At 37 I finally took the plunge to fulfill my daydreams of learning karate and began Shorin-Ryu. 5 years later I earned my black belt. What Jesse was saying is exactly what our sensei taught us, since we were focused on self defense, not sport. Keep up your journey, discovering and growing!
It's good that you're digging deeper into Aikido, which is ultimately what Jesse does. He finds other disciplines and origins and applies them to Karate. It's very possible you could really put Aikido in a good place with all of the "outside the box" studying you're doing and applying it. It's not just fancy throws and takedowns. I'm curious to see what your Aikido looks like in the next 6 months if this is where you are trying to go with it! Good luck!
@Bern J I guess, the concept of Aiki is everything but wrong. But the Model we use as interpretation is. Maybe he finds, that the hard way, he is going for right now leads to a soft way, because of mastery. Ueshibas training differed during the ages and the old he got, the softer became the style. But what if that was just because he mastered every thing before and saw no need anymore? The Osenseis only fault was to not put everybody through the whole painful evolution, but try to "present" only the final solution. Maybe Rokas gets closer to the pure Aikido than anyone could've thought?
@Narshe J No, not at all. Rokas' journey is really just discovering that he wasn't taught aikido well, which is unfortunately not uncommon. The major school of aikido that grew from Ueshiba's family name, the Aikikai, generally became softer over the years - more philosophical, and de-emphasized the earlier "pre-war" aikido techniques and methodology that had more of the koryu principles at the fore - like atemi, and like practicing with more realistic resistance. Tomiki aikido (also called Shodokan aikido) which developed from that early era (Kenji Tomiki was O-sensei's first great student - first to be certified Menkyo Kaiden), practices with more realistic resistance and even competition (rejected by Aikikai) to help ensure full resistance training, and also incorporates atemi. In fact, the very first techniques you learn in Tomiki/Shodokan aikido are the Atemi Waza (the first group of 5 techniques of the Junanahon - the basic 17 techniques which are the core of the kyu curriculum). Tomiki/Shodokan aikido still very much emphasizes aiki (blending and harmonizing with the attacker's energy) but it is perhaps a bit quicker and the circular flowing motions generally use smaller circles, etc. These differences tend to match actual real world attacker's energy at bit better, we like to think. But I don't mean to say Aikikai practitioners are "wrong." Their aiki tends to be excellent, and there are many very effective Aikikai practitioners. But there are considerable numbers, like Rokas and many others you see on UA-cam, that never practiced with real resistance. That was the primary epiphany he had, and he is now trying to bring that learning back to aikido. (Tomiki/Shodokan aikido practitioners like to think we never lost that!)
@Narshe J i respectfully do not agree. in my view the purpose of oneness and harmony in application of martial arts is to do as little harm as possible, so if you say open with a strike for the purpose of offputting an opponent to save them from harming you or themselves by harming you. you are still in the bounds of the imperfect application of aikido that use any force outside the good will that lives in the person you are sparing self hatred. once i let someone hit me on two different occasions before i chose to defend myself. when they went to hit me the third time i was tired of being hurt and used a four directions throw. i tried to set them down without accelerating but they applied a tiny amount more pressure trying to fight. we were on concrete they hit their head pretty hard luckily the person was only subdued. i could have beating this person easily boxing but in trying to hold back and harm them less i could have killed them. i know it is a long story but what i decided because of that experience was i could apply my love of aikido regardless of forms. in my life it is the open spirit, kind mind and gentle touch that i see as being the real test of it you are applying the teachings of the founder. all that said i do not believe your view is untrue, it is true, you believe it. ;D
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. I remember it started out with disillusionments and now he is doing inductive reasoning as to why aikido is not taken seriously as a self-defense form. Instead of just writing it off, there is an investigation of what is omitted and what could have been. I like this version of rokas. It's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's figure out why what could have been isn't and what could have been would have looked like
I'm glad he's not dressing up in a weird costume either, remember that phase? I admire Rokas for always changing and growing, even when he takes weird detours it feels like he's making progress.
Many people dislike Sensei Rokas, but he's one of the most honest aikidoka on UA-cam: he was fully commited to his aikido for many years, then started to question it, found out that the way he was taught wasn't practical, decided to do something about it, was critized, kept going, decided to close his dojo, go to live to aother country to learn functional martial arts, and now he's coming back to Aikido but with a mindset to make it fuctional. He's a nice guy who got burned by saying a simple truth: The way many aikidoka practice aikido doesn't works. How many of us are willing to do such a change to improve ourselves?
@💋𝗙**𝗖𝗞 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 РR0FIL Something like that happened to me: at 34 I went to study aikido, and at 40 got my black belt. And I am blessed that the school I trained was focused on practical martial arts and not an esoteric one like the one where Rokas started. But my aikido sensei also trained in karatedo, judo and jujutsu.
I've heard of the older Aikido masters using techniques from other martial arts in a real fight! All of Morihei Uyeshiba O"sensei live in disciples (uchidesha) had black belts in other martials. O'sensei only accepted students who had black belts in the other martial arts. Unlike nowadays, O'sensei's students accepted challenges and won!
aiki no jutsu, taichi n all sort of "soft art", are always meant for people that already had many2 years of hard art training.. modren people forgot this, and hence all sort of "master" that never once trained in hard martial art ruin the art. many years ago when i train in aikido, i already can feel it.. those student that never (or very little) training in other martial art, really dont understand what they are doing. sure when you first learning the technique, it had to be really slow.. but as you start to graps it, when the uke strike, it had to be really like a proper strike/tsuki.. when they they grab, it had to had proper grip, power n posture.. otherwise the nage cant learn properly..
most aikido sensei said you cant be fully resisting, otherwise it can create injury.. well........ if you student really understand grappling, it wont be a big problem, cus they can stop resist, half a second before the technique get done.. that is what i do back in the days, (i only trained in aikido for 6 month, cus my sensei move into other town), if i got the right partner.. i wont let you do your technique without resistance. but once i felt, the technique is success, immediately flowing.
I practiced Aikido for 8 years until the rona arrived and I also had a single class in punching and kicking, it was on a seminar and although it wasn't as good as the training you had, it was really enlightening. I still love Aikido and specially finding my own way along with it, it's really sad that most teachers keeps the eyes closed to other arts and styles.
I feel you. Been practicing Aikido for 6 years now, But my sensei who is a 5th Dan did Shotokan Karate before Aikido and always makes time to teach us key elements from striking right.
Hello gentlemen And yes I subscribe to both of your channels. Jesse I just wanted to say that your explanation of the proper hand, elbow placement, and stance for correct striking was very detailed, precise, and extremely useful. Thank you gentlemen your videos are awesome and more people should be subscribing!
A karate school teaching aikido?? Or do you mean, they only accept aikidoka into their school who have earned black belts in aikido (no kyu students). This would be similar to some koryu (traditional Japanese jiu jitsu schools) who only accept black belts as students.
@@patrickrichard5948 I no longer live in that part of the country, and it was a fairly long time ago. But will try to see if it still exists and if I can find its name.
@@rhmayer1 It is (or was) primarily a karate school. But it offered aikido classes to its black belt students, and only black belt students. As a sort of advanced class. But as I said to Patrick, it was a while ago. So not even sure if the school still exists or still do this. But I remember thinking it was a great idea, and I still do.
@@HappyCatholicDane Thanks for clarifying for me. Yes, some feel that aikido should be taught as an adjunct to another martial art, rather than its own foundational art. There are pros and cons. One of the cons is that you end up having to break "bad" habits - habits that aren't necessarily bad for the another martial art but are bad for aikido. For example, I've had challenges teaching aikido to karate practitioners who use their muscles a lot and are very "tightened up" and have trouble relaxing and being soft in their movements (until certain critical moments in the techniques to be "hard" and "tight"). Our school has classes for kids and we find that works well, teaching from a "blank slate." As I said, there are pros and cons.
GREAT instruction from Jesse! My perspective is that “Aikido is 90% atemi” has to do with using strikes to hold and close distance into takedowns (as the Gracies do with their downward kick in their vale tudo matches).
@The Tarot Bastard Where did he say that? Maybe with a large size or strength difference. But if the Gracie's didn't need to use striking to cause pain, but rather to manage and close distance to flow into takedowns, don't you think that would be a good standard for Aikido, "The Art of Peace"? Have you seen the early Gracie Challenge matches? In any case, can you suggest a video where what you say is being done in a full-contact match?
This is awesome, Jesse in his do-gi and Rokas in his hakama, both in their training uniforms. I agree with Jesse, the makiwara helps with striking, whether basic tsuki/punch or shuto/knife hand strike. Love these collabs, keep them going, senseis
Nice to see you in a hakama again Rokas! You may have already discussed this with Jesse, but a Kiai is interestingly the reversal of the Aiki characters. Rather than receiving energy it is being projected out. Unfortunately many aikido schools don't really go into this and just make random sounds for the sake of it rather than it having a purpose.
kiai don't descrbe specifically the shout but a status of focus of mind-body-emotion on a objective The shout could be a expression of kiai, but as locution is ALSO used to describe the shout that is used to express KIAI
Man, i absolutely love Rokas.. How humble he is and his sponge-like attitude. What we have here is a true person who's passion for martial art cant be compared to anyone.. Dude, i've never seen a true martial artist doing your craft. What an honorable man... I can't wait for the day you finally put the pieces together and conclude the Martial arts journey. All the best bruh..
