What's in a name?

Chowa Ryutsu Ryu.

How the hell do you say that, anyway?

Glad you asked.

The founder of Aikido practiced the ancient and mystical art of Kotodama - the use of the individual sounds of the Japanese language as a means of forging a connection with the divine essence of the universe. In this context, every syllable becomes a metaphysical expression of the fundamental powers behind all existence. When practiced with the correct spirit, the very act of speaking becomes a quasi-religious experience and a royal road to enlightenment and spiritual evolution of a deeply profound nature.

We, however, have just tried to find a bunch of words that rhyme with the different bits of the name.

So repeat after me:

"Sew-far Knee-foot-sue Roo"

And once more with feeling:

"Cho-wa Ry-ut-tsu Ryu"

Now blend it together as it you've got a load of pebbles in your mouth

"Chowaryutsuryu."

There you go. Easy wasn't it?

Alright smarty pants, what does it mean then ?

Good question. Deep one this, though. Get ready.

The meaning of Chowa Ryutsu Ryu operates on a couple of levels.

First off is the literal meaning.

Chowa means "harmony"

Ryutsu means "flowing, like water"

Ryu means "style" or "school", as in "school ofthought"

Putting that together we end up with something along the lines of "School of Harmonious Flow" or "School of Flowing Harmony". Japanese being an imprecise language at the best of times, you can pretty much spin it whichever way you like.

Flow.

Harmony.

Style.

You get the picture. Now here comes the good bit.

You might need to sit cross-legged on the floor for this.

The roots of the name can be traced directly back to the philosophy of Abbe Kenshiro Sensei.

The three fundamental principles of this philosophy are :-

Bambutsu Ruten - All things in the Universe turn in constant flux.

Ritsudo - This motion is rhythmic and smooth.

Chowa - All things act in perfect accord.

This leads on to the idea that by striving towards perfection in technique you're striving to attain perfection as a human being.

Big mission. But hell, if you're going for it, you may as well aim high, right?

So in theory, our studies on the mat create attitudes and ways of looking at and interacting with the world that can ultimately make us more useful and positive members of society.

On one level, then, the name Chowa Ryutsu Ryu is a description of our approach to training and on another it's a simple, profound philosophy about how to move through the world in general.

Funky or what?

It isn't something we stress overtly (or even at all) during practice on the mat, but it's certainly interesting to us that there's so much to think about in our little school's name once you start to dig into it a bit.

Bit like all of Aikido itself really.

Funny that.

Author: Gethyn Edwards Nidan