Something most people don't understand about Aikido
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- Опубліковано 23 кві 2022
- There is an often forgotten part of Aikido that makes it very difficult to understand the forms. Aikido classically has three weapons: the Jo, the Bokken and the Tanto (knife). Aikido is a martial art that was built for the modern era, it's goals are more about self development than they are about mass distruction. However Aikido's forms are built upon the classical structure of Japanese Jujutsu- which means the forms revolve around small weapons work- specifically the knife. In this video I will explain how that works, and how looking at knife work can improve your Aikido forms training.
If you like this video you should consider joining my patreon page: patreon.com/christopherhein I upload weekly, with new content the comes from a growing community of like minded Aikido practitioners. Thanks for watching and all of your support! - Спорт
I’m glad you’re uploading more regularly. I think yours is the most sensible approach to aikido I’ve ever seen.
I appreciate that!
I really appreciate these videos, because this is Aikido. If an "Aikidoka" doesn't know this, they're not doing Aikido. It has frustrated me for so long that so many people teach "Aikido" without being qualified, and as a result, they don't know these fundamental aspects of Aikido. You don't have to even dig deep to find this information. The problem is that most people don't dig at all, and instead they just make shit up. Like that youtuber who went from being an "Aikido sensei" to practicing MMA or something. He actually never did any Aikido at all.
@@TopLob I've seen his channel, but I hope he's just in for the clickbait. But let's be fair to him as well: if it's empty-handed fighting (especially 1:1) that he's concerned about, MMA would make a lot more sense.
Problem is, in the most dangerous attacks an weapon is likely going to be used.
Finally...a video (and Teacher), who explains this perfectly. Bravo.
Thanks for your support!
Best video on Aikido I've ever seen. Here's finally somebody concentrating on what
is fundamental and important. (Instead of all these discussions on whether Aikido
would work or not in MMA). Illuminating and absolutely convincing!
Thank you for your kind words!
Too many rules in M.M.A they're no rules in AIKIDO.
Ever heard the expression Jack of all trades master of none? 😁
I'm a long time Ju-jutsu coach, and I thought this was my pet theory (that aikido makes much more sense if I'm the one trying to retain control of my weapon). I've never seen anyone else saying this. It also explains why the opponent is singlemindedly grabbing your wrist instead of just letting go - he's afraid of getting stabbed.
Yeah. It only makes sense when you factor in a sword or knife.
Just like some techniques in various martial arts come from fighting in armor. Without the historic context they look silly too.
After watching samurai movies and a litle aikido demostration, it became clear. Me to: first time seeing someone coming out and telling what aikido is all about. Yet I deem most of them will be efective only in case both contenders were armed.
i am confused. i practised Aikido in Europe and its no secret at all that aikido's empty hand techniques come directly from sword techniques. it is very normal for any aikido teacher to demonstrate that eg a shiho nage technique comes from an empty handed oponent (uke) who grabs the sword wielding wrists of the tori (nage), who does the shiho nage technique to free himself.
maybe in america this crucial aspect has been lost or is not generally taught? anyway, aikido's techniques come from sword techniques but not from knife...
@@JustMe-vz3wd It depends on the teacher and what branch of Aikido it is. I learned this at my first school, but when I went to a new school, I was surprised that nobody knew this.
If it helps you, as a HEMA practitioner, that was my pet theory as well :) ! I'm just glad I found an Aikido instructor that says that.
I'm not an aikido practioner myself, but I have played with techniques over the years. I have always seen that aikido has functionality, but, to my perspective, most aikido instructors I've seen don't know how to teach it. They get way into the philosophy, and forget its roots. This is the first video I've seen that explains some of the more puzzling aspects of the art to me. The idea of the open hand being used to either free your weapon or create the opportunity to draw your weapon makes so much more sense than open hand alone.
Glad you liked it!
Eventually a video that renders justice to the historical context of aikido: there is always a tanto or katana involved and the intention of keeping a distance. Martial art practitioners are absolutely free to think that aikido is ineffective but, please, consider it also in its historical context and it will make , at least,more sense. What is strange is that most of the people I met are unaware of these aspects. Not to mention on YT. Thank you very much for posting.