Wow...Both of you are my favourite martial artist..I could say this is the best collaboration between you and Sensei Jesse from Karate Nerd...You are fast learner....Ossu!!!
I've had many revelations in my martial arts journey. One of them has to do with creating your own personal Jeet Kune Do...Bruce Lee's was adding wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, etc., to his Wing Chun foundation. Mine added many different styles to my Karate foundation...It's all about 'assembling your puzzle', and discovering which pieces fit well together and which do not...and learning how to express yourself, seamlessly, with what you have learned. Rokas, I commend you for searching outside your foundation and seeing there's more than one answer to the question of 'What would you do if X happens?' May you continue to thrive in your journey. Thank you, for the video, and special thanks to Jesse for sharing his knowledge. Sekai no Budo!
I just want to say that it's actually nice to see Rokas back in the Gi and Hakama. It's as if his journey has lead him back to the starting point where a fresh perspective was needed. Even if he never takes up Aikido again, he's shown that he hasn't closed that door entirely.
😁 I have to admit it was an interesting experience. I am considering to do much more exploration in what functional aikido would look like, especially in blending it with boxing and wrestling, so it kinda makes sense to appreciate my roots once more and to put on my uniform which meant so much to me years ago 😊
@@MartialArtsJourney hey Rokas if you're gonna try to make aikido moves work here is a setup I use sometimes you can try it out it's: striking into the clinch and then getting a color tie and extending the opposite arm to the floor which will 99% of the time will make them expect a takedown if they are trained and just not have any idea what's going on if they aren't and from there leaving the color tie and going into a wrist lock to the side which usually results in a sweep or a tap (though the tap is pretty rare) (sorry if that wasn't super understandable since I wasn't able to call the wrist lock by name since I don't know their names)
@@rubenrelvamoniz The last part of your statement is spot on! The ability to set up your technique is crucial. I studied Hapikido when I was young. My brother studied boxing.. obviously there was always a rivalry. It started boxing with him. Very quickly I learned to hid my kicks behind a jab. This he hated. It improved my kicking abilities 100%. I also learned to move better. There are things to be learned from many arts .
I have a guy who trains shorinji kempo in my aikido group. I got him to teach us how to strike because we usually aren't taught the most important 90% of aikido!
That’s such an awesome video. It hits very close to home. My story is actually backwards to the one you told today. I had achieved my black belt in karate. But I wanted to learn more advanced ways to roll and fall. I met an Aikido instructor at a seminar and approached him about private lessons. He was actually needing a training partner and offered to teach me for free if I would let him practice on me. I agreed and so began a long friendship. 25 years later and we are still friends. An interesting side note: The teachings of Aikido actually helped me become a better striker. I also spent a number of years training in Kali and Silat. Im always amazed by how all of these arts are so closely related. Thank you so very much for posting this video! It was a blessing to me.
Shuto uchi is really important in aikido. It makes easy to hit and control same time.(you can apply it on head, neck, hip joint, knee and arm) Fast and heavy shuto is the key. In the oldest aikido text book”Budo renshu”, I find that most techniques are shuto waza.(It’s like kata bunkai techniques) Yes, aikido is not wrist lock jitsu.
Wow, great job! This is a living example of the perfect combination of hard and soft styles integrating to become more whole. What Jessie said at the end is one of the wisest and insightful statements, which is to strike first (to stun), then apply submission techniques. It’s all about knowing not just how to perform a technique but, more importantly, knowing when to apply it during the fight stage.
You deserve a sub for this... have been watching your videos for a while now, never realizing, I wasn't subscribed... changed that immediately after you broke the Monster Board 🥋🥊
Haha, thanks Lennart! I've been in a few situations like that myself too, watching content of a certain channel for a long time and not even realizing I'm not subscribed 😅
That first punch says it all lol. This is actually a much better video than your previous work. With way less chit chat and complaining, even better. Thumbs up for this one
As a person who practiced both aikido and karate for few decades I must say that reason of atemi-waza in aikido is NOT to break uke's rib, but DISTRACT him or her in attack, to gain time and space for often quite long and complex movement necessary to complete aikido technique. In fact, atemi performed as 'the Monster' tamashiwari presented at the end of the clip will stop the fluidity of movement and thus make already difficult technique even more hard. I was lucky enough to participated in the past in a number of seminars with great Japanese aikido shihans, including some of close Ueshiba's students. Unfortunately many of them are not with us anymore, but what I remember is that in fact in each technique they exercise - atemi was a very important part. I was uke for them in many occasions, and i was NEVER hit, not in destructive way for sure. When they used atemi, I was SURE they WILL hit me, and this triggered my unconscious reaction, affecting my balance, changed direction of movement, or speed, or all - and this created space for tori to effectively throw me away, or 'opened' for some painful pinning. I remember how 'magical' for me was when I discovered that 'simple' atemi may in fact execute extremely dynamic ikkyo omote after jodan tsuki or even mae-geri attack: tori just escaped from line of my attack in omote direction and 'almost' hit my face with atemi - well, at least I was sure, that impact of his fist on my face is inevitable... When I reacted by instinct covering myself with hand raised to head, tori just lock my elbow with his second hand, turn hips a little and my own speed of attack pin me to the ground, and fast... For sure, 90% of this technique was tori's atemi, but I WAS NOT hit by him! Another thing - the aikido base is the art of sword. Everyone who practicing aiki for long enough, and studying the sword can see this, especially in techniques like shi-ho nage, irimi-nage, kote-gaeshi or sankyo, but in fact in all of them. Proper movement in these techniques is NOT POSSIBLE if we'll deploy karate-style atemi: short, linear, 'explosive' and sourced from hips. This type of atemi will be very effective and can stop any attack for sure, but they will disrupted proper aikido body movement...
It's so interesting to see you delve into Karate, given that I feel there's a certain degree of cross-pollination between the various japanese martial arts, and that they tend to complement one another well. I also think that, while there is obviously a lot of bad karate, and a lot of karate that isn't functional, there are a lot of concepts there that can be used. I can only say that I'm looking forward to more from you and Jesse, Rokas.
Atemi and then jujutsu is how I was taught...hit to hurt then break to finish him. The strikes set up the throws and breaks...note how I say breaks there were no locks back in the day and a lot of old katas call for breaking the limb afterwards.
As an aikido practitioner (Tomiki/Shodokan, with more real resistance than most other aikido schools/organizations) I love these aikido-critical videos and Rokas' journey, since I've been watching Rokas's aikido videos since before he "strayed" (though now he seems to be coming back to aikido, with new training and teaching techniques to make it more effective). Since I also watch other martial art videos I've also discovered and really like Jesse's videos, and near-instantly recognized him as one of the excellent teachers on YT. So happy to see the two of them together! Anyway, I wanted to point out that although this is a really great video on proper uchi and tsuki technique, there is a LOT that is skipped regarding aikido atemi. Rokas really was not taught aikido atemi and much of the philosophy, purpose and techniques of aikido atemi are simply skipped. So, this video - excellent for what it does cover - has almost nothing to do with aikido atemi. First, most aikido dojos don't even teach atemi. Atemi is controversial with some schools/organizations, unfortunately, who hold the philosophy that as an aikidoka "we don't strike, and certainly we don't strike first." That would be aggressive and not consistent with aikido's principle of living a peaceful life, etc. And that "there is no atemi in aikido." This is BS. It is a somewhat less publicized teaching from O-sensei that 90% of aikido is atemi. But what did he mean by that? It isn't literal, obviously. Atemi is but a small part of aikido. But it is (or should be) present within almost all techniques, when practiced correctly. But the PURPOSE of atemi in aikido is different from the purpose in karate. The primary purpose of atemi in karate is to hit the opponent - to impart kinetic energy in order to do physical damage - as is the common understanding for any strike or punch. In aikido the atemi should be effective at this (it should be a proper strike) but the primary intent is to distract or illicit a defensive reaction from the opponent, i.e. to get them to move their head out of the way, for example. At that instant, with head and neck bent and turned, the opponent has broken their own structure and are then are in a state of kuzushi - imbalance. Kuzushi is an absolute fundamental of aikido. No aikido technique works, or can be effective without kuzushi. Atemi is one of the tools used to help acquire kuzushi. Now if the opponent DOESN'T move his head out of the way, then he/she will receive the actual strike, i.e it IS a real atemi, and so must be thrusted, aimed and done with the same intent as a real strike. It IS a real strike. We just prefer that you you evade (and suffer kuzushi and the consequence of the aikido technique that evolves from that kuzushi) rather than receive the actual strike. But it must be a real atemi. A fake or soft atemi will simply not illicit the self-kuzushi effect. But since the primary purpose of the aikido atemi is to get the opponent to move and break their own structure and balance, there are many types of aikido atemis. Sensei Strange has an excellent YT video where he uses atemi by simply giving a relatively light belly slap that causes the opponent to instantly tighten up and flinch their center for just an instant, which is all the kuzushi Sensei Strange needs for his effective technique. In aikido, atemi doesn't have to be a deadly strike; even a gentle belly slap can be an effective atemi. Learning all types of atemis is part of the life-long journey of aikido. Also, aikido atemi tries to avoid using the front of a fist or a fist at all. There are too many small bones that get messed up (and hurt!) when you punch with a fist (unless you practice a LOT, like karate practitioners). We use other samurai battlefield-tested atemi, using more open-hand type strikes, with the point of contact being the solid bones at the base of your wrist (actually, the ends of your forearm bones), for instance at the hard solid bone down from your pinky and also the one down from your thumb and also at the back of your wrist with your hand bent in but arm projecting forward (while hand stays completely relaxed). Try slowly and gently extending forward using the back of your wrist to strike an opponent's eye socket to see how fast and how solid this can be, or try VERY gently tapping that forearm-wrist bone below your pinky on your own temple - what's called a yokemenuchi, a deadly atemi. Jesse's excellent teaching of fist-punching technique has little transference to aikido, except the concepts of full intention during the atemi. Intent must be real, i.e. aiming beyond the target, using kiai at the instant of release of the power, always trying to keep the shoulders down and using lats and hip power, etc. But Jesse wisely and openly says up front that "I can only speak from a karate perspective." Rokas may want to also try exploring atemi from other aikido schools or traditional koryu senseis to answer his initial question, "how do you think the atemi in aikido should look like?" Atemi is it's own whole universe of study.
