Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido or Ki Aikido is a japanese martial art, a gendai budo. It is part of the martial arts derived from aikido, which appeared after its founder's death in 1969. It started in early 70's with the creation of the Ki Society of Koichi Tohei, the previous Aikikai's Chief Instructor. This martial art focuses on mind and body coordination and is based on aikido techniques and japanese yoga and promote non-violent conflict solving and self-development. He was taught Shinshin-t%C5%8Ditsu-d%C5%8D by Tempu Nakamura. He felt that Tempu Sensei's teaching and explanation made clear what Morihei Ueshiba was able to do in his aikido. As a result he started bringing in exercises from Shinshin-t%C5%8Ditsu-d%C5%8D, such as 'unbendable arm' and 'unraisable body' into his aikido teaching. He started to do this as Chief Instructor of the Aikikai, while Morihei Ueshiba was still alive. He also felt the concepts of Shinshin-toitsu-do were more clearly applicable to daily life. It was later that he formalised his style, including leaving out some aikido techniques that he felt were ineffective against a partner who could coordinate mind and body. Although Tohei Sensei gave the Ki Development aspect of his style the name Shinshin-toitsu-do, it only covered part of Tempu Sensei's curriculum/teaching, and some of it was modified by him. The teaching of Ki Aikido has been split between different federations, each reflecting the experience of their founders: Ki Society with Koichi Tohei and his son Shinichi Tohei, with Kenjiro Yoshigasaki and with Ken Williams.
Ki Aikido features
Each federation has evolved its own set, but some common features are:
Emphasis on aikido principles, ki principles
Katas
Warmups with ki development exercises, coordination of mind and body, with some moves re-used during aikido techniques
Teaching putting emphasis on "ki" and its development.
These principles guide the practitioners to keep "mind and body" coordinated and can be applied in daily life. To follow one is to follow all. To lose one is to lose all.
These principles also guide the practitioners, when doing aikido techniques. They roughly represent the state of mind of an aikidoka: being aware of your surroundings, trying to understand what your partner/attacker is trying to do, adjusting your moves to match his moves and lead.
