I practiced Judo for over 45 years. There was an Aikido school that practiced on our mats after the Judo classes. I was young, like 10 years old in 1969 but I asked my Sensei about Aikido in terms of effectiveness in real life. He said, it's not about real-life situations or fighting. He said Aikido was very much an old mans martial art used to maintain physical health as you age. He said, you don't want to get thrown around or punched/kicked when you are old. He also told me the Japanese police force uses some sweeps from Aikido in their training that are very effective. What it came down to was, my sensei respected Aikido for what it was. He didn't look at it from a fighting standpoint or Judo either for that matter. To him, it was not about fighting, it was about life...Budo. And what ever style you used to live that life was effective in his eyes... I think today it's more about who can beat up who, what style is better for fighting. It's not about Budo anymore... Even Rickson Gracie said, in Brazil there is no budo, there is no respect, no admiration. It's about who can beat who and what style did they use to do it. I think that is the mentality today...
That’s why I said is sad how this discipline is taken so wrong, unfortunately most of us people, instead of learning a discipline to lead us to a better human being, turned it on a tool to hurt an call it sport. Martial Art is a discipline what makes a strong person not just physically but mentally in a high sense of respect each other.
" To him, it was not about fighting, it was about life.." That seems congruent with what Kid Peligro wrote in The Gracie Way. The older masters of Japanese Jujitsu did their katas because it gave them spiritual fulfillment, so it did not matter if it was actually combat effective.
If you want to fight in MMA - forget aikido and do BJJ and a striking art like boxing or karate. If you want to stay healthy both mentally and physically and improve your personal relationship skills - do aikido, it is excellent. (It is not that there is any "secret teachings" after shodan.. it is just that students don't really start to develop higher level aikido skills until they have practiced enough to develop the abilities.)
You are so correct - 100%. In regard to the secrets we teach students after they attain Shodan - I can share here now...but keep to just the two of us. The secret is........... Keep training, you've just started learning.
My sensei in go ju karate always used to tell me that you only started your real journey in the martial arts when you reached black belt and the only secret was practice and more practice. Oh and always train with a higher grade when you go on training courses.cheers.
@@sketchybuilder Ohh, that sounds so nice and so deep. It sounds like those proverbs from the Shaolin school. The truth is that an MMA fighter does not need any "qui", "chi", "peng", or proverbs for children. With six intensive months can go to an Aikido school and embarrass your teachers. That's the truth, the rest are words. Pretty, but nothing but words.
Interesting video, well thought, but still missing a few points. 1. When O-sensei developed the Aikido he took martial arts techniques and turned them into "the art of peace" If you read his short book (recommended), you will discover that he was not interested in developing a martial art to win fights. He himself claimed winning was not important and not the purpose. He, as a superb martial artist himself, wanted to develop something that was based on martial arts principles but was beyond martial art. 2. Those who use Aikido and turn it back to be martial, are actually going back to the pre-Aikido techniques. Very effective martially, but fighting mind is against what o-Sensei wanted for Aikido practitioners. 3. There are no 'secrets' to Aikido. If you go and speak with the top Aikido-ka, they will show you everything they do, just like o-sensei. The fact that students learn different techniques to what the masters are using is not because of secrets, it is more to do with the Japanese approach to teaching. You have to master the basics that when you perform the art you have no technique. This is true to Karate, Judo and others as well. In all these arts a black belt is someone who has learned the techniques and is now ready to practice the art. Just like finishing to learn the basic of drawing, lines, circles, perspective, before you can become an accomplished classical painter. 4. If fighting is what you are interested in, probably Aikido is not the best place to start. Learn to fight, get it out of your system, and then when you reach a stage that winning a fight is not important, you can move to Aikido and reap its benefit. 5. If winning fights is not your goal, Aikido is a superb art. It develops coordination, agility, flow, it teaches you to fall, it teaches you to deal with other people and learn to feel them and their intentions; it teaches you to control your own mind. And in the end, this is an excellent system of training and self development. 6. A word of warning. Because there are no winners or losers in Aikido fights, it is often hard to judge who really understands Aikido, who fakes it, and who lies to themselves and believe they understand it. This is not a problem in Judo for instance, as you know that the winner of a fight is better than the loser. This means that you have to be careful when choosing your teacher, because as many great teachers you may find, there are many horrible Aikido teachers that really do not understand the art.
@@ranfuchs3592 I have been practicing for 10 years. Our instructor teaches a more aggressive approach incorporating striking etc. It makes all the difference.
Indeed..but o' sensei himself learned it from sokaku takeda, the aggressive form of daito ryu aikijujutsu which includes strikes and etc. that used by the samurai in the feudal times ,it is a complete form of martial arts from empty handed and use of weapons(katana, bow and arrow, etc.)
@@bahadaboys04 osensei started as a martial artist, then he developed Aikido as the art of peace. He himself was a great fighter, not dobut, but he wanted something which is more than fighting, more important than fighting, byond fighting. For him Aikido was the spiritual part of the martial art. That was his mission. THere is nothing bad about fighting arts. But it was not Osensei's Aikdo. Do you think that a martial artist hiself he simply 'forgot' about including attacks or competitions?
Thanks for discussing this without being antagonistic. I have 20 years in multiple martial arts, but only a year or so of that in Aikido. I had my son in Aikido for 2-3 years, until Covid. He's 10 now. I didn't feel that learning kicking and punching was the right option for his age group and I don't have the highest opinion certain of those arts that specialize in teaching kids. I do know that the tumbling and falling skills you learn in Aikido can save your life. I've fallen off a ladder and gone head first over the handlebars of a bike and those skills have allowed me to come back up without injury. Given my background, practical, effective, self defense, is important to me. I work with my son by throwing half speed punches and even knees and kicks at him in quick succession. His parrying skills are really good and he can effect my balance doing so. Getting offline, avoiding being hit, controlling your opponents center are all vital skills that Aikido teaches. I personally feel that the development of these skills is lacking in many of the chain dojos that accent sparring etc. I feel pretty confident that if anyone tried to lay a hand on my son, they would have trouble doing so. I mostly credit Aikido with this.
I agree. I would never let my kids join a typical martial arts group. Only Aikido. Unfortunately, where I lived we didn't have a dojo that catered for kids. I think its a great foundation for them.
Damn, I learned Aikido for like 4 years (while I was a student) and it DID save me from serious injury also - I had an accident and I suddenly fell - if hadn't had at that time the years of practice of heavy falling from Aikido things would've gotten really ugly for me. But thanks to my developed instinct to protect from falling I get away with only a light injury (pain in the wrist - they took all the fall but safed my face). So, over all - i had positive experience of Aikido, I like it's phylosophy of life and it can teach you some usefull things in life.
There are at least two misconceptions about Japanese martial arts in general here: 'secret teachings' and the interpretation of a black belt as a sign of 'passing through all the curriculum' of a martial art. Most of martial arts and styles in Japan simply don't have 'secret teachings', including Aikidō. And the black belt isn't the point where the student learned all or most of the art, but where he or she will start learning it. From white belt through all the colours and up to the black belt, most of teachings were about techniques, not art. Most of the subtleties, tactics, strategies, etc. are taught to black belts. This is what makes the difference between the students mentioned in this video and highly graduated masters like Ueshiba or Seagal and may have been misinterpreted as 'secret teachings'. Also, never judge a martial art by a so small sample as a single class in only one dojo.
Daito-ryu aiki jujutsu actually did have secret teachings that were only taught to the high level students. Historically speaking, many Japanese martial arts had teachings for the public and also secret teachings for master-grade students. This has changed in the more modern times with Japanese arts doing away with secret teachings (either not teaching them at all or teaching them openly).
@@FreeSalesTips So you basically just said the same thing he did...the modernized gendai budo arts (which would include aikido, karatedo, judo, kendo, iaido, etc.) are more open in their teaching and acceptance of students than the koryu arts like Daito-Ryu.
Here are the only two secrets in the Martial Arts, any style, any country. 1) A well informed and EXPERIENCED Sensei with a love of the art and the ability to teach. 2} B+S+T+T Blood, Sweat, Tears, Training always. You are welcome.
I studied one style of Aikido many years ago when I was a uni student. And from what I've seen, the various students of O-Sensei started their own schools with VERY different takes on Aikido. What I studied was heavily invested in ki development. I'm about to go back to training, along with my daughter, at a school that teaches Aikido more as a sport - closer to Judo. My first teacher was a very small Japanese man, and he was everything I'd wanted in a martial arts teacher. I'd been wanting to learn a martial art but definitely wanted a Mr Myagi and not a Kobra Kai school. Although I only ever achieved 6th Kyu before my teacher had to return to Japan to look after his dad, I found that those who had worked hard and developed skills in Aikido felt .. more solid (it's difficult to describe), regardless of whether they were big or small, heavyset or slight. If they planted themselves, they were very difficult to move. Their wrists felt like solid stone. When you get a technique right, it feels .. very 'right'. Like it requires almost no energy and you could keep on doing it all day. I definitely think that it's not useful as a fighting art, as it's totally defensive by its nature. At my low level of proficiency I could see it being useful against belligerent drunks - useful as I was doing bar work through university. But you'd need to be VERY proficient before it'd be useful for defending yourself against a trained fighter - and still not effective against really fast styles of martial arts that don't give you much in the way of opponent momentum to work with. But for gaining balance, coordination, fitness, along with calmness of mind and spirit - I found it to be just what I wanted.
Quick question I thought the actual full style involves breaking bones and joint dislocation so you can't really practice the full art?? Is that not true?? No cap I even think Segal said that as well 🤣 but that does hurt my argument but I swear I heard that elsewhere tho.
@@pietpoloni1741 Because certain fighting forms are limited in competition and rules help Brazilian jujitsu extremely. Get kicked in the head, bit, eye gouged, nuts grabbed, throat hit in real life. Brazilian jujitsu is getting super generic so I wondered if aikido had suffered the same fate. Mauy Thai is still savage but the real tiger fighting/killing style I wanna see. A style that could kill tigers had to be that shiiiiiiii.....
@@pietpoloni1741 Well makes since via they used to teach karate and aikido in the army at certain levels. But its more about injuring your opponents vs scoring. And if you cant train to injure regularly it leaves certain peoples growth at a disadvantage if trying to franchise the aikido dojo tradition style art...etc. Kinda like knive fighting with spoons. But I honestly liked hard to kill and under seige. And I recall uncles getting drunk and practicing and eventually hurting each other proving it really works hilariously making the is Seagal fake argument start up every new major movie release. But his run in hard to kills beginning scene didn't age well at all at all at all lol
@@pietpoloni1741 There's a documentary on UA-cam about Mauy Thai and the original was apparently a man invented a fighting style to kill tigers that plagued or ruled the area. I did sum research & its true. My buddies dad is a famous fighter in Cambodia "Thouen" last name. And he said Mauy Thai is an adaptation of the tiger killing fighting style and explains the fighters attire of wrapping forearms and shins with rope not only to protect but harden. Maaaaan Jet kun do I feel is incomplete so its not fare the criticism it gets. If you read Lee's books MMA is JetkuDo really. Practical vs necessary. I think certain styles are more practical but I hate when people slander the style when fighting is 30% style/movement, 30% aim/target location, 30% mental awareness/capability, 10%strength
Here's a thought to add. In the journey of the development of aikido Master Ueshiba under went very physical training. Not just the physical training, he understood how to deal with that level of physicality. Do I believe that Master Ueshiba could do the things legitimately as in his vintage footage? Yes I do. The problem is people have tried to attain that level of mastery without repeating the same process that Ueshiba took to get there. They just tried to mimic his end result.
Very good insight.. he actually was military-trained, studied a more combative form of jujutsu, and was known for his physical strength. Aikido today has become very different, likely because Master Ueshiba was disappointed in WWII and adopted/transmitted a less combative art.
Unfortunately Japanese people are very very compliant and don’t want to stand out. If something is expected of them they will do it therefore telling if something really works by watching a teacher and students is very difficult.
According to Roxas video, the original practitioners of aikido were already masters of other arta, including the founder himself. So maybe that's whats lacking among aikido practitioners.
That's true, the first aikido academy only took High level Judo guys to train, it would be like getting a degree first then going for a doctorate. you cant go doctorate first lol
In my experience and it is my personal view, I look at Aikido as a "meta" martial art with the core idea of Ai-Ki being applicable in any fighting situation. But the spirit of Aikido attempts to rise above mere physical altercations and tries to give a philosophical view to solving society's problems... yes it actually borders on the meta - physical too. In fact I have seen a video of Maruyama Sensei saying that Aikido is not a martial art but a way to approach life
Morihei Ueshiba was actually quite strong in his younger days. He had worked as a logger so he had tremendous arm strength, together with sharp technique.
Right seems like Aikido is a style that focuses on the foundations of martial arts. Center of gravity, 8 directions, heaven and earth, in and yo, etc. But you need to have something on the side at a high level to understand how to apply it within. I can vouche personally I practice Non Koryu Self defense take on Ju-Jjutsu and Aikido and it works really well.
Yeah that's true. In addition, Ueshiba himself had life experiences that added to his ability as a fighter. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
I practiced aikido for few years and what you’ve said is very accurate. On the negative side perhaps the most common mistake is when the uke (the one who is falling) goes to the floor with his one movement, therefore is a kind of choreography and not product of a technique applied. On the positive side I would say one phrase of one of my instructors:”get off the line of fire and attack the center” which makes sense to me.
I actually understood my aikido techniques better after i started training in Kung Fu, at the same time i was able to pick up the techniques that were similar to aikido techniques faster
I completely agree with this, a lot of the Ukemi are done to protect yourself from worse outcomes. Without some knowledge of a striking art, those possibilities aren't as obvious, and Aikido practitioners often don't know how to take advantage of those moments when the attacker doesn't respond in an "Aikido" way. My skills and understanding of the art also improved a lot when I started taking a striking art as well.
Good video. I studied Aikido for a few years and our Sensei spent a lot of time working on Ki principles much like your internal and external martial arts. I couldn't imagine practicing Aikido without it. There are many schools of Aikido just as there are in other martial arts and its true...it takes a very long time to become proficient. Its very complex and if you go just get a belt or learn how to beat someone up, you'll fail miserably. Occasionally we would get a new student who would join for the wrong reasons and would disappear after one or two lessons. Once you reach black belt you have just reached the beginning. People think its fake because or all the rolls and acrobatics. All that is essential otherwise there would be tons of injuries, dislocated joint, torn muscles and broken bones.
Steven Segal's aikido is called tenshin aikido. I like aikido, it's good exercise, I fell from my motorcycle a few times. It saved me. (That and the helmet lol)
I also did Aikido and i ride downhill mountain bikes and i also fell many times with minor injuries. I think it was from the constant falling and rolling in aikido training, but in real fighting with a skilled opponent aikido is impractical.
I knew a guy that was a beast as a martial artist and he is an aikido black belt. The difference is that he knew capoeira, had a good experience with bjj and boxing as well. I just don't think aikido alone is enough.
In the early days of Morihei Ueshiba's teaching, he only accepted students that were considered "masters" of other arts. He eventually changed this policy to allow anybody of any skill background to study under him. I think it is possible to learn only aikido and nothing else for self-defense, but I think it is useful to have training in other arts for the purpose of expanding your consciousness. My advice: don't be training in the basics for multiple arts at the same time; you should focus to develop a certain level of mastery for a single art, and then move on to focus to develop certain level of mastery for another art. This is the model that Ueshiba initially required before teaching aikido. It is sensible to focus your effort on developing the specific fundamentals rather than diffusing your focus at the same time.
Exactly Aikido alone will not save you for sure in the streets. Nowadays you need to learn 2 to 3 solid foundation martial arts to really defend yourself. Personally doing Ju-Jitsu and Aikido is a good way of applying technique.
It is enough to be a good and strong human being, it is not enough in a cage fight except of you find a real master who can teach the real stuff, not like a regular fancy choregraphy. Nothing activates your inner ressources better than having you life threaten for real, then the brain changes its way to operate and finds the best way out in a milisecond. If what you want is to become a best destroyer, just buy the biggest gun you can get and you ll be the bad ass in town lol
He said it,martial arts like aikido attract people who are generally against fighting...just as boxing,jiu-jitsu... attract "worst" people want to learn to fight better.
At the end of the day it’s all about the practitioner not the style. All styles have their gaps that need to be filled in. In any training in the beginning it’s about just learning the discipline. After all it’s called an art for a reason...
Well, every Aidiko practitioner that I have ever seen step into the ring with a real fighter has gotten embarrassingly destroyed. So, where are all of the REAL practitioners hiding?
Aikido have a good techniques but i think that the form of practice these techniques is the first problem why the relashionship betwen uke and nage how develop the practice, make that in the future fall down the efectivity in real situacions . Is my simple thinking ! Congratulation for your video
@Malhab he might have drawn inspiration. But in all fairness we know he actively did many different arts. If nothing of his background made it into aikido i'd be more worried.
All of Ueshiba's internals came from Daito Ryu. Most of the modern Aikido lacks these internals, which is why it's different now. The internals of I Liq Chuan are actually very similar, and I say that having trained with Ashe. There are a few videos of Roy Goldberg and Sam Chin that highlight this.
The internals are not there in the Aikikai lineage, they are there in many of the others like the Tohei lineage and Shioda lineage, O-Sensei taught them, but his son didn't learn or teach them... if you read the histories you'll see that most of the student ignored much of what O-Sensei taught. Tohei and O-Sensei both focused on ki and meditation and misyogi, this may be why only Tohei was awarded 10th dan. It's in the name ai=harmoney ki=energy do=way... the way of harmony with life energy (not just the way of harmony like the Aikikai school who tried to erase the ki from Aikido.)
I took aikido for 10 years..it very much felt like a class or study learning principle's vs combat. We once had a master come in and he showed us all this offensive strikes that we should be incorporating into technique. It definitely felt like there were aikido secrets I did not have access too
That's really interesting. Especially in that you'd practiced Aikido for 10 years! I guess they'll always be things shown or brought to light that you'd never seen or heard of before. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
I think it is just mindset and doctrine. If a young master of aikido really want be effective in combat, like competitive/mma, he can train with mma ppl and test stuff. What I think he will come up with is he will use footwork to manage distance and quick punches, and use the hand control for clinch (grab opponent and manipulate/control him in some ways, eg, takedown). Which would be as effective as taekwondo, boxing etc for the standup/striking game. The ground game will need different training like BJJ/wrestling/sambo but the standup should be fine with proper testing and training. Aikido is being laughed at because the traditional doctrine is just not effective in actual fight. Like many, they spar only internally among themselves with traditional doctrines, they dont know it is not effective in real fight. Real punches are fast, you cant grab the hands like in movies or internal aikido practice. Cant also block them that well like in wing chun movies. Footwork for distance management and evasion is a must.