A century of history at the most generous several centuries after swords were banned.
Another thing to consider is that Aikido is a set of humanitarian finishing moves. Not something you want to start a fight with.
i never see any martial artist that thinks aikido is ineffective. only people who are into competetive sports fighting entertainment trash aikido out of ignorance and an inflated ego...
This makes so much sense. It begs the question of why is this not taught (and shown) from the get go. I have never seen this and my 1st exposure to Aikido was in the 70s.
We do defense against Jo, Bokken and Tanto. 🙂
When I trained back in the early 90s, Saturdays was scheduled for advance students' weapons training. It consisted of Jo and Bokken drills. Tanto however was regularly used during regular class to remind all students that we were training for self defense and not for schoolboy fistfights.
I think that, back when Aikido was being developed (and / or as it spread internationally), getting your hands on blunt, dull or otherwise safe weapons was harder, so they just practiced them unarmed, which eventually led to the mistake of people being taught that these were unarmed techniques.
It could also be that some teachers actually thought that they worked just as well with unarmed fighting as with weapons, which would make some sense in the context of postwar Japan where weapons were being confiscated and the culture was becoming more pacifistic.
@@jonathancampbell5231 except that Daito Ryu is taught all empty handed and prewar students didnt show techniques with a tanto like this. I think Chris Hein has backward engineered to rediscover what he thinks gives aikido a context. I think its very insightful but I find there is an issue when we apply this context to modern times for average citizens who don’t carry a weapon. I have seen videos where the “bad guy” has a gun or knife and the “good guy” grabs katate dori or ushiro kubishime to control the weapon but have not follow up. What if aikido’s real benefits is in learning to deal with techniques from uke’s perspective.
@@jonathancampbell5231 i was just reading “Hidden In Plain Sight” by Ellis Amdur and he has a paragraph that reads “Tokimune states that Kunitsugu also, ‘transmitted the secret methods of Daitō-ryū aiki in the form of kogusoku.’ This is a term used by many early martial traditions, meaning grappling in light armor while wielding a dagger or other small weapon” so maybe Chris’s ideas are not new.
You are bringing Aikido in a new justified view!The way you explain to us the Art does make you one of the best exponers and inner circle deciphers of the Art!Your explanation united the Aikijutsu origins in brutal survival techniques and Aikidos “encoded” techniques!Who has eyes to see let him see and who has ears to listen let him listen!It now brings the Aikido in the real use of every day training for a reason AVOID SMALL DIRTY WEAPONS AND SURVIVE THEM!My most respected admiration and greetings from Greece.
As a shodan former aikido practitioner, now involved in bjj the concept of small weapons use make more sense than sword and seems more logical.
Thank you very much. You are my favorite aikido - teacher. I always thought that after 900 years of civil war the japanese arts cannot be wrong and concluded that in times of peace many teachers lost track of the original applications. Your videos make so much sense. Greetings from a former German nightclub bouncer. 🙏
Mr. Hein, while I study Aikijutsu not Aikido, there is a huge overlap shared techniques. Thank you for helping explain the things so many people miss understand about why techniques can actually be used, given the right opportunity.
When I dabbled in Aikido many years ago, we did tanto-dori pretty much from the beginning, and we also practiced yari-waza.
If only majority of Aikido schools actually taught their contents like this, actually put weapons into the hand of uke and tori while doing kata instead of trying to sell it as empty hand self defense. At this point i think people who do other forms of combat sports but does not do Aikido understand the context of Aikido techniques and principles way better than most Aikido practitioners out there
They can't. They weren't taught properly and consequently know no better.
i am confused. it is normal practise in dojos to practise aikido techniques occasionally with boken to show the origen of the empty hand technique comes from sword fighting.
Really enjoyed this!
Many other Fighting Arts square off on the assumption that your opponent is armed.
Thank you! As a trad Jiu Jitsu practitioner this has both gave me food for thought about many of our defensive techniques and also saved my faith in Aikido. I know it is a useful martial art if practiced and applied properly as many of the techniques are used in trad JJ - albeit usually more aggressively in our school.