It's awesome seeing you get back to your roots and make your Aikido practical. And you found the exact purpose of board breaking: It forces you to focus and fully commit to your strike. A side point is that the snapping of actual board somewhat replicates the sound of a bone breaking, which is to condition your mind to hearing that so you don't freak if it happens in real self-defense. While my opinion doesn't matter in the slightest, I genuinely hope you do open another dojo.
Cool video! If you are planning more collabs with Jesse, a good one would be about learning his distance management. Exploring concepts like 'maai' and 'ashi sabaki', and applying those concepts to sparring. Another good collab would be if he tries to use concepts from karate to make your aikido functional in sparring.
Isn't this a misunderstanding of Atemi though? Atemi, in a DR/Aiki context, isn't punching or kicking. It's more like smashing your inner arm or hip into someone to transfer the power of your movement and make the throw more potent or to momentarily break their balance. It wasn't really designed to KO someone per se. Daito Ryu still has a lot of the Atemi Ueshiba was referring to, and it's not really punching or kicking the way you would in karate. Sure, you can do Aikido and add in punching and kicking from Karate, but quickly you might find yourself having to compromise the movement principles espoused in classic Aikido. It might be a more effective combat system, but is it still Aikido? Possibly not. Whether or not that matters to you is a personal preference.
Rokas, I’ve literally gone from being angry at you to very proud of you. You’re actually coming full circle to genuine Aikido. The authentic Aikido waza is similar to nippon karate and kenpo. You’re even incorporating film footage from Saito shihan-Traditional Aikido’s greatest student-into this video! Gozo Shioda quotes O-Sensei in ‘Aikido Shugyo’ saying “in a real fight, Aikido is 70% atemi, 30% throwing.” It wouldn’t hurt to visit some “Shin Shin” Iwamakai, Yoshinkai Hombu and Daito Ryu Takumakai Hombu affiliated instructors too! Jesse, you are a remarkable and humble student/teacher!! 🙏🏾
The more I've followed you on this journey, the more I'm convinced that Aikido was never really supposed to be an art in isolation. Even the videos of old Aikido instruction seem to be operating on the idea that you "know" what is supposed to happen for certain actions, and so they skip those parts for the sake of brevity; almost as if they're assuming you already know what good striking technique is supposed to be
Everyone who watches this should take the time to go back and watch Jesses face! Pride, joy, and even a bit of surprise when Rokas popped through the board!
I loved this video. Also I come from a more Chinese/Korean style karate. But I love the different ways you guys incorporate stuff into karate from other sources of martial arts.
Great clip respect to you both! I've said for a long time that aikidoka should learn to punch effectively. Not only to obtain a legitimate atemi, but also so we get to practice against more realistic strikes, rather than the typical yokomens, shomens, and a big lunging tsuki.
Very nice karate-striking intro and demos. Can’t over-compliment the dynamic duo that you and Jesse have become: such wonderfully complementary personalities, experiences, and skill sets. I hope you’ll consider further exploring atemi’s role in aikido - and I’ll reiterate that “atemi”, like so many highly nuanced Asian-language terms that get over-simplified in Western languages, can be interpreted as any tactical body contact - in this context it’s easy to justify the high percentage values assigned to it by Morihei Ueshiba and Gozo Shioda - and there are clearly atemi that are not strikes / punches / kicks codified and n certain ryu (and I’m not liberally adding in the concept of “sakki” and other forms of kiai [vocal and non vocal] to the interpretation of atemi to help get to a higher percentage).
Ive trained in multiple arts with Karate, Aikido and Tai Kwan Do being the predominant ones. When I was doing Aikido (which I still love), we did learn some strikes but not many, so I started looking at the history of the art. I found that O sensei changed his art over the years depending on where he was, who he was working with and how old he was. If you look at the various masters who learned from him over the years and created their own schools, you can see what he was teaching. There are a couple of schools that use strikes and more painful holds than what the majority of Aikido students learn today, this was based on Aiki Jiu Jitsu and he slowly evolved from there as he grew older. What most schools teach today is what is easier to learn for most people who do not want to do a more "violent" art. They want peace and unity so thats what they get. I have always enjoyed Aikido and try to incorporate many of its principles in my own training.
Good to see you back in the uwagi and shitabaki. Man that's crazy that you were never tought proper atemi waza while in aikido. It's awesome that Jesse has helped you with this and hope the kickboxing is going well 👍
@@niledunn4641 percussive atemi through 'striking', yes, and most schools teach it as that. fine, it's another objective for it. but my point is the definition of atemi has to be re-evaluated here, as stated in my original post. think about it: if ueshiba meant 90% of it was atemi, which most ppl believe is just striking, then aikido would be 90% striking, which it's not. therefore, there must be a more universal, deeper understanding/application of atemi that perhaps alot of aikido schools have forgotten or were never taught. i was surprised that he was not taught the concept of atemi beyond striking tbh.
@@quickstep2408 I do agree with you, aikido has become a shell of itself. Students have forgotten that atemi waza is, it's to injure or kill, hence why in certain schools they withheld this from students until they were ready due to the nature of the art. Aye I was supprised two but it's common apparently, my father studied it years ago but under goza shioda and he taught differently, his style was close to daito-ryu and is very effective
This was fascinating, as originally a Shotokan stylist and later picking up a modern synthesis (japanese based style) jujutsu. We studied the historical paths from classical (samurai era) jujutsi into modern karate, judo, jujutsu and aikido... All have their roots in classical Jujutsu. Nintai-ryu (Patience) was woven from these threads to have elements of Shotokan Karate, Kano Judo, Classical jujutsu, Aikio and Tai' Chi technique, with the aspiration to create a very versatile and deep system, but somewhat modular. Funakoshi's Shotokan karate is not a pure descendant from Okinawan styles, but was also influenced by Japanese Jujutsu and Aikijujutsu. It occurred to me you might look up some Old school Japanese Budo people to get some insights of the atemi that ended up in Sensei Ueshiba's Aikido.
This is a good lesson. Jesse is a good teacher. The founder of Aikido, Shotokan, and Kodokan Judo were friends. It is good that you incorporate the atemi Gaza into your Aikido practice. Plus, you appear to have a natural talent for striking. Follow this path.
I’m impressed Jesse that you mentioned gripping the floor. Many even Sandan/Yodan Karate people have forgotten or never learned to grip the floor. You might have corrected how he held his punching arm before he punched. During at least one of the board breaks, his fist was pointing about 45 degrees upwards before the punch. Oh, one last thing: hitting with the flat part of the back of the hand during Uraken can result in breaking the small bones on the back of the hand. I always bent my wrist so that the same knuckles make impact as when doing Tsuki. Many years ago (1970?), I was doing Jiyu Kumite with another White Belt (future Godan) when he decided to go full contact to my face. The next time the instructor said “Hajime” I threw a full power Uraken. He was VERY quick and his block was up long before my Uraken landed, but my wrist bent just before the moment of impact and wrapped around his block allowing my knuckles to smack him in the side of the head. 20+ years later, I ran into him just after the Nisei Week Exhibition. My students were with me and I pointed out that he was the guy (he wasn’t very big) who had hit me with the best Mai-Geri that I’d ever been hit with. He responded, “Yeah, and you hit me with the best back fist I’ve ever been hit with!” I was honored that he remembered! LOL
Great video! Crazy to see that a guy that has competed in mixed martial arts and basically studied martial arts his whole life doesn't have proper punch mechanics down. Not that we all couldn't learn a thing or three from Jessie! Something I noticed about Aikido training cillabus after studying Karate Do and Gung Fu for many years was they're attacks aren't even done properly, if they were you could basically learn basic Karate, while learning Aikido!!! I also see where traditional martial arts could fill in their holes, with some stand in base, sprawl and brawl and mount escape drills.
