Let me say from the outset that breaking boards is not part of Aikido and I am in no way advocating that it should be. It’s just something done at our dojo from time to time after class as a sort of reality check. Participation is purely voluntary.

So much of Aikido is counter-intuitive and for some us (like myself) it is comforting to put principles like relaxed power, gravity and centreline to a personal test. Breaking a board that requires 114 kg of impact power is one way of doing this.  There are no doubt many other ways. Its akin to rolling on hard surfaces from time to time to see if your ukemi is as soft as you think it is (and yes some of us do that too).

The below video was taken at the end of a class at our dojo on 25 October 2014.   Most who decided to have a go at breaking the board were able to do so or very close to achieving it.  The biggest challenge (like most things in Aikido) is believing that relaxed softness, combined with being centred and using gravity, can generate not only sufficient power to break the board but also cause no pain.

In any event these were the results.

Have a great weekend.

Ian Grant
Head Instructor
Aikido Warrior Dojo