Tanden-the Center

If I am to point out one single thing as the most important aspect in aikido, it is tanden, the center. You have to find, develop and express your center. That is true about all budo, not just aikido.

 

     The center is far from only a center of balance, or the focus point of breathing. It is a fail-safe compass within, the birthplace of the aikido techniques and of one’s own expression of aikido. You need to be true to your center. Then the rest of the progress in your do, the path of your self-realization, is ascertained. Without it, you are unable to go beyond the mere techniques of it all. 

It is from the center that the aikido techniques emerge, as if born out of it. And the essence of the techniques is the relation between the center of tori, the defender, and uke, the attacker. Aikido is not primarily done with the partner’s arms or wrists, but with the partner’s center, and the energy emanating from it. To regard aikido in this way is to open for unlimited development of it.

That’s why nothing is more important in aikido, than working with one’s center and that of the partner.

O-sensei once said:

     – To make a circle, you must have a center.

Techniques born in the center

The aikido techniques with their complexity give the impression of a labyrinth. Arms go this way, legs that way, hands involve in intricate movements, the body turns and twists. Just to steer one’s body into the right pattern of movement seems as difficult as the trickiest koan. Adding to this the guiding of another person into these patterns, or several attackers at once - then, overload is imminent. This must be too much to control.

Yes it is. If man were a machine that had to be programmed and tuned to each task, aikido would quickly be too much of a challenge. But man is no machine and aikido is not a random combination of tricky movements. Aikido is natural and man is rooted in the natural, from the moment of his emergence in this world.

We need only to be receptive of our inner voice, our inner certainty, to be able to do the aikido movements as easily as if we had invented them ourselves. If we can’t feel this instict for what is the correct way, if this inner compass does not show any directions – then we’re on the wrong track, and perseverance can’t compensate for it. 

Kikai tanden, seika no itten

Man’s inner compass and root in the natural is his center. It is called tanden in Japanese (dantian in Chinese). It is also called seika no itten, seika tanden or kikai tanden. It is inside the body, in the middle of it, at least three fingerwidths down from the bellybutton. It is also the body’s center of gravity.
 
     Indian tradition speaks about seven main chakra, points of power in man’s body – from the groin up to the top of the head. Chakra really means “wheel”, and each of them has its own characteristics. Tanden is the second point from below in this scheme, with the Indian name svadhisthana. 

The Chinese/Japanese signs for the center mean “the red rice field”. Since rice is the prime nutrition in their part of the world, it is a symbol of life energy. A whole field of it – and red at that, as if glowing – expresses a vast amount of powerful life energy. Kikai means “ ocean of ki”, life energy, so kikai tanden points out that there is an ocean of ki in the center.

Seika means “below the navel”, so seika tanden specifies which center it is, since some Eastern traditions have several. Seika no itten means “the one point below the navel”, stressing the importance of always sticking to it, making it the center of all one’s doing. The Indian word svadhisthana can be translated to “the dwelling of the Self”.

To the beginner, this center is equally hard to imagine and to feel. Yet, it is essential that the aikido student from the start tries to stimulate his or her ki and sense of center – the two lead to each other. Tanden is the endless source of ki, from which it comes and to which it flows. The more you focus on your ki flow, the clearer you sense your center, and the more you focus on your center, the stronger your ki flow gets.

The sword cut

 

In aikido (as in all budo) this center is firstly the starting point for your balance and stability, being the body’s point of gravity, and also the source from which most of your ki flows. When you concentrate on your center, you become stable, your movements get powerful and accurate, and ki flows through your whole body, as well as far out of it. Of course, this comes gradually, by time. All aikido movements start in the tanden and return there in curves and spirals.

This is the most evident in the sword cut. The Japanese sword, katana, is grabbed by both hands. In the basic position, chudan kamae, middle guard, you hold the sword at the distance of about one fist from your body, on the level of your center. When you cut, you lift the sword over your head – by pushing it forward – and then cut in an extended curve back to your initial position – again by pushing forward.

Both in the draw and in the cut the sword moves the same way – from the center, and then back to the center, in an extended curve forward. At the draw you breathe in to your center, at the cut you breathe out from it.

So, the sword cut is basically two directions – from your center, and to your center. Because you do not bend your arms at all in the movement, the sword will move in a forward curve. This from and to, out and in, is the base of all budo. From your center, to your center. There is nothing else.
You can try the same with shihonage, since this technique is very near to a sword cut. Of course, you can also try it with any other aikido technique, but few are as clear in this as shihonage and the sword cut.

You should also apply it to how you do as uke, the attacker. When you grab your partner’s wrist, do it in front of your center and hold the wrist in a similar way as to how you grip your sword – with the most force in your little finger, and a feeling of gripping with your center. When you do shomenuchi or yokomenuchi you should do pretty much the same as with the sword cut, since these attacks are meant as sword forms.
When you do tsuki, the straight punch, you can actually start with the fist in front of your center, and draw it back to that position after the strike. Even if you hold your hand higher before the punch, hitting should feel like extending from your center.
If you lose the connection to your center when you do a technique, it becomes weak and insecure, often failing completely. In this way, tanden is a continuous guiding principle for the aikido techniques.