I'm a 2nd degree black belt in aikido. And I have practiced Karate Shotokan for about almost 2 years. It's the perfect complement for Aikido. When I saw the list of MA that you should learn I just jump click on Karate because Judo is almost the same that bjj and karate will improve your way to see aikido in a really big way. I also think that learning traditional box would be very interesting to complement Aikido, its something I will do some day.
It was disheartening the first time I tried to catch strikes from a friend. I'd been training aikido and the uselessness of all those drills in unrealistic conditions was really stark when trying to apply them against someone who trains in striking. Even when I knew exactly what punch or kick he was going to do, I could not apply any techniques, it was just so so much faster than any strikes we practiced against.
A thing i ALWAYS ask to myself, "why aikido teach counterattack and no practice THE attack?" The result are that the attack is always fake, just a role before I dive on the floor I think that you should try KENDO where many things are connectable to aikido(tai-sabaki ashisabaki) but where "Tori" (motodachi in kendo) attacks at his best. Obviously first you learn the attack, then the counter attack And very interesting for japanese martial artists there is the study of SEN. Studied in many japanese martial arts using a terminology born inside KENDO
I asked the same thing to my Aikido Sensei, a very, very capable one and a great person: his answer was that at Õ Sensei time everybody who came to Aikido were already skilled in karate, judo or kendo, so at that time there was no problem with the attack, since they were very real, both with bare hands (and feet) and sword. Nowadays good practitioners and teachers do exactly like Jesse and Rokas: they study and research in order to train and learn in the right way; the others are non worthy to train with.
Exactly. I am lucky because in my dojo sensei thinks the same and we care a lot about the attacks - we have about one class a month just for them. Because if there's no attack, there's no need for defense.
The way kiai was described to me in Tae Kwon Do was that it's just a version of what you do when you lift something heavy. Some tennis players were known for grunting with each shot...same principle. I played (gridiron) football in HS, they teach you to "growl it out" when you're pushing somebody around as a lineman...same concept. We had those plastic rebreakable boards there, too, and the knuckle push-ups. I can still count to 10 in Korean, just from that. We didn't have the hands sideways, though; it was closer to how you hold a bar when you're doing a bench press or military press or similar. The whole theory of "reaction force" was interesting as well, that you're hitting or kicking with one part of your body that pushes out but at the same part another part is pulling in. Didn't go nearly as much into the base and grounding as you guys did. There is a lot of level-shifting, not so much emphasis on being grounded...at least from what I remember. Could be that I only remember it better because I was a wrestler first, though, a little judo before that, and level-shifting is extremely focused on if you're a grappler. Guy attacked me on the street, I used wrestling. I still did TKD for fun and point sparring was fun, but got a little fed up with some stuff TKD emphasized...so when I couldn't do it for a bit, I looked at other martial arts when I had more time and ability to train. Kind of between styles now; people see me doing this or that, I just say I know a few tricks and just dabble...don't know which style would suit me.
Seems we have a bot issue, complicated since some of the info is relevant ... But the odds they all have questionable profile names and the same compromising picture are practically 0. Is it really necessary to do something like this?
Awesome video.I really received great pointers about punching.I do TKD,Tai Chi Chuan,and just began my training in Aikido/Aikijutsu.And I still learned a lot.Thank you for a wonderful video.Job well done by the both of you.
You two (with rage) would be of the most dangerous people existing, and yet excellent teachers with the best controlled "symbiosis of force attributes" that allow you to teach and demonstrate for ppl who want help others and improve themselves (trying not to be dramatic) Thanks guys👍😎🤗
Hi I like your content and have kept watching it. I have learnt both Karate (gojuryu) and Aikido (Aikikai) for over 15 years. 1st Dan Karate and 3rd Dan Aikido. I started both of these arts at the same time since white belts trying to understand external and internal ways of martial arts
As I understand it, the purpose of atemi is to break your opponent's focus - this distraction allows the Aikido waza to proceed without any immediate counter moves. After 16 years of classical TKD, I trained in AIkido for 10 years. Every Aikido-ka I encountered (save just one) had no clue as to how to do perform proper attacks never mind the use of atemi. Fortunately I was aware of the Founder's maxim about atemi. Nicely done video!
Rokkas. Sensie Enkamp was being kind. At your grade you should know how to turn from the hip on attemi, particularly turning the hips. And kokyu?? These are fundamentals of aikido
Glad to see an aikido guy going to the source. I have seen a few aikido teachers saying things like "this is how easy is to control a karateka" and they proceed to get a student to perform a bad punch, with poor balance, worse aim, that any untrained person could counter. I have even seen some videos where they dress their students in karate gis with a black belts, like trying to fake promote how defenseless is a karateka against an aikidoka. I'm sure with a better understanding of real punching and the stability of a good punching stance, your aikido will improve in its ability to counter real attacks.
Knuckle push up “MAKIWARA” - Practice strike with Makiwara. “wara” is traditional rope, “maki” is wind around. Modern ones are made of leather “TSUKI” “IKKEN HISSATSU” one strike one kill Don’t punch with shoulder but depress the shoulder and strike with your waist - centre of gravity Engage the latismus which connects upper body to lower body and ground Exhale when strike Elbow points to ground to get external shoulder rotation. Then you get the “ZENTAI RYOKU” or full body power Back fist is “URAKEN” followed by “KAGI TSUKI” or hooking punch in horse riding stance, hips should to snap back 200 strike with dominant hand and 400 strike with non dominant hand Monster board - scream or Kiai scream is more about spirit rather than sound
It was an absolute honor to teach you Karate! 🥋🙏🌟
You rock Jesse!
Doppo Orochi
I would be really surprised if you found a tiger on the Savannah as they are generally not found in Africa
@@Leonardo_No_Cardio I love Doppo and all fighters from Grappler Baki
Omg, not even 2 minutes in and more info already - the difference between uchi and tsuki including tsuki pronunciation :-)
He missed out on a golden opportunity to get you to paint his fence and wax his car.
Haha. Maybe it happened off camera 😁
Wax on wax off
and sand the floor
@@MartialArtsJourney were you training in iceland at 00:20?
Daniel San should have thought of that as payment for his karate lessons, in addition to a unique form of training.
At 37 I finally took the plunge to fulfill my daydreams of learning karate and began Shorin-Ryu. 5 years later I earned my black belt. What Jesse was saying is exactly what our sensei taught us, since we were focused on self defense, not sport. Keep up your journey, discovering and growing!
Nice
“Not sport” I love these little stipulations. Like you’re actually doing anything different.
@@Brandon-ob9rg lol it isn’t supposed to be. And this garbage is a good way to knocked out. Especially with his “punching” lessons.
Congratulations on earning r blacc belt homie! That's dope. I do Shorin Ryu myself.. keep learning!!
@@Sakattack2023 You are an ignoramus. How does that feel? Good? No?
It's good that you're digging deeper into Aikido, which is ultimately what Jesse does. He finds other disciplines and origins and applies them to Karate. It's very possible you could really put Aikido in a good place with all of the "outside the box" studying you're doing and applying it. It's not just fancy throws and takedowns. I'm curious to see what your Aikido looks like in the next 6 months if this is where you are trying to go with it! Good luck!
@Bern J I guess, the concept of Aiki is everything but wrong. But the Model we use as interpretation is. Maybe he finds, that the hard way, he is going for right now leads to a soft way, because of mastery. Ueshibas training differed during the ages and the old he got, the softer became the style. But what if that was just because he mastered every thing before and saw no need anymore? The Osenseis only fault was to not put everybody through the whole painful evolution, but try to "present" only the final solution.
Maybe Rokas gets closer to the pure Aikido than anyone could've thought?
@@84erMaxe exactly, old school Aikido masters were also Judo black belts.
@Narshe J No, not at all. Rokas' journey is really just discovering that he wasn't taught aikido well, which is unfortunately not uncommon. The major school of aikido that grew from Ueshiba's family name, the Aikikai, generally became softer over the years - more philosophical, and de-emphasized the earlier "pre-war" aikido techniques and methodology that had more of the koryu principles at the fore - like atemi, and like practicing with more realistic resistance. Tomiki aikido (also called Shodokan aikido) which developed from that early era (Kenji Tomiki was O-sensei's first great student - first to be certified Menkyo Kaiden), practices with more realistic resistance and even competition (rejected by Aikikai) to help ensure full resistance training, and also incorporates atemi. In fact, the very first techniques you learn in Tomiki/Shodokan aikido are the Atemi Waza (the first group of 5 techniques of the Junanahon - the basic 17 techniques which are the core of the kyu curriculum). Tomiki/Shodokan aikido still very much emphasizes aiki (blending and harmonizing with the attacker's energy) but it is perhaps a bit quicker and the circular flowing motions generally use smaller circles, etc. These differences tend to match actual real world attacker's energy at bit better, we like to think. But I don't mean to say Aikikai practitioners are "wrong." Their aiki tends to be excellent, and there are many very effective Aikikai practitioners. But there are considerable numbers, like Rokas and many others you see on UA-cam, that never practiced with real resistance. That was the primary epiphany he had, and he is now trying to bring that learning back to aikido. (Tomiki/Shodokan aikido practitioners like to think we never lost that!)
