Towards the Semiotics of Aikido

Nonverbal language incorporates a vast number of wordless cues
through which people communicate, including postures, gestures, stances, and
movements, all of which can be analyzed and explained through the use of the
instruments of a semiotic methodology. The study of signs through the rituals,
conventions and overall nonverbal interactions in the diaculture of modern Japanese
martial arts, reveals the characteristics of the sign language used in such
martial arts as Kenjutsu and Aikido. The latter makes wide use of nonverbal
cues that are characterized by features of indexicality, iconicity and symbolicity,
and echo concrete social norms and conventions. Those social conventions are
materialized and translated into the setting of trainings through philosophical
concepts and ideas.
The author of the present article analyzes key issues of modelling of certain
social and interpersonal relations through signs of non-verbal communication in
the diaculture of Oriental martial arts, studying the particular case of Aikido.
The paper focuses on the semiotic nature of the fundamental concepts used in
Aikido and their expressions within the setting of trainings. In the mentioned
martial art, the mat represents a mini-model of the universe, where multiple interpersonal
relationships are modeled on the basis of conflict situations. Conflict
or confrontation is mostly conventional in the training environment where physical
interaction is realized in a «question-and-answer» or «statement-and-reply»
format. This makes the discussion about the nonverbal and iconic character of
combat language almost inevitable. Moreover, nowadays Aikido is often explained
in rather far-reaching abstractions, in which we often come across comparisons
between physical contact and dialogue or conversation.
Special attention is paid to such concepts as the Centre («hara»), Distance
(«maai») and Sword («katana»), the analysis of which reveals conceptual ties
between the conventional forms of «kata», concrete gestures and the general
ideology of Aikido. In the given context the sword («katana») represents an important
point of ideological reference, since postures, gestures, stances, and
movements in Aikido are “drawn” in circles, the “imaginary weapon” being the
sword, which is usually substituted or imitated by hands kept in a position that
looks like holding a sword in front of one’s own body.Unlike other forms of art, here the use of the mentioned types of signs has
not only an aesthetic but also a didactic purpose. In other words, it helps to
transmit the message from master to students through tacit forms of communication
and through patterned forms known as the «kata». Based on the opinion
that non-verbal signs in combat episodes represent kinеtic correlates of concrete
verbal acts, parallels are drawn with verbal communication. The paper is an
attempt to study the diaculture of Aikido in light of the modern research data in
semiotics and theory of verbal communication.