The Language of Aikido: A Practitioner's Guide to Japanese Characters and Terminology

by Michael Hacker

Researched and written by a professional linguist with decades of experience as a student of Japanese language, culture, and martial arts—including living and training in Japan for 10 years—"The Language of Aikido: A Practitioner’s Guide to Japanese Characters and Terminology" was designed specifically for students and teachers of the Japanese martial art Aikido, but will also be of interest to Japanese language enthusiasts who practice other martial arts such as Karate, Judo, Jujutsu, Iaido, and Kendo.

Translating martial arts terminology using a standard Japanese-to-English dictionary is potentially fraught with cultural and contextual errors due to the specialized way that such terminology is used in a Budo study. Even dojo glossaries, while more specifically directed at relevant connotations of such vocabulary, are sometimes lacking in depth and historical and linguist context. Without the combination of a background in the Japanese language coupled with a serious study of Budo, proper understanding of the richness and full meanings of these terms can prove difficult to the non-Japanese speaker. This book attempts to address this problem by introducing the reader to historical and deep contextual information, alternate understandings of terms through the minds of experts in other Japanese martial traditions, and multiple translations of particular kanji (characters).

In addition to chapters on Japanese pronunciation and writing systems, this book contains countless entries related to Aikido's history, luminary figures, rank, customs and courtesies, training, equipment, fundamentals, techniques, higher concepts, relevant Japanese proverbs, as well as a sampling of translations of Doka (Songs of the Path) written by Aikido's founder, Ueshiba Morihei. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the single most complete work of its kind in existence in the English language.

In the words of Ikeda Hiroshi, Aikikai Shihan 7th Dan and Boulder Aikikai Chief Instructor, "In the process of learning these arts, in addition to learning technical movement, understanding the Japanese language is important—starting with necessary words for use in the dojo including the names of techniques, etiquette-related phrases, practice terminology, and general martial arts vocabulary.”

Genres: Martial Arts

142 pages, Paperback

Published July 6, 2017

Reviews

[Michael Hacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote the book, so my opinion is far from objective. :-)

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended.

A really good companion for any Aikido student. It points most of all questions and uncertainties we all have while walking this amazing path.

The only think I don't like is that it is *too* empirical and lacks references to other material that has the same conclusions as the author, decreasing (just a little) the strength of the argument and therefore their validity (again, just a little).

I will get the paperback copy to share it with colleagues on the dojo (before and after «keiko», of course).

[Thanh Nguyen-Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the book should strictly be recommended (on the front page) to intemediate Aikido practitioners, or people with intermediate Japanese understanding, and curiosity about this martial arts form.
The first few pages with pronunciation and kanji were very dry and hard for me to continue, only nearly a year and a few months of self learning Japanese I could push it through. The fundamentals of Japanese kanji have very little to no contribution to Aikido to me.
What I am interested in: how Aikido was started, why those attack forms and weapons choice, concepts are barely described well, or just briefly summarized in 1 sentence or so in the book. Reading this is like looking up a Japanese-English dictionary - not my cup of tea.
I surely need a documentary to satisfy this need.
The book is not for me, but I see it does help many. So know your need and choose a book wisely then.

[D Prevost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book but miss something

I rand it in about 2 days. Was I great book to read for the signifcation of word use in aikido solo in general and also stuff about etiquette life of O Sensei and other Japanese words used in bushido. But I was looking for special name technique of my aikido dojo did really found some but beside this minus problems I really enjoy this book

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a solid introduction to, as the title tells us, the language of aikido. Copious terms introduced and explained with both Japanese orthography and romanized (alphabetized) pronunciations. Great for aikido practitioners with little or no Japanese language under their belts, black or otherwise.

[Peter Boylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional resource for anyone interested in having more than a cursory understanding of what is going on in Aikido from a cultural and linguistic perspective.