the morning training (reserved for the uchi deshi) began with Irimi Nage. I was his uke (partner) and I began each lesson with this technique. Then, Master UESHIBA would proceed with his course, which was often unique because he could never repeat what he had just shown. I questioned myself for a long time about the importance he gave to Irimi Nage.” The master paused and through his gaze one could live the time he was sharing with us. “I finally grasped that he used Irimi Nage to feel his energy and with this feeling, he would call on one technique or another to adjust the flow of his energy. “Master UESHIBA took me on one day as a ‘servant disciple.’ The first test came with the night. I fell asleep full of satisfaction, to jump with a start, the master’s shout roaring in my ear. Each night, he gave a terrible kiaï, wrenching me out of a sleep that evaded me day after day. One night, at the sound of the shoji being pushed ajar, he found me in the process of greeting him. He smiled, and from that moment he entrusted me with the tranquility of his nights. It goes without saying that I had a hard time recuperating from this nocturnal training.” Master NORO often feeds his lessons from his memories. That which his master transmitted to him is at the heart of each lesson he gives in France and throughout the world. He could see how UESHIBA sensei taught, but also how each and every day he lived his teaching. The tradition radically distinguishes the soto deshi (external students) from uchi deshi by their intimate access to the Master. The Master is the one who gives life to the Way and its

principles by his own behavior. Thus, through every minute of his daily life he offers himself to the examination of his disciples as an example of the Way and its principles. One afternoon, Master UESHIBA told him to follow him and he would reveal the secret of Aïkido. “With immense pride, I followed him and sat down, awaiting the revelation. Master UESHIBA took a jo (stick) and while making it come and go, thrusting and circling all around him, he began to sing and dance. My eyes widened in astonishment and I giggled. The master stopped abruptly and left, angry. He would explain to me later that he had linked the spirituality of Shintoism with the art of the jo. His reading of Kojiki (a Shinto classic) ultimately found an echo in his art. I never found such an expression of spirituality in Aïkido again. This experience revealed to me a direction that I endeavor to follow.”

A Creation Master NORO was sent to Europe, as “Delegate for Europe and Africa” by Master UESHIBA himself. Taking the route from the Far East of that time, he debarked on September 3, 1961 at the Marseille port. Subsequently, he was able to welcome masters NAKAZONO and TAMURA on their arrival onto French soil. His mission as a pioneer of Aïkido led to the opening of more than 200 dojos in numerous countries, as many in Europe as in Africa, from Sweden to Senegal. Nevertheless, an experience opened him to new perspectives. Nourished by Far Eastern tradition, an assiduous reader of Lao Zi, friend of zen master DESHIMARU Taisen, he questioned himself about energy, ki, and its manifestation. Of course, he had received much from his master but, striving always further ahead, he remained dissatisfied with what he had achieved. One morning, in the forest, he returned to his questioning and received a response from a tree: “Energy flows through the tree without there being a center. From the earth it rises toward the sky.” From this moment, he reoriented the techniques that had been handed down to him from Master UESHIBA and began the push not from the hara (the energetic center located in the abdomen) but from the Earth toward the Sky, from the feet toward the head and hands, passing through the hara. Kinomichi was born from this ascending circulation of energy.

Another source for Kinomichi is Master UESHIBA’s insistent repitition that the techniques of Aïkido turn to a realization of Love. Master NORO had developed a certain martial effectiveness. His Irimi Nage and his Shiho Nage were held by some as a reference. But the occasional injuries of students drove him to reexamine his practice from the point of view of his master’s exigence. In parallel, rehabilitation from an accident led him to discover the work of reconstructing a body. He grasped a new possibility then to orient his techniques toward fortification of the body. Each movement must tone, loosen, and sensitize the bodies of both practitioners, thus shifting the very nature of the movement itself from opposition into partnership. An Actualization Each time one returns to the dojo, one must summon every effort to move forward in the art, in the mastery of the techniques, but also in accordance with the principles lain down by the master. If the source of Kinomichi lies in the expertise of Master NORO, which itself is founded on a solid training with Master UESHIBA and has been developed in contact with Europe, it stands to reason that Kinomichi integrates many currents of thought, multiple conceptions which are the philosophical and spiritual foundation of the Far East. Even the act of greeting at the beginning and end of class testifies to the presence of traditional Japanese etiquette, good manners in every instant, which situate each one and allows for proper appreciation of the relation to people, to oneself and others, to students as to the master. This right place authorizes a right relation. For Confucius, man is determined by the 5 relations: to the king, the parents, the spouse, to children and friends. Kinomichi values the relationship with the partner, implicitly reclaiming this conception of oneself, and places the technique as a means of working in concert, of living in relation to the other, of tending toward more harmony. Kinomichi sets relation first, thus affirming and renewing a deep-rooted philosophy that flows through the history of the Far East. Principles There is a geography to Kinomichi. We can perceive many planes through the technique. Above all, a verticality directs the ki. The movements known as those of the Sky lead to projections and those of the Earth toward immobilizations. Nevertheless, whatever type of movement, the ki enters through the feet and travels through the body upward. The hara, which is put foremost in many Japanese arts, is here a simple point of passage and not the origin of the ki. This generation of energy offers numerous advantages. It avoids the articular constraints within the bodies of the protagonists, from compression as much as from slicing. It veers toward an exit in a blocked situation. It allows two free movements to coexist and subtracts the element of dominance of one party over the other from the technique. In corollary, the effort is placed on extension, more than on contraction. Master NORO pushes his students to extend, to prolong the space, to open the range of possibilities. The body learns to relax not to shorten the movement, but to extend in order to better guide, to listen in order to better grasp. Each experiments, then, with their individual freedom to move within the technique itself. Each one, through the listening, can discover the sensations that are born in oneself and in the other. The practitioner enters, then, into a perception of dimensions coming together, combining and fulfilling together the same movement. From this concerted movement, a third space is born, that of the harmony of the two bodies. Out of the circle and straight line comes the spiral, which is their harmonious conjunction. In Kinomichi, the path chosen is that of this circle that advances without ever closing again. The figure of the spiral inspired Master NORO who used it as a model for his movements. The movements of Sky and of Earth, 111 at the level of Hakama, all follow this form. It is found on