@Narshe J i respectfully do not agree. in my view the purpose of oneness and harmony in application of martial arts is to do as little harm as possible, so if you say open with a strike for the purpose of offputting an opponent to save them from harming you or themselves by harming you. you are still in the bounds of the imperfect application of aikido that use any force outside the good will that lives in the person you are sparing self hatred. once i let someone hit me on two different occasions before i chose to defend myself. when they went to hit me the third time i was tired of being hurt and used a four directions throw. i tried to set them down without accelerating but they applied a tiny amount more pressure trying to fight. we were on concrete they hit their head pretty hard luckily the person was only subdued. i could have beating this person easily boxing but in trying to hold back and harm them less i could have killed them. i know it is a long story but what i decided because of that experience was i could apply my love of aikido regardless of forms. in my life it is the open spirit, kind mind and gentle touch that i see as being the real test of it you are applying the teachings of the founder. all that said i do not believe your view is untrue, it is true, you believe it. ;D
@@rhmayer1 very good to hear, thank you.
It's great to see rokas in the Aikido gi and hakama again
ressurected
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. I remember it started out with disillusionments and now he is doing inductive reasoning as to why aikido is not taken seriously as a self-defense form. Instead of just writing it off, there is an investigation of what is omitted and what could have been. I like this version of rokas. It's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's figure out why what could have been isn't and what could have been would have looked like
The Hegelian dialectic. Well said!
I'm glad he's not dressing up in a weird costume either, remember that phase? I admire Rokas for always changing and growing, even when he takes weird detours it feels like he's making progress.
Well said!
Many people dislike Sensei Rokas, but he's one of the most honest aikidoka on UA-cam: he was fully commited to his aikido for many years, then started to question it, found out that the way he was taught wasn't practical, decided to do something about it, was critized, kept going, decided to close his dojo, go to live to aother country to learn functional martial arts, and now he's coming back to Aikido but with a mindset to make it fuctional. He's a nice guy who got burned by saying a simple truth: The way many aikidoka practice aikido doesn't works. How many of us are willing to do such a change to improve ourselves?
@💋𝗙**𝗖𝗞 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 РR0FIL Something like that happened to me: at 34 I went to study aikido, and at 40 got my black belt. And I am blessed that the school I trained was focused on practical martial arts and not an esoteric one like the one where Rokas started. But my aikido sensei also trained in karatedo, judo and jujutsu.
I've heard of the older Aikido masters using techniques from other martial arts in a real fight! All of Morihei Uyeshiba O"sensei live in disciples (uchidesha) had black belts in other martials. O'sensei only accepted students who had black belts in the other martial arts. Unlike nowadays, O'sensei's students accepted challenges and won!
aiki no jutsu, taichi n all sort of "soft art", are always meant for people that already had many2 years of hard art training.. modren people forgot this, and hence all sort of "master" that never once trained in hard martial art ruin the art. many years ago when i train in aikido, i already can feel it.. those student that never (or very little) training in other martial art, really dont understand what they are doing.
sure when you first learning the technique, it had to be really slow.. but as you start to graps it, when the uke strike, it had to be really like a proper strike/tsuki.. when they they grab, it had to had proper grip, power n posture.. otherwise the nage cant learn properly..
most aikido sensei said you cant be fully resisting, otherwise it can create injury.. well........ if you student really understand grappling, it wont be a big problem, cus they can stop resist, half a second before the technique get done.. that is what i do back in the days, (i only trained in aikido for 6 month, cus my sensei move into other town), if i got the right partner.. i wont let you do your technique without resistance. but once i felt, the technique is success, immediately flowing.
I practiced Aikido for 8 years until the rona arrived and I also had a single class in punching and kicking, it was on a seminar and although it wasn't as good as the training you had, it was really enlightening. I still love Aikido and specially finding my own way along with it, it's really sad that most teachers keeps the eyes closed to other arts and styles.
I feel you. Been practicing Aikido for 6 years now, But my sensei who is a 5th Dan did Shotokan Karate before Aikido and always makes time to teach us key elements from striking right.
Hello gentlemen And yes I subscribe to both of your channels. Jesse I just wanted to say that your explanation of the proper hand, elbow placement, and stance for correct striking was very detailed, precise, and extremely useful. Thank you gentlemen your videos are awesome and more people should be subscribing!
I know of at least one karate school in Denmark, that only teaches Aikido to black belt students. To me that makes sense.
Which one?
A karate school teaching aikido?? Or do you mean, they only accept aikidoka into their school who have earned black belts in aikido (no kyu students). This would be similar to some koryu (traditional Japanese jiu jitsu schools) who only accept black belts as students.
@@patrickrichard5948 I no longer live in that part of the country, and it was a fairly long time ago. But will try to see if it still exists and if I can find its name.
@@rhmayer1 It is (or was) primarily a karate school. But it offered aikido classes to its black belt students, and only black belt students. As a sort of advanced class.
But as I said to Patrick, it was a while ago. So not even sure if the school still exists or still do this. But I remember thinking it was a great idea, and I still do.
@@HappyCatholicDane Thanks for clarifying for me. Yes, some feel that aikido should be taught as an adjunct to another martial art, rather than its own foundational art. There are pros and cons. One of the cons is that you end up having to break "bad" habits - habits that aren't necessarily bad for the another martial art but are bad for aikido. For example, I've had challenges teaching aikido to karate practitioners who use their muscles a lot and are very "tightened up" and have trouble relaxing and being soft in their movements (until certain critical moments in the techniques to be "hard" and "tight"). Our school has classes for kids and we find that works well, teaching from a "blank slate." As I said, there are pros and cons.
Nothing feels better as a teacher than passing on knowledge to a student that is eager to learn. Well done vid, great energy-thanks for sharing.
GREAT instruction from Jesse! My perspective is that “Aikido is 90% atemi” has to do with using strikes to hold and close distance into takedowns (as the Gracies do with their downward kick in their vale tudo matches).
@The Tarot Bastard Where did he say that? Maybe with a large size or strength difference. But if the Gracie's didn't need to use striking to cause pain, but rather to manage and close distance to flow into takedowns, don't you think that would be a good standard for Aikido, "The Art of Peace"? Have you seen the early Gracie Challenge matches? In any case, can you suggest a video where what you say is being done in a full-contact match?
This is awesome, Jesse in his do-gi and Rokas in his hakama, both in their training uniforms. I agree with Jesse, the makiwara helps with striking, whether basic tsuki/punch or shuto/knife hand strike. Love these collabs, keep them going, senseis
Nice to see you in a hakama again Rokas! You may have already discussed this with Jesse, but a Kiai is interestingly the reversal of the Aiki characters. Rather than receiving energy it is being projected out. Unfortunately many aikido schools don't really go into this and just make random sounds for the sake of it rather than it having a purpose.
kiai don't descrbe specifically the shout but a status of focus of mind-body-emotion on a objective
The shout could be a expression of kiai, but as locution is ALSO used to describe the shout that is used to express KIAI
Too many famous people around, looks like the Avengers. 😂
Man, i absolutely love Rokas.. How humble he is and his sponge-like attitude. What we have here is a true person who's passion for martial art cant be compared to anyone.. Dude, i've never seen a true martial artist doing your craft. What an honorable man... I can't wait for the day you finally put the pieces together and conclude the Martial arts journey. All the best bruh..
Wow...Both of you are my favourite martial artist..I could say this is the best collaboration between you and Sensei Jesse from Karate Nerd...You are fast learner....Ossu!!!
9 minutes went so fast, it is really exciting to watch. 🔥
🙏
I've had many revelations in my martial arts journey. One of them has to do with creating your own personal Jeet Kune Do...Bruce Lee's was adding wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, etc., to his Wing Chun foundation. Mine added many different styles to my Karate foundation...It's all about 'assembling your puzzle', and discovering which pieces fit well together and which do not...and learning how to express yourself, seamlessly, with what you have learned.
Rokas, I commend you for searching outside your foundation and seeing there's more than one answer to the question of 'What would you do if X happens?' May you continue to thrive in your journey.
Thank you, for the video, and special thanks to Jesse for sharing his knowledge.
Sekai no Budo!
I just want to say that it's actually nice to see Rokas back in the Gi and Hakama. It's as if his journey has lead him back to the starting point where a fresh perspective was needed. Even if he never takes up Aikido again, he's shown that he hasn't closed that door entirely.
