Kinomichi

The Kinomichi is a Budō (method of education resulting from a martial art Japan board), rested by Maître Masamichi NORO in Paris, France, during the XXe century, in 1979. Maître Masamichi NORO was one of the boarders, Uchi deshi 内弟子, of Master Morihei UESHIBA 植芝盛平, founder of the Aïkido 合気道. It as “Is delegated for Europe and Africa” indicated by Maître Morihei UESHIBA itself that it unloads in Marseilles on September 3rd, 1961, preceding the Masters NAKAZONO and TAMURA in the common construction industry by a European and African Aikido. Extremely of its control martial and pushing its research further, it creates 18 years Kinomichi later and perpetuates in a renewed form the teaching of its Master. Kinomichi is affiliated in France with the French federation of Aikido, Aïkibudo and Affinitaires, FFAAA, and maintains the cordial relations with the World center of the Aikido, Hombu Dojo of Tokyo and its representative, current Doshu 道主, Maître Moriteru UESHIBA 植芝守央, grandson of the founder of the Aikido.

Orientation

Sources

Kinomichi takes again all the techniques of the Aikido, themselves taken again of the Daïto Ryu Aïki Jujutsu 大東流合気柔術 founded at the 12th century. The all Japanese traditional school following the example of koryu 古流 and imitating their mode of reproduction, Kinomichi reinterprets under the direction of a Master attested the basic elements of a school, its teaching and its control to explore the techniques, to prolong the study of the principles and to vivify the Way, C in Japanese or CAT in Chinese 道. As its Master Morihei UESHIBA had created the Aikido starting from Daïto Ryu Aïki Jujutsu de Maître Sokaku TAKEDA 武田惣角, Maître Masamichi NORO pushed its research until the creation of Kinomichi by basing it on the technique, the principles and the philosophy of the Aikido. This natural process in the world of the budos Japanese, while producing a larger cultural diversity, does not constitute a disavowal or an objection but the opening of a new way that the former generations had not still cleared.

A Way for the Man

Considering that teaching must stick to essence and start with him, Maître Masamichi NORO stresses peace and its realization. It poses the man like bond between the Earth and the Sky. From this union which holds in harmony the Way of the Sky Tendo 天道, that of the Earth Jimichi 地道 and that of the Man Jindo 人道, it releases an ascending direction of energy or Ki in Japanese and IQ in Chinese 気. In Eastern extreme comprehension, the Ki is a breath present in all places and all times. Its condensation creates the beings and its evaporation dissolves them.
Selon the Eastern tradition, if the parents create the man, the Master makes occur the human one in the man. By teaching, the Master then releases energy in the Pupil. Each one is directed towards a larger self-respect but also of the other, at the point to emphasize the partner. The pupil must in this way of increasing his own qualities in order to push more before the hopes of his parents and his Master. He makes in the same way for its opposite in face to face of the movement. From this mutual aid are born confidence and the smile from comprehension. Thus the Way of the Man is conceived.

A peaceful orientation

The technique follows this advance so that the pushes travel with the ground to the top, from the feet towards the hands, the support towards the seizure and beyond. The generation of energy takes its source in the ground and the intention. Its control passes by energy centers of which the famous Hara 腹 located in the abdomen. It is modulated by the heart of the practitioners, shin in Japanese 心. Its demonstration is detectable by an increase in energy, the finished product being then larger than the sum of the initial components. The body of the practitioner lets pass this energy/breath by a presence on the ground, a relaxation of the muscles and tendons and an attention with the other. In Kinomichi, the spirit of the Dojo 道場, house where the Way is studied, does not require the recourse to a conflict framework because the study of peace and its realization do not require it. If martial arts were born from tumultuous historical needs, one cannot for saying as much that their goal is the war as the purpose of the Stratégie heiho 兵法 is not the battle but the realization of a will which for the State, the Prince or people is his prosperity, peace being then recognized like better condition of the latter.

