Hi Trick,
To the contrary, there is no brute force at all. It's the softest kind of movement imaginable! What there is, however, is a lot of potential energy created by complimentary-opposite (opposing) forces created in very specific locations, with specific muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia. We exploit that dynamic tension to create both movement and power. These specialized tissue groups do the work so that the vast majority of the body's muscles are completely relaxed. The internal movements created are flowing and a constant interplay of In and Yo (Yin and Yang). If you do them correctly, you can maintain strong internal structure and create a continuous flow of In-Yo energy without any stopping and starting. For the person generating internal power and aiki, the entire process is flowing and relaxed; to the opponent on the receiving end, however, the effects of aiki can be, variously, shocky, concussive, compressing, smothering, or sticky.
Internal strength or power has several manifestations, one being to penetrate the opponent's defense structure, another being to deflect the opponent's attack (using 6-directional force), and the third being the control of his center of mass in such a way that he is compelled to merge with your internal movements, against his will. This third manifestation is what we'd call aiki. Whatever we are doing in our own body, the opponent is forced to do in mirror image, and with a greater degree of force. I call it the "Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers Effect." Your opponent is doing everything that you are doing, but mirror image, reverse, or backward... though not necessarily in high heels.
Tanren in the internal Japanese arts are meant to develop various body qualities that, combined, comprise internal structure and the processes for the movement and power generation I have described. The problem is, somehow over the years, many of the exercises have become empty because they were passed along by individuals who didn't have a full understanding of the internal mechanics that were supposed to be there. As a result, exercises such as suburi -- the sword cutting drills -- are devoid of any internal processes, and are just external exercises in sword swatting and breathing. This is pretty much the case in aikido. What contemporary aikidoka are doing, in suburi, is not what their art's founder, Morihei Ueshiba was doing, even though to anyone watching those students or Ueshiba, it would all look like the same thing. Similarly, the ubiquitous aikido practice of funakogi undo (rowing exercise) is an empty shell of external rowing, while originally it was intended as an important tanren for developing the powerful interplay of tanden (dantian) and meimon (mingmen) for drawing and propulsion.
Shikko, likewise, was meant to be a tanren for developing power in the sokei orime (kua), and was practiced in idori (kneeling) and tachiai (standing position) with a sword - katana or kodachi - as it is one means of creating a powerful strike or cut. In aikido now, though, it is done as an external swinging of the outer hips, not from deep within the inguinal crease.
Shiko ("shko") was an old sumo tanren that developed cross-body connectivity that allowed sumoka to give powerful slaps that were driven from the opposite side of the body. An opponent might not be able to tell which side of his opponent's body was "full" and which was "empty" because naname daoshi, the diagonality of the structure, created the illusion of emptiness on one side - and yet that side's hand that struck was full. Nowadays, conventional shiko is more of a balance exercise and a way to drop the center of mass.
Mainline aikido - the curriculum mass marketed by Morihei Ueshiba's son and inheritor, Kisshomaru - is devoid of the aiki that Morihei based his aikido on. I suspect Kisshomaru saw it as a liability -- too complex to teach internal skills without jikiden (direct transmission from teacher to student), and so not practical to include it. The young missionaries the Aikikai sent out into the world to spread aikido had not themselves learned aiki; most, if not all, of them didn't understand what Morihei was doing, and didn't have the patience or interest to aggressively seek it out from him. They just wanted to throw each other around.
So, all of the old exercises that Morihei himself practiced infused with internal movement, became empty of those mechanics. They are perfectly good aerobic and muscle-strengthening drills, but of the external variety.
Trick wrote:Hmmm, i think here’s to much emphasis on inner(brute)force. If we talking Inter acting with a live opponent/training partner i would say you got to listen what that guy is offering you and adapt/merge with that in a way that as little brute force as possible lay hand on you....i would say this is actually Aiki, or at least a higher level of it. Yours approach seem to solely lean on your own inner(brute)force, doing so in every encounter/interaction with training partners or opponents will eventually hurt your own body.....Tanren, traditionally in Japanese Koryu MA’s I would guess suburi exercises where done extensively ? Anyway suburi exercises are an exelent way to develop both inner and outer strength, to work from ones center. Back in the days of the sword the practice was an necessity, when the sword era went away the practice gradually diminished. In Kendo it’s still done but with the lighter Shinai, in Aikido it might be practiced sometimes with a bokken, in the early days of Shotokan Karate it was included and done with a heavy club but nowadays I don’t think so(I’ve never seen it in any Shotokan karate dojo) So those who practice suburi rigorously will gain a strength that one not usually encounter....Another exercise that done in Aikido(but not extensively)is the Shikko(knee walking)that probably was a common way to move around in a room in olden day japan but nowadays not so ? I can see this way of “walking” could be a way of strengthening hips and lower abdominal area(Hara/tanden) and keeping the body centered. And then of course the Sumo Shiko that also gives the hips lower abdomen/back and waist a good workout....All traditional non secret exercises, the only thing is one has to do them continuously and strict, and that’s the thing, people nowadays just don’t can not or don’t want to do that that’s why that “special” strengt is in most cases not there anymore. But the higher level of Aiki, of not clashing can still be harnessed