Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven
APRIL 8, 2012 CHRISTOPHER LI
The Gods Izanagi and Izanami on the Floating Bridge of Heaven
from the series “An Illustrated History of Japan” by Utagawa Hiroshige, circa 1847-1852
Honolulu Academy of Arts
from the series “An Illustrated History of Japan” by Utagawa Hiroshige, circa 1847-1852
Honolulu Academy of Arts
Izanagi and Izanami on the Bridge Connecting Heaven and EarthThe “Floating Bridge of Heaven” (“Ame no Uki Hashi”) is an important part of the Japanese creation myth.
According to the Kojiki (“A Record of Ancient Affairs”), the first gods summoned two divine beings into existence – the male essence Izanagi (“The Male who Invites” / 伊邪那岐) and the female essence Izanami (“The Female who Invites” / 伊邪那美命). These two beings were given the task of creating the first land masses on earth. Taking the jeweled spear they were given, the two divine beings stood on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and stirred the sea with the jeweled spear, creating a vortex. Drops of salty water falling from the spear formed the first island, whereupon the divine beings descended from the Bridge to the earth below.
There’s a lot more (the Kojiki is a great tale, one of the world’s first soap operas), but for now let’s get back to how this relates to…Aikido.
Here we see Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba referring to Ame no Uki Hashi:
合気道は「天の浮橋に立たされて」ということである。
It is said that Aikido is “Standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven”.
This is one of those beautiful poetic phrases by the Founder that people tend to love – and then to forget a few minutes later, never having wondered whether O-Sensei was implicitly (or even explicitly) pointing towards some of the most important principles of his art (Aikido, maybe you’ve heard of it?).
Is it important? Maybe not – understanding the principles behind whatever you’re doing, be it ballet or baseball, is not necessarily going to make you better at performing that activity. On the other hand, understanding the underlying principles can help you to work out what’s going wrong, and work towards what goes right. It also opens up entire new realms of possibilities.
If you’re an Aikido student it seems a no brainer to me that you ought to be interested in what the Founder of the art had to say. More than that, I think that all Aikido students really have a responsibility to try to understand and to study those things as best they can.
If you’re not an Aikido student – well, I study plenty of things written by non-Aikido folks who do interesting things that I’d like to know more about, and even if I don’t always get what they’re talking about at the very least it helps me to know what I don’t know. Believe me, if someone like Chen Xiaoweng is standing around giving out information I’m going to at least take a look.
Back to Morihei Ueshiba – here’s even more emphatic about the importance of the Floating Bridge:
この道は、天の浮橋に最初に立たなければならないのです。天の浮橋に立たねば合気は出て来ないのです。
In the Way, you must first stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. If you do not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven then Aiki will not come forth.
That sounds pretty definite – no Floating Bridge, no Aiki. Another no brainer – no Aiki, no Aikido.
So what’s “Aiki”? In the last blog post, “Aikido without peace or harmony“, we tried for a working technical translation of the term “Aiki” and “Take Musu Aiki”, and what we ended up with was:
“Fitting together opposing forces with Ki and training the attractive forces that are thereby created.”
Let’s see how this works with the Floating Bridge.
We know from the above quotation that Morihei Ueshiba stated that the Floating Bridge of Heaven is a necessary requirement for Aiki to be created. Further, we can see this made clear when the Founder says:
天の浮橋は、天の武産の合気の土台の発祥であります。
The Floating Bridge of Heaven is the origin of the foundation for the Take Musu Aiki of Heaven.
Now it’s becoming clearer (I hope) – standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven is a necessary requirement for Aikido because if forms the foundation for Take Musu Aiki (“Fitting together opposing forces with Ki and training the attractive forces that are thereby created.”, as above). Let’s take a look at how the Bridge is constructed:
合気道は「天の浮橋に立たされて」ということである。天の浮橋は水火結んでめぐるということ。火は水を動かし、水は火によって動かさる。火も水も一つのものである。螺旋状にめぐる。気をもって絡むのである。それは、息によるものであり、この息が合気であります。
It is said that Aikido is “Standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven”. The Floating Bridge of Heaven is the turning of fire and water bound together. Fire moves water, water is moved by fire. Fire and water are one thing. They turn in a spiral. They are entwined through Ki. That is something that is enacted through the breath (“iki”). This breath (“iki”) is Aiki.
