Aikibojitsu staff work is primarily concerned with three factors: implicit line, explicit line, and tracking pattern. Implicit
line is the optimal preformal curve that comes into being with the formation of intent, linking the staff’s origin in space with
its final position. Explicit line is the actual path of the staff in space in response to the practitioner’s effort to attain implicit
line, involving staff rotations, transitions and hand passes complete with error. Tracking pattern involves placement and
sequencing of hands on the staff in carrying out explicit line. Tracking pattern focuses on manipulation of the staff at the
three primary nodal pairs (positions) on the staff which correspond to the first, second, and third harmonic cosine waves.
The staff of Aikibojitsu, at rest, is regarded as containing three preformal standing waves, all cosine. These three
waveforms are implicit to every staff, meaning they ‘exist’ even when the staff is not moving or vibrating. The waveforms
become explicit when the staff is manipulated in space. Associated with each implicit waveform are at least two nodal
minimums, positions on the staff where preformal wave amplitude is zero. These nodal minimums are the grasping points of
tracking pattern when manipulating the staff. The primary waveform of the staff, also known as the fundamental waveform,
has two nodal minimums, each 1/4 of the staff’s length in from each end. These are the most important grasping points on
the staff, and are often referred to as ‘fundamentals’ (i.e. the upper fundamental, the lower fundamental etc.)
Aikibojitsu defines three nodal pairs, a total of six nodal positions on the staff as primary to staff manipulation (grasping
positions at each end are also utilized, but such positions are not nodal - this will be considered later.) There are a total of
two preformal nodal positions in the first harmonic waveform, four in the second harmonic, and six in the third harmonic. In
the second harmonic waveform, the inner nodal pair is utilized in staff work but the outer nodal positions (closest to the staff
ends) are rarely utilized; the inner two nodal positions in the third harmonic waveform are also utilized frequently. The next
nodal pair outward in the third harmonic waveform lie nearly coincident with the fundamental nodal positions, and are
therefore functionally indistinquishable from them. The nodal pair nearest the ends of the staff in the third harmonic are
virtually never used.
The six primary nodal positions are of particular significance in staff manipulation, because they are preformally
determined, therefore precisely defined, making action with respect to them theoretically optimizable. A nodal position on
the staff should be regarded as a vibratory channel with an amplitude of zero exactly in the middle, vibratory amplitude
increasing with distance from the middle point. As a practitioner gains skill, it will become possible to differentiate between
a purely central grasp, and one that is either slightly back from center in the channel or slightly forward of center of the
channel. Such nodal sub-positions are referred to as capacitive (slightly back in the nodal channel) and inductive (slightly
forward in the nodal channel.) Each nodal channel therefore is defined as having three sub-grasping positions, inductive,
neutral, and capacitive, making a total of eighteen defined nodal grasping positions in the staff.
A capacitive nodal hand position is one in which the controlling hand is placed slightly back from the nodal zero point.
A grasp at this point will have the effect of reducing sharpness of exponential transition, and of slowing the staff’s rotational
speed down. A capacitive nodal grasp affects the staff's coefficient of acceleration by delaying the exponential break,
which is in turn caused by additional torque required to accelerate the increased long-segment length; the increased reactive
vector of the long segment of the staff dissipates within the body as spurious exponentials, reducing total energy available
for the exponential run. Capacitive delay is used as necessary to correct timing errors that occur during complex transitions.
The inductive nodal position is one in which the controlling hand is placed slightly forward of nodal zero. Such a grasp
has the effect of shortening the long segment of the staff and lessening inertial demand; it thus has the effect of increasing
sharpness of exponential transition. In the inductive grasp, the reactive vector of the long-segment of the staff is reduced,
which frees up energy, making it available to the exponential break. As with the capacitive position, the inductive position is
used as necessary to correct timing errors in complex transitions.
As skill with the staff develops, work with inductive and capacitive hand positions gains importance, especially with
respect to creation of subtle but important changes in rhythm. A pattern of inductive-capacitive-inductive has a totally
different feel from a pattern of capacitive-inductive-capacitive, even though the same nodal positions are utilized.
Finally, tracking pattern may involve adjacent exchanges. Adjacent exchanges occur when the staff is taken by one
hand from the other with hands touching. Ideally the taking hand should take over from the holding hand in the nodal
channel, but this is sometimes impossible. Therefore, an adjacent grasp is used instead. In most cases, the energy taken
from the staff during the exchange is immediately returned during the exchange so that loss is minimized.
The Staff - Nodal Channels
Advanced Aikibojitsu practice demonstrates the need to work effectively within the nodal channel preformal structure
on the staff. Nodal control involves precise positions on the staff for staff manipulation that are related to the staff’s
fundamental vibratory nature. While this might at first seem to be an irrelevant or frivolous matter, experience with the staff
clearly demonstrates the importance of such identification. Simply put, staff work is always more efficient when carried out
when nodal hand grasping positions are used, than if they are not..
Aside from the fact that the sheer existence of precisely defined nodal positions on the staff provides a highly structured
approach to hand placement in staff manipulation, use of nodal positions to either accelerate or decelerate staff motion
provides opportunity to optimize forms. Instead of attempting to strike more quickly, for example, the Aikibojitsuist knows
that by moving inductively within the nodal channel, the staff will move more quickly. Instead of attempting in some vague
and arbitrary manner to slow the staff down, say in a run of several moves, the Aikibojitsuist can work nodal positions
capacitively. The difference between ‘speeding up’ and moving to an inductive nodal hand position is between precision
and work toward perfection in control, and imprecision and arbitrariness. Central, capacitive, and inductive nodal hand
positions are clearly defined in Aikibojitsu, and thereby offer a defined approach to speed control, not only in staff rotation,
but in overall timing sequences as well. Inductive nodal hand positions speed the staff up by defined amounts depending
upon inductive position within the nodal channel; this is quite a different prospect from merely trying to ‘speed up.’
Nodal manipulation becomes particularly significant when complex staff movements are to be accomplished. It will be
found that many transitions will be impossible, or at the very least extremely difficult if work within the channel is not a
primary focus. In order to enter optimally into a very high energy sweep out of a smaller, yet also high-energy move, for
example, it might be necessary to work within the channel during the transition, applying torque either capacitively or
inductively (or both sequentially) to the staff during the initial phases of the high-energy transition. Failure to apply torque
within the channel results in improper exponential development within the transition itself, which in turn inevitably results in
misalignment and structural breakdown in the body as the staff reacts to inertial demand.
Within asymptotic figures (such as paraboloidal or hyperboloidal rotations leading into transitions), the nodal
channel offers the opportunity to introduce detail into larger forms. In Aikibojitsu detail specifically refers to introduction of
a level onto another level, ie, a superposition of wave upon wave. Detail is introduced into larger movements through hand
contractions that may be planal (lateral) or precessional (working the nodal channel as an hour-glass asymptotic figure.
Introduction of detail in this manner often involves working with torque angle (unusually hard hand contractions that are
either induced through intent, or are caused by rotating the staff into angles that force the hand into hard contact with the
asymptotic channel.
(from Aikibojitsu and the Structure of Natural Law)
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