12/09/2025
"Tu es trop musclé pour progresser" "le conditionnement physique, cela ne sert à rien en aïkido" "arrête de faire du sport, ce n'est pas compatible avec l'aïkido", etc. Déjà entendu cela ? Comme tout pratiquant qui a un peu tourné, sans doute. Et pourtant... ce sont des préjugés sans aucun fondement. Petit rappel historique de Christopher Li (en anglais).
Re-watching this documentary with Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu shihan Risuke Otake:
https://youtu.be/nU0GgK3mTi8?si=GRqz9uTw5HMRC5hT
Once again we return to the topic discussed in "Aiki Budo is the Way of Human Development":
https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/aikibudo-way-human-development/
That is, the mistaken assertion that certain ideas about "winning without fighting" are unique to, and originate with, Morihei Ueshiba, when, in fact, they have existed in many forms, for many years pre-dating Morihei Ueshiba.
Morihei Ueshiba always insisted, as did Risuke Otake, that his art was deadly, and meant to be deadly, Morihei Ueshiba had it posted on the wall of his dojo - both before and after the war, but the rationale of "peace through strength" is something that has largely gone out of style in the modern world, leading to an increasing stigmatization of discussions about strength in Aikido.
For reference, here's an interesting look at internal martial arts and strength from Hai Yang - "One should not claim to practice martial arts if their strength is insufficient":
https://youtu.be/TTccQaPyv6g?si=fCUuagyLjLbsB73m
You may recognize a similar assertion from Ellis Amdur with regards to Aikido practitioners in "Great Aikido —Aikido Greats":
"Yukawa Tsutomu was a titan. Shirata Rinjiro was immensely strong. Shioda Gozo, unbelievably, beat Kimura Masahiko in arm wrestling—by Kimura’s own account. Tohei Koichi, post WWII, casually carried two suitcases full of smuggled rice arms-length over ticket wickets at train stations, thereby pretending that the cases were empty: because who could casually hold suitcases with 30 kilos of rice apiece, straight-armed, walking fifty meters until out of sight of law enforcement personnel. When Saito Morihiro was a kid, Ueshiba told him he was too skinny; Saito, working for the railroad, got a length of train track, and repetitively lifted it, this thick-grip weight training and other exercises resulting in him becoming a massive man. In fact, all the Iwama dinosaurs (Isoyama Hiroshi, Watahiki Yoshifumi, Inagaki Shigemi, to name a few) are immensely powerful. Tada Hiroshi is like living whalebone, from all the suburi he did. Tomiki Kenji had huge wrists and when young, a massive neck. Osawa Kisaburo, quite muscular as a young man, asked me to take his son, Osawa Hayato, to Korakuen gym and teach him weight lifting, genially whispering to me in the dojo hallway, “He’s too weak.” There’s more than one body type and more than one way to be physically powerful—but as far as I know, all the great aikidoka were very powerful people, some naturally, others a product of training."
https://kogenbudo.org/great-aikido-aikido-greats/
And what about the Daito-ryu folks?
Well, Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Menkyo Kaiden Takuma Hisa was, of course, a Sumo wrestler and very powerful physically.
Then there's Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Kodokai founder Kodo Horikawa:
"Was Horikawa Sensei in good physical condition?
Mrs. Horikawa: He had a smaller body, but his muscles were impressive and well toned. He injured his Achilles' tendon once, but apparently it healed, since it was three times as thick as a normal person's. A normal person's would have been snapped. His whole body was filled with aiki, even to the soles of his feet."
- Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters, Stanley Pranin
Then there's Yukiyoshi Sagawa, apparently the one time Soke of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu, Yukiyoshi Sagawa himself was powerfully conditioned:
"The most important thing in Aiki is the legs. You must build muscle in the necessary areas of the hips and legs through training the legs in “Henko”."
"In Age-te (Note: also known as "kokyu-ho" in Aikido), the most important thing is building the body."
"The way that I built my body was through push-ups. From the time that I was a teenager I would train 1,500 times a day. Through that it became possible for my body to become a single unit. This is not limited to push-ups, but it is important to continue each physical training method for at least three years. Suburi, for example."
"It’s no good if you don’t have thick thighs. Conditioning yourself and becoming strong means that you’re building muscle."
"The muscle on your hips and abdomen must be thick and you must begin to move from there. Technique done with slim hips will not be effective. However, thickness from fat is no good."
"Aiki no Rentai: The Conditioned Body of Yukiyoshi Sagawa, Part 2":
https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/aiki-rentai-conditioned-body-yukiyoshi-sagawa-part-2/
So here's the tricky part - power lifters, gymnasts, marathon runners, dancers, and even musicians are all strong, but have very different bodies, trained and conditioned in very different ways, that optimize their performance for different practices - their strength and body development are specific to what they're doing. It's a no brainer that conditioning is going to be sports specific - so what's specific for Aiki, and what do you do to get there?