Getting closer – “Fire” and “Water” represent opposing “In” and “Yo” forces. In “Aikido without peace or harmony” we saw the importance of opposing forces that are fit together or connected with Ki. In fact, the Founder stated that “Take Musu” is the training of the “Inryoku” (“Attractive Force”) created when opposing forces are connected by Ki.
Now we can see that the Floating Bridge of Heaven, since it is constructed of connected opposing forces, can indeed be said to be the foundation for “Take Musu Aiki”.
If you remember, this quote from “Aikido without peace or harmony” also talked about joining opposing forces:
上にア下にオ声と対照で気を結び、そこに引力が発生するのである。
Above the sound “A” and below the sound “O” – opposites connected with Ki, there Attractive Force (“Inryoku”) is created.
Now we can take a closer look at the vowel sounds, and how Morihei Ueshiba used them as a mnemonic device.
The “Floating Bridge of Heaven” (天の浮橋) is “AME-NO-U-UKI-HASHI” and contains all the base vowels “A I U E O” (you may have heard these vowels chanted in Misogi exercises). The vowels are a mnemonic for a description of the process by which the Floating Bridge connects Heaven and Earth:
A: 天(ア) 高天原 TA・KA・A・MA・HA・RA
“The High Plain of Heaven” is itself another mnemonic, we’ll examine that another time.
I: 火(イ)
“Fire”
U: 結(ウ) 産 MU・SU
The “Tai-Kyoku” or “grand ultimate” joining fire and water, heaven and earth. Also, the connection, or “musu” in “Takemusu”
E: 水(エ)
“Water”
O: 地(オ) 淤能碁呂島 O・NO・KO・RO
“Earth”, literally “Onokoro Island”, the original island of Japan, formed by the gods who stood on the floating bridge.
And there you have it – a pretty neat description of the Floating Bridge itself. Coincidentally (or maybe not), it’s also a good description of the Chinese training methodology embodied in Heaven-Earth-Man that we discussed in “Aikido without peace or harmony“.
According to the Kojiki (“A Record of Ancient Affairs”), the first gods summoned two divine beings into existence – the male essence Izanagi (“The Male who Invites” / 伊邪那岐) and the female essence Izanami (“The Female who Invites” / 伊邪那美命). These two beings were given the task of creating the first land masses on earth. Taking the jeweled spear they were given, the two divine beings stood on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and stirred the sea with the jeweled spear, creating a vortex. Drops of salty water falling from the spear formed the first island, whereupon the divine beings descended from the Bridge to the earth below.
There’s a lot more (the Kojiki is a great tale, one of the world’s first soap operas), but for now let’s get back to how this relates to…Aikido.
Here we see Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba referring to Ame no Uki Hashi:
合気道は「天の浮橋に立たされて」ということである。
It is said that Aikido is “Standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven”.
This is one of those beautiful poetic phrases by the Founder that people tend to love – and then to forget a few minutes later, never having wondered whether O-Sensei was implicitly (or even explicitly) pointing towards some of the most important principles of his art (Aikido, maybe you’ve heard of it?).
Is it important? Maybe not – understanding the principles behind whatever you’re doing, be it ballet or baseball, is not necessarily going to make you better at performing that activity. On the other hand, understanding the underlying principles can help you to work out what’s going wrong, and work towards what goes right. It also opens up entire new realms of possibilities.
If you’re an Aikido student it seems a no brainer to me that you ought to be interested in what the Founder of the art had to say. More than that, I think that all Aikido students really have a responsibility to try to understand and to study those things as best they can.
If you’re not an Aikido student – well, I study plenty of things written by non-Aikido folks who do interesting things that I’d like to know more about, and even if I don’t always get what they’re talking about at the very least it helps me to know what I don’t know. Believe me, if someone like Chen Xiaoweng is standing around giving out information I’m going to at least take a look.
Back to Morihei Ueshiba – here’s even more emphatic about the importance of the Floating Bridge:
この道は、天の浮橋に最初に立たなければならないのです。天の浮橋に立たねば合気は出て来ないのです。
In the Way, you must first stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. If you do not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven then Aiki will not come forth.
That sounds pretty definite – no Floating Bridge, no Aiki. Another no brainer – no Aiki, no Aikido.
So what’s “Aiki”? In the last blog post, “Aikido without peace or harmony“, we tried for a working technical translation of the term “Aiki” and “Take Musu Aiki”, and what we ended up with was:
“Fitting together opposing forces with Ki and training the attractive forces that are thereby created.”
