Timing and Timeliness

By Andrew Benioff, 2nd dan

This is the third article we have presented by Andrew, whose perspectives are based on his experiences in Japan and in the US. We are starting a new Discussion Group on etiquette-related issues, so if you have any comments on this article, or questions about etiquette and related issues please contribute them by clicking on the link above, or on the discussion icon on the Aikido Online home page.]

I had recently moved to Hawaii and begun my Aikido training not long afterwards. I was rushing to make it to class on time from my job waiting tables in the Ala Moana Center but traffic was worse than usual and by the time I arrived at the Nuuanu YMCA and had changed into my keikogi, class had already started.

I thought that I had covered all of my bases (I kneeled at the side of the mat waiting for the teacher to invite me on and then I bowed as I had been taught.) but when the warm-up exercises were done and the teacher began his class, I realized I had once again made a grievous error.

He said that being late to class was not acceptable, and that should we arrive late, not only were we to follow all normal forms of etiquette, but we had to stay toward the rear of the class in order to enable us to leave immediately after the class was over to avoid being late for our next appointment. No talking with friends, no clean up, no extra practice. The message was clear, timeliness is extremely important in Aikido.

I took this lesson as I took all of the other bumps and bruises dished out to me, with a bit of embarrassment and a renewed desire not to err again. I had wrongly believed that what our teacher was trying to teach us was aimed at making us more polite ladies and gentlemen. That was only a very small part of the overall picture. Like almost all etiquette in budo, timeliness has much greater importance that simply being polite or for that matter, simply being. It is connected to a much more vitally important concept, that of timing.

A few months after my tardy incident, my teacher asked us a rhetorical question: "How can you master timing to enable you to move your body out the way of an imminent strike if you can’t even master the timing of getting to class on time?" That’s when I realized that it was not only important to be timely for politeness sake but to do so would also help me to improve my taisabaki, therefore making me a more effective budoka.

Many people who don’t practice Aikido (and many who do as well) state: "Aikido looks staged. There is too much cooperation and it’s not an effective form of martial art."

It is not my purpose here to argue that point. However, if we say to people that "Aikido is a martial art that stresses the capitulation but not the destruction of the enemy", we are saying that we are strong enough to destroy you but because we are merciful we choose not to. This sort of statement can be made only by those who possess the skills that enable them to destroy. If you can’t destroy or kill in the first place, there is no validity to the statement that you choose not to.

It is the same with timing. We must practice what we say we do. If we say that our art stresses taisabaki and that our techniques are effective enough to enable us to move out of the way of an oncoming sword, or to even let us take that sword from the attacker, then our timing must be impeccable enough to enable us to do just that.

I often reflect on the need for concrete examples of how Aikido can help us improve our lives outside of the dojo, in our everyday lives. The relationship between timing and timeliness is, perhaps, an example. Its lesson: do not practice etiquette simply for politeness; practice it for effectiveness as well.