by Nobuyoshi TAMURA Sensei
Shodan:
SHO is the start, the beginning.
Now the body is ready to answer to instructions and to imitate the forms of individual techniques. You‘re beginning to get a vague idea of what Aikido means. Now you have to try hard – slowly if necessary – to exercise and demonstrate as exactly and precisely as possible.
Nidan:
To the work of Shodan you add speed and power and at the same time you start to
show an increasing strength of the mind. For the student this expresses itself in a feeling of having made improvements. The jury has to acknowledge this progress noticing the lucidity of the forming and orientation of the work.
Sandan:
This is where the understanding of kokyu ryoku starts; that refers to the entrance into the spritual dimension of Aikido. Technical finesse, exactness and efficacy begin to manifest themselves.
It becomes possible to transmit these qualities.
Yodan:
On this technically advanced level you begin to sense the priniciples behind the techniques. It becomes possibles to guide the pupils on the way traced by the originator.
Godan:
The art takes the principles into account and the mind, beginning to leave the form behind is no longer a prisoner of the external aspects. New techniques present themselves in response to the situation.
Rokudan:
Technique is excellent, the movements are fluent and powerful. This has to be obvious to the observer. Without ambiguity strength and physical mobility as well as the purity of the mind are combined in the movement and are also expressed in daily life.
Nanadan:
Existence frees itself from all clouding and appears in its true nature, thereby showing its true self. Free from any ties, it is witness to the joy of life here and now.
Hachidan:
Beyond life and death the mind is clear and open, capable of combining opposites. Due to the absence he does not have to fight against them. Without fight, without enemy, he is the eternal victor.
He is free in his freedom, without any bonds. As O Sensei said: “When confronting the enemy it was enough to stand upright, without doing anything else.” His view embraces and harmonizes the whole.
But nothing is ending here: Even the purest water can become muddy when it enters into a swamp and thus you must never forget the mind of the beginner who is taking his first step.