Why
‘White Oak’ Aikido Reading and 'White Oak'
Aikido Whitton?
Our
name and our logo – Why the Reading and
Whitton Aikido Clubs are called ‘White Oak'
Japanese
In Yo Symbol
Chinese Yin Yang symbol
The White Oak
Aikido
Reading Logo
It was
in November 1991 that White Oak Aikido
Reading was established at the YMCA, as a
club where anyone over 18 in Reading who was
interested in training in the martial art of
Aikido could come and train. Our group started
training at Reading
University in 1969, but that was aimed
solely at Reading University students and
members of staff. We expanded by opening our Caversham
Aikido dojo in 2016, where the Reading
club is now based and, in 2023, we opened our
Whitton Aikido club near Knighton in Powys.
So why the name White Oak
Aikido?
To
understand the origins of the White Oak name,
it’s also necessary to know something about the
availability and quality of the martial arts
equipment that had been available in the 1970s,
80s and early 90s. In Aikido, we train with both
the Jo (straight staff) and the Bokken (the
wooden sword). At that time, it was very
difficult to source a Jo or Bokken of good
quality, as most were not produced in Japan and
they were made of a cheap red oak that was often
of such poor quality that the importers would
fill cracks in the wood, stain them and then
varnish them over. It was a revelation,
therefore, when Saito
Sensei came to the UK in 1985 and brought
with him Iwama Bokken and Iwama Jo. These were
of exceptionally high quality, as well as being
heavier and handling better, whilst the Iwama
Bokken also had a better shape for training in
the Aikiken work. These Aikido
weapons were made in Japan from Japanese
white oak (usually
Quercus
acutissima), Shirakashi
in Japanese or sometimes Shirokashi, an
evergreen oak and completely different from the
American white oak (Quercus alba) or the Common
or English oak (Quercus robur). In Japan,
Shirakashi is known as being one of the best
materials for making wooden martial arts
weapons, because of its high quality,
durability, excellent grain structure,
resilience and strength. It is also often found
growing on Japanese religious sites, due to its
association with good fortune. With such an
excellent reputation, it made sense to call the
new Reading Aikido club, White Oak Aikido.
The White Oak Aikido Reading
and Whitton Logo
It took
a long time, 26 years in fact, but the White Oak
Aikido logo arrived in 2017. As you can see, the
logo features a black tree with white roots
within the basic shape of a Yin / Yang symbol.
The white roots spread wide in the black Yin
earth, forming a strong foundation that draws on
the infinite energy of the earth, and the black
branches reach up to draw in the powerful energy
of the white Yang sky. Within our White Oak
Aikido logo, therefore, the ‘White’ in ‘White
Oak’, refers to the roots, the foundations and
the basics of Aikido, as they are always our
focus. The Yin / Yang symbol being horizontal
with the white Yang section at the top, suggests
that the Yang energy is ascendant, but this is
balanced by the substantial presence of the
black Yin tree, bringing this energy from below.
The
tree has the traditional silhouette of an
English oak tree as that is more familiar to
people in the UK, the Shirakashi shape not being
especially recognisable to anyone who hasn’t
studied Japanese arboriculture. In addition,
therefore, to respecting the Japanese culture in
which Aikido was created, we also bring to our
Aikido the viewpoints and perspective of our own
culture. As you’ll have seen above, the
qualities of white oak are important to us, but
also important is the Riai system of blending
the principles of different arts to create a
whole that is Aikido: empty-handed techniques,
Bokken and Jo. The Yin / Yang symbol is
significant, as it recognises the degree to
which the understanding of the human body, its
alignments and its capacity to generate relaxed
power, as taught at White Oak Aikido Reading, is
also informed by an understanding of the Chinese
internal
arts. This element of the Chinese internal
arts informing our understanding through its
principles is a continuation of Riai, where the
basic principles of different arts can be
studied to assist understanding and performance
in Aikido, as they are all similar (in western
culture, we would just say we were cross
training!). It is also the reason that we have
used the Yin / Yang symbol, rather than the
‘Japanese version’, the In / Yo symbol. Overall,
the White Oak Aikido logo also visually combines
elements of stability and power, energy and
flow, spirals and circularity.
Watch
our Aikido video here!
Not what you'll be doing when
you start, but sometimes our more senior grades
like to show off a bit!
Find out more about getting
involved in the martial art of Aikido in
Whitton and Aikido in Reading:
Home page of White Oak Aikido UK Info
for Beginners - some more details about
Aikido and what to expect if you come along to
either our Reading or Whitton dojos.
Or please Contact
us if you have any questions about Aikido classes
in Reading or Whitton.
White
Oak Aikido