😁 I have to admit it was an interesting experience. I am considering to do much more exploration in what functional aikido would look like, especially in blending it with boxing and wrestling, so it kinda makes sense to appreciate my roots once more and to put on my uniform which meant so much to me years ago 😊
@@MartialArtsJourney with wrestling sounds like a great way to test the set up to the techniques
@@MartialArtsJourney hey Rokas if you're gonna try to make aikido moves work here is a setup I use sometimes you can try it out it's: striking into the clinch and then getting a color tie and extending the opposite arm to the floor which will 99% of the time will make them expect a takedown if they are trained and just not have any idea what's going on if they aren't and from there leaving the color tie and going into a wrist lock to the side which usually results in a sweep or a tap (though the tap is pretty rare) (sorry if that wasn't super understandable since I wasn't able to call the wrist lock by name since I don't know their names)
@@rubenrelvamoniz
The last part of your statement is spot on!
The ability to set up your technique is crucial.
I studied Hapikido when I was young. My brother studied boxing.. obviously there was always a rivalry.
It started boxing with him.
Very quickly I learned to hid my kicks behind a jab.
This he hated.
It improved my kicking abilities 100%.
I also learned to move better.
There are things to be learned from many arts .
@@MartialArtsJourney just go also at judo and sambo and you'll find different perspectives of the journey.
I have a guy who trains shorinji kempo in my aikido group. I got him to teach us how to strike because we usually aren't taught the most important 90% of aikido!
That’s such an awesome video. It hits very close to home. My story is actually backwards to the one you told today. I had achieved my black belt in karate. But I wanted to learn more advanced ways to roll and fall. I met an Aikido instructor at a seminar and approached him about private lessons. He was actually needing a training partner and offered to teach me for free if I would let him practice on me. I agreed and so began a long friendship. 25 years later and we are still friends. An interesting side note: The teachings of Aikido actually helped me become a better striker. I also spent a number of years training in Kali and Silat. Im always amazed by how all of these arts are so closely related. Thank you so very much for posting this video! It was a blessing to me.
It's been a long time since I did martial arts, yet this teacher's mannerisms show his excellence as an instructor.
Shuto uchi is really important in aikido.
It makes easy to hit and control same time.(you can apply it on head, neck, hip joint, knee and arm)
Fast and heavy shuto is the key.
In the oldest aikido text book”Budo renshu”, I find that most techniques are shuto waza.(It’s like kata bunkai techniques)
Yes, aikido is not wrist lock jitsu.
Right, it’s garbage and ugly dance moves.
@@Sakattack2023 ua-cam.com/video/Dyb6Q1gouZQ/v-deo.html
@@shirakeme yeah, it’s garbage.
@@Sakattack2023 What is your martial arts style?
@@Sakattack2023 Its garbage or seems so to people who haven't expereinced being thrown by it. Lol.
Combining Karate and Aikido, that's great! Love Yours collaboration.
Wow, great job! This is a living example of the perfect combination of hard and soft styles integrating to become more whole.
What Jessie said at the end is one of the wisest and insightful statements, which is to strike first (to stun), then apply submission techniques.
It’s all about knowing not just how to perform a technique but, more importantly, knowing when to apply it during the fight stage.
You deserve a sub for this... have been watching your videos for a while now, never realizing, I wasn't subscribed... changed that immediately after you broke the Monster Board 🥋🥊
Haha, thanks Lennart! I've been in a few situations like that myself too, watching content of a certain channel for a long time and not even realizing I'm not subscribed 😅
The Dream collab .
Thank you . Please posting such content like this 🙏 ❤️
That first punch says it all lol. This is actually a much better video than your previous work. With way less chit chat and complaining, even better. Thumbs up for this one
I just want to say that this comment thread is truly the gift that keeps giving
As a person who practiced both aikido and karate for few decades I must say that reason of atemi-waza in aikido is NOT to break uke's rib, but DISTRACT him or her in attack, to gain time and space for often quite long and complex movement necessary to complete aikido technique. In fact, atemi performed as 'the Monster' tamashiwari presented at the end of the clip will stop the fluidity of movement and thus make already difficult technique even more hard.
I was lucky enough to participated in the past in a number of seminars with great Japanese aikido shihans, including some of close Ueshiba's students. Unfortunately many of them are not with us anymore, but what I remember is that in fact in each technique they exercise - atemi was a very important part. I was uke for them in many occasions, and i was NEVER hit, not in destructive way for sure. When they used atemi, I was SURE they WILL hit me, and this triggered my unconscious reaction, affecting my balance, changed direction of movement, or speed, or all - and this created space for tori to effectively throw me away, or 'opened' for some painful pinning. I remember how 'magical' for me was when I discovered that 'simple' atemi may in fact execute extremely dynamic ikkyo omote after jodan tsuki or even mae-geri attack: tori just escaped from line of my attack in omote direction and 'almost' hit my face with atemi - well, at least I was sure, that impact of his fist on my face is inevitable... When I reacted by instinct covering myself with hand raised to head, tori just lock my elbow with his second hand, turn hips a little and my own speed of attack pin me to the ground, and fast... For sure, 90% of this technique was tori's atemi, but I WAS NOT hit by him!
Another thing - the aikido base is the art of sword. Everyone who practicing aiki for long enough, and studying the sword can see this, especially in techniques like shi-ho nage, irimi-nage, kote-gaeshi or sankyo, but in fact in all of them. Proper movement in these techniques is NOT POSSIBLE if we'll deploy karate-style atemi: short, linear, 'explosive' and sourced from hips. This type of atemi will be very effective and can stop any attack for sure, but they will disrupted proper aikido body movement...
I've been waiting for one of you to go into more detail on this. Can't wait to watch!
It's so interesting to see you delve into Karate, given that I feel there's a certain degree of cross-pollination between the various japanese martial arts, and that they tend to complement one another well. I also think that, while there is obviously a lot of bad karate, and a lot of karate that isn't functional, there are a lot of concepts there that can be used. I can only say that I'm looking forward to more from you and Jesse, Rokas.
It is not cross pollination, it all has grown from the same root.
I should've subbed forever ago. Congratulations on defeating the Monster.
Love these videos. You humble yourself and you are never afraid to fail which in turn makes you a success. Jesse is awesome too!!
Atemi and then jujutsu is how I was taught...hit to hurt then break to finish him. The strikes set up the throws and breaks...note how I say breaks there were no locks back in the day and a lot of old katas call for breaking the limb afterwards.
It's awesome that you have to step outside your world to perfect your own. Great job!
Jesse knuckle push up is really strict and tight. A sign of strength.
As an aikido practitioner (Tomiki/Shodokan, with more real resistance than most other aikido schools/organizations) I love these aikido-critical videos and Rokas' journey, since I've been watching Rokas's aikido videos since before he "strayed" (though now he seems to be coming back to aikido, with new training and teaching techniques to make it more effective). Since I also watch other martial art videos I've also discovered and really like Jesse's videos, and near-instantly recognized him as one of the excellent teachers on YT. So happy to see the two of them together!
Anyway, I wanted to point out that although this is a really great video on proper uchi and tsuki technique, there is a LOT that is skipped regarding aikido atemi. Rokas really was not taught aikido atemi and much of the philosophy, purpose and techniques of aikido atemi are simply skipped. So, this video - excellent for what it does cover - has almost nothing to do with aikido atemi.
First, most aikido dojos don't even teach atemi. Atemi is controversial with some schools/organizations, unfortunately, who hold the philosophy that as an aikidoka "we don't strike, and certainly we don't strike first." That would be aggressive and not consistent with aikido's principle of living a peaceful life, etc. And that "there is no atemi in aikido." This is BS. It is a somewhat less publicized teaching from O-sensei that 90% of aikido is atemi. But what did he mean by that? It isn't literal, obviously. Atemi is but a small part of aikido. But it is (or should be) present within almost all techniques, when practiced correctly.
But the PURPOSE of atemi in aikido is different from the purpose in karate. The primary purpose of atemi in karate is to hit the opponent - to impart kinetic energy in order to do physical damage - as is the common understanding for any strike or punch. In aikido the atemi should be effective at this (it should be a proper strike) but the primary intent is to distract or illicit a defensive reaction from the opponent, i.e. to get them to move their head out of the way, for example. At that instant, with head and neck bent and turned, the opponent has broken their own structure and are then are in a state of kuzushi - imbalance. Kuzushi is an absolute fundamental of aikido. No aikido technique works, or can be effective without kuzushi. Atemi is one of the tools used to help acquire kuzushi. Now if the opponent DOESN'T move his head out of the way, then he/she will receive the actual strike, i.e it IS a real atemi, and so must be thrusted, aimed and done with the same intent as a real strike. It IS a real strike. We just prefer that you you evade (and suffer kuzushi and the consequence of the aikido technique that evolves from that kuzushi) rather than receive the actual strike. But it must be a real atemi. A fake or soft atemi will simply not illicit the self-kuzushi effect.
