17th Oct 2007
I still don’t know what Aikido is
I still don’t know what Aikido is
by Arthur Gutnov
Aikido is the man on the bus
It’s his passive aggressive complexion
It’s the risk in his eye
The clenched fist and heavy breathing
It’s the crank in his breast pocket
And the bible in his bag
It’s you seeing the bible in his bag
Aikido is the man on the bus when you’re on the train.
It’s 20/20 transcendental vision
It’s hindsight and foresight and anti-tunnel vision
It’s knowing
It’s knowing by feeling
And feeling everything before doing anything
And fitting the world in a moment
It’s the choices you make
It’s picking a yonkyo at its prime
And plucking it only when it’s ripe
And soft and tender as the afflicted wrist will be.
It’s choking with disregard
But disregarding with compassion
Because sometimes it’s good to feel unsafe
It’s forgetting about your homework
At the peak of your break fall
And forgetting you’re alive on impact
It’s knowing what alive feels like
It’s endorphins pumping when you cant move
It’s you moving when you shouldn’t
In ways you shouldn’t
It’s taking three more steps where others would kneel
It’s 501 when 500 would suffice
It’s diligence and madness become one
It’s working to hold the intangible
And always having something to work on
Because Aikido is the limit
And I am the polynomial that just can’t reach
But Aikido is trying
Aikido is balance
Its finding life lessons cleaning mirrors
Its gods become men and men become nothing
Before becoming themselves
Sankyo is a reflection of you
Nikkyo is you
Kokyunage is as cognitive as it is motor
And generically speaking mind is body
And mind is Aikido
But body is its tool for expression
And Aikido is the man on the bus
But more importantly
Aikido is the man on the bus
When there is no bus.
Arthur Gutnov is a 3rd kyu and kenshusei student at Tenshinkan Dojo in Chicago, IL