Let’s see how this works with the Floating Bridge.
We know from the above quotation that Morihei Ueshiba stated that the Floating Bridge of Heaven is a necessary requirement for Aiki to be created. Further, we can see this made clear when the Founder says:
天の浮橋は、天の武産の合気の土台の発祥であります。
The Floating Bridge of Heaven is the origin of the foundation for the Take Musu Aiki of Heaven.
Now it’s becoming clearer (I hope) – standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven is a necessary requirement for Aikido because if forms the foundation for Take Musu Aiki (“Fitting together opposing forces with Ki and training the attractive forces that are thereby created.”, as above). Let’s take a look at how the Bridge is constructed:
合気道は「天の浮橋に立たされて」ということである。天の浮橋は水火結んでめぐるということ。火は水を動かし、水は火によって動かさる。火も水も一つのものである。螺旋状にめぐる。気をもって絡むのである。それは、息によるものであり、この息が合気であります。
It is said that Aikido is “Standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven”. The Floating Bridge of Heaven is the turning of fire and water bound together. Fire moves water, water is moved by fire. Fire and water are one thing. They turn in a spiral. They are entwined through Ki. That is something that is enacted through the breath (“iki”). This breath (“iki”) is Aiki.
Getting closer – “Fire” and “Water” represent opposing “In” and “Yo” forces. In “Aikido without peace or harmony” we saw the importance of opposing forces that are fit together or connected with Ki. In fact, the Founder stated that “Take Musu” is the training of the “Inryoku” (“Attractive Force”) created when opposing forces are connected by Ki.
Now we can see that the Floating Bridge of Heaven, since it is constructed of connected opposing forces, can indeed be said to be the foundation for “Take Musu Aiki”.
If you remember, this quote from “Aikido without peace or harmony” also talked about joining opposing forces:
上にア下にオ声と対照で気を結び、そこに引力が発生するのである。
Above the sound “A” and below the sound “O” – opposites connected with Ki, there Attractive Force (“Inryoku”) is created.
Now we can take a closer look at the vowel sounds, and how Morihei Ueshiba used them as a mnemonic device.
The “Floating Bridge of Heaven” (天の浮橋) is “AME-NO-U-UKI-HASHI” and contains all the base vowels “A I U E O” (you may have heard these vowels chanted in Misogi exercises). The vowels are a mnemonic for a description of the process by which the Floating Bridge connects Heaven and Earth:
A: 天(ア) 高天原 TA・KA・A・MA・HA・RA
“The High Plain of Heaven” is itself another mnemonic, we’ll examine that another time.
I: 火(イ)
“Fire”
U: 結(ウ) 産 MU・SU
The “Tai-Kyoku” or “grand ultimate” joining fire and water, heaven and earth. Also, the connection, or “musu” in “Takemusu”
E: 水(エ)
“Water”
O: 地(オ) 淤能碁呂島 O・NO・KO・RO
“Earth”, literally “Onokoro Island”, the original island of Japan, formed by the gods who stood on the floating bridge.
And there you have it – a pretty neat description of the Floating Bridge itself. Coincidentally (or maybe not), it’s also a good description of the Chinese training methodology embodied in Heaven-Earth-Man that we discussed in “Aikido without peace or harmony“.
Heaven-Earth-Man, from Illustrated Explanations of Chen Family Taijiquan
Comparing the two, you can see that the Floating Bridge and Heaven-Earth-Man are, in fact, discussing the same training methodology.
The above sequence of vowels describes the concept of the physical methodology of the Floating Bridge (a.k.a. “Heaven-Earth-Man”). These vowels were often rearranged by Morihei Ueshiba to represent different concepts. For example, the vowels were sometimes reordered to express the progression of spiritual training and development. I may go into that more at a future date, I mention it now to avoid confusion.
Don’t feel bad if you haven’t figured this out before – not everybody understood what was going on when Ueshiba started chanting vowels as mnemonic phrases to embed additional layers of meaning – here’s what Koichi Tohei had to say:
I studied Aikido from Morihei Ueshiba, here again doing everything first and questioning later. Ueshiba Sensei was a master of Ki, as well as the founder of Aikido. However he was also a devoted follower of the Omotokyo Religion, and this influenced the way he taught Aikido. Often it was impossible to make any sense of his esoteric explanations. I rigorously trained in all of the exercises he had us do, though many came from the Omotokyo Religion, and made no sense to us. For example, we were expected to recite the alphabet in a different order. Rather than saying the vowels of Japanese as ”AIUEO” we were made to repeat them over and over as ”AOUEI,” as if this new sequence had a deeper meaning.