But since the primary purpose of the aikido atemi is to get the opponent to move and break their own structure and balance, there are many types of aikido atemis. Sensei Strange has an excellent YT video where he uses atemi by simply giving a relatively light belly slap that causes the opponent to instantly tighten up and flinch their center for just an instant, which is all the kuzushi Sensei Strange needs for his effective technique. In aikido, atemi doesn't have to be a deadly strike; even a gentle belly slap can be an effective atemi. Learning all types of atemis is part of the life-long journey of aikido.
Also, aikido atemi tries to avoid using the front of a fist or a fist at all. There are too many small bones that get messed up (and hurt!) when you punch with a fist (unless you practice a LOT, like karate practitioners). We use other samurai battlefield-tested atemi, using more open-hand type strikes, with the point of contact being the solid bones at the base of your wrist (actually, the ends of your forearm bones), for instance at the hard solid bone down from your pinky and also the one down from your thumb and also at the back of your wrist with your hand bent in but arm projecting forward (while hand stays completely relaxed). Try slowly and gently extending forward using the back of your wrist to strike an opponent's eye socket to see how fast and how solid this can be, or try VERY gently tapping that forearm-wrist bone below your pinky on your own temple - what's called a yokemenuchi, a deadly atemi.
Jesse's excellent teaching of fist-punching technique has little transference to aikido, except the concepts of full intention during the atemi. Intent must be real, i.e. aiming beyond the target, using kiai at the instant of release of the power, always trying to keep the shoulders down and using lats and hip power, etc. But Jesse wisely and openly says up front that "I can only speak from a karate perspective." Rokas may want to also try exploring atemi from other aikido schools or traditional koryu senseis to answer his initial question, "how do you think the atemi in aikido should look like?" Atemi is it's own whole universe of study.
It's awesome seeing you get back to your roots and make your Aikido practical. And you found the exact purpose of board breaking: It forces you to focus and fully commit to your strike. A side point is that the snapping of actual board somewhat replicates the sound of a bone breaking, which is to condition your mind to hearing that so you don't freak if it happens in real self-defense.
While my opinion doesn't matter in the slightest, I genuinely hope you do open another dojo.
This was a very great example of how you guys did a great job showing how things worked. Comparing both karate and aikido with modern day stuff.
Love both channels, it was so fun to see you two on the same video!
So far, The most detailed and concised, I like how they smiled and enjoyed the teaching and studying.
Cool video! If you are planning more collabs with Jesse, a good one would be about learning his distance management. Exploring concepts like 'maai' and 'ashi sabaki', and applying those concepts to sparring. Another good collab would be if he tries to use concepts from karate to make your aikido functional in sparring.
Inteligent vídeo show pure martial practice and philosophy.
Great to see you guys together again!!
Great video. My view after seeing this is we have artificially separated these arts. At the moment I'm really enjoying cross training
Isn't this a misunderstanding of Atemi though? Atemi, in a DR/Aiki context, isn't punching or kicking. It's more like smashing your inner arm or hip into someone to transfer the power of your movement and make the throw more potent or to momentarily break their balance. It wasn't really designed to KO someone per se.
Daito Ryu still has a lot of the Atemi Ueshiba was referring to, and it's not really punching or kicking the way you would in karate. Sure, you can do Aikido and add in punching and kicking from Karate, but quickly you might find yourself having to compromise the movement principles espoused in classic Aikido. It might be a more effective combat system, but is it still Aikido? Possibly not. Whether or not that matters to you is a personal preference.
Thank you and Jesse for sharing. I’m speechless…there’s so much knowledge there….
Keep working and bringing the good stuff! Good luck!
Domo!
Rokas, I’ve literally gone from being angry at you to very proud of you. You’re actually coming full circle to genuine Aikido. The authentic Aikido waza is similar to nippon karate and kenpo. You’re even incorporating film footage from Saito shihan-Traditional Aikido’s greatest student-into this video!
Gozo Shioda quotes O-Sensei in ‘Aikido Shugyo’ saying “in a real fight, Aikido is 70% atemi, 30% throwing.” It wouldn’t hurt to visit some “Shin Shin” Iwamakai, Yoshinkai Hombu and Daito Ryu Takumakai Hombu affiliated instructors too!
Jesse, you are a remarkable and humble student/teacher!! 🙏🏾
Don't forget Nishio-sensei ;) there are still dojos out there following his hints...
The more I've followed you on this journey, the more I'm convinced that Aikido was never really supposed to be an art in isolation. Even the videos of old Aikido instruction seem to be operating on the idea that you "know" what is supposed to happen for certain actions, and so they skip those parts for the sake of brevity; almost as if they're assuming you already know what good striking technique is supposed to be
Everyone who watches this should take the time to go back and watch Jesses face! Pride, joy, and even a bit of surprise when Rokas popped through the board!
I've noticed a resurgence in activity with your content and I'm extremely happy for you!
I loved this video. Also I come from a more Chinese/Korean style karate. But I love the different ways you guys incorporate stuff into karate from other sources of martial arts.
2 favorite Sensei !!! Jesse nailed it !!!!
The two strikes at 5:42 are so impressive
Great clip respect to you both! I've said for a long time that aikidoka should learn to punch effectively. Not only to obtain a legitimate atemi, but also so we get to practice against more realistic strikes, rather than the typical yokomens, shomens, and a big lunging tsuki.
I love the fact that you two collaborated. This was awesome
Absolutely AWESOME video so informative and respectful and cool. Well done both Rokas and Jesse! You guys have great energy together.
Came from Jesse's channel. Think ill stick around.
Nice. Glad to hear it. I am planning to release quite a few videos with his brother Oliver soon as well
Very nice karate-striking intro and demos. Can’t over-compliment the dynamic duo that you and Jesse have become: such wonderfully complementary personalities, experiences, and skill sets.
I hope you’ll consider further exploring atemi’s role in aikido - and I’ll reiterate that “atemi”, like so many highly nuanced Asian-language terms that get over-simplified in Western languages, can be interpreted as any tactical body contact - in this context it’s easy to justify the high percentage values assigned to it by Morihei Ueshiba and Gozo Shioda - and there are clearly atemi that are not strikes / punches / kicks codified and n certain ryu (and I’m not liberally adding in the concept of “sakki” and other forms of kiai [vocal and non vocal] to the interpretation of atemi to help get to a higher percentage).
I really enjoy these clips . I feel like im relearning or sharping my skills. I without a doubt am adding to my knowledge. 👍🏻 Thank you for posting
More content between you guys. Very good!
I love these videos with Jesse. I'm excited for what Aikido may look like in a few decades if you keep this up
Loved the crispness of Jesse's back fist to hooking punch.
Rokas, the way you stand and walk in your gi makes you look a lot more imposing and badass than in your early videos. This is cool!
Ive trained in multiple arts with Karate, Aikido and Tai Kwan Do being the predominant ones. When I was doing Aikido (which I still love), we did learn some strikes but not many, so I started looking at the history of the art. I found that O sensei changed his art over the years depending on where he was, who he was working with and how old he was. If you look at the various masters who learned from him over the years and created their own schools, you can see what he was teaching. There are a couple of schools that use strikes and more painful holds than what the majority of Aikido students learn today, this was based on Aiki Jiu Jitsu and he slowly evolved from there as he grew older.
What most schools teach today is what is easier to learn for most people who do not want to do a more "violent" art. They want peace and unity so thats what they get. I have always enjoyed Aikido and try to incorporate many of its principles in my own training.
Good to see you back in the uwagi and shitabaki. Man that's crazy that you were never tought proper atemi waza while in aikido. It's awesome that Jesse has helped you with this and hope the kickboxing is going well 👍
he was learning atemi the the whole time while he was in aikido
@@quickstep2408 thsts not what I meant, he learned atemi differently and this is atemi from a different perspective
@@niledunn4641 percussive atemi through 'striking', yes, and most schools teach it as that. fine, it's another objective for it. but my point is the definition of atemi has to be re-evaluated here, as stated in my original post. think about it: if ueshiba meant 90% of it was atemi, which most ppl believe is just striking, then aikido would be 90% striking, which it's not. therefore, there must be a more universal, deeper understanding/application of atemi that perhaps alot of aikido schools have forgotten or were never taught. i was surprised that he was not taught the concept of atemi beyond striking tbh.
@@quickstep2408 I do agree with you, aikido has become a shell of itself. Students have forgotten that atemi waza is, it's to injure or kill, hence why in certain schools they withheld this from students until they were ready due to the nature of the art. Aye I was supprised two but it's common apparently, my father studied it years ago but under goza shioda and he taught differently, his style was close to daito-ryu and is very effective
Love your material! Great work my friends!
This was fascinating, as originally a Shotokan stylist and later picking up a modern synthesis (japanese based style) jujutsu. We studied the historical paths from classical (samurai era) jujutsi into modern karate, judo, jujutsu and aikido... All have their roots in classical Jujutsu. Nintai-ryu (Patience) was woven from these threads to have elements of Shotokan Karate, Kano Judo, Classical jujutsu, Aikio and Tai' Chi technique, with the aspiration to create a very versatile and deep system, but somewhat modular.