I've seen few people talk about this, but a large piece of aiki as a concept is lost without the tension that shows up when the hand is gripping a weapon. For instance, Nikyo can be a hard technique to really feel as a beginner when applying it to an open, loose hand. Yet it is very easy to feel when the same hand/forearm is tight due to gripping a weapon. Similarly, the necessary outward energy for more of the circular/spiral moves like shihonage starts to show up because knife-wielding uke is trying to keep the pointy end away from them, but such energy makes no sense empty-handed.
I learned this through Tankendo and Shodokan (Tomiki Ryu). Thanks for uploading your teachings. Also the Pistol, Juken and Tanken are discussed in Aikibudo and was taught in Manchuria and the Spy Schools.
What a refreshing angle on the art! Your work is appreciated.
I appreciate that, thank you!
I love how you explained it. Really nice video, as always!
I've read other sources, such as Tamura Shihan's during an interview, that could fit with this explanation you gave. The fact is that it wasn't until "relatively late" (let's understand "late" as maybe 2nd uchideshi generation) when Ueshiba decided to teach his techniques explicitly using also a tanto as a means to make the principles of the techniques clear. I'm sure O Sensei's lesson were very challenging as he didn't have names for the techniques at that moment and when most students asked him to repeat if they didn't get it, he just did the same principle but using a different form.
Again, I love how you explained everything sir! Been following this channel for quite a long time and I'm glad to find schools and instructors with similar lines of thought. 🙇🏻♂️🙇🏻♂️🙇🏻♂️
Greetings from Spain! 😁
It make so much sense that you are doing weapons training without weapons.
Brilliant explanation! The entire syllabus does make sense now!
You are a really good teacher. You broke that down extremely well. Earned my subscription.
This how I learned. It all makes sense with a weapon. Most techniques are sword cuts , even throws end with a cut
It’s not just aikido. Started karate in the 70’s and escrima in the 90’s. Many traditional systems try adapting weapons motions to empty hand with varying success. Then when pressure testing it out of context it can turn out as less than ideal.
It’s funny how well some of the silly moves you learn for self defense ( double wrist grab to drag a victim back to the car ) work with 4 hands on the knife.
thanks alot for this video . this is what an aikido instructor should explain for first, it really change the way you can pratics for me at least.
The best explanation of Aikido techs ever.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
This is pretty self-evident in koryu jujutusu. All those old, strange looking grabs and attacks presuppose that weapons are present. Wrist grabs (an attack that confuses most modern martial artists as impractical) make way more sense when you put a sword/knife/gun in someone's hand.
Finally someone has some sense to explain it to MMA fanatics, who always brag how Aikido is bs.
Well done 👍
The editing and overall production value is making steady progress! Keep it up!
Much appreciated!
This really opened my eyes. It's so strange. In the Dojo I used to practice a long time ago, the teacher always illustrated variations with the uke holding a knife or the nage holding one and trying to free himself from a grab, but it always seemed more like a variation rather than the real essence of these techniques.
This makes so much sense. 🔥🥋
My Sensei always taught us: "empty hands are the same a weapons, weapons are the same as empty hands." By the time I got to live blade techniques, there was really no transition, it all felt the same. (He was uchi deshi under Morihiro Saito Sensei in Iwama.) Thank you for the excellent training.Onegaishimasu!
I trained in an Aikido program with this attitude and this was my understanding of this art for years. Hearing all the MMA dumping on Aikido made no sense until I found that most Aikido schools are spiritual pursuits, not martial arts. I like your videos. Keep spreading the news!
Ambidextrous and 30 years of martial arts.
Never took aikido but the moment I saw it was clear it was a weapons based style. I honestly thought this was the default setting for their curriculum
Kumi uchi - a term that I haven't heard for at least 25 years... Another term that I miss is defintely "atemi".
Excellent...thank you. Such an enlightening perspective!
Thanks for the enlightenment.finallly someone explains it .
This really makes a lot of sense. I like the fact resistance was shown as well, instead of one guy just flipping around like mad.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Josh rocking the Full Prussian
Yeah, Lot of things make sense if you think that nage has a tanto in hands! That's why you grab the hand, that's why you want to make ukemi, cause you are trying to avoid being stabbed or having knife in your legs (kokyonages). Fortunately we are taught that in our dojo, but we do also pretty much all the weapons quite often and it is really fun! 😊 I'm really surprised that other dojos doesn't do that or even doesn't mention that 😳
Thankfully, my Sensei actually reveals the logic behind all techniques. In Irimi Nage, we are supposed to cut the Uke's throat before letting the poor man go meet the tatami.