It's a lot easier to understand Aikido when you see it as a weapon based art, just like Arnis, and Xingyiquan (or Hsing I quan, which is how it's spelt in different regions). It's a difficult art to master because you need to be soft in order to neutralise the opponent, but internally strong in order to anchor yourself to the ground. The fish won't get hooked if you jerk the line; gears can't shift smoothly if you don't get the speed and timing right.
Many people are confused about aikido because they don't understand how weapons are connected in the aikido movements. People who study the old ways of the Japanese warrior can see the echos of weapons that aikido techniques are echoing. The historical background of aikido's movements becomes enlightening when you actually see that it was historically intended to deal with weapon strikes and induce openings and this leads you to use your own weapon to end the opponent's life.
I know this is an old post, but let me tell you a story. I did Aikido for ten years. And I could never get the hang of it. At least, not where I was satisfied with it. Now, don't get me wrong, this was not a wasted effort on my part. It was like I could see the individual pieces that were being taught, but I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, bring them together. I kept trying though. I wanted to do Aikido. I wanted, more than anything, to be good at it. Fast forward ten years later and COVID hits and Aikido closes. I've been doing martial arts since I was ten, so this was like losing my leg. I did not feel that my training was done. Eventually, I went crazy and thought, "Hell I'm going to join this fencing school." Yeah... the whippy sword fencing. Okay, I didn't do that. I did do their HEMA (Historic European Martial Arts) class though. A friend invites me to his Aikido school. At this point, I hadn't touched Aikido for a couple years, but I really missed it. So, I did a class. What I did at that school was honestly the best Aikido I have ever done. The flow, the mentality, the distance, the timing. Everything I was determined to learn for ten years, suddenly all clicked. My movement was effortless. For the first time, I felt like I got it. It was seriously the sword. While it wasn't a katana like a samurai would use, it was still a sword. You can't understand the soft hand without the hard steel. The pieces will just not come together as they should. Likewise, you can't claim you're a peacemaker or a pacifist if you have no capacity to harm. Then, you're just useless. And this is the piece I feel is missing. Everyone wants to believe that if you just don't teach your students how to harm, they can be effective fighters and have this peacemaking stuff. And that's just not true. Aikido isn't about taking the harm out of fighting. It's about controlling it.
I gave your video a reverse roundhouse punch to the like button because I like the information that you shared. As a practitioner of Shotokan karate, and later a student of Richie Barathy's full-contact Karate and competed in the mid to late 1970's locally in my late teen years. And later stationed in Japan through the 1980s, I was interested in Aikido, but was drawn back to Shotokan. In recent years I have been studying Systema and find that it incorporates much of the Aikido philosophy. All in all, you hit the nail on the head. The "teacher" is the all-important convenience and influencer of the art/method. One is not separate from the other, so "good" vs "Hollywood" matters. Cheers
I started with ju jutsu for self defense, which also included techniques like karate, judo and aikido. Then I started learning Aikido in a separate school. My sensei said, "When you have reached the dan level, you have learned the system and the technique. If you go further, you have to start learning the art and the spirit." It was then that I realized that I could practice Aikido when skiing in the mountains, or riding on my horse's back, or just taking a walk. It has been very helpful for my personal development in life. To be honest ... even the octagon isn't real life. 3 men with knives or a gun in a dark street can take you down, no matter what dan you have in which martial art.
I loved aikido and studied it for years. It helped me imensly with footwork and judo in the later stages. It's easily adapted for self defence and it's roots were honed from war and conflict. It just takes a change in mindset and modified tools / mindset.
Very good point, aikido is like condiment for food, after you study aikido you can use it in everything and if you include it, everything is perfected, not only in judo, a lot but many train martial arts without understanding well, the words of ki, center etc. Now if you don't see the classic movement of aikido it's not aikido, but it's not like that, aiki is in any art when you've been exercising it for years, even a fighter when he enters in time and focuses using the power of the hips, I saw this in ufc in a Georges St-Pierre fight that he projected in such coordination that he didn't even touch the opponent with his hip, that's aiki, achieved in a fighting technique Muy buen punto, el aikido es como el condimento de la comida, despues que estudias el aikido lo puedes emplear en todo y si lo incluyes todo se prefecciona, no solo en judo, mucho pero muchos entrenan artes marciales si comprender bien, las palabras de ki, centro etc. ahora si no ves el movimiento clasico del aikido no es aikido, pero no es asi, el aiki esta en cualquier arte cuando llevas años ejercitandolo, hasta un luchador cuando entra en tiempo y centrado usando el power de las caderas, esto lo vi en ufc en una pelea de Georges St-Pierre que proyecto en tal coordinacion que ni siquiera toco al contrincante con la cadera, eso es aiki, logrado en una tecnica de lucha
Here is my two cents on how Aikido fits into the martials arts universe: Fighter/killer/warrior spirited people ar some point in their lives start practicing some sort of martial/combat/fighting system. They learn how to defend themselves, how to hurt or disable an opponent. They switch to a new system after becoming proficient at one system. They start learning from complementary systems to become more whole. During this lifelong process if they still have the instinct/hunger to fight and defeat someone they continue on the path of destructive training. But if at some point they transform and discover that they want to see win-win scenarios in life rather than zero-sum-confrontations now they have a choice: use their killing skills to create peace. I think O-Sensei was one of those people. His brilliance is that he knew how to kill/destroy opponents but he demonstrated to the leading Japanese martial artists of his day that he can create those harmonious looking Aikido attacks&throws if his partner also knew how to "kill" but within the frame of the attack he "offers" a harmonious way out of the confrontation. Basically do not consider offering peace unless you bring a stick to the fight as big as your opponent's. Also if the opponent does not choose peace are you ready and willing to do whatever it takes to stop them? So IMHO Aikido may considered the crowning achievement of a true martial artist who is a real killer but chooses the peaceful way for all involved. If it is the first martial art you learn you will not truly understand in what "ideal perfect world" Aikido techniques may work/emerge. All this rant coming from someone who practiced Aikido for 3 years and spent as much time as any other Aikido practitioner discussing all thousand different reasons why this kind of training will not help any one in any kind of confrontation and still trying to understand why would someone would develop such a martial art. You may train for years and there is almost no teaching of how to strike effectively, there is always the pretend of striking without the real ability to do so. All serious black belts study other martial arts to learn effective striking, grappling, wrestling, weapons, etc. In every serious martial art, high level masters talk about how the martial they practice supports their own spiritual journey to attain inner peace, find freedom from aggression, conflict, fear, confusion, etc. I guess that's why it is called a martial art rather than a combat system.
Very well expressed. Been training for 50 years in various arts and what you have said here mirrors my thoughts and experience almost exactly. Having read this example of your communication skills I sincerely hope you are Sensei. If not, please seriously consider it!
@@dragonmaster9360 Thanks for your comment, I am glad to hear that I am not alone in this perspective. I am a college professor, so sort of a sensei :) I also hope with your experience you also teach students on the martial path.
So true, all martial arts are an amalgam of an individuals own experience, and to continue with the basics there comes a point where it is unethical to actually deliver the blows required, I went from aikido to iaido and people just aren't prepared to play some games 🙁👍 but hey I like the way you think ☯️ 🏴☠️
Fair video, as a 30 plus year aikidoka (Yoshinkan, Aikikai and other styles), Yang style Tai Chi practitioner as well as having wrestled in high school and done numerous real world combat skills, I was initially annoyed by the title. But after watching the whole video it was balanced. I think personally, Aikido has had a major hype issue that Tai-chi and Ninjutsu suffered in the 2000's. Nothing is perfect. But the key issue is the 'Aiki' principle requires the attacker, uke to really attack with intent, and the defender, Shite to be divorced from bumping power, as in a MMA or Judo senario. The sad part is many dojo/s miss this key point, no intent, results in ineffective techniques.
I am training, and learning about, Aikido for about 15 years now. This was probably one of the best videos about the art i have ever seen! Respect to you and your clear sight.
15 years!!! That's fantastic!!! How do you feel the training has benefitted you? Do you find it a more principle based and philosophical practice? I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
I used to think Aikido was BS until I met a guy who was a bit of a Hippie, Surfer sort who was very into eastern philosophy. a black belt in Aikido and a Purple Belt in BJJ, if he wanted to compete in BJJ he would be a serious problem, but he just didn't give a toss. Thing is there are a lot of Brazilians who train Capoeira alongside BJJ however, I think Aikido could actually give you a better background for training judo or bjj because in Aikido training you are learning how to take breakfall etc. I like all three martial arts because they are all based on resolving conflict with the least amount of violence possible. He even said to me the Aikido stuff he would use if he was having to talk to a drunk person or someone who's just mouthing off and he just want to give them a "back off" message. He's said he'd use his BJJ training if the person doesn't take the hint and goes in full bore. he said it was all about giving people chances before you take it that far though ie having to choke them out etc like he said "you don't go nuclear straight away".
Exact same reason. Learned striking like boxing and kickboxing. I’d still put aikido as a primary response for keeping fists away from my face and holding people down because were adults and would benefit from not resorting to assault.
With aikido skills, it's not hard to snap joints, throw people to the ground and start pounding into them, i.e. you starting fighting and end your fight with intentionally serious damage. The specific intention of the founder is that you train your very consciousness to a higher level so that you (the aikido guy) really don't need to fight. It sounds like he's using aikido for the purpose that the founder of aikido intended it to be - it's a way to resolve physical conflicts without the need to fight.
I trained for many years in Yoshinkan Aikido, then did cross-training in Boxing and BJJ. Training in other systems has given me a greater appreciation and understanding of Aikido. The rolling in BJJ has really helped in that understanding, and if it wasn't for the pandemic I'd still be training in both.
I studied Asian studies at university, I became obsessed with Japanese culture through martial arts (karate and judo when younger and then onto bujinkan when I was at university-I liked the all in one aspect of it), what I noticed when I was in Japan and I didn’t look into it before I met the other guy I mentioned was A lot of Judo guys over there also do Aikido, they see it as a softer side of their art, gives them a chance to work on footwork etc and not take the pounding of a judo training session. The guy who did BJJ and Aikido also made sense considering BJJ is basically like old school Judo.
For what it's worth... been in the Arts for 42 years trained in 7 systems...so I may know a bit or two. I say all this to give weight to my compliment, which is: Fine video sir, I enjoyed your take and delivery on this topic.
Good video - thanks! I would argue that the number one problem with Aikido schools is that they don't really attack each other. In all the videos you showed just now no one was carrying out a real attack. You can't learn how to defend yourself if you don't practice with real attacks. Period.
I trained for a short time many many years ago but we actually energetically fought and it worked. I used it a lot in the military when I was young. I think you touched on the key.
@@mrjones4249 Good - I would love to study aikido if it was taught that way (don't just hold your arm out but attack after learning the basics - mimic a street attack with all the unknowns).
As a young tween and teen in the 80s, I earned a green belt from a mix of Shaolin and "Kempo" with an east coast Ed Parker belt system from a somewhat controversial Fred Villari - back then I had no idea who Fred Villari was or stood for; he was the only MA school in my town back then. I studied the grappling, locks, and so forth which was the basis for Fred Villari's "Studio of Self-defense" Luckily I found another school and several senseis that taught real-world MA later in my life post military, that included Krav Maga, Phillipino Kali and a smattering of Judo and boxing. That taught me what real-world street fighting/defense was really about. Not only katas. Love your channel and hope to incorporate Tai Chi into what I have already learned - thanks!
Fellow aikidoka from Czech republic, I'm glad I got recomended your channel, thanks for the Aikido content! I was very lucky to find a teacher (former karate) who was concerned with fighting effectivity and prioritized it over aikido form. Even in our organisation he was being slightly disliked for being unorthodox, that shows you some of the problem with aikido - it can very easily become too soft and as a result won't prepare people properly for high stakes fighting situation.
That is, unfortunately, a huge problem. Aikido wasn't developed for combat. The founder developed Aikido to express his spiritual and philosophical beliefs. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
Hello, nice video. I am an aikido teacher for 20+years in France, I also worked in different security/protection jobs. Everytrime I want to learn with other styles. I don't think it is a problem of aikido or secrets, I think this more a problem of ego and a lack of work and research. As you said, blackbelt is just the begginning and people have to research and go deeper, this is the case in all styles. We need to practice more and more, to learn more and more and get more experience in the style which is the best for us. I said "us" because it's the same thing for a boxer, a judoka, a capoeirista: don't stick to the basics... Look around all the knowledge you can collect, make it your own and polish your skills. Thanks for your video ;)
I started in Aikido because I thought I was signing up for Kendo, and asked the school owner if Aikido was "the one with wooden swords." Anyway, once I started in Aikido, knowing I was going into Corrections as an officer, I focused basically on Nikyo, Sankyo, Kote Gaeshi. For over fifteen years of training, I never tested for rank, but because I was using what I learned on resisting prisoners, my understanding of the techniques and how to apply them, surpassed the senior students in no time. One of the senior students, opened his own school, and I trained under him, for a while. Some of his senior students didn't like when I came to class, which was every class, and tried not to work with me, cause I "didn't use proper technique" and "it hurt" and was "uncomfortable." They were ina happy zone,
Although O'Sensei had the skills it was pretty well known he wasn't great at communicating this with students as they would often get lost in what he says. That's why there are so many different styles of Aikido that vary significantly. Also remember most people that did aikido before were usually experienced in another form of martial art. Weapons (jo and Ken) training is also a fundamental part which most dojos lack. Even if these are practiced it's mostly symbolic and they rarely look at the practical side.
True skills were meant to be stolen not explained in detail. If one truly understood the foundations they could pick up the subtle and intricate details of techniques on their own which is how a good sensei picks and chooses his top students. A lot of time can be wasted in talking or translating when doing is often the best form of practice. There are different forms of Aikido because some people had differing views on opening it up for competition like Tomiki Aikido whereas O'Sensei believed purely in the completion being against oneself. It didn't split into other forms just because O'Sensei didn't communicate well.
Well when practically are you going to be dealing with these types of weapons? An improvised jo (like a pipe) maybe but a katana? I mean the more practical of these would be a tanto but the way I have seen it practiced it would also not be practical.
@@cryingdove0 The same could be said about Kendo, HEMA or any other weapon based art. It teaches you more then just using a weapon, it's teaching you footwork and generally how to move your body properly. Also if we are only talking about fighting, martial arts is a bit irrelevant anyway nowadays in most places as the chances of getting in a fight for a normal person is slim to non. As Musashi said: “The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.”
Re: "The problem with Aikido" I've never trained in Aikido, for the record, but for the last 26 years of my life, I have taught a widely known Korean martial art called HAPKIDO. You know, we should never shit on another person's lawn, as it's just not polite ? To denegrate an entire martial art taught to millions, as useless, how do you know that, as you admit you only trained for six months in Aikido ! According to the best information that we know, the founders of Hapkido (GM Choi Yong Sul) and Aikido (Moreihei Ushiba) trained with the same Master (Takeda Sōkaku), the aiki-jujitsu expert (albeit at different time periods). Just leave Aikido alone if it bothers you ! We trained a student once who came from the Aikido club in town, he was a 2nd Kyu and he had trained for 14 years in Aikido. We taught him Hapkido and I.T.F. Taekwon-Do, including joint locks, throwing, falling, striking, punches, kicks, leg kicks, everything ? He did just fine. After one year of training, he kicked just as good as any of my black belts, some of whom were national champions. I say let the Aikido people be? If you don't like them, just shut the f*ck up ! Sincerely, Sabumnim R.J., 6th Dan p.s. regarding Steven Seagal, why is he a problem? Let the man do his job. Stop being judgemental. You have flaws, too. www.kel-west.org
My Aikido instructor was actually a 12th degree in aiki-jitsu. So you got ju-jitsu, which can help the lower on tank defend themselves. Aikido takes patience and takes years to master the basics, or the foundation. I was fortunate to be able to take ju-jitsu and Aikido from the same school. One develops quick hands and quick takedowns, while the other develops fluidity. They seem almost opposite, but blend well together. If you want to learn how to effectively defend yourself in a year or two and move on, Aikido isn't the art your looking for.
Thought provoking video. I have been practising Aikido for 20 years and I am 6'4" and a concern for me has always been to execute technique without using strength. I can't help my height and to some extent that does offer advantages in reach so I prefer to practise with people of similar size. My son is smaller and lighter than I am, but still quite tall. I and others have largely been able to teach him what I can do in 3 or 4 years because he has excellent attitude. My concern has always been that the Aikido I learn should have the potential to be modified to work. I think that some schools may be overly formulaic and fail to realise that Kata are simply teaching forms, but are unlikely to be of utility in an actual situation. Striking is an important part of Aikido, but it tends to be more by way of distraction, however in a real situation it is there to be used. The movements of Kata are also kept within certain bounds that Uke can accommodate, the greater the skill of Uke , the further Tori can push the technique. The same is not likely to apply in the real situation where a technique applied with intent might be used. The point at which Uke responds is the point at which the untrained person "breaks". A skilled practitioner will feel that point and redirect energy to guide an attacker into neutralisation. The most common objection to Aikido arises from the "hand holding" and I cringe when I see high level Aikidoka going through well rehearsed routines with meek and often small light Ukes obligingly holding their wrist or performing unrealistic cuts and strikes that owe more to dance than martial arts. I have found that once you have Kata you can adapt to more realistic attacks, but I think that genuine competition is inadvisable given the intent of the techniques from which Aikido was derived was to kill people, for instance Iriminage in Aikido is executed under control just to take someone down, essentially by their neck and head, for real it is breaking the neck. Shihonage can drop someone on their head so it is potentially very dangerous. The advantage of Aikido over many martial arts, in my opinion, is that it offers a great range of response from simple evasion to a quick slapdown to neutralisation, restraint and beyond. There are videos on my channel which attempt to illustrate some of these points. I have a lot of sympathy with the points you raise and look forward to watching your next video.
@@anthonyclark9159 no, shaolin isn’t a style, but there are many style in shaolin. In my country (Vietnam) we call these style with a general name “kungfu shaolin”. I’m studying Mantis Martial Art
@@anthonyclark9159 in Vietnam there are many school name “Shaolin dragon tiger group”, “Shaolin Hong family first” ... they also have “shaolin” in the name
Make sure you are doing full contact sparring and grappling with people from other styles, particularly mma, bjj, boxing, kick boxing, judo. That way you will know what is useful and what is not.
Some historical context: A British popular writer, Jay Glick, in the early 70s started the Aikido hype in the West by a book called "Zen Combat', in which he spouted uncritically the adage "there is no defense against aikido". A little later, the larger, more lavishly produced "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" helped establish aikido as the ultimate martial art, especially in the late hippie culture who got copies of The Whole Earth Catalog, where A&tDS got a big promotion. Even aside from Seagal, several people pushed aikido as ultimate, in the early 80s, especially in comics and novels.
Absolutely phenomenal video, my dude. I practice Taekwondo along with Judo and Aikido. I love Aikido, but it has many limitations, and you addressed them well. It's a good defensive art to train in when backed with good striking and submission skills, however.
