Publisher's Synopsis
Martial arts and equations rarely come together as they do in this book. Actually, when you get to your local dojo for the first time, your master does not usually (if ever) relate Aikido with the Euler-Lagrange equations or with the third Newton's law.
This book presents Aikido as a theory of movement based on a fundamental principle encoded in its name: the way of harmonizing energy flows. A deductive reasoning approach is applied to derive the method to solve dynamic conflicts, and its link to physics is developed. This enables the establishment of objective criteria to assess the quality of the Aikido movements. The relationship to the Japanese sword -the katana- is investigated in detail. This allows the introduction of the Aikido-script. In this way, an Aikido technique can be written as the combination of a series of basic katana movements, which are interconnected through the dynamic center's smooth flow path.