Moving along, we see that these opposing forces, joined by Ki, feed into each other in continuous spirals. We also see Ueshiba bring up “iki”, which is also very important, but which we will discuss at a future date. For now, remember these spirals from “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae“?
The above sequence of vowels describes the concept of the physical methodology of the Floating Bridge (a.k.a. “Heaven-Earth-Man”). These vowels were often rearranged by Morihei Ueshiba to represent different concepts. For example, the vowels were sometimes reordered to express the progression of spiritual training and development. I may go into that more at a future date, I mention it now to avoid confusion.
Don’t feel bad if you haven’t figured this out before – not everybody understood what was going on when Ueshiba started chanting vowels as mnemonic phrases to embed additional layers of meaning – here’s what Koichi Tohei had to say:
I studied Aikido from Morihei Ueshiba, here again doing everything first and questioning later. Ueshiba Sensei was a master of Ki, as well as the founder of Aikido. However he was also a devoted follower of the Omotokyo Religion, and this influenced the way he taught Aikido. Often it was impossible to make any sense of his esoteric explanations. I rigorously trained in all of the exercises he had us do, though many came from the Omotokyo Religion, and made no sense to us. For example, we were expected to recite the alphabet in a different order. Rather than saying the vowels of Japanese as ”AIUEO” we were made to repeat them over and over as ”AOUEI,” as if this new sequence had a deeper meaning.
Moving along, we see that these opposing forces, joined by Ki, feed into each other in continuous spirals. We also see Ueshiba bring up “iki”, which is also very important, but which we will discuss at a future date. For now, remember these spirals from “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae“?
Silk Reeling, from Illustrated Explanations of Chen Family Taijiquan
Above, the same process that Morihei Ueshiba talked about with the Floating Bridge is described in Chen Taiji, the positive and negative (flow and counter-flow of shun and ni) spirals winding through the body.
Here’s a little more from Morihei Ueshiba:
左手は伊耶那岐、右手は伊耶那美、真中は天之御中主(あめのみなかぬし)、これは自分のことである。天の浮橋に立たされて、螺旋状にめぐることである。これを高天原(たかあまはら)という。天も地も一つのもの、水も火も一つのもの、みんな息から現れるのである。神の常動の現れである。合気の技は常動により出てくるのである。
The left hand is Izanagi, the right is Izanami, in the center is Ame-no-minakanushi, this is yourself. This is standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and turning in a spiral. This is called Taka-ama-hara. Heaven and earth are one unit, water and fire are also one unit, all appears through Iki (breath). This is the endless appearance of the Kami. Aiki technique comes forth endlessly.
Izanagai and Izanami, the two gods who stood on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and created the world, represent In and Yo, as in this very similar Doka by Morihei Ueshiba:
右手をば陽にあらわし左手は陰にかえして相手みちびけ
Manifest yo (yang) in the right hand, change the left hand to in (yin) and guide the opponent.
Ame-no-minakanushi was the first deity to appear in heaven – in other words, the “Boss” who stands in the center.
Ueshiba says that you yourself are the “Boss” – as in 我即宇宙・宇宙即我 ” I am the Universe, the Universe is me.”. This is a very simple, but very important and powerful point. It is also another of those beautiful poetic phrases by the Founder that people tend to love – without considering that it may also be one of the most important technical instructions that he ever gave.
The “Boss” stands on the Floating Bridge uniting the opposing In-Yo forces and moves in a spiral. Interestingly, the movement of the two gods Izanagi and Izanami as they mated is often represented as a spiral – additionally, when Izanagi stirred the seas with the jeweled spear to create the first land a vortex (spiral) was created.
This state, says the Founder, standing on the Floating Bridge uniting the opposing In-Yo forces and moving in a spiral, is Taka-ama-hara – Heaven, so to speak. As noted in “Aikido and the Structure of the Universe“, this is a state that, according to the Founder, exists within yourself – in other words, Aiki is a state created within your own body and mind.
This is very different from a situation in which Aiki is defined by matching yourself to some external condition, such as your partner or opponent. Again, this reinforces the point made earlier – you yourself are the “Boss”.
So to sum up – the Floating Bridge of Heaven, also known as Heaven-Earth-Man, consists of creating a state within yourself by which you connect opposing forces and express that connection in spirals through the body.