If someone really understood the principles of Aikido, and applies them in real life, not just fighting the strikes wont be necessary. When someone who trains in Aikido and master the form of the Art, he will discover that striking and submission lies in every form.
Morihei Ueshiba has also learned Bagua in China. He also ruled Kyusho Jitsu. The Aikido is therefore derived not only from the Daito Ryu but also from the Chinese Bagua. The atemis are performed on acupuncture points (Kyusho Jitsu). I recommend watching the videos of Bruce Franzis, Tai Chi and Bagua Masters. Bruce Franzis trained with Morihei Ueshiba for a while before going to China and learning Tai Chi and Bagua. He is convinced that Morihei Ueshiba could bagua.
I have a friend who is a sensei in Aikido. He asked me last Tuesday if I didn't want to come for an initiation. I have severe head and neck syndrome and an ultra stressful life situation. The dojo is located in a district known for its high delinquency where I have lived for years. I went there. I was first taught to do stretches, then rolls. Despite intense pain with my pathology, I am doing well. Two other sensei demonstrated techniques, sometimes slowing down their actual speed. I often asked my friend, "Why doesn't he use his available left arm to attack?" Questions that were interesting and relevant for them and they explained to me that in fact, given the demonstration, in real attack the collarbone would break and the pain so intense that the body, which never lies, would have the reflex to put the left arm on the pain to instinctively protect itself. Ok. I greatly appreciated being shown to me with a turtle's slowness each movement of the "keys to the hold" that we break down into micro-tasks where you have to be as diligent and precise as possible. Which suited me just fine as the pains were mild on top of what I have. Then came the technique where you defend yourself with a wooden knife (sorry, I don't know the name). Again, I asked, "Why was the position of this knife like this because I had learned another attack position. Like in the army and in order to go there in a more lethal way." One of the sensei explains to me that it's street attack by a guy who wants to hurt without notions of combat techniques and that his position of the knife was traditional. I understand here that it is more art like dance than an art of combat. Then, I was exercised with the greatest gentleness how to make a lethal counter-attack when attacked with a knife. I was told the lethal points to the head for an attack and then breaking the elbow and making the person hover. It is true that my friend sensei is taller than me, not far from 2m and 130 kg. By repetitions of a turtle slowness, he asked me to attack him at normal speed. I attacked it very fast, as fast as possible (I was thinking to be as fast and lethal as a snake attack). Without me realizing, I had slapped him in the face and he flew protecting himself with a roll. Dubious, I tell him, amused: "You made me wrestle there". He assured me not. We started again and I was amazed that it worked. Technique that I was taught and that I do not see in other UA-cam videos on Aikido. I'm talking about those that show "aikido vs judo" or "aikido vs karate" etc. I'm surprised those sensei in the videos don't use it. After 2 hours of initiation with my pathology, I'm not saying that I don't like aikido. I had fun and what I like is that they teach me how to protect myself with grips on my head affected by my syndrome. It is not a martial art where in training we go there like killers to sweat like "in Judo" according to the words of a sensei. It didn't de-stress me because I just needed to go there like a madman who hits to evacuate all my painful saturations. After all, as in all things, your worst enemy is yourself. Considering the aggressiveness that I have in me at the moment, I would have preferred to calm my nerves perhaps in glima. It doesn't matter, I'll go back to do aikido because, I've been shown that if you go there with the intention (I don't remember the Japanese name they told me anymore) to defeat your opponent, you can really send him to the hospital with multiple fractures. Aikido suits me for now as a basic martial art. Points that I will discuss with my friend and the others during the next sessions, which is why we do not train outside. Learning to roll on a tatami is fun. Learning to do it on cement isn't the same thing anymore and it seems to me that it's important to train outside. It's better for the body and the mind for me.
The most important and funniest part that he repeats few times, "I know 2 things about Aikido..... I am not an expert in Aikido...." Yes, among million things of Aikido, he knows 2 and he starts to make up a 10 mins youtube video about it. It is almost like a primary school student made a video commenting relativity of Albert Einstein. If one knows very little or nothing about an art or a knowledge, instead of commenting on it, he or she should first start to learn it for some time. That is how I teach my 8 years old daughter.
I take this Aikido shit serious now.I (184cm,68kg,bodybuilder) was lessoned in March in front of a supermarket.There was a brawl concerning a trolley with an about 40 year old woman with thick ugly specs,physically much weaker than me.Since she only was 150 cm, she was an easy push and I pressed her 2 meters back and downwards with my hands on her shoulders. Then she enclosed my right wrist, a short aching,she went aside and I tumbled to the ground on the back,and that in my full black leathers. On the ground, I realised a sprain in my right arm making it useless for further combat. The specs lady saw my surprise and stretched from right to left over my chest, snatching for my left arm poising it in an awkward and helpless position I never saw before. I was completely under shock and could no longer move none of my four limbs. I flushed and even fainted.I only remember some passers by in the audience saying "Look at the arm of that lady,look at the arm of that girl,you ever saw this before?".After some minutes,we were finally seperated by the security and the specs lady said:"Guess you never exspected a dwarf to know the Judo,hunny hulk".But I doubt now whether it is allowed to apply this unfair shit in public.
I never practiced Aikido, but I spent a lot of time studying Aikido history and “philosophy”. Your take on the problem in Aikido is well presented and I really enjoyed your humble style. One thing I would like to add from my research that nobody seems to mention. There is a book, called “The Heart of Aikido”, which is the only book that represents of collection of Morihei’s lectures on Aikido. This is the only source to find out what the creator himself though about Aikido. Not the early Aiki-Jitsu style, but the latest version of “soft” Aikido. Morihei explains in his lectures why he transformed Aiki-Jitsu into Aikido, which has a lot to do with religious influence on him from the church he was involved in during second half of his life. Under this influence, he came to realization that the purpose of true Budo is not in being good at fighting, but being good at being a good person. And a person can only be good to other people when he/she feels love to those people. And so the “Way of Love” was born. Techniques became meditative in nature, their purpose was to practice control of one’s thoughts, to feel endless love to an attacker under any circumstances. The idea was to eradicate violent thoughts in our minds through constant daily practice. And if everyone undergo through this rigorous practice and eradicate their own violent thought toward other people, then the real peace (heaven) on Earth can be achieved. It was the first martial art with sole purpose of defeating violence not by learning how to defend yourself from an attack, but how to eradicate the cause of an attack in the first place, which is violent mindset. Unfortunately, many of his student just wanted to learn self defence, even when Morihei was trying to explain that this is not what Aikido is all about. His early students, from Aiki-Jitsu time, were outnumbered by the students from “soft” Aikido who completely misunderstood its purpose. I suspect that Steven Segal was a student of Aiki-Jitsu master, rather than Aikido. But the majority of people who saw Steven Segal style on TV and wanted to learn it, could only find masters of the “soft” Aikido, who didn’t bother explaining the difference. And so the confusion began.
Jitsu is technique. Do is the way. Like the difference between going to church and being a real Christian. I read a book called Combat Zen ( I think) that recounted the story about Jesus moving through soldiers untouched. It was in the chapter about Aikido. The author's wife was an Aikidoka and practiced by going against foot traffic in Tokyo. LOL, try it sometime. Not necessarily in Tokyo of course.
Yes, this is the real insight you need to have to understand Aikido. You cannot critizise something without knowing its actual purpose. That is the criteria you need to evaluate something. If not, it would be like evaluating a screwdriver on its ability to hammer nails... Which is the mistake I see in 95% of all Aikido critique on UA-cam...
I'm a third degree black belt with 17 years of aikido under different masters and I wholesomely agree with the message in this video. There is a profound amount of bullshido in the world of aikido, mainly because the students drawn to the art are seldom interested in putting it to a test. Aikido is highly viable as a *martial* art, but very few schools are aware of how to commit training that appropriately teach the techniques.
You are a nice guy,you seem honest and open! I had the opportunity to study with a sensei who received the teaching from two of the very best students of OSensei , I will tell you something:Aikido really works,but just like the Jedi,you have to connect with the force ; you wouldn’t believe what you can do when you develop your ki .friend go to the basics and look always for the essential.Once Jesus said to his disciples something like:thousands will listen,hundreds might follow,dozens might understand,only one will find me! Good luck
Hey, I am going to comment as I watch, starting with the title. The problem with Aikido (AKD), there's nothing wrong with AKD, the problem is with the practitioners who have zero combat skills as well as the teachers they've learned from. Not effective for Rokas because of what I just mentioned, but effective for the Brotha of AKD Flow because of his everyday living, he has to be / get physical and he is probably studying the art for martial reasons unlike other who just want to be apart of something great and be able to say that are apart of it. Ueshiba could make it work so easy #1 because he had combat experience #2 no one new what he was going to do, nothing to do with size, just like the Gracies in the beginning, people didn't know what to expect. Look at Ueshiba's original students, they had a fighting background. Segal studied karate from a top fighter. So this AKD teacher asking you about your Taijiquan, because Taijiquan and Bagua Zhang have it. Yes Ueshiba was influenced by Taijiquan principles as well as the physical aspects of Bagua Zhang as stated by Bruce Frantzis. Because of my background in the practical Chinese Boxing-Grappling arts TJQ, BGZ, Shuai Jiao I am able to see how AKD could work. So the problem with AKD is that it has people practicing that have no idea what they are doing as a martial art. One other thing people don't understand is the difference between self defense and fighting how they are separate and/or help each other. Peace
I lived in Nashville for many years and trained in a couple Aikido dojo’s. Maybe we trained together. But they were more central locations not north. I totally respect what you say here. I’ve always thought of Aikido as a tool but not the only one.
That's a good way to look at it. It's not a stand alone art, Aikido is just one asset in the toolbox. It's great as a way to understand certain principles that are applied in other more combat orientated styles. It's also a reflection or expression of the founder's spiritual and philosophical beliefs. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
Great video with good information. I'm a retired Veteran that is seeking to re-center myself through various practices to strengthen my mind, body, and spirit. Not sure if it is through a stroke of luck or providence that I've found your channel, but the insight here is enlightening.
How ever you look at it. As in any style. It’s really up to the practitioner. The reason why I started studying Aikido, is it’s none violent concept. I’ve trained in 3 other very violent martial arts. In all of them my focus is to hurt you bad. So bad even with one punch. Not for sport fighting. But in the street attacked by one or more. My art is not something to play with. I don’t want to be on the other side of my attack. But I had to look at that very deeply. Was that really what my Art is about to destroy another person. No not really. So I sought out Aikido. And fell in love with it. There is much to Aikido that must be understood. It’s a very dangerous art. And it really does take time, training, and constant expanding on the basics. We train slow and soft in the beginning. Less injuries and more actual learning. It takes time to learn something properly. But what I love the best about Aikido is. How simple it really is. Just as simple of moving out of the way of your attacker. And redirecting him into a wall. I always tell people that,with Aikido I can defend myself without even touching you. Or you touching me. That is true Aikido.
O’Sensei said 90% Aikido is atemi. The secret is to use striking to distract opponents to perform the techniques. Next is kuzushi. By breaking balance you distract opponents to make their body loosen. If they hold their arm strong they will fall harder, if they loose their arms that is the chance for you to break it. Quin na techniques in Aikido are the most useful. As you train as black belt you will know how to break balance and change techniques to other techniques.
Aikido lost its purpose. The founder was jiu-jitsu and judo expert and soldier. He knew his stuff. When aging he was looking for something that gave him peace and go with spirituality, flow, meditation, Prevent the conflict and contact as much as possible, get rid of anger and embrace forgiveness. Now Segal and many teachers try to sell it like an aggressive or combat martial art like jiu-jitsu. And people take classes with the wrong expectations
From speaking with people, and reading Ueshiba's own teaching, there is a point where the skills are integrated and then the real learning begins. People who are wanting the "martial" part of martial arts are quickly disappointed at aikido because of its patient approach to teaching flow and nonviolence. Towards the end of his life, and having witnessed the limitations of the militarism of Imperial Japan, Ueshiba recognised the essence of peace in what he had been teaching. Rather than losing aikido's purpose, the "ai" part of aikido matched up with the "ki".
I would not want to use my Aikido in an Octagon against a trained fighter, but I am pretty sure most people, whatever art they train, aren't ready for that. Aikido techniques do "work", and if you put them on fast and hard, they can be brutal. We don't train that way, because as you correctly noted, we aren't douches.
I work in a federal prision where you cant hurt inmates. I tell you that it works. At least for me. Aikido helped my life in many ways. And yes theres always the doubt about if its usefull. Even after years of practice.
I have a similar testimony, I work in the public school sector, specifically with special needs students, where we definitely can't harm or hurt. When we take Crisis Prevention classes, the disengagement holds we learn are basically derived from aikido and jujutsu joint manipulation. I was pleasantly surprised to see they did stuff I learned at my dojo!
Same here, I worked with the special needs community, and took crisis prevention. You need to be able to protect yourself AND the client who is behaving aggressively. Aikido is amazing for that. I believe it's taught wrong. Instructers keep stopping you when "you're using muscle". You need to learn how to muscle through the grapples and throws FIRST, and then use less and less effort as your technique becomes more efficient. You can't start out softly, you need to grow into it. And you DEFINITELY can't learn to be soft AND martially effective, if it's the only thing you train in. Akidio should be your second martial art, after learning something else. Collegiate wrestling, Judo, preferably something with grappling in it.
Yep. they taught us that inmates are guilty and if they attack, they will kill you. They taught us Aikido because it works, and no one cares if you break a joint on a convict trying to kill you.
Strength has little to do with grappling arts if the techniques are taught and learned properly. Aikido is an art that redirects an opponent's attacks against them.
Yes and no. Strength does matter. However skill can sometimes defeat strength against an inferior opponent. I would also point out that someone with internal structure can usually easily defend against joint locks. It’s incredibly easy for me to simply use unbendable arm( peng in taijiquan) and not really worry about any type of arm lock.
@@oldtyger The things that make the concept of strength possible, are the things that Aikido used properly, disrupts or redirects. You can be very strong but if that force is used without proper technique, it's not always effective.
Aikido is like a lifestyle it extends outside of the martial arts, into our interpersonal skills and how we handle business. I can see how Tai Chi is parallel to the philosophy China being an ancient and wide spread country has had a major influence over Asia over philosophy and art. Tai chi is cool because unlike aikido it doesn’t even refer to itself as a “martial” art, but simply as a way of moving about the world through harmony. In a way aikido is tai chi disguising itself as a martial art….
Aikido if used correctly does work you must use atemi (strikes) which was how it was originally designed. You do not see that alot in most dojo's today unfortunately.
Having taught in a school owned by someone else and starting my own, I will tell you that there is always going to be a gap of skill and effectiveness between instructor and student. Especially if said school is a full time every day environment. Most students come to class 1-3 times a week for an hour or so. Instructors on the other hand are there every day, usually all day. There's where the gap begins. In teaching you start to understand more depth of your art, the more classes you teach, the more students you teach the further this understanding goes. The gap widens. So of course your experience is that the instructor is amazing and the students not so much by contrast.
First time seeing your channel, I think? Always interested in seeing or hearing why people don't care for Aikido. Been training Aikido for around 15 years now. Before I trained other arts including Kali, MMA, and BJJ to name a few. I will not disagree with your assessment, being that it is your view of the art. I have, myself, had a few Tai Chi people come to me in the same way you describe the Aikidoist going to you and your instructor. I agree there are many issues with common Aikido which I call Fluffy Bunny Aikido. I have found, for me, the solution to most of them and I am always willing to share what I have learned in the last 42 or so years of my over all martial arts training. Although my channel is not based on martial arts I to put some up there. I know, for me, my Aikido is effective and useful in real life spent many years in the cage and on the street along with the work I did back then allowed me ample time and experience to test out my skills. I, in many ways, enjoy the view most have with Aikido. It allows for those of us who feel it is truly effective an opportunity to allow others to mis judge and over look the Aikidoist. I don't see myself as a big guy. in fact I am a fat, old bald guy I have little in way of speed and strength, and because of this I have been able to find how to use movement and my opponent's skills or lack of against them. Aikido is a part of a well balanced skill set that I can call upon at any time.
Don't know why people complain about Aikido. Half the time Morei Ueshiba Sensei was busy making GIGANTIC PEACE SIGNS. His aim was unity and harmony among people, so his art reflects that.
That's completely true. Ueshiba developed Aikido to express his spiritual and philosophical beliefs. He had done a lot of fighting before that - including fighting on the front lines of a war. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
When I was in my teens in the 1980s, I took Kenpo Karate lessons and learned that after you mastered about 10 techniques, you took a test and were awarded the next belt. What I did get out of it was fitness because of all the necessary push-ups and sit-ups that the Sense required. But I walked away from a fight, not because that was what I was supposed to do before anything else, but because I got scared. Much later in life, I became a big meat-head bodybuilder. I wanted to get cut. I used to do that by playing basketball consistently. However, my gym has two sides, weightlifting and boxing. I decided to start hitting the bags on the boxing side to get cut. The boxing guys took notice and started correcting my mistakes and teaching me. I ended up falling in love with boxing. Now I was both muscular and lean. Finally, I got put into a situation where I caught a kid bullying my son and told the kid I needed to speak with his father. When the kid’s father showed up, he was livid. This time, I didn’t have fear and I didn’t walk away. I floored the guy. I believe it that a lot of martial arts schools don’t truly teach what you need for self defense.
Self defence, many doesn't understand, anger is your opponents advantage, the discipline in all you, never let you, and even at the time of anger it'll control and shout the anger out, and flow the self defence in so many ways.
I studied Aikido for three years and left it to study traditional karate. The biggest issue I saw with a keto is everything is taught choreographed so distance and timing was lacking when faced with an opponent that is not part of the choreography. After I receive my second degree black belt in Shotokan I started to learn t'ai Chi. I started with a health and wellness instructor but later found one who taught the Marshall applications. I believe the more Marshall taichi is what Aikido wants to be. But even in Tai Chi the issue of distance and timing of spontaneous movement became an issue. My instructor introduced a free sparring component to taichi that I've taken and increased dramatically. As a result the distance and timing issues are no longer present and taichi has become a very formidable martial art for self-defense. Aikido has its moments and some of the best brake fall and roll techniques I've ever learned are from there. I sincerely believe that for it to be effective and needs to be subsidized with something else. For those of you that think MMA is the end-all-be-all, I would urge you to consider there is more to martial arts the knowing how to drop somebody on the ground and repeatedly strike them in a vulnerable state. The traditional Arts including Aikido provide that other side.
O'Sensei used to say aikido is made of atemi waza (strikes) for 80%. In dojo's we only study the resting 20% part of aikido : throws and locks techniques, in order to follow the Aikikai rank system.