each plane, be it articulations or traveling movements. Through this form, we contact the partner without obstructing him, without stopping or compelling him, without diminishing, reducing, or replacing the expression of their will. We are able to hear and to feel the flow of their breath. To recall an ancient oriental expression, we open “to contemplate the sound of the World.” The partner lives according to a rhythm but also a musicality that we must grasp. Master NORO often insists on this point, reminiscent of UESHIBA sensei in his jo kata (stick form). For Master NORO, projections are all the more powerful when we have grasped the rhythm and the energy of the partner. The apparent simplicity of Master NORO’s art covers his mastery. Effectiveness The martial arts practitioner often, even always, questions himself about the effectiveness of received training and sometimes even of his own work. Effectiveness is by definition the capacity to produce effects. One seeks mainly visible effects because in fact one wants, mainly, to reassure one’s friends as much as oneself. However, to limit our ambition to visible effects, often acquired over a short period, does not enable us to comprehend an art that would be heir to ancient Eastern traditions. Asia approaches conflict differently than Europe. The perception there is of a disturbance, of a balance to be readjusted. A view springing from Taoism hints that effectiveness operates upstream of each event and that rebalancing is made in a manner so skillful that it escapes observation by most. One approves of the General who does not receive applause because if he did, he would miss the time for intervention. If the desired effect is harmony, then effectiveness would be the restoration of harmony, even the prevention of the disturbance. We are far from spectacular and even further from demonstrations of force. The practitioner of Kinomichi is in search of the breath of the movement. The effect belongs to both partners. It leads to an innate sensibility where we taste each movement. It preserves the freedom to move without resorting to domination over others. It allows for relaxation and a smile because in the here and now of the technique, there is no space left for doubt or for wanting better. Often, the execution of a gesture results in a dissatisfaction because the desire to do well awakens in us the fear of failure, or of not meeting our hope or expectation of what we might be capable of with more concentration. So Master NORO directs our attention toward the sensing and invites us to taste the pleasure of the moment shared. He emphasizes first and foremost the necessity of contacting the Ki of the partner. The smile and relaxation are born from this contact. Master NORO often speaks of the movements of UESHIBA sensei, movements he savoured as the appointed uke. Having been able to taste from this energy directly has oriented his comprehension of the practice. "We can do everything, the ukemis (rolls), the koshi nage (hip projections), absolutely all, if the spirit is correct." Master NORO stresses that if each one executes a technique properly, as properly in spirit, in rhythm and in tune with the other(s), then each one can become free to advance without harming. Beyond age and condition, the pleasure of Kinomichi unites the young and old, man and woman. An ancient master said: “he who inflicts pain imprisons himself by the chains of pain." Master NORO has created a martial art where the attuned gesture is a source of pleasure. However, the feeling of energy does not replace the energy, which can only be the fruit of many and ceaseless efforts. This feeling of the energy is not the energy. How the current and ancient Masters walked their way to mastery was only through a continuing will to advance, never satisfying themselves with facilities. This art is technically rich with bare hands, the stick and the sword. The techniques are done upright, on the knees, with control or projection, slowly or more quickly. Each variation is a study of energy in a renewed form. Kinomichi is a

study that demands a long-term effort and a curiosity for all its facets. It is a matter of not restricting the expression of energy to a limited category of techniques because it is only from the comprehension of the whole that a profound knowledge of the art, of the energy of Kinomichi emerges. Techniques For the beginner, access is made through 6 basic techniques: Ichi, Nichi, Sanchi for the movements of the Earth and Itten, Niten and Santen for those of the Sky. In slowness, it unknots the body and its tensions. One day one brings the attention to the muscles, the next, to the breath. Moving through the progression of Kinomich, set on 7 levels, we come to realize the effectiveness of no action. Meanwhile, the stages have been followed and physical integration has modified the perception of the body. The stick or the sword prolongs the gesture, carries the breath, unfolds the space. Yet, of these lived and experienced moments, little can be said because they are like emanations, and the net of our words is too coarse to capture the scent. As the Tao is an invitation to follow the Way, to move one step forward, to walk in the footprints of a predecessor, Kinomichi is an adventure for those who dare to face encounter. NGUYEN Thanh Thiên