“Ama no torifune” and “Ama no furitama” are two exercises that were introduced to me by my former instructor and they were explained in a way that I have found very few Aikidoka actually understand. Additionally, if you were to look into most any “martial arts dictionary” you will not find these terms. You will find the definition of “fune kogi” or “fune kogi undo”, which by definition means “boat rowing exercise”. Most Aikidoka have been shown versions of these exercises, but rarely has there ever been any conversation about them. Most students simply accept these exercises as part of the “jumbi taiso” and not be compelled to ask about them, as I am sure you have found as you have travelled to many other Dojos around the world.
That said, allow me to give you my interpretation of what my teacher explained to me and then more importantly the value I have come to know that these exercises can provide a student.
The term “Ama no torifune” is a term I have never been able to find in any dictionary, however the meaning can be loosely translated as “Heavenly bird boat” and it literally refers to using a rowing exercise (fune kogi) to rise to an “elevated mind set”. “Ama” means heavenly; tori in this context means “bird”; and of course “fune” means boat. As such, when put together it means “Heavenly bird boat”. As a bird would fly into the sky, so might we use the movements of rowing to synchronize the energy between students, at the same time overcoming our fear of looking bad (or sounding silly) amidst a group of students to elevate our minds to a greater understanding of what is important. Aikido is about finding harmony with the forces of nature and this exercise can help a student find an inner timing of movements as I will discuss in the next paragraph, while finding a new sense of fearlessness by engaging their own voice to a level that drowns out not only the teacher, but their own voice as well. When this occurs, the entire class will feel a sense of unity and the level of energy will rise in the Dojo.
The exercise begins by standing in a left or right sided triangular stance, knees bent slightly to better keep your balance and ability to move forward and backward, with your hands positioned at your waist in a relaxed fist. There are four basic points that need to be paid attention to in order to move correctly.
First, breath in through your nose, from low in your abdomen and distending your belly; begin exhaling out your mouth as you move your hips forward while keeping a good upward posture. Travel forward far enough so that your forward knee is directly over your forward big toe.
Secondly, once arriving at that most forward position, then extend the tops of your wrists downward at about a 45 degree angle as if to put a buttress into the ground when building a bridge. At the end point of this extension, one would express their “kiai” or “warrior’s yell” that emanates from deep in your lower abdomen, “Eeeehhhhhhhh!”.
Thirdly, after exhaling as completely as possible, begin to move your hips back towards a position beyond where you began, but not so far that you would feel off balance and straightening your front leg, but not to a locked position.
Fourthly, after reaching the back position, you then relax your hands and draw them back to your hips to ready them for the next cycle of movements, while expressing a second exhaled breath by saying “Hoe!”
Having performed these four movements would complete one full cycle and then you would repeat them again and again, until from a student’s perspective a feeling of unity and coordination comes over you; one is able to relax while still using loud kiai and energetic motion. Whereas from a leader’s perspective, whether a teacher or senior student leading the class, a feeling of whole synchronization came over the whole group in the form of a single voice and you could no longer hear your own.
Once this condition is present, the teacher/leader would then yell to stop, “Hai yame!” Everyone would stop the rowing motion and then assume a square stance with feet about shoulder distance apart, bring their hands to their center (tanden), left meeting the right with palms together as if to take a praying position, however this has little to do with prayer. The fingers would then cross and you would be palm to palm as if holding a butterfly in your hands. This would be the next position and the beginning of “Ama no furitama”.
So “Ama no furitama” is an exercise that can be done as part of an alternating sequence with “Ama no torifune”, but can be used in many other ways. One of the more popular ways “Ama no furitama” is used is in the “water purification” practice (mizu no misogi), however that is another conversation. In the context of it being used in our daily jumbi taiso, it would be performed directly after “Ama no torifune”, which in most cases would be performed in a left sided stance, then on the right sided stance.
There are several objectives in performing “Ama no furitama”, but as the name suggests “Ama” means heavenly and as one of our Japanese students has advised us, “furitama” connotates to a “cleansing of the soul”. So we can loosely translate this to “Spiritual cleansing” if you wish. I feel another important aspect of this exercise is to relax your body and mind just after performing a rigorous exercise.
When you have assumed the square stance, with your hands comfortably palm to palm, the student then begins to shake their hands up and down, as fast as they can without stressing out or otherwise holding their hands too tightly together. The student should focus their attention on the shaking of the hands, which in turn will block out any extraneous thoughts. Strive to be in a state of empty mindedness (mushin), allowing all conscious thought to dissipate. Continue shaking the hands, relax the body and allow the “vibration” caused by the shaking to travel up to the top of your head and then throughout the body all the way down to your feet. One should remember to bend the knees slightly so you don’t block the flow of positive energy throughout your body. Continue to shake your hands up and down until a feeling of calm, tranquil warmth comes over you. Once a state of calm has been reached (typically 2-5 min.) the student then stops the shaking and just allow the body to settle and relax without any further movement. Remain in this tranquil state of mind for a minute or two and enjoy the silence of the Dojo.
Once you have performed “Ama no torifune” on the left side for instance, and then “Ama no furitama”, we then repeat the sequence, only begin “Ama no torifune” on the opposite sided stance and then finish again with “Ama no furitama”. Performing these exercises at the beginning of your training session truly raises your energy level and relaxes your body, and clears your mind to the extent that the students and teacher are now ready to take on the remainder of the training session, both mentally and physically!