Here’s a little more from Morihei Ueshiba:
左手は伊耶那岐、右手は伊耶那美、真中は天之御中主(あめのみなかぬし)、これは自分のことである。天の浮橋に立たされて、螺旋状にめぐることである。これを高天原(たかあまはら)という。天も地も一つのもの、水も火も一つのもの、みんな息から現れるのである。神の常動の現れである。合気の技は常動により出てくるのである。
The left hand is Izanagi, the right is Izanami, in the center is Ame-no-minakanushi, this is yourself. This is standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and turning in a spiral. This is called Taka-ama-hara. Heaven and earth are one unit, water and fire are also one unit, all appears through Iki (breath). This is the endless appearance of the Kami. Aiki technique comes forth endlessly.
Izanagai and Izanami, the two gods who stood on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and created the world, represent In and Yo, as in this very similar Doka by Morihei Ueshiba:
右手をば陽にあらわし左手は陰にかえして相手みちびけ
Manifest yo (yang) in the right hand, change the left hand to in (yin) and guide the opponent.
Ame-no-minakanushi was the first deity to appear in heaven – in other words, the “Boss” who stands in the center.
Ueshiba says that you yourself are the “Boss” – as in 我即宇宙・宇宙即我 ” I am the Universe, the Universe is me.”. This is a very simple, but very important and powerful point. It is also another of those beautiful poetic phrases by the Founder that people tend to love – without considering that it may also be one of the most important technical instructions that he ever gave.
The “Boss” stands on the Floating Bridge uniting the opposing In-Yo forces and moves in a spiral. Interestingly, the movement of the two gods Izanagi and Izanami as they mated is often represented as a spiral – additionally, when Izanagi stirred the seas with the jeweled spear to create the first land a vortex (spiral) was created.
This state, says the Founder, standing on the Floating Bridge uniting the opposing In-Yo forces and moving in a spiral, is Taka-ama-hara – Heaven, so to speak. As noted in “Aikido and the Structure of the Universe“, this is a state that, according to the Founder, exists within yourself – in other words, Aiki is a state created within your own body and mind.
This is very different from a situation in which Aiki is defined by matching yourself to some external condition, such as your partner or opponent. Again, this reinforces the point made earlier – you yourself are the “Boss”.
So to sum up – the Floating Bridge of Heaven, also known as Heaven-Earth-Man, consists of creating a state within yourself by which you connect opposing forces and express that connection in spirals through the body.
More on Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven JULY 1, 2012 CHRISTOPHER LI
Ansai Yamazaki (1619-1682), founder of Suika Shinto
Ansai Yamazaki and Ama-no-ukihashi-denAnsai Yamazaki was an Edo Period Confucian scholar who started out as a Buddhist monk and was one of the first people to spread Neo-Confucian thought in Japan.
Interestingly, Zhang San Feng(张三丰), the legendary creator of Tajiquan in China, was also influenced by Neo-Confucian thought.
Yamazaki was also the founder of the Suika Shinto sect, and his work on Shinto theology was instrumental in breaking Shinto thought out from the specialized provenance of the shrines to a more general population. We’ll get back to how this relates to the Floating Bridge a little bit later.
合氣を学ぶものは天の浮橋に立たねばならぬ
In order to learn Aiki you must stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven.
As you can see from the above quotation, Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba seemed to think that the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” (天之浮橋) was a pretty important thing.
Still – for all of its importance in his writings it is a concept that is generally not well understood. A direct student of Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei once expressed it to me this way:
The Founder told us that we would be unable to practice martial arts if we did not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. We were told that if we could not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven then our training would not bring forth Aikido technique, so it was essential that we do so at all costs.
However, we didn’t understand anything about where this Floating Bridge of Heaven was. Since we didn’t understand where it was there was no way that we could stand on it, so the reality was that we just put on a good face and kept on applying techniques to each other.
If you’ve read “Aikido and the Unknown” then you may have some idea why this kind of thing is not well understood, but just in case, here’s an interesting passage from Koichi Tohei (from “Ki no Kakuritsu” / 気の確立, translated from the Japanese):
Without a doubt, Ueshiba Sensei understood Ki. If we’re talking about that point, then I think that you could say that he was a genius. However, it is unfortunate that he never taught the true nature of it to his students. Even now I don’t know if that was because he didn’t want to teach it, or if it was because he was unable to teach it.
