I hope you will post more contentions in the future.

Anyhow, as for ki, I am learning (about) more ways of manipulating and using it. Ki cultivation (or Qi, in chinese, and Gi, in korean) is a type of vital force or energy that everyone has. I recently met a scholar who has been practicing it for over 20 years–mainly Chinese styles–and he explained various things about ki and its cultivation in Chinese martial arts.

In terms of Aikido, Morihei basically develops a martial art of ki. That is, earlier ki cultivating arts existed: taijiquan (taikyokuken in Japanese), qigong (kikou in Japanese) (has negative political/social associations in China these days). The basis of his martial art is using the ki of the attacker to stop him/her. While I’m not very well acquainted with all styles of modern Aikido, it’s fundamental practice is using ki and the flow of ki rather than physical force to disable and/or stop the approaching person’s attack.

Many martial arts practitioners have utilized ki in their styles and even teach it to their students. But, Morihei is the one who explicitly develops a new martial arts style fundamentally revolving around this idea. Today we have a myriad of styles and disciplines, but Morihei operated in a very different world.

The hadouken was made famous by street fighter 2 and is not really a “real” move as in something passed down through generations (street fighter shows gouken teaching ryu and ken the external and internal forms of shotokan karate, of which the hadouken is a secret art).

Ki projection is something still doubted by many people. There are have been numerous demonstrations of this, for example a person flying back after ki is projected into him/her. However, a better way of conceptualizing it is in the use of ki to heal, which is also ki projection, except that one projects ki to help and assist in a patient’s/person’s recovery or condition. If one understands the basics of ki, ki projection would not be too far off in imagination. On the other hand, an actual visible manifestation of ki is questionable–but that’s something to look into, especially with the idea of “auras” prevalent in different social contexts.

very interesting videos..especially the second on ki in aikido..

can you explain though what it is about Morihei’s practice/influence in aikido that incorporates ki.

I’m familiar with the hadouken, but are there other ways to use one’s ki?