It has been said that when learning any martial art, the learning and practice of techniques are equivalent to forging a tool for future use, and learning how to apply those techniques is the equivalent to sharpening those tools ready for use. But there is a concept that is common to all martial arts which is fundamental to the ‘sharpening’ of those tools. The Japanese call it Maai, and Hyoshi, in the west we crudely refer to it as distance and timing. This is what I want to talk about today, and would welcome any constructive comments to this post as it is such an important subject for anyone wishing to succeed in their chosen martial art.
It is common for martial artists to interpret the word maai as ‘distance’. But in reality it is made up from two words, ma which means distance or interval (between tow objects) as well as ‘an interval in time’. The second word is the verb ai meaning ‘the coming together of two, or several objects, or people’. Thus the word Maai expresses the moving closer, or further apart of two different objects (maybe weapons), or people.
Hyoshi is cadence, or timing, and is inseparable from Maai in martial arts, as one directly affects the other. The famous Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (pictured above in black) wrote about Hyoshi in his ‘Book of the Five Rings’ (an essential read for any martial artist), an excerpt of which is included below.
Hyoshi is found in all things, but in the art of the sword, it is impossible to acquire it without training……In the art of the sword, Hyoshi exists in several forms. It is important to learn about concordant Hyoshi, and then about discordant Hyoshi. And it is important among the great and the small, and the slow and the fast Hyoshis, to distinguish the concordant Hyoshi, the Hyoshi of ma (interval of distance), and discordant Hyoshi. The last is essential; if it is missing your sword will not be sure. In combat, knowing the Hyoshi of the adversary, I must utilise a Hyosji that doesn’t even occur to him, and I will be victorious by brining forth the Hyoshi of emptiness from the Hyoshi of wisdom.
In combat, whether dodging, blocking, or attacking, we have a cadence for each action. We live each combatant moment among waves of rhythm or cadence. In other words, the subjective time of the combatant doesn’t flow in a smooth or uniform manner.
Although Maai can only be trained with an opponent, makiwara, heavy bag, or the like, Hyoshi is easily trained using other techniques. The Karateka can use Kata (other martial artists have their own equivalents), which use different cadences or Hyoshis. Set piece sparring, as well as free sparring are other more progressive methods of training Hyoshi as well as Maai.
In conclusion, I would suggest that not rushing your Kata/Forms/Patterns and expressing the different cadences clearly is an ideal start to developing a rudimentary sense of what Hyoshi is all about. Of course, this can never teach Maai, but as they’re intrinsically linked, set piece, and free sparring must be implemented for Maai along with experimenting with Hyoshi.
恕温 