Characteristics

Energy in spiral

The movement of Kinomichi is expressed according to a spiral. It is perceived directly in the body of the partners. It integrates the straight line and the circle. The movements are done by a progressive projection. Statics with dynamics, energy is spread in an identical spiral and carries out the unit of slow and the rapid beyond the oppositions of surface. The muscular chains they also are requested while following this figure. This propeller distributes the effort since the ankles to the wrists and with the cervical ones. It dissolves the tensions and prevents the articular constraints in particular those so frequent of the dorso-lumbar hinge.

The contact

The " contact" such as proposes it Maître Noro is an alternative to the concept of seizure in what it could have of constraining. Kinomichi does not require a tender and does not seek a capacity which would be of domination. However, the seizure must be real because it is not a question to let choir the stick or the saber nor to let digress the partner. A sensitivity without being able or a capacity without sensitivity is as vain one as the other. The contact is the place where expresses energy and the heart.

Energy and the heart

Maître Masamichi NORO develops his teaching in two directions: the ki and the shin, energy/breath and the heart. From the Western physiological point of view, the body produces the movement by mobilizing the muscles whose effort is supported by respiratory and cardiac work. This comprehension of the generation of energy is resulting from the European Lights like showed it Georges Vigarello and does not give an account of an Eastern extreme design resting on the ki. In order to transfer to the pupil this capacity to mobilize the ki, the Japanese Masters worked out a pedagogy that Maître Masamichi NORO knew to adapt to the body and Western mentality. The technique consists of a control of the ki: to borrow, lead and restore the ki. It is not a question so much thus to generate starting from a center to establish a circulation of the Earth towards the Sky, the support on the ground towards the partner, the length of an arm, a stick or a saber. However, if the direction is vertical, the direction given is ascending. For this purpose, Maître Masamichi NORO resorts in the middle, shin 心. According to its prospect, the shin not only makes it possible to feel the other but to even more exceed antagonism oneself/others. “If it is advantageous for me to rise, I must admit that it is the same for others and that the effect of the technique does not belong to me solely but that it applies to us two”. The shin is the condition of a empathy, of a movement towards the other. In this direction, we can include/understand the word of Morihei UESHIBA: “My Aikido is love” 合氣は愛なり. If the ki supports the gesture, the shin modulates palpitation of it. It puts in harmony two rates, which makes it possible to the two partners to tend towards Aïki, the harmony of the breaths. For Master Masamichi NORO, the couple ki - shin is paramount so much so that it makes the requirement of the more high level of it.

Ki 氣

The Western design of the world rests on a distinction between the physical field which is tangible and the metaphysical field, beyond the physique, its complementary, separation which corresponds to that of the books of Aristote 384 / 322 av. J. - C. the Chinese design and by Japanese extension perceives the ki (in Japanese, Chinese IQ) like “a breath (IQ 氣), impulse or vital energy which animate the whole universe. At the same time spirit and matter, the breath ensures organic coherence about the alive ones at all the levels. ”. One cannot speak about ki of Kinomichi because the ki belongs to anybody neither does not rest in whoever nor in some place. It circulates and let us be we the supports, the channels, the drivers. Kinomichi creates a particular circulation which makes it possible each one to rise, from the Earth towards the Sky, of Chi 地 towards Ten 天 while passing through the man. Maître Masamichi NORO takes again on his account the vision of his Master, Morihei UESHIBA, which used its techniques to perfect the right circulation of the ki in itself and towards its partner (in Japanese uke 受け) - to see the articles in the bibliography.