Ueshiba and Nishio were saying this since always... but I agree the people forget this, as they forget Atemi
I'm glad to see this out there. I switched to a koryo bujutsu after years of aikido and finally saw the rationale behind the movements from another art.
This is great, thanks for uncloaking the tanto movements, studied aikido a while back with T.K. Chiba and Yamaguchi, but switched to Filipino martial arts (FMA), in particular Sayoc kali, under Chris Sayoc Jr., touched hands with all of them. My reason, I found FMA gave me the correct stimulus needed against edged weapons and different footwork for managing constant forward pressure. I taught Sayoc Kali, with Chris Sayoc's blessing. FMA readiness from day one, after leaving the training hall gives uncloaked applied knowledge about blade whereabouts, there's no secrecy or wait until higher rank or next weapon's class everyday was blade day. All that up-close movement, contact, and drilling FMA offered on a number of occasions saved my life twice on the streets where/when I had to answer with the proper deterrent. Love your content, put a blade in your hand and train, then you will understand your aikido, boxing, silat, and most important Kali.
thank you for this one! When I tried this at my former dojo I got laughed at. Since I am also a practioner of striking arts I tried to make sense of the aikido attacks by holding a tanto but that wasn't welcome because they said their are only specific techniques for 🔪 attacks. I was only following my instincts. Glad I'm not the only one 😏
You're very welcome! Glad you found it confirming!
My mind is blow. Occasionally the Aikido I took would mention a small weapon to explain some of the moves. I liked some of the concepts I learned from Aikido but after years of empty hand arts too many Aikido attacks were just weird. Your explanations makes thinks so clear. I may have to go back to Aikido.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Man, I wanna come and learn from you guys, but that commute is gonna be killer! Stay awesome!
I second that!
I am starting a distance learning group on my patreon page www.patreon.com/posts/starting-program-66295903
If you are interested you should check it out!
This might be to your liking- www.patreon.com/posts/starting-program-66295903
@@ChuShinTani Online courses are OK, but I find it's best to learn from an actual person
@@ChuShinTani Cool! Thank you very much!
Great explanation if only many so called real fighters and others who do not actually know real martial arts could or would stop to ponder the techniques they see on videos etc. I am sure their ill informed opinions of arts such as Aikido and Hapkido would change. For example almost none realise that rolling or break falling is a self defense technique where if they resisted then the most probably answer would be a broken or seriously hurt limb or neck etc.
This video just landed you another subscriber. Judo player myself, always a skeptic, I like what you’re showing.
Once I participated in an aikido training and a I took a tanto, you know, made of wood. And my partner was like I turned into “beast mode” or something: he was so intimidated from the fact that I have a tanto in my hand, that he immediatly blocked everything, and the practice was impossible. That’s the level how the people did not get used to it. To the whole concept.
God, I'm so happy I came across your channel. Thank you so much for explaining this so well. It makes much more sense now.👌🤝
Beautiful explanation of the complexities of Aikido and the Katana. Does not matter the weapon. Or line of attack. Yodan, Jodan, Godan. All the same.
You said exactly what I was thinking 😂😂😂. "We don't see tanto..." and me talking to myself "much of it is actually tanto"
Sir, You do an amazing service to the understanding of aikido. Thank you
Thank you kindly
I can't name the techniques, but it was quite a lightbulb moment when I realized that you'd cling on to the arm if it was holding a weapon...
Excellent & educational. Thank you so much for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Glad to see someone point this stuff out.
Great explanation. Very nice!
Great commentary. Context changes everything.
Aikido suddenly makes much more sense...
Very interesting, thx for the upload 🙏
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent video Chein! You just made me subscribe!!!
Welcome aboard! Glad you like the videos!
Sorry, just stumbled upon this. Finally someone who related that! Another weapons based concept that goes even a step further is getting the uke into the desired position by the nage actually initiating the attack, sen no sen and sensen no sen. As you said, that makes the distancing, footwork, and actions more understandable.
