In his final years, the founder of Aikido was seen to demonstrate many skills that defy the layman’s understanding of physics. Ueshiba sensei reportedly used sen sen no sen and psychic powers to disrupt his opponent’s attacks, threw attackers without touching them, or simply disappeared and reappeared in a safer location.
O-Sensei’s disciples and descendants are unable to repeat his incredible demonstrations. Instead, modern Aikido dojos will introduce ki (life energy) principles to their students with the help of a crude parlor trick: orenaite, or the “unbendable arm”.
Credit: Oscar Ratti
In a typical performance of the unbendable arm, the ki guy will assume a biomechanically superior position, then ask his mark to try and bend his relaxed*, outstretched arm. When the mark finds himself unable to do so, the ki guy attributes his triumph to extended ki.
If you ever find yourself on the wrong end of an unbendable arm, here is a sneaky trick you can use to regain the upper hand. Reposition the ki guy’s hip as shown in the video below, misaligning his spine*, and decreasing his ability to resist your force.
To learn more silly tricks—like tearing a phonebook in half, breaking bricks, or showing your iron body—visit BadKungfu.net.
* Relaxing your muscles does improve your ki flow, and bad posture does impede it. Unbendable arm is a trick because these facts are irrelevant to the feat, not because they are untrue.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Sydney Familiar // Sep 4, 2007
thanks for link in this blog. I am wondering if the irreproducible siddhi’s of O-Sensei’s, provided they were real, had anything to do with some sort of meditative training that his followers were not practicing or he did not share.
2 Erin // Sep 5, 2007
Holy cow, you can tell it’s been a long day when I struggle to figure out what 4+9 is. Hopefully this isn’t your way of screening out the slower bunch!
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3 Stephen J. Goodson // Dec 21, 2007
“The Unbendable Arm that Wasn’t.”
Umm… that isn’t Unbendable Arm. The drawing on your page, attributed to Oscar Ratti, shows the setup for Unbendable Arm (UA). You are not doing UA; you are doing a different “feat of strength”*. UA is about increasing strength, this trick is about decreasing strength.
This type of test is often used in Applied Kinesiology to test substances held in the hand or mouth (http://tinyurl.com/yqpw63)– Strong, the substance is good for you; weak, the substance is bad for you. Bunk.
Your explanation of how to defeat this specific feat-of-strength is also not correct.
You said “try it”, and I did, and it is off. I tried it with the distal foot 1/2 inch, 1 inch and 3 inches off kilter. I tried it on one leg, then the other. I tried it a number of different ways to “misaligning my spine”. The deltoid (which lifts the arm) was just as strong in all positions.
I feel that the young lady in the video had the “right method but the wrong explanation”. Watch her start to push and then take two steps back and then continue to push. Detail = Devil.
I would say that the key point you made was that there is a technique that “decreases [your opponents] ability to resist your force.” The deltoid’s (or almost any muscle group, or the body as a whole) ability to resist a force can be reduced from the exact same position that that it was strongest in.
I am not writing to give hell. You are giving these feats-of-strength a ‘good shake’ to see what falls out, and I champion that! But keep shaking this one!
Good luck,
Stephen J. Goodson
* = Is there a name for this trick? I was shown it back in 1991 in Atlanta from a “Magnetic Healer” (poor gal, a story I have yet to write up!). I guess it could be called Undepressable Arm? But that sounds a bit emo’ I think. How about, “severing the strength”!
4 Bruce, martialartsmarketplace.com // Dec 21, 2007
I met an old aikido master once. I mean this guy must have been in his late eighties. Anyway, he rested his arm on my shoulder and told me to try to bend it. Obviously I could not. Then he told me to put my arm on his shoulder and imagine that my arm was a firehose with water rushing though it. My arm was relaxed but he was not able to bend it. I have also done this with other people and they too could not bend my arm.
The aikido master then knelt on the floor and asked the rest of us to try to push him over. There were about ten of us and as hard as we tried we could not move him. I would say he has pretty strong ki.
5 Chris // Dec 26, 2007
Stephen,
I realize that this video is merely an unbendable arm demo, not the unbendable arm. My point, in retrospect poorly made, was that ki is not equivalent to biomechanics.
I have tried the experiment depicted in the video with three other people. One said the hip adjustment made a slight difference, two said it did not.
6 bruce, www.martialartsmarketplace.com // Dec 26, 2007
Hi Chris,
You are right, the unbendable arm in the video is different and is totally related to biomechanics. The unbendable arm I am referring to is when you are facing the person and resting the back of your hand on that persons shoulder. Then the person tries to bend your arm by pushing down on the arm.
I will try the experiment you are referring to and let you know how it turns out. Try the unbendable arm and picture that your arm is a firehose with water shooting through it. If you really believe the water is going through your arm, the other person will not be able to bend it. I would recommend standing on flat ground, but if you want to try unbalanced it could be interesting.
thanks,
Bruce
7 jesse // Dec 27, 2007
no comment
8 Chris // Dec 27, 2007
Bruce, strangely enough, I have experienced dim mak and performed no-touch throws, but I have yet to meet anyone who could create the unbendable arm solely through the use of ki. Not to say it is impossible.
Sensei Patrick Parker:
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