While it's true that O'sensei said this, he also changed his opinion of teaching atemi for aikido. In my opinion, his consciousness developed so much that for his level, atemi was completely not needed for the purpose of achieving the state of aikido with any random striker. For the rest of us of who have yet to reach that level of consciousness, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use atemi strikes. You use atemi skills for the purposes of causing kuzushi; to create a rhythm with the attacker that you can harmonise efficiently as opposed to harmonising to a rhythm directly controlled by the attacker; to create openings for you to exploit.
I feel like I'm not going to be disappointed to find the "my aikido is harder then others and it works" comments and the " o sensei was the greatest". Please feel free to try convince me you're right. I mylsef am a black belt in aikido so I've heard it all 😀
I learned aikido in France (late 70's, early 80's). There were 2 major schools. One led by some 'expert in harmony' and he didn't find the teachings of Tamura (European representative & direct student of the founder Ueshiba) reflecting the 'spirit' of aikido. The lead instructor in my school was one of the favorite uke of Tamura. Tamura called him little dragon. Yeah, he was little (nearly 10 inches shorter than me). But he could send me (5'10" & 180lbs) across the mat. When I first entered his 'advanced' class, he shocked me. His Irimi nage made me fly 4ft high and at least 10ft away. So yeah, different schools, different philosophy. He used to repeat that Aikido was self attack. You learn to give the openings you use. He was also a 2nd deg. Karate for a 3rd Aikido. While some schools gave you a black belt in a year, in mine it took 4-5 years for black.
That was actually very useful. I'm a long time practitioner of striking styles like Shotokan and many Kungfu styles that strike in ways that probably make Western boxers blush, but I never considered internal martial arts as something I would *solely* rely on during a street fight. Naturally, as a Karateka (and later Kungfu user) I go for surprise and striking, but the problem in the real world is that striking (with arts as powerful as Kungfu and Karate) also lead to a lawsuit and looking like the bad guy. In order to avoid that, as a Kungfu lover, I decided to learn more about my Taichi and see if I could take down someone using it (perhaps mixing uke techniques from Karate and captures from Tanglangquan and evasive movements of Bagua, all without striking). As a matter of fact, my personal "MMA" based on Kungfu and Karate lead me to understand more how much Taichi may be used in a street fight, filling the gaps of my confidence with styles I already know. Aikido has honestly always been a mystery to me, and at risk of making some people angry, I don't believe most of it is actually useful due to the ideal conditions in the opponent's attacks for Aikido to actually be employed. For example, we see great demonstrations with Aikido used against a full jab, a gyaku tsuki, a single kick, a "grab the wrist", but these attacks aren't really what you see in an actual fight. Just look at any boxer and you'll see how hard it would be for Aikido to intercept any attack and reverse it, getting the upper hand and stopping the opponent. Chances are, the opponent will throw a lot of fake punches and then go for a massive one that we will have more trouble to prepare against, making something as complicated as Aikido thinking a difficult weapon to employ, whereas, say, a Karate uke technique or Piquaquan or Tanglangquan captures would definitely get the job done better and faster, and even let the torso draw back and assure the opponent's got a lesser percent of landing a hit. Personally, I'm starting to understand why there is such a thing as "Taichi Mantis", as these two arts seem to be working in tandem very well. That's my take on things. It will likely differ from everyone else's, especially newcomers in the world of martial arts. After 35 years studying them, this is probably the result of my understanding. Striking arts... they would be perfect if you didn't risk a lawsuit or killing your opponent. Southern Mantis, Shotokan, Bajiquan, Drunken fist (the real one, not Jackie Chan), Bai Mei, Kyokushin, Taekkyon, Taekwondo, even Capoeira and Taido. These would let you beat up anyone, but you'll likely get a criminal record even if you are the offended party and didn't start the fight and had no intention of every fighting anyone. My advice for those who want to learn how to dispose of an enemy without running into obnoxious legal trouble: Taichi (and a strong foundation in Tanglangquan (not Northern.. too acrobatic, not Southern.. strikes too hard). I hope this was useful to someone. You're welcome to disagree, and in which case I'd love to hear your opinion (unless you're gonna say 'Krav Maga' XD).
I have used it, when multiple folks - my sons friends- tried to tackle me outa fun. I have trained in two other styles, but it was VERY effective. And fun!!!
Prince do a review on this guy's aikido! He is an instructor under Seagal and clearly one of the few that represents the martial side of aikido today!!
@@KenpoKid77 - i think the 150.000 followers of this channel are fine with what they can get here, to think about it. Rokas' channel will not bring them any better insights, since Rokas has nothing interesting to offer. you're welcome :-)
I think Endo Ryokyu is teaching this "missing part" of Aikido. On one youtube video with him you can literary see how he threw out of balance a person with slight touch. Ryokyu learned Aikido, and he is also a buddhist monk and creator of Tao Shiatsu. Check him out. I tried a few of techniques demonstrated by him and I can honestly tell that it made a big difference in my understanding of soft martial arts and Aiki, power of love energy.
I think I have to agree with you, my father practiced Aikido but he was in the British S.A.S so he learned ' combat Aikido ' which is not something that is taught to ' Civilians '. And I have also come across the same phenomenon that you have, there are some martial arts schools that don't teach Combat/Self Defense applications until students have reached blackbelt level skills.
My friend, thanks for the video! I have zero martial arts background, but as a professional musician for almost 40 years, I can tell you that I have much more ability and musical insight in my particular field than I did back in the late 80's and early 90's. The reason I am saying this is you have to give whatever you do plenty of time and commitment before you can fully judge it. All the best!
When I was learning karate long ago, I had a clinic with sensei Tsuroaka (Canada) , a high level master. We were from beginner to black belt students. No black belt could touch him, he used many dodging and moved like a cat. His strikes were fast like lightning. His art was beyong karate. He borrowed from other martial arts. Once, he stopped a black belt attack with a kiai, as if the balck belt hit a wall.
As a young adult, I joined a self defense organization whose sensei was trained in daito ryu aikijujutsu. This was in 1989 and along with other members we were learning aikijujutsu, judo, and bjj. Sensei called it aikido because it resembled lots of what people had seen on Steven Seagal’s first movie , but we later learned it was really an aikido basics foundation with added material that works on the streets. Sensei was an mma fighter and taught us that aikido was for your friends and family like when uncle Joe was drunk but you don’t want to bust his nose or break his arm. The rest of the material was meant for the streets if you were approached by unavoidable trouble but he constantly stressed - run first, but if not possible then try not to hurt the guy too bad. I see aikido as a lifestyle but also with aspects of it that can be included into a fighter’s repertoire for self defense applications.
Thanks for the interesting content. You said about the instructor "he was a really big guy, of course". Why of course? Also I think you are mistaken about the name of Rokas channel. It was something like Martial Arts Journey, not Odyssey. Looking forward to more videos.
You and my first Aikido sensei are absolutely correct. You must learn many fighting techniques and integrate them as the situation arises. And yes: size ,strength, endurance and fitness are as important as technique. Back in the early 1970s I studied Aikido from a lieutenant in the Thai army. He was a martial arts instructor in the Thai Military Academy. He was also skilled in Judo and Karate but especially so in Muay Thai. Prior to meeting him I studied Judo. He told me that to be proficient in defending oneself, one must learn as many fighting skills as possible. So under his instructions, I also learned some techniques in Muay Thai and Karate. I was fairly good in fighting which was more or less akin to the MMA style of fighting but a felt it would good to learn the martial arts to be better at fighting to protect myself. That is why I decided to learn Judo and Aikido. As a result, I was able to see some of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the "pure" martial arts I studied. I also studied Aikido from someone who studied Aikido in Japan with Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the son of Morihei Ueshiba.
As a UK resident, I studied Aikido for a time, and I can 100% say that the style I learned was effective in disabling someone in a grappling situation. The main problem I've seen are the displays of people flipping and falling as if struck by some mighty blow from a waving hand. That's mostly bollocks. What we learned was how to twist a limb, where to apply pressure and how to knock off balance to take people down and hold them in place. It's a displacement of the centre of gravity using minimal force and pressure points, or at least that's what we were being taught, along with the flow of ki. We even did some Tai Chi at times to help in that flowing mentality. All in all, it's a defensive martial art for folks who don't have the strength to use strikes effectively, and as you mentioned, came in handy a few times whilst working in nightclubs. I'm skinny as all hell, but brought a few people down to their knee with one handed limb manipulation.
IN THE DOJO you neutralize your uke without causing them any harm and vice versa because that's dojo etiquette but in the real world you'd be surprised at how affective aikido can be. You make it your own by adapting to any the given situation. This is 25 years of training talking. Yes I've cross trained, jiu jitsu & wing chun but remember aikido teaches you extension, flowing movement and maintaining your center. The training consists of jia waza (multiple attack responses) and not just static movement but kino nagare. There is NOTHING soft or gentle about it. Even a proper extended block is a strike and redirected properly can floor your opponent. Take nikyo for instance. Some moron grabs one of your shoulders to hold you and try to punch you with their other fist, your reflexes after years of training are faster than you think. You grab the offending hand on your shoulder to perform nikyo. Automatically you step in, turning your hip in with your elbow up and automatically strike them in the face with your elbow, crunch them with nikyo automatically dropping your weight. They will have a broken jaw, wrist and no doubt a fractured forearm and/or elbow . . . . . all in the space of a second. All you have to do is expand your perspective and having the right sensei also helps.
@@pietpoloni1741- Yes size doesn't matter and sometimes grading. We had a 3rd Dan from another dojo come to training, 6'4" and as solid like a brick shithouse. My girlfriend, 2nd Dan (of Chinese descent, I mention this as her father and many Asian men are misogynists) is 5'5". He grabs her arm by her gi and says "let's see what you've got girly". We ALL know her very well, very sweet except when pissed off (Scorpio and Year of the Tiger if you're into that like of thing) and we knew what was coming. It wasn't a pleasant experience for him. He wasn't injured just bruised slightly (ego and a number of body parts). He NEVER did that again. She later told me she didn't know what came over her. Not proper etiquette I know but, he behaved like a DICK!
Steven seagal does his own variant of aikido its more aggressive haven't you seen his movies he likes breaking things but would it work on the street I dunno
If you just want to do judo... do judo... if you just want to do aikido... do aikido. Why does he make it sound like... if you just want to do aikido just do judo?! He’s doing Tai Chi! He doesn’t know anything about judo or aikido.
@@danielpenrod9478 If you listen to Jigoro Kano about how judo and aikido relates, he says that "aikido was his ideal form of budo". He also commented that "judo was the judo of 90 degrees while aikido was the judo of 180 degrees". What Kano was saying is that judo and aikido were so closely related in their foundational meaning that they were different forms of the same foundation - the foundation of using your own soft energy to control the big strength of your opposition. How I like to distinguish between the two art forms is that judo is the gentle art of clinch distancing while aikido is the gentle art of melee weapon distancing: long distance judo.
Having to use it to defend myself Aikido certainly stopped the attack. It ended with one broken arm and torn muscles to the guys who tried to beat the heck out of me for using the library. Less than a few seconds their attack was over and they got the hell away from me. I came to realize that the reason why ikido is not a sport is that every move you make is geared to cause your attacker some severe damage of one sort or another. That's when it proved itself to me at any rate. Although it does have to be augmented and I, I also found out that it improved my balance that was very useful in karate and everyday. That's just what happened in my experience It's something that happened to me even if it may be one in a a googleplex but those are my feelings about subject. I do know that I will take flak for this statement, it's just my experience..
Also, people talk about Gozo Shioda's fighting prowess. Bear in mind that Shioda studied Aikijujutsu under O Sensei BEFORE Uyeshiba became a pacifist; in those days, serious injuries at the dojo were common and it was called "Hell Dojo". Shioda is quoted as saying that "Aikido is 80% striking" and, in his first book, his footwork looks curiously like that of Hsing-Yi Chuan.
What I was taught; Aikido is a journey, a beautiful and peaceful way to connect both mind and spirit with your body, you will never reach your destination, it´s all about enjoying the ride. In a sense, Aikido is to martial arts equivalent to ballet as a dancing option, you won´t make a good dance partner but you will be graceful.
I just have to say...I'm a black belt in Korean Taekwondo and spared with a guy who was taught Aikido....he did a series of attacks in one move and I blocked all of his attacks and he backed up surprised....I did a series of attacks and caught him with a blow.....he came at me again and attacked and I countered and caught him in the mouth with a kick and split his lip. He wiped the blood off and told me "you ain't gonna get another hit".....from that moment he turned it up and mopped the floor w my ass...could of broke bones....his kicks were killer cause he used his shins....I was soar for a week....lol
Thank you for this enlightening and honest video. I trained in aikido for four years, and was left with a sense that most of the training had a flavor of fakeness. It always disturbed me that most of the techniques don't really work unless the 'uke' cooperates. So, whenever a new student would show up who didn't know how to cooperate, it would be next to impossible to throw that student to the ground. Most of the time, the senior students would try to explain to the beginner that if they don't instinctively throw themselves to the floor, the 'nage' could punch them in the chest or the crotch, so that's why they need to cooperate. But I always found this rather lame. Even once watching a master throwing his advanced disciples around, I realized that the attacks were always half-hearted. The 'uke' knows he/she is about to get thrown, and isn't really trying to hurt or neutralize the 'nage'. They are just cooperating with a forgone conclusion. I would love to see 'real Aikido' someday.
This cleared up a lot of personal confusion for me about the alleged effectiveness of Aikido. It works! But only if you ACTUALLY learn it. Thank you for this, good sir.
In my youth I was among two circles of friends that practiced martial arts as a group. The first group were on the poor side of the tracks so they could not afford to go to a formal dojo and practiced street fighting. The second group about half were in formal dojos, primarily Taekwondo. I was self taught in Aikido and Judo. We all traded off training one another of what we learned and would spar one another. The main difference being no one else was studying Aikido, and I was adjusting it specifically for actual sparing against mix martial arts. Many years later in hind sight I come to understand that ultimately I was practicing Hapkido without realizing it. There in is the main difference, they do not actually spar.
The Problem is Western people think Aikido is a complete martial art itself while Japanese said it just a tiny part of our martial art which you have to understand our concept before sign up for it. Mostly martial art guys looking for violence but Morihei sensei he's pure like a monk, so you have to understand his state of mind.
Eastern people don't question the group or tradition and martial arts to them is a lifestyle. Western people are individualistic and martial arts to them means combat so when it comes to martial arts being useful we say prove it. I think the Western idea of only using what is practical in combat is superior but I do really respect the traditional aspects of martial arts as well.
@@manticore4952 What i found out recently is Japanese focus on how you practice not how you succeed , it's like you sharpen your knife. There is no such thing like succeed. For Aikido i'm sure he invent it for benefit of mental health. I mean if you train it for years and still think about fighting, you better sign up for MMA. Aikido Guys will be the first one who walk away from the scene.
I’ve known fellow Budoka who left Aikido to train in Aikijutsu. Their reason was that in there years of Aikido practice, they came to realize that Aikido generally was ineffective in a real-world, life-ending confrontation on the street. The entire philosophy of “Do” vs. “Jitsu” is very different.
Ah, aikijutsu, Hapkido is aikijutsu! Interesting history, Korean slave during ww2 learned aikijutsu in Japan, then used the name Hapkido when he returned to Korea and began teaching. Of course the art was influenced by Korean martial arts with more kicks as I understand it.
@@kennethrogers1129 Hapkido is Aikido. It is the same word but only differently pronounced. Just like 'Nippon' is pronounced 'Ilbon' in Korean, and 'Hankook' is pronounced 'Kangoku' in Japanese.
@@kennethrogers1129 What people know as Hapkido is a martial art started by Yongsul Choi. He didn't use the name 'hapkido'. Instead, he named it 'hap ki yu kwon sul'. After his death, his students started to used the name 'hapkido' when real hapkido (aikido) was not introduced in Korea. Obviously, they stole the name.
I practiced Judo for over 45 years. There was an Aikido school that practiced on our mats after the Judo classes. I was young, like 10 years old in 1969 but I asked my Sensei about Aikido in terms of effectiveness in real life. He said, it's not about real-life situations or fighting. He said Aikido was very much an old mans martial art used to maintain physical health as you age. He said, you don't want to get thrown around or punched/kicked when you are old. He also told me the Japanese police force uses some sweeps from Aikido in their training that are very effective. What it came down to was, my sensei respected Aikido for what it was. He didn't look at it from a fighting standpoint or Judo either for that matter. To him, it was not about fighting, it was about life...Budo. And what ever style you used to live that life was effective in his eyes... I think today it's more about who can beat up who, what style is better for fighting. It's not about Budo anymore... Even Rickson Gracie said, in Brazil there is no budo, there is no respect, no admiration. It's about who can beat who and what style did they use to do it. I think that is the mentality today...
Yeah,they are lost...
That’s why I said is sad how this discipline is taken so wrong, unfortunately most of us people, instead of learning a discipline to lead us to a better human being, turned it on a tool to hurt an call it sport. Martial Art is a discipline what makes a strong person not just physically but mentally in a high sense of respect each other.
Su maestro tenía su opinión...con el Aikido uno aprendre a ser màs racional...
Yes and yet people wonder why we masters want to keep our secrets hidden.
" To him, it was not about fighting, it was about life.."
That seems congruent with what Kid Peligro wrote in The Gracie Way. The older masters of Japanese Jujitsu did their katas because it gave them spiritual fulfillment, so it did not matter if it was actually combat effective.
If you want to fight in MMA - forget aikido and do BJJ and a striking art like boxing or karate. If you want to stay healthy both mentally and physically and improve your personal relationship skills - do aikido, it is excellent. (It is not that there is any "secret teachings" after shodan.. it is just that students don't really start to develop higher level aikido skills until they have practiced enough to develop the abilities.)
You are so correct - 100%.
In regard to the secrets we teach students after they attain Shodan - I can share here now...but keep to just the two of us.
The secret is...........
Keep training, you've just started learning.
My sensei in go ju karate always used to tell me that you only started your real journey in the martial arts when you reached black belt and the only secret was practice and more practice. Oh and always train with a higher grade when you go on training courses.cheers.
@@truthseeker6116 "When you are a White Belt, you know nothing. When you are a Black Belt, you know you know nothing."
@@sketchybuilder lol so true !
@@sketchybuilder Ohh, that sounds so nice and so deep. It sounds like those proverbs from the Shaolin school.
The truth is that an MMA fighter does not need any "qui", "chi", "peng", or proverbs for children. With six intensive months can go to an Aikido school and embarrass your teachers.
That's the truth, the rest are words. Pretty, but nothing but words.
Interesting video, well thought, but still missing a few points.
1. When O-sensei developed the Aikido he took martial arts techniques and turned them into "the art of peace" If you read his short book (recommended), you will discover that he was not interested in developing a martial art to win fights. He himself claimed winning was not important and not the purpose. He, as a superb martial artist himself, wanted to develop something that was based on martial arts principles but was beyond martial art.
2. Those who use Aikido and turn it back to be martial, are actually going back to the pre-Aikido techniques. Very effective martially, but fighting mind is against what o-Sensei wanted for Aikido practitioners.