In my eight years in Aikido we did Jo & Bo work as well as Bokken and Tanto. Recognizing that a Bo is a larger version of the Jo but it’s still has its differences from a Jo.
Thank you for sharing, fascinating
Glad you enjoyed it
wonderful concept!
This is great, as usual!
Thank you! Cheers!
Respect, and it makes alot of sense in the context.
You are a Great Teacher
Wow, thank you!
I really like what you are teaching.
Hey, is this "Alf"?
@@ChuShinTani I do not prefer Muna dori classes
Everything makes sense now. Thanks.
Excellent!
Wow - great explanation.
Glad you liked it
Like my sensei always states - it needs to make sense. Very good explanation.
Glad to hear it!
As an Aikido practitioner I feel this has been sometimes hinted during training sessions, but I think it is not emphasized enough by far.
Great explanation.
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent video.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for sharing!
Is there any "tanto no suburi" ? Something like that?
I found a Yoshinkan Aikido Video that seems like a suburi practice...
Not that I'm aware of. Knives are so small, that there simply aren't as many things to do with them as say a sword or Jo. I'm sure there are some real knife fans out there who would argue that statement- but the longer the weapon, the more you can do with it.
The Essence of Aikido.
Fantastic
Makes sense when swordsmen in Japan couldnt take their Katana indoors when visiting and could only keep their Wakizashi. Nice explanation :) Makes sense that Aikido as a sport wouldnt want to promote knife/short sword carrying therefore all empty hand training.
This is why I stick to aikido vs other jujitsu style. It covers almost anything.
This is excellent
I came to the same conclusion after many years of Aikido once I started doing iaijutsu and kenjutsu. The techniques make so much more sense when armed. Also they make much more sense when you put in atemi where openings come up, such as in your kotegaeshi example where you cut once the opponent turns, atemi to the face works just as well and keeps their other hand occupied. Nikkyo works particularly well when someone else grabs the tsuba of your sheathed sword, otherwise I always found nikkyo a bit odd, is that one of the techniques you mention near the end of the video?.
Good content. The concept of "reference points" was never taught to me explicitly within the Aikido world, but it's something that I picked up elsewhere and integrated into my teaching of Aikido.
The Aikido response to a thrust to the mid-section (e.g. as a prelude to a turning wrist throw - kote-gaeshi) makes no sense at all, until you realise that it leads to a reference point that can happen in a real fight.
Same for the massively overdone straight and cross body hand grabs.
Where Aikido fails massively is that there's way too little rough and tumble to practice recognition and exploitation of those positions when they come up.
The other commonly missed part of Aikido is of course Kuzushi, which is more important even than atemi.
thanks sensie for uploading this video watching from manila philippines
Glad you enjoyed it! Hello Manila!
@@ChuShinTani your welcome sensie im a practioner of aikido
Thanks for posting this. I started aikido again after 12 years pause doing ”real MA”. When coming back aikidotraining because of injuries, I found out, that to make it work I need to imagine a weapon in my or partners hand. Even seeing plain shomenuchi ikkyo feels just stupid, if there is alternative to do a real knockout punch with fist. Without weapon it seems as working as bitchslapping. When boxer’s one + two will give you broken nose or something real to deal with.
Awesome
Please. What's the music at the end? 7:05 to 7:16. This is fantastic! I already try Shazam and such, I can't find it.
The song is called "Jerome please come back" it's from an artists named Nickk Dropkick
@@ChuShinTani: Thank you very much!
Anyone saying aikido is useless check out kazuo chiba sensei. Brutal man and one of the best aikido senseis ever.
very interesting
Glad you think so!
Katate dori and different wrist control grabs are actually quite common in mma/wrestling and unarmed hand2hand combat scenarios.
Also researching a lot of the grips in aikido such as ushiro haga ijime and mune dori etc etc, are all foundational grips for wrestling and judo. Could you elaborate more on these types of grips, how to get them in and which aikido techniques you can pull off from there and how to break free from them?
