Shintaido is a unique combination of martial arts and body movement that cultivates the spirit along with the mind and body. It has been called a moving meditation. In Japanese, Shintaido means “new body way.” Shintaido’s forms exemplify openness and freedom. The movements of Shintaido provide a new way of experiencing our relationship with ourselves, others, nature, and the spiritual world.
Shintaido is also a healing art, and a form of artistic expression. Shintaido attracts people who are interested in change, self-development, and re-connecting with their bodies, their community, their spiritual nature, and people who are, or are interested in working in these fields. This is where Shintaido has found resonance. Shintaido is a visionary martial art!
A Brief History of Shintaido
Roots in Karate
Hiroyuki Aoki, the founder of Shintaido, was a student of Shigeru Egami, one of the foremost karate masters of his time, who in turn was a student of the legendary Funakoshi, the man who brought karate to Japan from Okinawa. Over time, Mr. Aoki became dissatisfied with the competitive emphasis and limited nature of the martial arts as practiced in Japan. With a group of fellow martial artists, he experimented with new forms combining the ideal of brotherly love and personal expression with the classical Asian martial arts.
Rakutenkai – Aoki’s Inspiration
This collection of martial artists was named Rakutenkai, which means “meeting of optimists." The members of Rakutenkai vowed to practice “to the death” in order to fully explore themselves, each other, and their relationship to nature and heaven. One evening, while practicing cutting movements with swords, the members found themselves reaching up to the sky in the movement now known as “tenso.” They remained in this movement, swords striving upward, while Aoki returned home, changed into a suit! and returned to watch the completion of the keiko (class.) This breakthrough led to many other innovations and a whole new conception of the martial arts as spiritual practice.
The four core movements in Shintaido
- Tenshingoso ("Five Expressions of Cosmic Truth") - representing the life cycle of a human being or the universe, from the “before death” moment of “um,” through the birth and flowering of “ah,” the expansive movement of “A,” the culminating and bringing to fruition movement of “E,” and the returning or giving back of “O,” finally completing the cycle and returning to the darkness, nothingness, and non-existence of “um.” The movements can be accompanied by vocalization of the sounds, and can be done in seiza (kneeling) or standing, keeping still or moving, alone or with a partner.
- Eiko (“Glory!”) - a form of prayer expressing itself as a running movement, cutting the blue sky with an intense opening feeling. According to Mr. Aoki, “The theme of Eiko is based on God, hope, truth, ideal, and prayer.”
- Hikari (“Playing with light”) - a kumite or partner practice in which the goal is to free the other person to experience the fullness of expression. Hikari can be a wild, improvisational dance-like action or it can be slow and meditative, depending on the needs and reactions of the receiver.
- Wakame (“Seaweed movement”) - in which the one person (the leader) acts as the ocean current and the other person, the receiver, mimics the wavy, undulating flow of seaweed in the current. A wonderful sensitivity training exercise, wakame takes on a greater significance in Shintaido, as its martial arts roots reveal a serious study of timing and receptivity.
A Typical Shintaido Class
Shintaido class consists of three roughly equal sections:
- Kenko Taiso ("healthy morning exercise" in Japanese) - the warmups, which are extensive in Shintaido. We stretch and release tension from our bodies, and pay particular attention to opening and loosening our minds, bodies and spirits in preparation for the rest of class.
- Breaking Out - the middle portion of class, where we do more aerobic exercises--hopping, jumping, basic punching and kicking. These exercises are designed to fully release any remaining tension in our bodies, and to prepare us for the instruction we are about to receive. There is lots of kumite (partner practice) in Shintaido. Beginners and advanced people, and men and women practice together. There is no belt system--we all wear white obis (belts).
- Shintaido - the last third of the class consists of the actual teaching portion of class. By this time our bodies are soft and open, ready to receive gorei teaching from the goreisha (Instructor).
You can view more pictures of Shintaido practice in the SoA photo gallery.