TAE Journal, Edition 14, Stages in Our Weapons Practice. By Adrian Punt

FROM EDITION 14 OF THE TRADITIONAL AIKIDO EUROPE JOURNAL – WINTER 2025

Stage 1

Firstly, for us, tai jutsu, bokken work, and jo work are all one unified system of body movement. These aspects of our practice are not separate, disparate systems, but one coordinated whole. In this system we seek to teach our body to bend, to flex, to move in spirals, to move in very specific ways. The body is the tool, the real weapon; the forms we practice in Aikido are there to teach us how to use our body in a martial context.

In our practice, it is through solo weapons work that we refine our structure, our balance, pose, poise and posture, our ability to move from the centre, our extension, our grounding and weight underside. We also work on our attention, our focus, our intention. We seek mental clarity whilst also maintaining the concept of ‘beginners mind’, of approaching everything with the intention of making it better.

Through seemingly simple exercises (suburi) we explore multiple aspects of body and mind in movement and stillness – and the transition from one to the other. We are looking to ‘find the feeling’, to recruit specific muscle groups, to develop both strength and stability in our bodies along with mobility and flexibility. The more we practice the more we come to understand that these are not simple exercises that are there to be copied and repeated, but complex and multidimensional things. Each suburi exercise is a ‘lesson’, each aims to build and refine our mental and physical form, each, even in the basic form, offers multiple layers of complexity that can be explored.

So, we could call solo weapons practice, the suburi we practice, Stage 1, it is establishing the foundations – perhaps the most critical aspect of any construction project. In this, we can include the linking of various solo suburi exercises into a sequence, into a kata. Here we start to explore the components of body mechanics, and mind and body coordination, as discussed above, with a broader range of transitions from one body form / geometry to another.

Stage 2

At the next stage, Stage 2, in our weapons practice, we engage with a partner. We start with single attacks in an agreed format; we respond with a single movement. Left, right, high, low, thrust, strike; in each instance we work on the blend, on the awase – the exploration of both timing and distance. Through the use of the bokken and jo we explore not just different attacks, but also different distances and timings.

In partnered awase work, our partner seeks to transition from stillness to movement, to launch their attack without tell-tell signs. We seek to read, to feel their intention and move as they move. We seek not to respond / react to their movement, but to ‘read’ their intention and to move as they move, and to move in a controlled and coordinated way as we learned in the suburi. Two parties, two weapons, but one movement, starting and finishing together. As we become better at perceiving our partner’s intention to move, we may choose to delay our movement, we wait in stillness, tracking the incoming strike. Then when our partner is fully committed in their attack, we respond decisively.

In kihon practice we link various move-counter-move sequences together in a blend-pause-blend-pause way. At each point there is an agreement over who initiates and who has to try and blend. Roles reverse between these points and the concept of uke and nage evolves into more of a partnership. At this stage each party has equal responsibility to try and find the perfect blend. Together, without pressure, we seek to build our understanding of the way of harmony.

Stage 3

At Stage 3 the intention, the energy changes. The concept of joint, mutual responsibility, in terms of awase, of blending disappears. Whether bokken strike to the head, or jo thrust to the body or strike to the knee, our partner’s intent is to attack. Our weapons are solid and hard, attacks are strong and committed, we are not wearing any protection. Our partner should attack at a pace that is within their ability to stop and within their partner’s ability to respond, but it should still be delivered with intent.

At this stage, we start in kihon, firstly learning to deal with manageable ‘bursts’ of movement, with a pause in-between to reset and evaluate. Then we move into ki no nagare. In ki no nagare, there are no pauses, footwork changes, the attack is continuous, the response continuous. We receive the attack, parry, guard, counter, then finish. We can work with the full form or choose to finish the encounter early.

The system is broad and deep, but also accessible. Beginner and experienced practitioner can work together, but they are accessing and exploring different stages.

To read back issues of the TAE Journal go to https://traditionalaikido.eu/journal.html