Kinomichi
気の道The way of energy, created in Paris in 1979 by Masamichi Noro, a direct student of Ueshiba: paired movement with no attacker or defender.
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About Kinomichi
Kinomichi is a discipline derived from aikido, founded in Paris in 1979 by Masamichi Noro (born 21 January 1935 in Aomori, died 15 March 2013). In 1955 Noro became an uchi-deshi, an inner student, of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido, who later appointed him official delegate for Europe and Africa. He reached Marseille on 3 September 1961, and in the years that followed he helped establish more than two hundred dojos across Europe and Africa. The turning point came on 4 May 1966, when Noro suffered a serious car accident; a return to hard, technical aikido was no longer possible, and he began searching for a form of practice that did not rely on physical force. He presented the result in 1979, after consulting Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the founder's son, and in 1983 had it registered as the "Kinomichi Noro method". The name literally means the way of energy, which Noro explained through the three elements ki (energy), shin (heart) and dō (way). Kinomichi differs from aikido in that it has no attacker and no defender: both practitioners lead the movement together, in a spiral, with emphasis on touch, breath and connection, the point being not to defeat the partner but to leave neither of the pair harmed. Training also includes wooden weapons, the bokken and the jō staff. In France, kinomichi has been recognised by the Ministry of Sport since 2001, falls under the FFAAA federation, and since 2018 has had its own state coaching diploma.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.