Funakoshi's Shotokan karate is not a pure descendant from Okinawan styles, but was also influenced by Japanese Jujutsu and Aikijujutsu. It occurred to me you might look up some Old school Japanese Budo people to get some insights of the atemi that ended up in Sensei Ueshiba's Aikido.
This is a good lesson. Jesse is a good teacher. The founder of Aikido, Shotokan, and Kodokan Judo were friends. It is good that you incorporate the atemi Gaza into your Aikido practice. Plus, you appear to have a natural talent for striking. Follow this path.
Lovely spending time with quality people
I’m impressed Jesse that you mentioned gripping the floor. Many even Sandan/Yodan Karate people have forgotten or never learned to grip the floor. You might have corrected how he held his punching arm before he punched. During at least one of the board breaks, his fist was pointing about 45 degrees upwards before the punch. Oh, one last thing: hitting with the flat part of the back of the hand during Uraken can result in breaking the small bones on the back of the hand. I always bent my wrist so that the same knuckles make impact as when doing Tsuki. Many years ago (1970?), I was doing Jiyu Kumite with another White Belt (future Godan) when he decided to go full contact to my face. The next time the instructor said “Hajime” I threw a full power Uraken. He was VERY quick and his block was up long before my Uraken landed, but my wrist bent just before the moment of impact and wrapped around his block allowing my knuckles to smack him in the side of the head. 20+ years later, I ran into him just after the Nisei Week Exhibition. My students were with me and I pointed out that he was the guy (he wasn’t very big) who had hit me with the best Mai-Geri that I’d ever been hit with. He responded, “Yeah, and you hit me with the best back fist I’ve ever been hit with!” I was honored that he remembered! LOL
Excellent video! It's so neat to see some of my favorite martial arts youtubers studying martial arts together
Great video! Crazy to see that a guy that has competed in mixed martial arts and basically studied martial arts his whole life doesn't have proper punch mechanics down. Not that we all couldn't learn a thing or three from Jessie!
Something I noticed about Aikido training cillabus after studying Karate Do and Gung Fu for many years was they're attacks aren't even done properly, if they were you could basically learn basic Karate, while learning Aikido!!!
I also see where traditional martial arts could fill in their holes, with some stand in base, sprawl and brawl and mount escape drills.
I'm a 2nd degree black belt in aikido. And I have practiced Karate Shotokan for about almost 2 years. It's the perfect complement for Aikido. When I saw the list of MA that you should learn I just jump click on Karate because Judo is almost the same that bjj and karate will improve your way to see aikido in a really big way. I also think that learning traditional box would be very interesting to complement Aikido, its something I will do some day.
It was disheartening the first time I tried to catch strikes from a friend. I'd been training aikido and the uselessness of all those drills in unrealistic conditions was really stark when trying to apply them against someone who trains in striking.
Even when I knew exactly what punch or kick he was going to do, I could not apply any techniques, it was just so so much faster than any strikes we practiced against.
Great video, may the comments flow back in
A thing i ALWAYS ask to myself, "why aikido teach counterattack and no practice THE attack?"
The result are that the attack is always fake, just a role before I dive on the floor
I think that you should try KENDO where many things are connectable to aikido(tai-sabaki ashisabaki) but where "Tori" (motodachi in kendo) attacks at his best.
Obviously first you learn the attack, then the counter attack
And very interesting for japanese martial artists there is the study of SEN. Studied in many japanese martial arts using a terminology born inside KENDO
I asked the same thing to my Aikido Sensei, a very, very capable one and a great person: his answer was that at Õ Sensei time everybody who came to Aikido were already skilled in karate, judo or kendo, so at that time there was no problem with the attack, since they were very real, both with bare hands (and feet) and sword.
Nowadays good practitioners and teachers do exactly like Jesse and Rokas: they study and research in order to train and learn in the right way; the others are non worthy to train with.
Maybe you have to dig deeper to the meaning of it..theres many secret hidden in aikido..its a mystical martial art..yes you can do attacks i think so!
Exactly. I am lucky because in my dojo sensei thinks the same and we care a lot about the attacks - we have about one class a month just for them. Because if there's no attack, there's no need for defense.
@@unknowngames5036
How you practice attacks?
This is absolutely fascinating, Rokas, and I am certain it was such an honour to have Jesse on this episode.
I just love this collaboration!
Fantastic video! It’s refreshing to see this journey and learning more about what seems to be some lost considerations on how to apply Aikido.
Great video! Keep making great videos like this to assist people through this process.
The way kiai was described to me in Tae Kwon Do was that it's just a version of what you do when you lift something heavy. Some tennis players were known for grunting with each shot...same principle. I played (gridiron) football in HS, they teach you to "growl it out" when you're pushing somebody around as a lineman...same concept.
We had those plastic rebreakable boards there, too, and the knuckle push-ups. I can still count to 10 in Korean, just from that. We didn't have the hands sideways, though; it was closer to how you hold a bar when you're doing a bench press or military press or similar.
The whole theory of "reaction force" was interesting as well, that you're hitting or kicking with one part of your body that pushes out but at the same part another part is pulling in.
Didn't go nearly as much into the base and grounding as you guys did. There is a lot of level-shifting, not so much emphasis on being grounded...at least from what I remember. Could be that I only remember it better because I was a wrestler first, though, a little judo before that, and level-shifting is extremely focused on if you're a grappler.
Guy attacked me on the street, I used wrestling. I still did TKD for fun and point sparring was fun, but got a little fed up with some stuff TKD emphasized...so when I couldn't do it for a bit, I looked at other martial arts when I had more time and ability to train.
Kind of between styles now; people see me doing this or that, I just say I know a few tricks and just dabble...don't know which style would suit me.
Jesse Enkamp and Rokas rock
Thank you, that was enjoyable to watch
A great meetup of two of my best preferred Martial Arts youtuber! :-)
Wow! You guys always inspire. Lots of good stuff to take in
Seems we have a bot issue, complicated since some of the info is relevant ... But the odds they all have questionable profile names and the same compromising picture are practically 0.
Is it really necessary to do something like this?
IT's so nice to see you together. Just fun. Great. I like it
I love his KAI explaination!
I'm with you again! 👊
Congratulations for that great video
Definitely gonna adjust my punching practice with those advices
I've been at this for a long time... this video helped me understand techniques that I've been using for decades.
Awesome video.I really received great pointers about punching.I do TKD,Tai Chi Chuan,and just began my training in Aikido/Aikijutsu.And I still learned a lot.Thank you for a wonderful video.Job well done by the both of you.
You two (with rage) would be of the most dangerous people existing, and yet excellent teachers with the best controlled "symbiosis of force attributes" that allow you to teach and demonstrate for ppl who want help others and improve themselves (trying not to be dramatic) Thanks guys👍😎🤗
I'm really amazed by you sir your open mind and willing change and grow your very inspirational
Jessie man why I got all these thot bots commenting on my post lol 😂😆
Help I got nothing but thot bots replying LoL
Hi I like your content and have kept watching it. I have learnt both Karate (gojuryu) and Aikido (Aikikai) for over 15 years. 1st Dan Karate and 3rd Dan Aikido. I started both of these arts at the same time since white belts trying to understand external and internal ways of martial arts
As I understand it, the purpose of atemi is to break your opponent's focus - this distraction allows the Aikido waza to proceed without any immediate counter moves. After 16 years of classical TKD, I trained in AIkido for 10 years. Every Aikido-ka I encountered (save just one) had no clue as to how to do perform proper attacks never mind the use of atemi. Fortunately I was aware of the Founder's maxim about atemi. Nicely done video!
Rokkas. Sensie Enkamp was being kind. At your grade you should know how to turn from the hip on attemi, particularly turning the hips. And kokyu?? These are fundamentals of aikido
Glad to see an aikido guy going to the source.
I have seen a few aikido teachers saying things like "this is how easy is to control a karateka" and they proceed to get a student to perform a bad punch, with poor balance, worse aim, that any untrained person could counter. I have even seen some videos where they dress their students in karate gis with a black belts, like trying to fake promote how defenseless is a karateka against an aikidoka.
I'm sure with a better understanding of real punching and the stability of a good punching stance, your aikido will improve in its ability to counter real attacks.
Knuckle push up
“MAKIWARA” - Practice strike with Makiwara. “wara” is traditional rope, “maki” is wind around. Modern ones are made of leather
“TSUKI”
“IKKEN HISSATSU” one strike one kill
Don’t punch with shoulder but depress the shoulder and strike with your waist - centre of gravity
Engage the latismus which connects upper body to lower body and ground
Exhale when strike
Elbow points to ground to get external shoulder rotation. Then you get the “ZENTAI RYOKU” or full body power
Back fist is “URAKEN” followed by
“KAGI TSUKI” or hooking punch in horse riding stance, hips should to snap back
200 strike with dominant hand and 400 strike with non dominant hand
Monster board - scream or Kiai scream is more about spirit rather than sound