3. There are no 'secrets' to Aikido. If you go and speak with the top Aikido-ka, they will show you everything they do, just like o-sensei. The fact that students learn different techniques to what the masters are using is not because of secrets, it is more to do with the Japanese approach to teaching. You have to master the basics that when you perform the art you have no technique. This is true to Karate, Judo and others as well. In all these arts a black belt is someone who has learned the techniques and is now ready to practice the art. Just like finishing to learn the basic of drawing, lines, circles, perspective, before you can become an accomplished classical painter.
4. If fighting is what you are interested in, probably Aikido is not the best place to start. Learn to fight, get it out of your system, and then when you reach a stage that winning a fight is not important, you can move to Aikido and reap its benefit.
5. If winning fights is not your goal, Aikido is a superb art. It develops coordination, agility, flow, it teaches you to fall, it teaches you to deal with other people and learn to feel them and their intentions; it teaches you to control your own mind. And in the end, this is an excellent system of training and self development.
6. A word of warning. Because there are no winners or losers in Aikido fights, it is often hard to judge who really understands Aikido, who fakes it, and who lies to themselves and believe they understand it. This is not a problem in Judo for instance, as you know that the winner of a fight is better than the loser. This means that you have to be careful when choosing your teacher, because as many great teachers you may find, there are many horrible Aikido teachers that really do not understand the art.
Great points.
@@Mr.McCallum I used to practice Aikido, in addition to my karate. I loved it and got a lot of benefit, even if it is not beating people on the street
@@ranfuchs3592 I have been practicing for 10 years. Our instructor teaches a more aggressive approach incorporating striking etc. It makes all the difference.
Indeed..but o' sensei himself learned it from sokaku takeda, the aggressive form of daito ryu aikijujutsu which includes strikes and etc. that used by the samurai in the feudal times ,it is a complete form of martial arts from empty handed and use of weapons(katana, bow and arrow, etc.)
@@bahadaboys04 osensei started as a martial artist, then he developed Aikido as the art of peace. He himself was a great fighter, not dobut, but he wanted something which is more than fighting, more important than fighting, byond fighting. For him Aikido was the spiritual part of the martial art. That was his mission. THere is nothing bad about fighting arts. But it was not Osensei's Aikdo. Do you think that a martial artist hiself he simply 'forgot' about including attacks or competitions?
Thanks for discussing this without being antagonistic. I have 20 years in multiple martial arts, but only a year or so of that in Aikido. I had my son in Aikido for 2-3 years, until Covid. He's 10 now. I didn't feel that learning kicking and punching was the right option for his age group and I don't have the highest opinion certain of those arts that specialize in teaching kids. I do know that the tumbling and falling skills you learn in Aikido can save your life. I've fallen off a ladder and gone head first over the handlebars of a bike and those skills have allowed me to come back up without injury. Given my background, practical, effective, self defense, is important to me. I work with my son by throwing half speed punches and even knees and kicks at him in quick succession. His parrying skills are really good and he can effect my balance doing so. Getting offline, avoiding being hit, controlling your opponents center are all vital skills that Aikido teaches. I personally feel that the development of these skills is lacking in many of the chain dojos that accent sparring etc. I feel pretty confident that if anyone tried to lay a hand on my son, they would have trouble doing so. I mostly credit Aikido with this.
I agree. I would never let my kids join a typical martial arts group. Only Aikido. Unfortunately, where I lived we didn't have a dojo that catered for kids. I think its a great foundation for them.
I agree,i hev my daughter shodan (1degree blacbelt) in aikido,now im confident with her
@@joekool5005 Waste of time.
Damn, I learned Aikido for like 4 years (while I was a student) and it DID save me from serious injury also - I had an accident and I suddenly fell - if hadn't had at that time the years of practice of heavy falling from Aikido things would've gotten really ugly for me. But thanks to my developed instinct to protect from falling I get away with only a light injury (pain in the wrist - they took all the fall but safed my face).
So, over all - i had positive experience of Aikido, I like it's phylosophy of life and it can teach you some usefull things in life.
There are at least two misconceptions about Japanese martial arts in general here: 'secret teachings' and the interpretation of a black belt as a sign of 'passing through all the curriculum' of a martial art. Most of martial arts and styles in Japan simply don't have 'secret teachings', including Aikidō. And the black belt isn't the point where the student learned all or most of the art, but where he or she will start learning it. From white belt through all the colours and up to the black belt, most of teachings were about techniques, not art. Most of the subtleties, tactics, strategies, etc. are taught to black belts. This is what makes the difference between the students mentioned in this video and highly graduated masters like Ueshiba or Seagal and may have been misinterpreted as 'secret teachings'.
Also, never judge a martial art by a so small sample as a single class in only one dojo.
Daito-ryu aiki jujutsu actually did have secret teachings that were only taught to the high level students. Historically speaking, many Japanese martial arts had teachings for the public and also secret teachings for master-grade students. This has changed in the more modern times with Japanese arts doing away with secret teachings (either not teaching them at all or teaching them openly).
@@FreeSalesTips So you basically just said the same thing he did...the modernized gendai budo arts (which would include aikido, karatedo, judo, kendo, iaido, etc.) are more open in their teaching and acceptance of students than the koryu arts like Daito-Ryu.
I think that the idea to give colored belt to promote the students has been the worst idea in the martial arts...
@@Flejta nah giving people black belts when they aren't even good or ready. A 4-7 year old with black belt.. yea really funny! McDojo!
Here are the only two secrets in the Martial Arts, any style, any country. 1) A well informed and EXPERIENCED Sensei with a love of the art and the ability to teach. 2} B+S+T+T Blood, Sweat, Tears, Training always. You are welcome.
I studied one style of Aikido many years ago when I was a uni student. And from what I've seen, the various students of O-Sensei started their own schools with VERY different takes on Aikido. What I studied was heavily invested in ki development. I'm about to go back to training, along with my daughter, at a school that teaches Aikido more as a sport - closer to Judo.
My first teacher was a very small Japanese man, and he was everything I'd wanted in a martial arts teacher. I'd been wanting to learn a martial art but definitely wanted a Mr Myagi and not a Kobra Kai school.
Although I only ever achieved 6th Kyu before my teacher had to return to Japan to look after his dad, I found that those who had worked hard and developed skills in Aikido felt .. more solid (it's difficult to describe), regardless of whether they were big or small, heavyset or slight. If they planted themselves, they were very difficult to move. Their wrists felt like solid stone.
When you get a technique right, it feels .. very 'right'. Like it requires almost no energy and you could keep on doing it all day.
I definitely think that it's not useful as a fighting art, as it's totally defensive by its nature. At my low level of proficiency I could see it being useful against belligerent drunks - useful as I was doing bar work through university. But you'd need to be VERY proficient before it'd be useful for defending yourself against a trained fighter - and still not effective against really fast styles of martial arts that don't give you much in the way of opponent momentum to work with.
But for gaining balance, coordination, fitness, along with calmness of mind and spirit - I found it to be just what I wanted.
Quick question I thought the actual full style involves breaking bones and joint dislocation so you can't really practice the full art?? Is that not true?? No cap I even think Segal said that as well 🤣 but that does hurt my argument but I swear I heard that elsewhere tho.
@@pietpoloni1741 So Akido doesn't work in competition but if you want to hurt someone bad it's still effective
@@pietpoloni1741 Because certain fighting forms are limited in competition and rules help Brazilian jujitsu extremely. Get kicked in the head, bit, eye gouged, nuts grabbed, throat hit in real life. Brazilian jujitsu is getting super generic so I wondered if aikido had suffered the same fate. Mauy Thai is still savage but the real tiger fighting/killing style I wanna see. A style that could kill tigers had to be that shiiiiiiii.....
@@pietpoloni1741 Well makes since via they used to teach karate and aikido in the army at certain levels. But its more about injuring your opponents vs scoring. And if you cant train to injure regularly it leaves certain peoples growth at a disadvantage if trying to franchise the aikido dojo tradition style art...etc. Kinda like knive fighting with spoons. But I honestly liked hard to kill and under seige. And I recall uncles getting drunk and practicing and eventually hurting each other proving it really works hilariously making the is Seagal fake argument start up every new major movie release. But his run in hard to kills beginning scene didn't age well at all at all at all lol
@@pietpoloni1741 There's a documentary on UA-cam about Mauy Thai and the original was apparently a man invented a fighting style to kill tigers that plagued or ruled the area. I did sum research & its true. My buddies dad is a famous fighter in Cambodia "Thouen" last name. And he said Mauy Thai is an adaptation of the tiger killing fighting style and explains the fighters attire of wrapping forearms and shins with rope not only to protect but harden. Maaaaan Jet kun do I feel is incomplete so its not fare the criticism it gets. If you read Lee's books MMA is JetkuDo really. Practical vs necessary. I think certain styles are more practical but I hate when people slander the style when fighting is 30% style/movement, 30% aim/target location, 30% mental awareness/capability, 10%strength
Here's a thought to add. In the journey of the development of aikido Master Ueshiba under went very physical training. Not just the physical training, he understood how to deal with that level of physicality. Do I believe that Master Ueshiba could do the things legitimately as in his vintage footage? Yes I do. The problem is people have tried to attain that level of mastery without repeating the same process that Ueshiba took to get there. They just tried to mimic his end result.
Very good insight.. he actually was military-trained, studied a more combative form of jujutsu, and was known for his physical strength. Aikido today has become very different, likely because Master Ueshiba was disappointed in WWII and adopted/transmitted a less combative art.
Because, they start with a different expectation. Sad
!.Quién no hace el camino ...no lo entederà
Unfortunately Japanese people are very very compliant and don’t want to stand out. If something is expected of them they will do it therefore telling if something really works by watching a teacher and students is very difficult.
If you had the superhuman skills that are necessary to make aikido work in a real-life fight, you'd be able to beat your opponent without aikido.
It sounds like you have it all figured out 🤔
@@GoldenbellTraining Yes.
According to Roxas video, the original practitioners of aikido were already masters of other arta, including the founder himself. So maybe that's whats lacking among aikido practitioners.
That's true, the first aikido academy only took High level Judo guys to train, it would be like getting a degree first then going for a doctorate. you cant go doctorate first lol
In my experience and it is my personal view, I look at Aikido as a "meta" martial art with the core idea of Ai-Ki being applicable in any fighting situation. But the spirit of Aikido attempts to rise above mere physical altercations and tries to give a philosophical view to solving society's problems... yes it actually borders on the meta - physical too. In fact I have seen a video of Maruyama Sensei saying that Aikido is not a martial art but a way to approach life
Morihei Ueshiba was actually quite strong in his younger days. He had worked as a logger so he had tremendous arm strength, together with sharp technique.
Right seems like Aikido is a style that focuses on the foundations of martial arts. Center of gravity, 8 directions, heaven and earth, in and yo, etc. But you need to have something on the side at a high level to understand how to apply it within. I can vouche personally I practice Non Koryu Self defense take on Ju-Jjutsu and Aikido and it works really well.
Yeah that's true. In addition, Ueshiba himself had life experiences that added to his ability as a fighter. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
I practiced aikido for few years and what you’ve said is very accurate. On the negative side perhaps the most common mistake is when the uke (the one who is falling) goes to the floor with his one movement, therefore is a kind of choreography and not product of a technique applied. On the positive side I would say one phrase of one of my instructors:”get off the line of fire and attack the center” which makes sense to me.
I actually understood my aikido techniques better after i started training in Kung Fu, at the same time i was able to pick up the techniques that were similar to aikido techniques faster
Thanks for your thoughts 👍🏾
Yeah I had the same experience too, I picked up aikido faster!
Definitely. Aikido is like a gateway drug to solid martial arts skills
@@yakkerklrm3659 yea but a few bad fall and you think twice lol
I completely agree with this, a lot of the Ukemi are done to protect yourself from worse outcomes. Without some knowledge of a striking art, those possibilities aren't as obvious, and Aikido practitioners often don't know how to take advantage of those moments when the attacker doesn't respond in an "Aikido" way. My skills and understanding of the art also improved a lot when I started taking a striking art as well.
Good video. I studied Aikido for a few years and our Sensei spent a lot of time working on Ki principles much like your internal and external martial arts. I couldn't imagine practicing Aikido without it. There are many schools of Aikido just as there are in other martial arts and its true...it takes a very long time to become proficient. Its very complex and if you go just get a belt or learn how to beat someone up, you'll fail miserably. Occasionally we would get a new student who would join for the wrong reasons and would disappear after one or two lessons. Once you reach black belt you have just reached the beginning. People think its fake because or all the rolls and acrobatics. All that is essential otherwise there would be tons of injuries, dislocated joint, torn muscles and broken bones.
Steven Segal's aikido is called tenshin aikido. I like aikido, it's good exercise, I fell from my motorcycle a few times. It saved me. (That and the helmet lol)
He was taught by his japanese wife's father
I also did Aikido and i ride downhill mountain bikes and i also fell many times with minor injuries. I think it was from the constant falling and rolling in aikido training, but in real fighting with a skilled opponent aikido is impractical.
@@dockilat5576 due to the explanation in the video that aikido is not designed for that purpose
Same here. Hit a curb wrong on my bike and went over the handlebars. Instinctively tucked into a roll and came up fine
Me too flew off my bike at 40 mph did an aikido roll landed on my but a little sore for a week
I knew a guy that was a beast as a martial artist and he is an aikido black belt. The difference is that he knew capoeira, had a good experience with bjj and boxing as well. I just don't think aikido alone is enough.
In the early days of Morihei Ueshiba's teaching, he only accepted students that were considered "masters" of other arts. He eventually changed this policy to allow anybody of any skill background to study under him. I think it is possible to learn only aikido and nothing else for self-defense, but I think it is useful to have training in other arts for the purpose of expanding your consciousness. My advice: don't be training in the basics for multiple arts at the same time; you should focus to develop a certain level of mastery for a single art, and then move on to focus to develop certain level of mastery for another art. This is the model that Ueshiba initially required before teaching aikido. It is sensible to focus your effort on developing the specific fundamentals rather than diffusing your focus at the same time.
Exactly Aikido alone will not save you for sure in the streets. Nowadays you need to learn 2 to 3 solid foundation martial arts to really defend yourself. Personally doing Ju-Jitsu and Aikido is a good way of applying technique.
It is enough to be a good and strong human being, it is not enough in a cage fight except of you find a real master who can teach the real stuff, not like a regular fancy choregraphy.
Nothing activates your inner ressources better than having you life threaten for real, then the brain changes its way to operate and finds the best way out in a milisecond.
If what you want is to become a best destroyer, just buy the biggest gun you can get and you ll be the bad ass in town lol
@@FreeSalesTips I totally concur with you. You are correct about O-sensei's early student policy.
He said it,martial arts like aikido attract people who are generally against fighting...just as boxing,jiu-jitsu... attract "worst" people want to learn to fight better.
At the end of the day it’s all about the practitioner not the style. All styles have their gaps that need to be filled in. In any training in the beginning it’s about just learning the discipline. After all it’s called an art for a reason...
Yup, and just as there is no person without gaps to be filled in...the arts reflect their people.
True
BS there are good and bad ways of doing things. Like that Russian flapping martial art
Absolutely true.
Well, every Aidiko practitioner that I have ever seen step into the ring with a real fighter has gotten embarrassingly destroyed. So, where are all of the REAL practitioners hiding?
I like how his background image looks like the dojo from “The Matrix”
Right?
That's probably because it is
I was thinking the Japanese dojo from ip man
Aikido have a good techniques but i think that the form of practice these techniques is the first problem why the relashionship betwen uke and nage how develop the practice, make that in the future fall down the efectivity in real situacions . Is my simple thinking ! Congratulation for your video
Three decades of Aikido training Here. Very fair and well articulated video. Excellent insights.
Thanks for your thoughts 👍🏾
@Malhab he might have drawn inspiration. But in all fairness we know he actively did many different arts. If nothing of his background made it into aikido i'd be more worried.
Aside from all the factual mistakes, yeah.
In my experience the effective fighting styles are not elegant, whereas the elegant and graceful ones are not. Fighting is dirty.
All of Ueshiba's internals came from Daito Ryu. Most of the modern Aikido lacks these internals, which is why it's different now. The internals of I Liq Chuan are actually very similar, and I say that having trained with Ashe. There are a few videos of Roy Goldberg and Sam Chin that highlight this.
Thanks. Ashe speaks highly of your skill.
The internals are not there in the Aikikai lineage, they are there in many of the others like the Tohei lineage and Shioda lineage, O-Sensei taught them, but his son didn't learn or teach them... if you read the histories you'll see that most of the student ignored much of what O-Sensei taught. Tohei and O-Sensei both focused on ki and meditation and misyogi, this may be why only Tohei was awarded 10th dan. It's in the name ai=harmoney ki=energy do=way... the way of harmony with life energy (not just the way of harmony like the Aikikai school who tried to erase the ki from Aikido.)
I took aikido for 10 years..it very much felt like a class or study learning principle's vs combat.
We once had a master come in and he showed us all this offensive strikes that we should be incorporating into technique. It definitely felt like there were aikido secrets I did not have access too
That's really interesting. Especially in that you'd practiced Aikido for 10 years! I guess they'll always be things shown or brought to light that you'd never seen or heard of before. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
That's probably the stuff that came from Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu that got left out.
I think it is just mindset and doctrine. If a young master of aikido really want be effective in combat, like competitive/mma, he can train with mma ppl and test stuff. What I think he will come up with is he will use footwork to manage distance and quick punches, and use the hand control for clinch (grab opponent and manipulate/control him in some ways, eg, takedown). Which would be as effective as taekwondo, boxing etc for the standup/striking game. The ground game will need different training like BJJ/wrestling/sambo but the standup should be fine with proper testing and training.
Aikido is being laughed at because the traditional doctrine is just not effective in actual fight. Like many, they spar only internally among themselves with traditional doctrines, they dont know it is not effective in real fight. Real punches are fast, you cant grab the hands like in movies or internal aikido practice. Cant also block them that well like in wing chun movies. Footwork for distance management and evasion is a must.
@Sam Judo and Karate worked just fine.
@Sam hahaha me and my dad did it together aikido.. I stopped doing martial arts . But he does alot.of BJJ now! He has a blast. Might join him soon
It's a lot easier to understand Aikido when you see it as a weapon based art, just like Arnis, and Xingyiquan (or Hsing I quan, which is how it's spelt in different regions). It's a difficult art to master because you need to be soft in order to neutralise the opponent, but internally strong in order to anchor yourself to the ground. The fish won't get hooked if you jerk the line; gears can't shift smoothly if you don't get the speed and timing right.
This is the missing component that the teacher was saying to me.
Thanks for your thoughts 👍🏾
Many people are confused about aikido because they don't understand how weapons are connected in the aikido movements. People who study the old ways of the Japanese warrior can see the echos of weapons that aikido techniques are echoing. The historical background of aikido's movements becomes enlightening when you actually see that it was historically intended to deal with weapon strikes and induce openings and this leads you to use your own weapon to end the opponent's life.