Shin 心

The shin or heart/spirit are indissociable ki. To take again the text of Anne CHENG, “the man is not only animated IQ in all its aspects, it draws there its criteria of value, which they are of a moral or artistic nature. Source of the moral energy, the IQ, far from representing an abstracted concept, is felt until deepest of a being and its flesh. ” The shin as a heart is at the same time body and space of perception. Body, the shin invites us to feel the other, to test its ki, to contact the partner by his energy. It is space by the continuity of experiment, feeling and emotion that each one tests in front of the humanity of that or that which faces us. The shin is a sign of health of our energy: a perverted shin is indicating of ki weak, a generous shin is pilot of ki extremely. The shin of Kinomichi answers the invitation of Confucius of living the joy of the study, the pleasure of the meeting and the happiness of the division “with the friend who comes by far”. It continues the search for Morihei UESHIBA to make of its art a bridge between the men. Maître Masamichi NORO has a duty to transmit in the middle of the technique the heart of his Master.

Organization

Techniques and initiations

The techniques are studied hands naked, with stick OJ 杖, saber of wood Bokken 木剣 and sabers Iaito 居合刀, upright or with knees, with a partner or several, in a codified way or freely. The technical richness of this art and the profusion of the variations can make accept a complexity. However, a study thorough and supported by the presence of a Master makes it possible to foresee a simplicity which the comprehension of the principles reveals. Thus, each variation opens a door towards its colleagues. Taking again the didactic approach of its Master Morihei UESHIBA, Maître Masamichi NORO retained 10 techniques like bases. The training is done by levels of study or initiations.

Initiation 1 : the first 6 basic techniques, 3 of Ground (Ichi, Nichi, Sanchi) and 3 of Sky (Iten, Niten, Santen). Initiation 1 opens on the study of the stretching, the energy directed in spiral and an impulse on the basis of the ground to the top, according to the relation Ground-Sky. Schematically, the techniques known as of Ground push downwards and those of Sky push upwards.
Initiation 2 : 19 movements with the first 6 basic techniques
Initiation 3 : 33 movements on all the basic techniques and 2 forms of approach
Initiation 4 : 111 movements and 8 forms of approach
Initiation 5 : all movements on the 16 forms of approach, with one or more partners
Initiation 6 : forms of approach advanced, reserved for some advanced students, use of new tools such as tanto, tessen, etc
Initiation 7

Starting from initiation 5, are with the program of the advanced forms of approach and a work with several partners. If the base of the first initiations is centered on the ki and the training of the techniques, levels 5 and 6 direct the practitioner towards a request of the shin and push it towards an technical expertise. It acts of a requirement which completes work on the ki. It gives all its direction to the control of the ki. It is the characteristic and the research of the more high level. This manner of discovering the art of Kinomichi is undoubtedly what properly characterizes the way released by Maître Masamichi Noro. If the path signs the step of a Master, the mountain, however, is the good of all.

Not competition

As in the old Japanese traditional schools or koryu 古流, there are not a rank or daN in Kinomichi. Titles distinguish the level from study and not the student. There is no either competition. The competition had been introduced into the world of Japanese martial arts about 1880 per Maître Jigoro KANO 嘉納治五郎 to make known its art, the Judo 柔道 because during this time, the era Meiji 明治, the budos saw their future radically compromised by a disaffection of the public for this cultural richness of the Japan. The competition made it possible its pupils to test their level and not to exacerbate their will of domination. The competition is thus a recent phenomenon and its utility was defined by Maître Jigoro KANO.

An international organization, the KIIA

The people who practice Kinomichi find in a dojo and advance under the direction of a teacher certified by Maître Masamichi NORO. For this last, only a regular frequentation allows to prevail herself of a capacity to reveal her Article This requirement joins together the whole of the teachers at the time of teacher-training course and advanced training courses and reinforces the community of the practitioners, ensures a certain technical level and allows each one to be based on the other. The Kinomichi Instructors International Association, KIIA, which gathers the instructors, is an organization which was wanted by Maître Masamichi NORO to help with the international expansion of art as well quantitatively as qualitatively. This institution is only entitled to manage, control and promote Kinomichi with the international level. She delegates the capacities at the national level. Kinomichi is present in many countries and on 4 continents: Europe, Africa, South America and North America.