You may also like to take a look at “Morihei Ueshiba: Untranslatable Words” for an interesting story about Koichi Tohei himself and understanding of O-Sensei.
Interestingly, Zhang San Feng(张三丰), the legendary creator of Tajiquan in China, was also influenced by Neo-Confucian thought.
Yamazaki was also the founder of the Suika Shinto sect, and his work on Shinto theology was instrumental in breaking Shinto thought out from the specialized provenance of the shrines to a more general population. We’ll get back to how this relates to the Floating Bridge a little bit later.
合氣を学ぶものは天の浮橋に立たねばならぬ
In order to learn Aiki you must stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven.
As you can see from the above quotation, Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba seemed to think that the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” (天之浮橋) was a pretty important thing.
Still – for all of its importance in his writings it is a concept that is generally not well understood. A direct student of Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei once expressed it to me this way:
The Founder told us that we would be unable to practice martial arts if we did not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. We were told that if we could not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven then our training would not bring forth Aikido technique, so it was essential that we do so at all costs.
However, we didn’t understand anything about where this Floating Bridge of Heaven was. Since we didn’t understand where it was there was no way that we could stand on it, so the reality was that we just put on a good face and kept on applying techniques to each other.
If you’ve read “Aikido and the Unknown” then you may have some idea why this kind of thing is not well understood, but just in case, here’s an interesting passage from Koichi Tohei (from “Ki no Kakuritsu” / 気の確立, translated from the Japanese):
Without a doubt, Ueshiba Sensei understood Ki. If we’re talking about that point, then I think that you could say that he was a genius. However, it is unfortunate that he never taught the true nature of it to his students. Even now I don’t know if that was because he didn’t want to teach it, or if it was because he was unable to teach it.
You may also like to take a look at “Morihei Ueshiba: Untranslatable Words” for an interesting story about Koichi Tohei himself and understanding of O-Sensei.
Koichi Tohei with Hawaiian born sumo wrestler Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua(Takamiyama). The text on the left reads: “The author taught Ki to Takamiyama (the Hawaiian born sumo wrestler) after being asked to help by one of his students in Hawaii, and that tournament saw the first victory ever for a foreign born sumo wrestler in the Makunouchi division. However, he was reprimanded by the stable master for studying an art other than sumo and could not continue.”
In any case, at this point you may want to take a moment to go back and look at the previous article “Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven“, if you haven’t read it already, for some background on the structure of this training model.
Now…back to the Floating Bridge.
Here’s an interesting passage from an article by Yutaka Shimizu that appeared in Aikido Magazine (合氣道マガジン). Shimizu is a Bagua and Taiji instructor in Japan who has also trained in Aikido and Daito-ryu – he has published a number of interesting books in Japanese about Morihei Ueshiba.
「天の浮橋に立つ」とは、神道神学上は特別な意味を持っているのである。江戸時代の儒学者・山崎闇斎は垂加(すいか)神道を創始したが、その秘伝の一つに「天浮橋之伝」がある。それによれば「天浮橋」とは、不通を通ずる義、陰陽感通の処を云、橋箸端よみ通ず、上に立つとは、陰陽共にきっと立て感通するを云うなり、とある。つまり、陰陽というような本来対立して融合することのない二つの要素を融合させる。それが「天の浮橋に立つ」ということの本義なのである。
“Stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven” has a special meaning in Shinto theology. Suika Shinto was founded by the Edo Period Confucian scholar Ansai Yamazaki, and one of the secret traditions of that school is “The Transmission of the Floating Bridge of Heaven”. According to that tradition, it is written that the meaning of the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” is to open the impassable, to transmit the concept of In and Yo – to stand with In and Yo together. In other words, to reconcile two elements that are intrinsically opposed and un-combinable. This is the true meaning of “standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven”.
Remember “Aiki Budo is the Way of Human Development“? In that article a scroll from Yukiyoshi Sagawa’s dojo appeared – I noted there that I translated “融和” as “reconciliation” in the text of the scroll. The sense of this, in my reading, is the bringing together of two opposites, and it is in this sense that I used “reconciliation”. In the passage quoted above from Yutaka Shimizu the same Kanji are translated again as “reconcile” – again, the bringing together of two opposites.
If you’ve read the articles noted above, then you should be familiar with Heaven-Earth-Man, In and Yo (Yin and Yang) and the opposing forces being referred to. There is also some slightly more technical discussion of opposing force pairs in “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae – Part 3“.