@@FreeSalesTips actually aikido movements are the movements of the Katana and wristlocks.
According to the legend of Yue Fei, Yue based xingyiquan on spear techniques.
I know this is an old post, but let me tell you a story. I did Aikido for ten years. And I could never get the hang of it. At least, not where I was satisfied with it. Now, don't get me wrong, this was not a wasted effort on my part. It was like I could see the individual pieces that were being taught, but I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, bring them together. I kept trying though. I wanted to do Aikido. I wanted, more than anything, to be good at it.
Fast forward ten years later and COVID hits and Aikido closes. I've been doing martial arts since I was ten, so this was like losing my leg. I did not feel that my training was done.
Eventually, I went crazy and thought, "Hell I'm going to join this fencing school." Yeah... the whippy sword fencing. Okay, I didn't do that. I did do their HEMA (Historic European Martial Arts) class though.
A friend invites me to his Aikido school. At this point, I hadn't touched Aikido for a couple years, but I really missed it. So, I did a class.
What I did at that school was honestly the best Aikido I have ever done. The flow, the mentality, the distance, the timing. Everything I was determined to learn for ten years, suddenly all clicked. My movement was effortless. For the first time, I felt like I got it.
It was seriously the sword. While it wasn't a katana like a samurai would use, it was still a sword.
You can't understand the soft hand without the hard steel. The pieces will just not come together as they should. Likewise, you can't claim you're a peacemaker or a pacifist if you have no capacity to harm. Then, you're just useless. And this is the piece I feel is missing. Everyone wants to believe that if you just don't teach your students how to harm, they can be effective fighters and have this peacemaking stuff. And that's just not true. Aikido isn't about taking the harm out of fighting. It's about controlling it.
I gave your video a reverse roundhouse punch to the like button because I like the information that you shared. As a practitioner of Shotokan karate, and later a student of Richie Barathy's full-contact Karate and competed in the mid to late 1970's locally in my late teen years. And later stationed in Japan through the 1980s, I was interested in Aikido, but was drawn back to Shotokan. In recent years I have been studying Systema and find that it incorporates much of the Aikido philosophy. All in all, you hit the nail on the head. The "teacher" is the all-important convenience and influencer of the art/method. One is not separate from the other, so "good" vs "Hollywood" matters. Cheers
I started with ju jutsu for self defense, which also included techniques like karate, judo and aikido.
Then I started learning Aikido in a separate school. My sensei said, "When you have reached the dan level, you have learned the system and the technique. If you go further, you have to start learning the art and the spirit."
It was then that I realized that I could practice Aikido when skiing in the mountains, or riding on my horse's back, or just taking a walk. It has been very helpful for my personal development in life.
To be honest ... even the octagon isn't real life. 3 men with knives or a gun in a dark street can take you down, no matter what dan you have in which martial art.
So, would aikido save you in an altercation against three armed men?
@@lucasfortes7705 No, if things go bad, don't. ... but BJJ, KravMaga, MMA or whatever can't help you either.
Summary: Like everything depends on Who teach you and how you learn
I loved aikido and studied it for years. It helped me imensly with footwork and judo in the later stages.
It's easily adapted for self defence and it's roots were honed from war and conflict. It just takes a change in mindset and modified tools / mindset.
Very good point, aikido is like condiment for food, after you study aikido you can use it in everything and if you include it, everything is perfected, not only in judo, a lot but many train martial arts without understanding well, the words of ki, center etc. Now if you don't see the classic movement of aikido it's not aikido, but it's not like that, aiki is in any art when you've been exercising it for years, even a fighter when he enters in time and focuses using the power of the hips, I saw this in ufc in a Georges St-Pierre fight that he projected in such coordination that he didn't even touch the opponent with his hip, that's aiki, achieved in a fighting technique
Muy buen punto, el aikido es como el condimento de la comida, despues que estudias el aikido lo puedes emplear en todo y si lo incluyes todo se prefecciona, no solo en judo, mucho pero muchos entrenan artes marciales si comprender bien, las palabras de ki, centro etc. ahora si no ves el movimiento clasico del aikido no es aikido, pero no es asi, el aiki esta en cualquier arte cuando llevas años ejercitandolo, hasta un luchador cuando entra en tiempo y centrado usando el power de las caderas, esto lo vi en ufc en una pelea de Georges St-Pierre que proyecto en tal coordinacion que ni siquiera toco al contrincante con la cadera, eso es aiki, logrado en una tecnica de lucha
Here is my two cents on how Aikido fits into the martials arts universe: Fighter/killer/warrior spirited people ar some point in their lives start practicing some sort of martial/combat/fighting system. They learn how to defend themselves, how to hurt or disable an opponent. They switch to a new system after becoming proficient at one system. They start learning from complementary systems to become more whole. During this lifelong process if they still have the instinct/hunger to fight and defeat someone they continue on the path of destructive training. But if at some point they transform and discover that they want to see win-win scenarios in life rather than zero-sum-confrontations now they have a choice: use their killing skills to create peace. I think O-Sensei was one of those people.
His brilliance is that he knew how to kill/destroy opponents but he demonstrated to the leading Japanese martial artists of his day that he can create those harmonious looking Aikido attacks&throws if his partner also knew how to "kill" but within the frame of the attack he "offers" a harmonious way out of the confrontation. Basically do not consider offering peace unless you bring a stick to the fight as big as your opponent's. Also if the opponent does not choose peace are you ready and willing to do whatever it takes to stop them? So IMHO Aikido may considered the crowning achievement of a true martial artist who is a real killer but chooses the peaceful way for all involved. If it is the first martial art you learn you will not truly understand in what "ideal perfect world" Aikido techniques may work/emerge.
All this rant coming from someone who practiced Aikido for 3 years and spent as much time as any other Aikido practitioner discussing all thousand different reasons why this kind of training will not help any one in any kind of confrontation and still trying to understand why would someone would develop such a martial art. You may train for years and there is almost no teaching of how to strike effectively, there is always the pretend of striking without the real ability to do so. All serious black belts study other martial arts to learn effective striking, grappling, wrestling, weapons, etc.
In every serious martial art, high level masters talk about how the martial they practice supports their own spiritual journey to attain inner peace, find freedom from aggression, conflict, fear, confusion, etc. I guess that's why it is called a martial art rather than a combat system.
Very well expressed. Been training for 50 years in various arts and what you have said here mirrors my thoughts and experience almost exactly. Having read this example of your communication skills I sincerely hope you are Sensei. If not, please seriously consider it!
@@dragonmaster9360 Thanks for your comment, I am glad to hear that I am not alone in this perspective. I am a college professor, so sort of a sensei :) I also hope with your experience you also teach students on the martial path.
So true, all martial arts are an amalgam of an individuals own experience, and to continue with the basics there comes a point where it is unethical to actually deliver the blows required, I went from aikido to iaido and people just aren't prepared to play some games 🙁👍 but hey I like the way you think ☯️ 🏴☠️
Fair video, as a 30 plus year aikidoka (Yoshinkan, Aikikai and other styles), Yang style Tai Chi practitioner as well as having wrestled in high school and done numerous real world combat skills, I was initially annoyed by the title. But after watching the whole video it was balanced. I think personally, Aikido has had a major hype issue that Tai-chi and Ninjutsu suffered in the 2000's. Nothing is perfect. But the key issue is the 'Aiki' principle requires the attacker, uke to really attack with intent, and the defender, Shite to be divorced from bumping power, as in a MMA or Judo senario. The sad part is many dojo/s miss this key point, no intent, results in ineffective techniques.
I am training, and learning about, Aikido for about 15 years now.
This was probably one of the best videos about the art i have ever seen!
Respect to you and your clear sight.
15 years!!! That's fantastic!!! How do you feel the training has benefitted you? Do you find it a more principle based and philosophical practice? I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
Stupid statement
I used to think Aikido was BS until I met a guy who was a bit of a Hippie, Surfer sort who was very into eastern philosophy. a black belt in Aikido and a Purple Belt in BJJ, if he wanted to compete in BJJ he would be a serious problem, but he just didn't give a toss. Thing is there are a lot of Brazilians who train Capoeira alongside BJJ however, I think Aikido could actually give you a better background for training judo or bjj because in Aikido training you are learning how to take breakfall etc. I like all three martial arts because they are all based on resolving conflict with the least amount of violence possible. He even said to me the Aikido stuff he would use if he was having to talk to a drunk person or someone who's just mouthing off and he just want to give them a "back off" message. He's said he'd use his BJJ training if the person doesn't take the hint and goes in full bore. he said it was all about giving people chances before you take it that far though ie having to choke them out etc like he said "you don't go nuclear straight away".
Exact same reason. Learned striking like boxing and kickboxing. I’d still put aikido as a primary response for keeping fists away from my face and holding people down because were adults and would benefit from not resorting to assault.
With aikido skills, it's not hard to snap joints, throw people to the ground and start pounding into them, i.e. you starting fighting and end your fight with intentionally serious damage. The specific intention of the founder is that you train your very consciousness to a higher level so that you (the aikido guy) really don't need to fight. It sounds like he's using aikido for the purpose that the founder of aikido intended it to be - it's a way to resolve physical conflicts without the need to fight.
Good comment!
I trained for many years in Yoshinkan Aikido, then did cross-training in Boxing and BJJ. Training in other systems has given me a greater appreciation and understanding of Aikido. The rolling in BJJ has really helped in that understanding, and if it wasn't for the pandemic I'd still be training in both.
I studied Asian studies at university, I became obsessed with Japanese culture through martial arts (karate and judo when younger and then onto bujinkan when I was at university-I liked the all in one aspect of it), what I noticed when I was in Japan and I didn’t look into it before I met the other guy I mentioned was A lot of Judo guys over there also do Aikido, they see it as a softer side of their art, gives them a chance to work on footwork etc and not take the pounding of a judo training session. The guy who did BJJ and Aikido also made sense considering BJJ is basically like old school Judo.
For what it's worth... been in the Arts for 42 years trained in 7 systems...so I may know a bit or two. I say all this to give weight to my compliment, which is: Fine video sir, I enjoyed your take and delivery on this topic.
Good video - thanks! I would argue that the number one problem with Aikido schools is that they don't really attack each other. In all the videos you showed just now no one was carrying out a real attack. You can't learn how to defend yourself if you don't practice with real attacks. Period.
There's a follow-up coming to this video.
I trained for a short time many many years ago but we actually energetically fought and it worked. I used it a lot in the military when I was young. I think you touched on the key.
@@mrjones4249 Good - I would love to study aikido if it was taught that way (don't just hold your arm out but attack after learning the basics - mimic a street attack with all the unknowns).
@@mrjones4249 I've also seen plenty of karate studios that also don't mimic real attacks. You have to get used to the real thing.
@@ccohen1965 thanks, I don't have a lot of experience in different training locations.
As a young tween and teen in the 80s, I earned a green belt from a mix of Shaolin and "Kempo" with an east coast Ed Parker belt system from a somewhat controversial Fred Villari - back then I had no idea who Fred Villari was or stood for; he was the only MA school in my town back then.
I studied the grappling, locks, and so forth which was the basis for Fred Villari's "Studio of Self-defense"
Luckily I found another school and several senseis that taught real-world MA later in my life post military, that included Krav Maga, Phillipino Kali and a smattering of Judo and boxing.
That taught me what real-world street fighting/defense was really about. Not only katas.
Love your channel and hope to incorporate Tai Chi into what I have already learned - thanks!
Fellow aikidoka from Czech republic, I'm glad I got recomended your channel, thanks for the Aikido content! I was very lucky to find a teacher (former karate) who was concerned with fighting effectivity and prioritized it over aikido form. Even in our organisation he was being slightly disliked for being unorthodox, that shows you some of the problem with aikido - it can very easily become too soft and as a result won't prepare people properly for high stakes fighting situation.
That is, unfortunately, a huge problem. Aikido wasn't developed for combat. The founder developed Aikido to express his spiritual and philosophical beliefs. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
Hello, nice video.
I am an aikido teacher for 20+years in France, I also worked in different security/protection jobs.
Everytrime I want to learn with other styles.
I don't think it is a problem of aikido or secrets, I think this more a problem of ego and a lack of work and research.
As you said, blackbelt is just the begginning and people have to research and go deeper, this is the case in all styles.
We need to practice more and more, to learn more and more and get more experience in the style which is the best for us.
I said "us" because it's the same thing for a boxer, a judoka, a capoeirista: don't stick to the basics... Look around all the knowledge you can collect, make it your own and polish your skills.
Thanks for your video ;)
I started in Aikido because I thought I was signing up for Kendo, and asked the school owner if Aikido was "the one with wooden swords." Anyway, once I started in Aikido, knowing I was going into Corrections as an officer, I focused basically on Nikyo, Sankyo, Kote Gaeshi. For over fifteen years of training, I never tested for rank, but because I was using what I learned on resisting prisoners, my understanding of the techniques and how to apply them, surpassed the senior students in no time. One of the senior students, opened his own school, and I trained under him, for a while. Some of his senior students didn't like when I came to class, which was every class, and tried not to work with me, cause I "didn't use proper technique" and "it hurt" and was "uncomfortable." They were ina happy zone,
Although O'Sensei had the skills it was pretty well known he wasn't great at communicating this with students as they would often get lost in what he says. That's why there are so many different styles of Aikido that vary significantly. Also remember most people that did aikido before were usually experienced in another form of martial art.
Weapons (jo and Ken) training is also a fundamental part which most dojos lack. Even if these are practiced it's mostly symbolic and they rarely look at the practical side.
True skills were meant to be stolen not explained in detail.
If one truly understood the foundations they could pick up the subtle and intricate details of techniques on their own which is how a good sensei picks and chooses his top students.
A lot of time can be wasted in talking or translating when doing is often the best form of practice.
There are different forms of Aikido because some people had differing views on opening it up for competition like Tomiki Aikido whereas O'Sensei believed purely in the completion being against oneself. It didn't split into other forms just because O'Sensei didn't communicate well.
Well when practically are you going to be dealing with these types of weapons? An improvised jo (like a pipe) maybe but a katana? I mean the more practical of these would be a tanto but the way I have seen it practiced it would also not be practical.
@@cryingdove0 The same could be said about Kendo, HEMA or any other weapon based art. It teaches you more then just using a weapon, it's teaching you footwork and generally how to move your body properly. Also if we are only talking about fighting, martial arts is a bit irrelevant anyway nowadays in most places as the chances of getting in a fight for a normal person is slim to non. As Musashi said:
“The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.”
Re: "The problem with Aikido" I've never trained in Aikido, for the record, but for the last 26 years of my life, I have taught a widely known Korean martial art called HAPKIDO. You know, we should never shit on another person's lawn, as it's just not polite ? To denegrate an entire martial art taught to millions, as useless, how do you know that, as you admit you only trained for six months in Aikido ! According to the best information that we know, the founders of Hapkido (GM Choi Yong Sul) and Aikido (Moreihei Ushiba) trained with the same Master (Takeda Sōkaku), the aiki-jujitsu expert (albeit at different time periods). Just leave Aikido alone if it bothers you ! We trained a student once who came from the Aikido club in town, he was a 2nd Kyu and he had trained for 14 years in Aikido. We taught him Hapkido and I.T.F. Taekwon-Do, including joint locks, throwing, falling, striking, punches, kicks, leg kicks, everything ? He did just fine. After one year of training, he kicked just as good as any of my black belts, some of whom were national champions. I say let the Aikido people be? If you don't like them, just shut the f*ck up ! Sincerely, Sabumnim R.J., 6th Dan p.s. regarding Steven Seagal, why is he a problem? Let the man do his job. Stop being judgemental. You have flaws, too. www.kel-west.org
My Aikido instructor was actually a 12th degree in aiki-jitsu. So you got ju-jitsu, which can help the lower on tank defend themselves. Aikido takes patience and takes years to master the basics, or the foundation. I was fortunate to be able to take ju-jitsu and Aikido from the same school. One develops quick hands and quick takedowns, while the other develops fluidity. They seem almost opposite, but blend well together. If you want to learn how to effectively defend yourself in a year or two and move on, Aikido isn't the art your looking for.
Thought provoking video. I have been practising Aikido for 20 years and I am 6'4" and a concern for me has always been to execute technique without using strength. I can't help my height and to some extent that does offer advantages in reach so I prefer to practise with people of similar size. My son is smaller and lighter than I am, but still quite tall. I and others have largely been able to teach him what I can do in 3 or 4 years because he has excellent attitude. My concern has always been that the Aikido I learn should have the potential to be modified to work. I think that some schools may be overly formulaic and fail to realise that Kata are simply teaching forms, but are unlikely to be of utility in an actual situation. Striking is an important part of Aikido, but it tends to be more by way of distraction, however in a real situation it is there to be used.
The movements of Kata are also kept within certain bounds that Uke can accommodate, the greater the skill of Uke , the further Tori can push the technique. The same is not likely to apply in the real situation where a technique applied with intent might be used. The point at which Uke responds is the point at which the untrained person "breaks". A skilled practitioner will feel that point and redirect energy to guide an attacker into neutralisation.
The most common objection to Aikido arises from the "hand holding" and I cringe when I see high level Aikidoka going through well rehearsed routines with meek and often small light Ukes obligingly holding their wrist or performing unrealistic cuts and strikes that owe more to dance than martial arts. I have found that once you have Kata you can adapt to more realistic attacks, but I think that genuine competition is inadvisable given the intent of the techniques from which Aikido was derived was to kill people, for instance Iriminage in Aikido is executed under control just to take someone down, essentially by their neck and head, for real it is breaking the neck. Shihonage can drop someone on their head so it is potentially very dangerous.
The advantage of Aikido over many martial arts, in my opinion, is that it offers a great range of response from simple evasion to a quick slapdown to neutralisation, restraint and beyond. There are videos on my channel which attempt to illustrate some of these points. I have a lot of sympathy with the points you raise and look forward to watching your next video.
Two ways but one target! I’m studying shaolin kungfu, taichi and aikido. I feel they support each others
So youre at the shoalin temple? Because shoalin isnt a style
@@anthonyclark9159 no, shaolin isn’t a style, but there are many style in shaolin. In my country (Vietnam) we call these style with a general name “kungfu shaolin”. I’m studying Mantis Martial Art
@@anthonyclark9159 in Vietnam there are many school name “Shaolin dragon tiger group”, “Shaolin Hong family first” ... they also have “shaolin” in the name
Make sure you are doing full contact sparring and grappling with people from other styles, particularly mma, bjj, boxing, kick boxing, judo. That way you will know what is useful and what is not.