You should look up his Patreon page. He addresses all of your questions there and then some.
thx for the inspiration. Motivated by your call to look for techniques that cannot be performed with a Tanto I quickly went trough the majority of techniques I've learned over the past 30 years and I could find two technique where I am not so sure if this makes sense with a tanto in hand and an attacker tries to grab/control the arm:
- teguruma (for me this is more like a counter technique. I see no sense in holding a tanto while performing it)
- Seoi Guruma (same...)
all others should work although it's not always obvious.
debatable are the various kokyu nages. they highly depend on your aiki abilities and a strong grip of uke or a good leading hand with no touch at all...but does this count ?
here are the techniques that I've checked:
Ikkyo, Nikkyo, Sankyo, Yonkyo, Gokyo, Rokyo, Kubi Osae, Ude Garami, Hiji Shime
Te Guruma, Koshi Guruma, Koshi Nage, Seoi Guruma
Kiri Otoshi, Sumi Otoshi, Aiki Otoshi, Mae Otoshi, Maki Otoshi, Hiki Otoshi
Irimi Nage, Kokyu Nage, Tenchi Nage, Kaiten Nage, Koshi Nage, Uchi Kaiten Nage, Kote Gaeshi, Shiho Nage, Udekime Nage
I believe Kokyu Nage is useful for battlefield melee, when you are being rushed by a dozen enemies and you don't have time to focus on one opponent at a time. It is similar to a football scrimmage where everyone is trying to tackle you and you need to dance around the offense to get the football to the end zone.
When i did aikido we predominantly did tanto techniques. Our sensi 6th dan only let the dan grades do jo and boken work.
Hello, your explanation is great and i like Aikido as an art. Iam blackbelt in Hap Ki do. In my style 70 Percent is from aiki jutsu. Very similar. My point is and i beg your pardon cause this is only my experience and i hope you get it the right way. So in my experience it doesnt work. Only i few techniques from the curiculum works if my oponnent isnt cooperative. I changed the entrances, and I take a lot from other martial arts. Now it works much better. Whats your experience, in pressure testing the techniques?
Hello! I am not offended, in fact I understand exactly what you are saying! I'm not sure if you've seen this three part series I made ( Starting with this video ua-cam.com/video/apn6kDhDpBk/v-deo.html ). I this video I explain my experiences with what I believe you are talking about. It covers my struggles, realizations and where I came terms with what Aikido is.
20 years of Aikido and suddenly everything makes sense
Mind blown 😳 Make sense
Do you do live sparring?
It'd be cool to get a video on that
Videos are up.
Is that the reason why Uke should not release his grip?
nice-
What about tenshinage and that awkard kneeling right in front of the attacker with the upperbody very low so that he is supposed to trip over you? Especially that strange kneeling "technique" always did strike me as suicidal non-sense that would only work among devoted students.
Not the techinques I was talking about- but explaining that might be a good video! Thanks for your comments!
Actually, the dropping in front of someone really does work. I did it to my younger brother. He came running up behind me, and was going to jump on my back. I heard him coming, and at the last second dropped to my knees just like I learned in Judo. He went flying over me, and landed funny, and re-broke his collar bone. It does work, but timing and their commitment to the attack is key.
@@ChuShinTani I always believed this was based on the story of Tachibana no Norimitsu in the Konjaku Monogatari Shu; It was dark, so he crouched low to see the attackers' outline against the night sky, and then did the thing when the first one swung his sword in the direction of the sound. It makes a lot more sense if you move into the other's legs and not passively kneel before them, but that makes it more challenging for uke so it's often introduced to beginners in the latter way.
Think of how a wrestler will feint high and then shoot low for a take down. It’s the same idea, you’re just blocking the leg from completing its step and the opponent topples over you in a way that is very difficult if not impossible to recover from.
@@joeholloway4558 Similarly, many years ago I was walking home and at the last second sensed someone trying to jump and get me in a headlock from behind. Luckily it was just a friend fooling around, but I ducked down. He missed me completely and landed in front of me with his back completely exposed. In the wrong circumstances, that could have ended up very badly for him. The funny part is how freaked out he was that I ducked under his attempt with no sign that I knew he was there - but, as I said, it was a last split-second awareness that someone was coming up from behind pretty quickly.