For now lets get back to this quotation from Morihei Ueshiba, which was also cited in the first Floating Bridge article:
左手は伊耶那岐、右手は伊耶那美、真中は天之御中主(あめのみなかぬし)、これは自分のことである。天の浮橋に立たされて、螺旋状にめぐることである。これを高天原(たかあまはら)という。天も地も一つのもの、水も火も一つのもの、みんな息から現れるのである。神の常動の現れである。合気の技は常動により出てくるのである。
The left hand is Izanagi, the right is Izanami, in the center is Ame-no-minakanushi, this is yourself. This is standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and turning in a spiral. This is called Taka-ama-hara. Heaven and earth are one unit, water and fire are also one unit, all appears through Iki (breath). This is the endless appearance of the Kami. Aiki technique comes forth endlessly.
Here you can see that Ueshiba clearly delineates the combined opposing In-Yo forces, represented by Izanagi and Izanami.
You can also see that he cites the two basic forces in the body – fire and water. These are so basic to the model that Ueshiba would often write “God” (“Kami”) as a combination of these two characters – fire (Ka) and water (Mi) (火水, Kan and Li in Chinese).
These are the two basic forces in the body in Chinese internal martial arts – along with Heaven and Earth they form the four cardinal directions in Taiji, which are mapped to the four basic Jin (勁) energies of Peng (掤 / wardoff), Lu (履 / rollback), Ji (擠 / press), An (按 / push).
This basic arrangement of Heaven and Earth, In and Yo, Fire and Water was described in “Morihei Ueshiba and the Way of the Cross“.
I’d like to note here that once again he states that this model is essential for the production of Aiki technique.
Now, let’s look at who’s standing on the Bridge, and where they’re standing.
As stated previously, Ame-no-minakanushi represents the “Boss”, the person in charge – and Ueshiba states that this person is you, yourself.
If you are standing in the center, and In and Yo are spiraling around you, then this process must represent something that is happening in yourself, that is being created within yourself. I make the distinction because this is a very different thing than a process that occurs between yourself and another person.
This brings us back to a telling quote from Koichi Tohei’s book “気の確立” (“The Establishment of Ki”), previously cited in “Aikido and the Structure of the Universe“. It comes in the section where he discusses his break from the Aikikai:
二代道主は、合氣道を「人の気に合わせるの道」と解釈していた。しかし私にしてみれば、合氣道とは「心身を統一して天地と一体になる。すなわち天地の気に合わす道」なのである。
The second Doshu interpreted Aikido as “the Way of fitting in with another person’s Ki”. However, it seems to me that Aikido is “Uniting body and mind and becoming one with heaven and earth. Specifically, the Way of fitting together the Ki of heaven and earth.”.
I don’t want to get into whether his characterization of Kisshomaru Ueshiba’s interpretation is accurate or not, but what I will say here is that Tohei’s interpretation of the process as something occurs within yourself is, in my opinion, correct, and that this is indeed a critical point.
So – we have you, the “Boss” standing on the Bridge, but where are you standing?
If you are standing in the “center”, then you are standing between In and Yo – two opposing forces that are constantly cycling and shifting. The point at which they unite and divide from one to the other is the point of change, the neutral point (usually represented by the curving or spiral line in the Taiji symbol).
In any case, at this point you may want to take a moment to go back and look at the previous article “Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven“, if you haven’t read it already, for some background on the structure of this training model.
Now…back to the Floating Bridge.
Here’s an interesting passage from an article by Yutaka Shimizu that appeared in Aikido Magazine (合氣道マガジン). Shimizu is a Bagua and Taiji instructor in Japan who has also trained in Aikido and Daito-ryu – he has published a number of interesting books in Japanese about Morihei Ueshiba.
「天の浮橋に立つ」とは、神道神学上は特別な意味を持っているのである。江戸時代の儒学者・山崎闇斎は垂加(すいか)神道を創始したが、その秘伝の一つに「天浮橋之伝」がある。それによれば「天浮橋」とは、不通を通ずる義、陰陽感通の処を云、橋箸端よみ通ず、上に立つとは、陰陽共にきっと立て感通するを云うなり、とある。つまり、陰陽というような本来対立して融合することのない二つの要素を融合させる。それが「天の浮橋に立つ」ということの本義なのである。
“Stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven” has a special meaning in Shinto theology. Suika Shinto was founded by the Edo Period Confucian scholar Ansai Yamazaki, and one of the secret traditions of that school is “The Transmission of the Floating Bridge of Heaven”. According to that tradition, it is written that the meaning of the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” is to open the impassable, to transmit the concept of In and Yo – to stand with In and Yo together. In other words, to reconcile two elements that are intrinsically opposed and un-combinable. This is the true meaning of “standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven”.