@@jameslyons6655 I agree with you bro
Some historical context: A British popular writer, Jay Glick, in the early 70s started the Aikido hype in the West by a book called "Zen Combat', in which he spouted uncritically the adage "there is no defense against aikido". A little later, the larger, more lavishly produced "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" helped establish aikido as the ultimate martial art, especially in the late hippie culture who got copies of The Whole Earth Catalog, where A&tDS got a big promotion. Even aside from Seagal, several people pushed aikido as ultimate, in the early 80s, especially in comics and novels.
Thanks for sharing 👍
Absolutely phenomenal video, my dude. I practice Taekwondo along with Judo and Aikido. I love Aikido, but it has many limitations, and you addressed them well. It's a good defensive art to train in when backed with good striking and submission skills, however.
If someone really understood the principles of Aikido, and applies them in real life, not just fighting the strikes wont be necessary.
When someone who trains in Aikido and master the form of the Art, he will discover that striking and submission lies in every form.
Morihei Ueshiba has also learned Bagua in China. He also ruled Kyusho Jitsu. The Aikido is therefore derived not only from the Daito Ryu but also from the Chinese Bagua. The atemis are performed on acupuncture points (Kyusho Jitsu). I recommend watching the videos of Bruce Franzis, Tai Chi and Bagua Masters. Bruce Franzis trained with Morihei Ueshiba for a while before going to China and learning Tai Chi and Bagua. He is convinced that Morihei Ueshiba could bagua.
Aikido Flow is worth watching. This guy understands the difference between the art form and the practical application of technique.
But is it internal, or does it work because he's a big guy with years of security experience?
I have a friend who is a sensei in Aikido. He asked me last Tuesday if I didn't want to come for an initiation. I have severe head and neck syndrome and an ultra stressful life situation. The dojo is located in a district known for its high delinquency where I have lived for years. I went there. I was first taught to do stretches, then rolls. Despite intense pain with my pathology, I am doing well. Two other sensei demonstrated techniques, sometimes slowing down their actual speed. I often asked my friend, "Why doesn't he use his available left arm to attack?" Questions that were interesting and relevant for them and they explained to me that in fact, given the demonstration, in real attack the collarbone would break and the pain so intense that the body, which never lies, would have the reflex to put the left arm on the pain to instinctively protect itself. Ok. I greatly appreciated being shown to me with a turtle's slowness each movement of the "keys to the hold" that we break down into micro-tasks where you have to be as diligent and precise as possible. Which suited me just fine as the pains were mild on top of what I have. Then came the technique where you defend yourself with a wooden knife (sorry, I don't know the name). Again, I asked, "Why was the position of this knife like this because I had learned another attack position. Like in the army and in order to go there in a more lethal way." One of the sensei explains to me that it's street attack by a guy who wants to hurt without notions of combat techniques and that his position of the knife was traditional. I understand here that it is more art like dance than an art of combat. Then, I was exercised with the greatest gentleness how to make a lethal counter-attack when attacked with a knife. I was told the lethal points to the head for an attack and then breaking the elbow and making the person hover. It is true that my friend sensei is taller than me, not far from 2m and 130 kg. By repetitions of a turtle slowness, he asked me to attack him at normal speed. I attacked it very fast, as fast as possible (I was thinking to be as fast and lethal as a snake attack). Without me realizing, I had slapped him in the face and he flew protecting himself with a roll. Dubious, I tell him, amused: "You made me wrestle there". He assured me not. We started again and I was amazed that it worked. Technique that I was taught and that I do not see in other UA-cam videos on Aikido. I'm talking about those that show "aikido vs judo" or "aikido vs karate" etc. I'm surprised those sensei in the videos don't use it. After 2 hours of initiation with my pathology, I'm not saying that I don't like aikido. I had fun and what I like is that they teach me how to protect myself with grips on my head affected by my syndrome. It is not a martial art where in training we go there like killers to sweat like "in Judo" according to the words of a sensei. It didn't de-stress me because I just needed to go there like a madman who hits to evacuate all my painful saturations. After all, as in all things, your worst enemy is yourself. Considering the aggressiveness that I have in me at the moment, I would have preferred to calm my nerves perhaps in glima. It doesn't matter, I'll go back to do aikido because, I've been shown that if you go there with the intention (I don't remember the Japanese name they told me anymore) to defeat your opponent, you can really send him to the hospital with multiple fractures. Aikido suits me for now as a basic martial art. Points that I will discuss with my friend and the others during the next sessions, which is why we do not train outside. Learning to roll on a tatami is fun. Learning to do it on cement isn't the same thing anymore and it seems to me that it's important to train outside. It's better for the body and the mind for me.
The most important and funniest part that he repeats few times, "I know 2 things about Aikido..... I am not an expert in Aikido...." Yes, among million things of Aikido, he knows 2 and he starts to make up a 10 mins youtube video about it. It is almost like a primary school student made a video commenting relativity of Albert Einstein. If one knows very little or nothing about an art or a knowledge, instead of commenting on it, he or she should first start to learn it for some time. That is how I teach my 8 years old daughter.
Exactly.
Exactly..And as he the expert lol..
I take this Aikido shit serious now.I (184cm,68kg,bodybuilder) was lessoned in March in front of a supermarket.There was a brawl concerning a trolley with an about 40 year old woman with thick ugly specs,physically much weaker than me.Since she only was 150 cm, she was an easy push and I pressed her 2 meters back and downwards
with my hands on her shoulders. Then she enclosed my right wrist, a short aching,she went aside and I tumbled to the ground on the back,and that in my full black leathers. On the ground, I realised a sprain in my right arm making it useless for further combat. The specs lady saw my surprise and stretched from right to left over my chest, snatching for my left arm poising it in an awkward and helpless position I never saw before. I was completely under shock and could no longer move none of my four limbs. I flushed and even fainted.I only remember some passers by in the audience saying "Look at the arm of that lady,look at the arm of that girl,you ever saw this before?".After some minutes,we were finally seperated by the security and the specs lady said:"Guess you never exspected a dwarf to know the Judo,hunny hulk".But I doubt now whether it is allowed to apply this unfair shit in public.
I never practiced Aikido, but I spent a lot of time studying Aikido history and “philosophy”. Your take on the problem in Aikido is well presented and I really enjoyed your humble style. One thing I would like to add from my research that nobody seems to mention. There is a book, called “The Heart of Aikido”, which is the only book that represents of collection of Morihei’s lectures on Aikido. This is the only source to find out what the creator himself though about Aikido. Not the early Aiki-Jitsu style, but the latest version of “soft” Aikido. Morihei explains in his lectures why he transformed Aiki-Jitsu into Aikido, which has a lot to do with religious influence on him from the church he was involved in during second half of his life. Under this influence, he came to realization that the purpose of true Budo is not in being good at fighting, but being good at being a good person. And a person can only be good to other people when he/she feels love to those people. And so the “Way of Love” was born. Techniques became meditative in nature, their purpose was to practice control of one’s thoughts, to feel endless love to an attacker under any circumstances. The idea was to eradicate violent thoughts in our minds through constant daily practice. And if everyone undergo through this rigorous practice and eradicate their own violent thought toward other people, then the real peace (heaven) on Earth can be achieved. It was the first martial art with sole purpose of defeating violence not by learning how to defend yourself from an attack, but how to eradicate the cause of an attack in the first place, which is violent mindset. Unfortunately, many of his student just wanted to learn self defence, even when Morihei was trying to explain that this is not what Aikido is all about. His early students, from Aiki-Jitsu time, were outnumbered by the students from “soft” Aikido who completely misunderstood its purpose. I suspect that Steven Segal was a student of Aiki-Jitsu master, rather than Aikido. But the majority of people who saw Steven Segal style on TV and wanted to learn it, could only find masters of the “soft” Aikido, who didn’t bother explaining the difference. And so the confusion began.
Jitsu is technique. Do is the way. Like the difference between going to church and being a real Christian. I read a book called Combat Zen ( I think) that recounted the story about Jesus moving through soldiers untouched. It was in the chapter about Aikido. The author's wife was an Aikidoka and practiced by going against foot traffic in Tokyo. LOL, try it sometime. Not necessarily in Tokyo of course.
Yes, this is the real insight you need to have to understand Aikido. You cannot critizise something without knowing its actual purpose. That is the criteria you need to evaluate something. If not, it would be like evaluating a screwdriver on its ability to hammer nails... Which is the mistake I see in 95% of all Aikido critique on UA-cam...
I think the atom bomb was still fresh in people's mind at the beginning. I understand favouring the soft style.
I'm a third degree black belt with 17 years of aikido under different masters and I wholesomely agree with the message in this video.
There is a profound amount of bullshido in the world of aikido, mainly because the students drawn to the art are seldom interested in putting it to a test.
Aikido is highly viable as a *martial* art, but very few schools are aware of how to commit training that appropriately teach the techniques.
You are a nice guy,you seem honest and open! I had the opportunity to study with a sensei who received the teaching from two of the very best students of OSensei , I will tell you something:Aikido really works,but just like the Jedi,you have to connect with the force ; you wouldn’t believe what you can do when you develop your ki .friend go to the basics and look always for the essential.Once Jesus said to his disciples something like:thousands will listen,hundreds might follow,dozens might understand,only one will find me! Good luck
😂😂😂😂😂
Hey, I am going to comment as I watch, starting with the title.
The problem with Aikido (AKD), there's nothing wrong with AKD, the problem is with the practitioners who have zero combat skills as well as the teachers they've learned from. Not effective for Rokas because of what I just mentioned, but effective for the Brotha of AKD Flow because of his everyday living, he has to be / get physical and he is probably studying the art for martial reasons unlike other who just want to be apart of something great and be able to say that are apart of it. Ueshiba could make it work so easy #1 because he had combat experience #2 no one new what he was going to do, nothing to do with size, just like the Gracies in the beginning, people didn't know what to expect. Look at Ueshiba's original students, they had a fighting background. Segal studied karate from a top fighter. So this AKD teacher asking you about your Taijiquan, because Taijiquan and Bagua Zhang have it. Yes Ueshiba was influenced by Taijiquan principles as well as the physical aspects of Bagua Zhang as stated by Bruce Frantzis. Because of my background in the practical Chinese Boxing-Grappling arts TJQ, BGZ, Shuai Jiao I am able to see how AKD could work. So the problem with AKD is that it has people practicing that have no idea what they are doing as a martial art. One other thing people don't understand is the difference between self defense and fighting how they are separate and/or help each other.
Peace
Thanks .
Dude, like your video but there is a lot of speculation. You didn’t really answer any questions, just speculated.
I'm telling a story about my experience. There aren't any questions to answer, and there aren't any speculations.
I lived in Nashville for many years and trained in a couple Aikido dojo’s. Maybe we trained together. But they were more central locations not north. I totally respect what you say here. I’ve always thought of Aikido as a tool but not the only one.
That's a good way to look at it. It's not a stand alone art, Aikido is just one asset in the toolbox. It's great as a way to understand certain principles that are applied in other more combat orientated styles. It's also a reflection or expression of the founder's spiritual and philosophical beliefs. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
Great video with good information. I'm a retired Veteran that is seeking to re-center myself through various practices to strengthen my mind, body, and spirit. Not sure if it is through a stroke of luck or providence that I've found your channel, but the insight here is enlightening.
Awesome! I started studying internal martial arts after I got out of the Navy.
How ever you look at it. As in any style. It’s really up to the practitioner. The reason why I started studying Aikido, is it’s none violent concept. I’ve trained in 3 other very violent martial arts. In all of them my focus is to hurt you bad. So bad even with one punch. Not for sport fighting. But in the street attacked by one or more. My art is not something to play with. I don’t want to be on the other side of my attack. But I had to look at that very deeply. Was that really what my Art is about to destroy another person. No not really. So I sought out Aikido. And fell in love with it. There is much to Aikido that must be understood. It’s a very dangerous art. And it really does take time, training, and constant expanding on the basics. We train slow and soft in the beginning. Less injuries and more actual learning. It takes time to learn something properly. But what I love the best about Aikido is. How simple it really is. Just as simple of moving out of the way of your attacker. And redirecting him into a wall. I always tell people that,with Aikido I can defend myself without even touching you. Or you touching me. That is true Aikido.
O’Sensei said 90% Aikido is atemi. The secret is to use striking to distract opponents to perform the techniques. Next is kuzushi. By breaking balance you distract opponents to make their body loosen. If they hold their arm strong they will fall harder, if they loose their arms that is the chance for you to break it. Quin na techniques in Aikido are the most useful. As you train as black belt you will know how to break balance and change techniques to other techniques.
Aikido lost its purpose. The founder was jiu-jitsu and judo expert and soldier. He knew his stuff. When aging he was looking for something that gave him peace and go with spirituality, flow, meditation, Prevent the conflict and contact as much as possible, get rid of anger and embrace forgiveness.
Now Segal and many teachers try to sell it like an aggressive or combat martial art like jiu-jitsu. And people take classes with the wrong expectations
From speaking with people, and reading Ueshiba's own teaching, there is a point where the skills are integrated and then the real learning begins. People who are wanting the "martial" part of martial arts are quickly disappointed at aikido because of its patient approach to teaching flow and nonviolence. Towards the end of his life, and having witnessed the limitations of the militarism of Imperial Japan, Ueshiba recognised the essence of peace in what he had been teaching. Rather than losing aikido's purpose, the "ai" part of aikido matched up with the "ki".
I would not want to use my Aikido in an Octagon against a trained fighter, but I am pretty sure most people, whatever art they train, aren't ready for that. Aikido techniques do "work", and if you put them on fast and hard, they can be brutal. We don't train that way, because as you correctly noted, we aren't douches.
Sure sweety
I work in a federal prision where you cant hurt inmates. I tell you that it works. At least for me. Aikido helped my life in many ways.
And yes theres always the doubt about if its usefull. Even after years of practice.
I have a similar testimony, I work in the public school sector, specifically with special needs students, where we definitely can't harm or hurt. When we take Crisis Prevention classes, the disengagement holds we learn are basically derived from aikido and jujutsu joint manipulation. I was pleasantly surprised to see they did stuff I learned at my dojo!
Same here, I worked with the special needs community, and took crisis prevention. You need to be able to protect yourself AND the client who is behaving aggressively. Aikido is amazing for that.
I believe it's taught wrong. Instructers keep stopping you when "you're using muscle". You need to learn how to muscle through the grapples and throws FIRST, and then use less and less effort as your technique becomes more efficient.
You can't start out softly, you need to grow into it. And you DEFINITELY can't learn to be soft AND martially effective, if it's the only thing you train in.
Akidio should be your second martial art, after learning something else. Collegiate wrestling, Judo, preferably something with grappling in it.
Yep. they taught us that inmates are guilty and if they attack, they will kill you. They taught us Aikido because it works, and no one cares if you break a joint on a convict trying to kill you.
Strength has little to do with grappling arts if the techniques are taught and learned properly. Aikido is an art that redirects an opponent's attacks against them.
Yes and no. Strength does matter. However skill can sometimes defeat strength against an inferior opponent. I would also point out that someone with internal structure can usually easily defend against joint locks. It’s incredibly easy for me to simply use unbendable arm( peng in taijiquan) and not really worry about any type of arm lock.
@@oldtyger The things that make the concept of strength possible, are the things that Aikido used properly, disrupts or redirects. You can be very strong but if that force is used without proper technique, it's not always effective.
@@garycleveland6410 I agree with that. I am just saying strength can often make a difference. That is real and not to be underestimated.
Aikido is like a lifestyle it extends outside of the martial arts, into our interpersonal skills and how we handle business. I can see how Tai Chi is parallel to the philosophy China being an ancient and wide spread country has had a major influence over Asia over philosophy and art. Tai chi is cool because unlike aikido it doesn’t even refer to itself as a “martial” art, but simply as a way of moving about the world through harmony. In a way aikido is tai chi disguising itself as a martial art….
Aikido if used correctly does work you must use atemi (strikes) which was how it was originally designed. You do not see that alot in most dojo's today unfortunately.
Having taught in a school owned by someone else and starting my own, I will tell you that there is always going to be a gap of skill and effectiveness between instructor and student. Especially if said school is a full time every day environment.
Most students come to class 1-3 times a week for an hour or so. Instructors on the other hand are there every day, usually all day. There's where the gap begins.
In teaching you start to understand more depth of your art, the more classes you teach, the more students you teach the further this understanding goes. The gap widens.
So of course your experience is that the instructor is amazing and the students not so much by contrast.
First time seeing your channel, I think? Always interested in seeing or hearing why people don't care for Aikido. Been training Aikido for around 15 years now. Before I trained other arts including Kali, MMA, and BJJ to name a few. I will not disagree with your assessment, being that it is your view of the art. I have, myself, had a few Tai Chi people come to me in the same way you describe the Aikidoist going to you and your instructor. I agree there are many issues with common Aikido which I call Fluffy Bunny Aikido. I have found, for me, the solution to most of them and I am always willing to share what I have learned in the last 42 or so years of my over all martial arts training. Although my channel is not based on martial arts I to put some up there. I know, for me, my Aikido is effective and useful in real life spent many years in the cage and on the street along with the work I did back then allowed me ample time and experience to test out my skills. I, in many ways, enjoy the view most have with Aikido. It allows for those of us who feel it is truly effective an opportunity to allow others to mis judge and over look the Aikidoist. I don't see myself as a big guy. in fact I am a fat, old bald guy I have little in way of speed and strength, and because of this I have been able to find how to use movement and my opponent's skills or lack of against them. Aikido is a part of a well balanced skill set that I can call upon at any time.
Indeed..
It's not the art ,it's the individual....
Don't know why people complain about Aikido. Half the time Morei Ueshiba Sensei was busy making GIGANTIC PEACE SIGNS. His aim was unity and harmony among people, so his art reflects that.
That's completely true. Ueshiba developed Aikido to express his spiritual and philosophical beliefs. He had done a lot of fighting before that - including fighting on the front lines of a war. I've made a video about Aikido on my channel. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙏🏾
As with many learned disciplines, there are many things that won't be in the books or taught through classes.
That's because the only legit martial arts are koryus. Or old-school.
When I was in my teens in the 1980s, I took Kenpo Karate lessons and learned that after you mastered about 10 techniques, you took a test and were awarded the next belt. What I did get out of it was fitness because of all the necessary push-ups and sit-ups that the Sense required. But I walked away from a fight, not because that was what I was supposed to do before anything else, but because I got scared. Much later in life, I became a big meat-head bodybuilder. I wanted to get cut. I used to do that by playing basketball consistently. However, my gym has two sides, weightlifting and boxing. I decided to start hitting the bags on the boxing side to get cut. The boxing guys took notice and started correcting my mistakes and teaching me. I ended up falling in love with boxing. Now I was both muscular and lean. Finally, I got put into a situation where I caught a kid bullying my son and told the kid I needed to speak with his father. When the kid’s father showed up, he was livid. This time, I didn’t have fear and I didn’t walk away. I floored the guy. I believe it that a lot of martial arts schools don’t truly teach what you need for self defense.