Principles

A practice which links

Obeying a desire of harmony of the forces, Japanese 合気 aïki, the technique is directed towards a safeguarding of the other and oneself, a prolongation of the gestures and not their obstruction, a stretching of the members and not an articular constraint. It is implemented by children, teenagers, adults until the third age. Its richness is explored by the women and the men, with each one (E) according to his sensitivity. The differences, often source of conflicts, are in the middle of listening, the glance and the touch. They are the going beyond appropriateness, of a meeting, meeting again. Combining comfort and requirement, pleasure of the opening of the body and physical effort, activity of leisure and practical high level, Kinomichi exceeds what of aucuns name paradox. It amalgamates in the hearth of the practice antagonisms which cause so many opposition and conflicts. Eastern arts are included/understood if one puts his steps in those of the Masters.

The free gesture, the not involved action

The question which Arnaud DESJARDINS asked him on his art, Maître Masamichi NORO answered: “If I could explain my art, I would not need more to study it. ” Kinomichi is a traditional art in its mode of formation, transmission and evolution. What is said some today cancels what belongs to a last time and what is written now erases in front of the art which bores in the moment which comes. As a budo concerning an Eastern extreme design, Kinomichi is without profit , mushotoku 無所得 according to the terminology of the Zen 禅. Obviously, it is beneficial for the body at the point to be able to claim to be an art of long life, beneficial for the spirit by the clearness of comprehension which the understanding of the principles gets, beneficial for the capacity to act by the aptitude to be fit in the chain of the evolutions. But it should not be canted to hoist the means with the altitude of the Way. The personal development, for necessary that it is with a happy social life, cannot usurp the primacy which returns to the Way and its Virtue, with CAT and its Tö in Chinese 道德. To reach the free gesture is for our modernity either an exchange-value, or a luxury, sometimes a release. For Kinomichi, it is an illustration of the attitude of the current and old Masters.

A budo

Kinomichi is a Budo Japanese, literally Voie (C) which stops the lance (drunk). It is a discipline which aims to the establishment of peace and the research of the conditions of peace. In this direction, Kinomichi includes/understands the 2 ideograms drunk and C according to their broadest meaning, namely a Way aiming at establishing Peace. Indeed, with its manner, the budo echoes the concern founder of the Far-Eastern thought which tends towards peace between the hommes.
As a general tradition, the budo means that Kinomichi, particular tradition, take its direction within a number of schools which take all their direction together…. Independent and interdependent, he questions the Way, C, Tao.
Eastern extreme, it says its identity without being opposed; human, he refuses with any exclusion; practical, it is conceived by the body. A Master said: “Not without the body, not only by the body. ”
Kinomichi is certainly a practice whose framework par excellence is the dojo. It cannot be freed without étioler from a transmission and a recognition by Maître Masamichi NORO. It is a bond between this last, its teaching and the community of its pupils and lives itself by the presence in the dojo. Kinomichi rests on a double connection towards the whole of the budos and its creator. It is a fidelity at its origins which forces to look further into the direction of the practice and thus to advance while going from the techniques towards the principles to illustrate the Way.