Remember “Aiki Budo is the Way of Human Development“? In that article a scroll from Yukiyoshi Sagawa’s dojo appeared – I noted there that I translated “融和” as “reconciliation” in the text of the scroll. The sense of this, in my reading, is the bringing together of two opposites, and it is in this sense that I used “reconciliation”. In the passage quoted above from Yutaka Shimizu the same Kanji are translated again as “reconcile” – again, the bringing together of two opposites.
If you’ve read the articles noted above, then you should be familiar with Heaven-Earth-Man, In and Yo (Yin and Yang) and the opposing forces being referred to. There is also some slightly more technical discussion of opposing force pairs in “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae – Part 3“.
For now lets get back to this quotation from Morihei Ueshiba, which was also cited in the first Floating Bridge article:
左手は伊耶那岐、右手は伊耶那美、真中は天之御中主(あめのみなかぬし)、これは自分のことである。天の浮橋に立たされて、螺旋状にめぐることである。これを高天原(たかあまはら)という。天も地も一つのもの、水も火も一つのもの、みんな息から現れるのである。神の常動の現れである。合気の技は常動により出てくるのである。
The left hand is Izanagi, the right is Izanami, in the center is Ame-no-minakanushi, this is yourself. This is standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven and turning in a spiral. This is called Taka-ama-hara. Heaven and earth are one unit, water and fire are also one unit, all appears through Iki (breath). This is the endless appearance of the Kami. Aiki technique comes forth endlessly.
Here you can see that Ueshiba clearly delineates the combined opposing In-Yo forces, represented by Izanagi and Izanami.
You can also see that he cites the two basic forces in the body – fire and water. These are so basic to the model that Ueshiba would often write “God” (“Kami”) as a combination of these two characters – fire (Ka) and water (Mi) (火水, Kan and Li in Chinese).
These are the two basic forces in the body in Chinese internal martial arts – along with Heaven and Earth they form the four cardinal directions in Taiji, which are mapped to the four basic Jin (勁) energies of Peng (掤 / wardoff), Lu (履 / rollback), Ji (擠 / press), An (按 / push).
This basic arrangement of Heaven and Earth, In and Yo, Fire and Water was described in “Morihei Ueshiba and the Way of the Cross“.
I’d like to note here that once again he states that this model is essential for the production of Aiki technique.
Now, let’s look at who’s standing on the Bridge, and where they’re standing.
As stated previously, Ame-no-minakanushi represents the “Boss”, the person in charge – and Ueshiba states that this person is you, yourself.
If you are standing in the center, and In and Yo are spiraling around you, then this process must represent something that is happening in yourself, that is being created within yourself. I make the distinction because this is a very different thing than a process that occurs between yourself and another person.
This brings us back to a telling quote from Koichi Tohei’s book “気の確立” (“The Establishment of Ki”), previously cited in “Aikido and the Structure of the Universe“. It comes in the section where he discusses his break from the Aikikai:
二代道主は、合氣道を「人の気に合わせるの道」と解釈していた。しかし私にしてみれば、合氣道とは「心身を統一して天地と一体になる。すなわち天地の気に合わす道」なのである。
The second Doshu interpreted Aikido as “the Way of fitting in with another person’s Ki”. However, it seems to me that Aikido is “Uniting body and mind and becoming one with heaven and earth. Specifically, the Way of fitting together the Ki of heaven and earth.”.
I don’t want to get into whether his characterization of Kisshomaru Ueshiba’s interpretation is accurate or not, but what I will say here is that Tohei’s interpretation of the process as something occurs within yourself is, in my opinion, correct, and that this is indeed a critical point.
So – we have you, the “Boss” standing on the Bridge, but where are you standing?
If you are standing in the “center”, then you are standing between In and Yo – two opposing forces that are constantly cycling and shifting. The point at which they unite and divide from one to the other is the point of change, the neutral point (usually represented by the curving or spiral line in the Taiji symbol).
Sifu Sam F.S. Chin: “Change is stable”
The only really stable position or “stance” from which to operate is on is this neutral point, which is itself constantly shifting – or we might even say…“Floating”.