Self defence, many doesn't understand, anger is your opponents advantage, the discipline in all you, never let you, and even at the time of anger it'll control and shout the anger out, and flow the self defence in so many ways.
I studied Aikido for three years and left it to study traditional karate. The biggest issue I saw with a keto is everything is taught choreographed so distance and timing was lacking when faced with an opponent that is not part of the choreography. After I receive my second degree black belt in Shotokan I started to learn t'ai Chi. I started with a health and wellness instructor but later found one who taught the Marshall applications. I believe the more Marshall taichi is what Aikido wants to be. But even in Tai Chi the issue of distance and timing of spontaneous movement became an issue. My instructor introduced a free sparring component to taichi that I've taken and increased dramatically. As a result the distance and timing issues are no longer present and taichi has become a very formidable martial art for self-defense.
Aikido has its moments and some of the best brake fall and roll techniques I've ever learned are from there. I sincerely believe that for it to be effective and needs to be subsidized with something else.
For those of you that think MMA is the end-all-be-all, I would urge you to consider there is more to martial arts the knowing how to drop somebody on the ground and repeatedly strike them in a vulnerable state. The traditional Arts including Aikido provide that other side.
O'Sensei used to say aikido is made of atemi waza (strikes) for 80%. In dojo's we only study the resting 20% part of aikido : throws and locks techniques, in order to follow the Aikikai rank system.
While it's true that O'sensei said this, he also changed his opinion of teaching atemi for aikido. In my opinion, his consciousness developed so much that for his level, atemi was completely not needed for the purpose of achieving the state of aikido with any random striker. For the rest of us of who have yet to reach that level of consciousness, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use atemi strikes. You use atemi skills for the purposes of causing kuzushi; to create a rhythm with the attacker that you can harmonise efficiently as opposed to harmonising to a rhythm directly controlled by the attacker; to create openings for you to exploit.
I feel like I'm not going to be disappointed to find the "my aikido is harder then others and it works" comments and the " o sensei was the greatest". Please feel free to try convince me you're right. I mylsef am a black belt in aikido so I've heard it all 😀
I learned aikido in France (late 70's, early 80's). There were 2 major schools. One led by some 'expert in harmony' and he didn't find the teachings of Tamura (European representative & direct student of the founder Ueshiba) reflecting the 'spirit' of aikido. The lead instructor in my school was one of the favorite uke of Tamura. Tamura called him little dragon. Yeah, he was little (nearly 10 inches shorter than me). But he could send me (5'10" & 180lbs) across the mat. When I first entered his 'advanced' class, he shocked me. His Irimi nage made me fly 4ft high and at least 10ft away. So yeah, different schools, different philosophy. He used to repeat that Aikido was self attack. You learn to give the openings you use. He was also a 2nd deg. Karate for a 3rd Aikido. While some schools gave you a black belt in a year, in mine it took 4-5 years for black.
Same in our dojo ,3 to 4years b4 blackbelt
6:19 That Mike Tyson vs. Steven Seagal clip is hilarious.
IS THE MOWIE THE AIKIDO MAN HAVE MANY WEAPONS WITH HIM FOR KILL
@Da Sheat Tyson had sledgehammers for fists bro it's legit terrifying watching him KO people
@Da Sheat It's like if a shark also had access to a Ford mustang
That was actually very useful. I'm a long time practitioner of striking styles like Shotokan and many Kungfu styles that strike in ways that probably make Western boxers blush, but I never considered internal martial arts as something I would *solely* rely on during a street fight. Naturally, as a Karateka (and later Kungfu user) I go for surprise and striking, but the problem in the real world is that striking (with arts as powerful as Kungfu and Karate) also lead to a lawsuit and looking like the bad guy.
In order to avoid that, as a Kungfu lover, I decided to learn more about my Taichi and see if I could take down someone using it (perhaps mixing uke techniques from Karate and captures from Tanglangquan and evasive movements of Bagua, all without striking).
As a matter of fact, my personal "MMA" based on Kungfu and Karate lead me to understand more how much Taichi may be used in a street fight, filling the gaps of my confidence with styles I already know.
Aikido has honestly always been a mystery to me, and at risk of making some people angry, I don't believe most of it is actually useful due to the ideal conditions in the opponent's attacks for Aikido to actually be employed.
For example,
we see great demonstrations with Aikido used against a full jab, a gyaku tsuki, a single kick, a "grab the wrist", but these attacks aren't really what you see in an actual fight. Just look at any boxer and you'll see how hard it would be for Aikido to intercept any attack and reverse it, getting the upper hand and stopping the opponent.
Chances are, the opponent will throw a lot of fake punches and then go for a massive one that we will have more trouble to prepare against, making something as complicated as Aikido thinking a difficult weapon to employ, whereas, say, a Karate uke technique or Piquaquan or Tanglangquan captures would definitely get the job done better and faster, and even let the torso draw back and assure the opponent's got a lesser percent of landing a hit.
Personally, I'm starting to understand why there is such a thing as "Taichi Mantis", as these two arts seem to be working in tandem very well.
That's my take on things. It will likely differ from everyone else's, especially newcomers in the world of martial arts. After 35 years studying them, this is probably the result of my understanding.
Striking arts... they would be perfect if you didn't risk a lawsuit or killing your opponent. Southern Mantis, Shotokan, Bajiquan, Drunken fist (the real one, not Jackie Chan), Bai Mei, Kyokushin, Taekkyon, Taekwondo, even Capoeira and Taido.
These would let you beat up anyone, but you'll likely get a criminal record even if you are the offended party and didn't start the fight and had no intention of every fighting anyone.
My advice for those who want to learn how to dispose of an enemy without running into obnoxious legal trouble: Taichi (and a strong foundation in Tanglangquan (not Northern.. too acrobatic, not Southern.. strikes too hard).
I hope this was useful to someone. You're welcome to disagree, and in which case I'd love to hear your opinion (unless you're gonna say 'Krav Maga' XD).
I have used it, when multiple folks - my sons friends- tried to tackle me outa fun. I have trained in two other styles, but it was VERY effective. And fun!!!
randori?
This a great video. I think you are right. I learn Aikibudo and I also find strange that we never talk about Qi. Thank You for this video
Great video! Totally agree with most here! I'm the guy at 5:37 btw lol
Prince do a review on this guy's aikido! He is an instructor under Seagal and clearly one of the few that represents the martial side of aikido today!!
WOW. Brother, would have been good to see this years ago. Im an ex-aikido student. Thank you so much. Glad that you are on this journey.
Roka's channel is Martial Arts Journey
who cares, lol? :-P
@@lookat2006 Who cares? I don't know, maybe the150,000 followers of that channel...nice try though.
@@KenpoKid77 - i think the 150.000 followers of this channel are fine with what they can get here, to think about it. Rokas' channel will not bring them any better insights, since Rokas has nothing interesting to offer. you're welcome :-)
I think Endo Ryokyu is teaching this "missing part" of Aikido. On one youtube video with him you can literary see how he threw out of balance a person with slight touch. Ryokyu learned Aikido, and he is also a buddhist monk and creator of Tao Shiatsu. Check him out. I tried a few of techniques demonstrated by him and I can honestly tell that it made a big difference in my understanding of soft martial arts and Aiki, power of love energy.
I think I have to agree with you, my father practiced Aikido but he was in the British S.A.S so he learned ' combat Aikido ' which is not something that is taught to ' Civilians '. And I have also come across the same phenomenon that you have, there are some martial arts schools that don't teach Combat/Self Defense applications until students have reached blackbelt level skills.
My friend, thanks for the video! I have zero martial arts background, but as a professional musician for almost 40 years, I can tell you that I have much more ability and musical insight in my particular field than I did back in the late 80's and early 90's. The reason I am saying this is you have to give whatever you do plenty of time and commitment before you can fully judge it. All the best!
When I was learning karate long ago, I had a clinic with sensei Tsuroaka (Canada) , a high level master. We were from beginner to black belt students.
No black belt could touch him, he used many dodging and moved like a cat. His strikes were fast like lightning. His art was beyong karate. He borrowed from other martial arts.
Once, he stopped a black belt attack with a kiai, as if the balck belt hit a wall.
As a young adult, I joined a self defense organization whose sensei was trained in daito ryu aikijujutsu. This was in 1989 and along with other members we were learning aikijujutsu, judo, and bjj. Sensei called it aikido because it resembled lots of what people had seen on Steven Seagal’s first movie , but we later learned it was really an aikido basics foundation with added material that works on the streets. Sensei was an mma fighter and taught us that aikido was for your friends and family like when uncle Joe was drunk but you don’t want to bust his nose or break his arm. The rest of the material was meant for the streets if you were approached by unavoidable trouble but he constantly stressed - run first, but if not possible then try not to hurt the guy too bad. I see aikido as a lifestyle but also with aspects of it that can be included into a fighter’s repertoire for self defense applications.
Thanks for the interesting content. You said about the instructor "he was a really big guy, of course". Why of course?
Also I think you are mistaken about the name of Rokas channel. It was something like Martial Arts Journey, not Odyssey.
Looking forward to more videos.
You and my first Aikido sensei are absolutely correct. You must learn many fighting techniques and integrate them as the situation arises. And yes: size ,strength, endurance and fitness are as important as technique.
Back in the early 1970s I studied Aikido from a lieutenant in the Thai army. He was a martial arts instructor in the Thai Military Academy. He was also skilled in Judo and Karate but especially so in Muay Thai. Prior to meeting him I studied Judo. He told me that to be proficient in defending oneself, one must learn as many fighting skills as possible. So under his instructions, I also learned some techniques in Muay Thai and Karate. I was fairly good in fighting which was more or less akin to the MMA style of fighting but a felt it would good to learn the martial arts to be better at fighting to protect myself. That is why I decided to learn Judo and Aikido. As a result, I was able to see some of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the "pure" martial arts I studied. I also studied Aikido from someone who studied Aikido in Japan with Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the son of Morihei Ueshiba.
I am lucky enough to be in a school that actually tries to teach Aïkido to its students, and I think you're on point.
As a UK resident, I studied Aikido for a time, and I can 100% say that the style I learned was effective in disabling someone in a grappling situation. The main problem I've seen are the displays of people flipping and falling as if struck by some mighty blow from a waving hand. That's mostly bollocks. What we learned was how to twist a limb, where to apply pressure and how to knock off balance to take people down and hold them in place. It's a displacement of the centre of gravity using minimal force and pressure points, or at least that's what we were being taught, along with the flow of ki. We even did some Tai Chi at times to help in that flowing mentality.
All in all, it's a defensive martial art for folks who don't have the strength to use strikes effectively, and as you mentioned, came in handy a few times whilst working in nightclubs. I'm skinny as all hell, but brought a few people down to their knee with one handed limb manipulation.
0:02 "Aikido. The Martial Arts of Peace... and neutralizing the opponent without causing them any harm". Tell that to Steven Seagal 😂
I know right!!!!😂😂😂😂🤣🤣
IN THE DOJO you neutralize your uke without causing them any harm and vice versa because that's dojo etiquette but in the real world you'd be surprised at how affective aikido can be. You make it your own by adapting to any the given situation. This is 25 years of training talking. Yes I've cross trained, jiu jitsu & wing chun but remember aikido teaches you extension, flowing movement and maintaining your center. The training consists of jia waza (multiple attack responses) and not just static movement but kino nagare. There is NOTHING soft or gentle about it. Even a proper extended block is a strike and redirected properly can floor your opponent. Take nikyo for instance. Some moron grabs one of your shoulders to hold you and try to punch you with their other fist, your reflexes after years of training are faster than you think. You grab the offending hand on your shoulder to perform nikyo. Automatically you step in, turning your hip in with your elbow up and automatically strike them in the face with your elbow, crunch them with nikyo automatically dropping your weight. They will have a broken jaw, wrist and no doubt a fractured forearm and/or elbow . . . . . all in the space of a second. All you have to do is expand your perspective and having the right sensei also helps.
@@markgeorge5536 Well said 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🥋
@@pietpoloni1741- Yes size doesn't matter and sometimes grading. We had a 3rd Dan from another dojo come to training, 6'4" and as solid like a brick shithouse. My girlfriend, 2nd Dan (of Chinese descent, I mention this as her father and many Asian men are misogynists) is 5'5". He grabs her arm by her gi and says "let's see what you've got girly". We ALL know her very well, very sweet except when pissed off (Scorpio and Year of the Tiger if you're into that like of thing) and we knew what was coming. It wasn't a pleasant experience for him. He wasn't injured just bruised slightly (ego and a number of body parts). He NEVER did that again. She later told me she didn't know what came over her. Not proper etiquette I know but, he behaved like a DICK!
Steven seagal does his own variant of aikido its more aggressive haven't you seen his movies he likes breaking things but would it work on the street I dunno
I really like Tai chi but also am very interested in Aikido and certainly agree that there should be no secrets from the students. That's balcony!
"...if you wanna say Japanese things while youre throwing people around." LMFAO. I love that about judo.
If you just want to do judo... do judo... if you just want to do aikido... do aikido. Why does he make it sound like... if you just want to do aikido just do judo?! He’s doing Tai Chi! He doesn’t know anything about judo or aikido.
@@danielpenrod9478 If you listen to Jigoro Kano about how judo and aikido relates, he says that "aikido was his ideal form of budo". He also commented that "judo was the judo of 90 degrees while aikido was the judo of 180 degrees". What Kano was saying is that judo and aikido were so closely related in their foundational meaning that they were different forms of the same foundation - the foundation of using your own soft energy to control the big strength of your opposition. How I like to distinguish between the two art forms is that judo is the gentle art of clinch distancing while aikido is the gentle art of melee weapon distancing: long distance judo.
Boxing, judo, anything else. Someone with training beats someone with none.
Very informative, and Insightful. Such a down to earth tone to it too. Thank you.
Having to use it to defend myself Aikido certainly stopped the attack. It ended with one broken arm and torn muscles to the guys who tried to beat the heck out of me for using the library. Less than a few seconds their attack was over and they got the hell away from me. I came to realize that the reason why ikido is not a sport is that every move you make is geared to cause your attacker some severe damage of one sort or another. That's when it proved itself to me at any rate. Although it does have to be augmented and I, I also found out that it improved my balance that was very useful in karate and everyday. That's just what happened in my experience It's something that happened to me even if it may be one in a a googleplex but those are my feelings about subject. I do know that I will take flak for this statement, it's just my experience..
BEST aikido move: walk away,
WORST aikido move: use it on an attacker in the street.
It is NOT a combat sport. It is self efense.
Also, people talk about Gozo Shioda's fighting prowess. Bear in mind that Shioda studied Aikijujutsu under O Sensei BEFORE Uyeshiba became a pacifist; in those days, serious injuries at the dojo were common and it was called "Hell Dojo". Shioda is quoted as saying that "Aikido is 80% striking" and, in his first book, his footwork looks curiously like that of Hsing-Yi Chuan.
What I was taught; Aikido is a journey, a beautiful and peaceful way to connect both mind and spirit with your body, you will never reach your destination, it´s all about enjoying the ride. In a sense, Aikido is to martial arts equivalent to ballet as a dancing option, you won´t make a good dance partner but you will be graceful.
I just have to say...I'm a black belt in Korean Taekwondo and spared with a guy who was taught Aikido....he did a series of attacks in one move and I blocked all of his attacks and he backed up surprised....I did a series of attacks and caught him with a blow.....he came at me again and attacked and I countered and caught him in the mouth with a kick and split his lip. He wiped the blood off and told me "you ain't gonna get another hit".....from that moment he turned it up and mopped the floor w my ass...could of broke bones....his kicks were killer cause he used his shins....I was soar for a week....lol
Thank you for this enlightening and honest video. I trained in aikido for four years, and was left with a sense that most of the training had a flavor of fakeness. It always disturbed me that most of the techniques don't really work unless the 'uke' cooperates. So, whenever a new student would show up who didn't know how to cooperate, it would be next to impossible to throw that student to the ground.
Most of the time, the senior students would try to explain to the beginner that if they don't instinctively throw themselves to the floor, the 'nage' could punch them in the chest or the crotch, so that's why they need to cooperate. But I always found this rather lame.
Even once watching a master throwing his advanced disciples around, I realized that the attacks were always half-hearted. The 'uke' knows he/she is about to get thrown, and isn't really trying to hurt or neutralize the 'nage'. They are just cooperating with a forgone conclusion.
I would love to see 'real Aikido' someday.
This cleared up a lot of personal confusion for me about the alleged effectiveness of Aikido. It works! But only if you ACTUALLY learn it. Thank you for this, good sir.
Glad it helped!
In my youth I was among two circles of friends that practiced martial arts as a group. The first group were on the poor side of the tracks so they could not afford to go to a formal dojo and practiced street fighting. The second group about half were in formal dojos, primarily Taekwondo. I was self taught in Aikido and Judo. We all traded off training one another of what we learned and would spar one another. The main difference being no one else was studying Aikido, and I was adjusting it specifically for actual sparing against mix martial arts. Many years later in hind sight I come to understand that ultimately I was practicing Hapkido without realizing it. There in is the main difference, they do not actually spar.
The Problem is Western people think Aikido is a complete martial art itself while Japanese said it just a tiny part of our martial art which you have to understand our concept before sign up for it. Mostly martial art guys looking for violence but Morihei sensei he's pure like a monk, so you have to understand his state of mind.
Eastern people don't question the group or tradition and martial arts to them is a lifestyle. Western people are individualistic and martial arts to them means combat so when it comes to martial arts being useful we say prove it. I think the Western idea of only using what is practical in combat is superior but I do really respect the traditional aspects of martial arts as well.
@@manticore4952 What i found out recently is Japanese focus on how you practice not how you succeed , it's like you sharpen your knife. There is no such thing like succeed. For Aikido i'm sure he invent it for benefit of mental health. I mean if you train it for years and still think about fighting, you better sign up for MMA. Aikido Guys will be the first one who walk away from the scene.
I’ve known fellow Budoka who left Aikido to train in Aikijutsu. Their reason was that in there years of Aikido practice, they came to realize that Aikido generally was ineffective in a real-world, life-ending confrontation on the street. The entire philosophy of “Do” vs. “Jitsu” is very different.
Ah, aikijutsu, Hapkido is aikijutsu! Interesting history, Korean slave during ww2 learned aikijutsu in Japan, then used the name Hapkido when he returned to Korea and began teaching. Of course the art was influenced by Korean martial arts with more kicks as I understand it.
@@kennethrogers1129 Hapkido is Aikido. It is the same word but only differently pronounced. Just like 'Nippon' is pronounced 'Ilbon' in Korean, and 'Hankook' is pronounced 'Kangoku' in Japanese.
@@kennethrogers1129 What people know as Hapkido is a martial art started by Yongsul Choi. He didn't use the name 'hapkido'. Instead, he named it 'hap ki yu kwon sul'. After his death, his students started to used the name 'hapkido' when real hapkido (aikido) was not introduced in Korea. Obviously, they stole the name.