References

Quotations of Noro Master

Saber and technical
“the saber is of a perfect beauty. It is the mirror of the heart. It should be held firmly so that it does not fall with the hands but at the same time, it is necessary to feel all the blade and beyond. ” Word often repeated in progress by Noro Master in his dojo.
“the saber, neither the technique nor the movement count as much as your interior feeling, is necessary that you are given completely, that your participation either total. At this point in time one can start to become aware of Ki. ”
“It is necessary to know the technique because a technique right is a treasure which one divides with the pupil. The beginner is of a great sensitivity. It is necessary to show him advanced movements because it tastes the wonder that one reveals to him as I tasted myself at the first day the techniques of my Master, Morihei Ueshiba sensei. ” Word often repeated in progress by Master Noro (July 2007)
“to become hakama girdles black, it is necessary to know the 111 movements. I never knew somebody who became good while restricting itself with initiation 1 and 2 only. It is necessary to know initiation 5 and 6 so that the movements of initiation 1 and 2 are transformed and enriched by it. ” Word of Noro Master at the time of a training course for European teachers (July 2007)
Spiritualité of the Way
“a Master of Zen said to me one day by seeing my course: " Kinomichi is Zen in mouvement." I could conceive of it a great pride… of the Master” Word of Noro Master at the time of a training course for European teachers (July 2007)
“the Do , which is CAT in Chinese, is very deep. It is the Way and its study requires more than the Michi which is the Way. At the beginning of my teaching, one approached the teaching of my Master sensei by the technical study, Jutsu Waza in Japanese. I wanted that my pupils follow the direction of the Ki (energy/breath) then I have create the Kinomichi . Today, it is a new stage: I want that they approach the Shin (heart) and starting from initiation 5, they study what I name now the Kishindo , the Way of the breath and the heart. The means of this study is the great whole of the techniques. The techniques are the door of the heart and must carry the heart with energy! I never betrayed the teaching of my Master. fidelity is the Japanese tradition. ” Word of Noro Master in his dojo in 2007
Sourire
“the smile is the sign of the thanks, the reception and an energy of construction. With the smile, one presents oneself in front of the Master and the partner. With the smile, one meets the other.” Word of Noro Master in his dojo in 2007
“the smile is the opposite of the concentration, the crispation, closing. ”
Flexibility and force
“the force is born from a total opening and relaxation. Instead of crystallizing, it is a question of making flexible… There are two shelves to avoid: rigidity and mollesse. ”
“It is necessary to feel the rate/rhythm of the other and to push on its breath by posing to it his there, Ki Awase. From there the force comes from a technique. It is the kokyu. ” Word of Noro Master in his dojo in 2007
“the flexibility, it is the circulation of Ki, freedom of movement of energy. ”
“the flexibility does not relate to only the muscles and the articulations. It is not a physical faculty but the expression of a harmony between outside and the interior. ”
“Three concepts are related to the flexibility: adaptation, expiry and " to feel energy and to let it run " ”
“It is necessary to let pass Ki. Ki gives the form and the form is the dress of the movement. ” Word of Noro Master in his dojo in 2007
Duality and harmonious unit
“the duality must disappear. ”
“the unit is born from the meeting held on both. By listening and the intention, both are free in a free movement. For the harmony, it is necessary much to work! ” Word of Noro Master in his dojo in 2007
“is necessary to harmonize two, so that from these two is born a third which does not alienate them. ”
“the aggression or the confrontation never led to serenity. I never saw any example of it”.

Les quotations without reference is of 1992 and drawn from the book of Roumanof the practice of Kinomichi with Maître Noro to see below in Médias.

Media

2006 “In the spiral of Kinomichi” article of Nguyen Thanh Thiên published in Dragon n° July 16th /Août
2005 “a meeting of the Aikido and Kinomichi” animated by Master Masamichi NORO and Maître Christian TISSIER, DVD, Gabriel TURKIEH, Altomedia Production,
2003 “the universal movement of the ki” interview of Masamichi Noro sensei appeared in Aikido Magazine December 2003
1996 “Kinomichi, of the movement to creation. Meet with Masamichi Noro. ” Raymond Murcia, Editor Dervy-Books, Collection Ways Of harmony ISBN-10: 2850768065
1992 “practice of Kinomichi with Noro Master” Daniel Roumanoff Editor Criterion Collection the man connected ISBN-10: 2741300402
1963 Video of the 1st training course of Aikido of Master Masamichi Noro in Cannes in August 1963 * 1960 Some photographs of Master Masamichi Noro in Japan with its Master, Morihei Ueshiba. and.

external bonds

the international organization of Kinomichi: http://www.kiia.net
the World center of the Aikido in Tokyo: http://www.aikikai.or.jp/
the French federation to which Kinomichi is affiliated: http://www.ffaaa.com
Aïkidoka, the magazine of the world of Aïki: http://www.aikidoka.fr

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