Newsgroup: it.sport.arti-marziali
Titolo: Atemi in Aikido

Non chiedetemi di riassumere di cosa si tratta. Lo scriverei.... è che 
vi voglio fare indovinare...
Tac
(aikido)
------
About the notion of Atemi in Aikido, I will post here a translation of a 
chapter of Franck Noel book : “Fragments de dialogue a deux inconnues” 
.It is a great book, only in French at the moment:
ATEMI
"When the boxer's fist smashes into his opponent's face, or rather the 
opponent's face smashes under the boxer's fist, all is said, all is laid 
out flat. There is no understatement, no mystery.
We are in a domain where reality bears nothing other than itself. There 
is no ambiguity possible; there is no risk of misunderstanding.
This overly clear, almost blinding, message leaves, and this is obvious 
when boxers are concerned, no place for complicity that sensation of 
pleasure that we take in understanding and in being understood without 
really trying to communicate, which needs, in order to take root, a sort 
of penumbra, a sort of encoding of the message, a pretext for testing 
affinities.
The use of the atemi in Aïkido is something completely different.
In the first place, because it is not given to the partner: it is 
signaled as virtual, as potential, and is thus, supposed to induce a 
behavior, a state of consciousness, an attitude, a gesture on the part 
of the other.
It is, in a certain way, "signified" to the other that, without the 
appropriate response to the situation, without the necessary reaction, 
he or she could take a blow.
The atemi in Aïkido is thus akin to what is allusive, that is to say, to 
a mode of communication that is more poetic than administrative
It does not want to be coercive, but persuasive, encouraging, 
educational, by exposing, without carrying through, a certain reality to 
the other, and thus paradoxically, by negating its seemingly apparent 
finality: the impact.
The other will not receive the atemi.
However, s/he will perhaps receive the message, if his/her lucidity, 
capacity to listen and clairvoyance/perceptivity permit it. And then the 
communication will continue, the movement will keep flowing and the poem 
will live.
If to the contrary, the other's blindness is such that this indication 
of an opening is not perceived, then the poem will not be read, the 
charm, broken, the movement, stopped, perhaps will die, in any case, 
will lose its (délié) amplitude/fullness and its finesse.
The reality of the atemi in Aïkido only exists in the capacity of the 
partner to grasp its allusion and hence to continue the dialogue. It 
runs the risk each time, of confronting, not so much the other, as 
its/the other's incomprehension.
The art of the poet is to convey strong and indelible images that do not 
need explanation.
In a similar manner, the art of the Aïkidoka is to deliver atemis that 
are
so evident and convincing that it becomes useless to carry them 
through."

Scusa Tac, ma chi è 'sto pazzo?
La poesia dell'atemi no, non la volevo proprio sentire, questa!!  ;-)
ciao   lob

 La poesia dell'atemi no, non la volevo proprio sentire, questa!!  ;-)
Il pazzo è Frank Noel. Credo sia stato fra i migliori allievi francesi 
del Maestro Seigo Yamaguchi (da molti considerato un genio), ma forse 
confondo.
Per quel che mi riguarda, mi sembra una visuale notevole.
In poche parole, chiarisce il senso dell'allenamento all'atemi nella 
normale pratica dell'aikido. (intesa come allenamento sul tatami, non 
applicazione su strada)
Tra le altre cose chiarisce che in aikido uke affronta il pericolo di un 
atemi muovendosi in un certo e solo in quello e, non, ad esempio, 
schivando e reagendo con gancio e montante. E cioè che l'atemi non viene 
dato per far male ma per costringere ad un attenzione e sviluppare un 
dialogo/rapporto. C'è molto poco di poetico in ciò.
Studiare un'applicazione marziale è un'altra cosa. Mi dirai che anche 
studiare soluzioni da strada può sviluppare gli stessi attributi e che 
da noi l'Ucas è sempre in agguato. 
A questo non ti rispondo, so che hai ragione, ma in fondo anche lo 
studio da strada nasconde potenziali fraintendimenti.
Tac
p.s.: chiaramente dipende da come intendi l'aikido (così Alessio non mi 
salta addosso), non generalizziamo, quella sopra è una mia opinione.