Is Aikido A Martial Art?

its not watered down in terms of its training methods which is the point here,

 

after re-reading this...let me ask you...what would you think if someone posted this on map? would you believe that story or not?

 

If he had done that to me he would have been carved into ribbons...I don't care how good his rep is

It smacks of apocrypha

 

honestly, i read the guy's article again, especially after david pointed out the knife story, which i had read but the impact of it hadn't quite hit me until david pointed it out again.

i've come away from the article thinking even less of the author. i actually can't believe that this man is taken seriously at all. i could care less how many dans he has or how long he's been teaching. his "article" or "essay" of full of highly dubious characterizations and wildly fantastical stories that he goes on then to build his supposed "point". it's pretty much bull.

 

frankly, i'm also doubting the very character of mdgee. posting stuff like that means you obviously have some kind of agenda and are just trolling the aikido forum.

 

It's no sillier than some of the more fanciful stories people tell about Mas Oyama or Ueshiba or Funakoshi or Lee or any other MA legend.

I think it's most likely a myth that has evolved over time.

 

What he said. My sensei used to say that many of the stories told about Mas Oyama were spread by his students and not told by himself, and he himself said many of them were exagerations, or even made up. People like to tell these stories.

As for Bruce Lee, if he beat as many people as people claimed that he did in street fights, he would have been in and out of jail like a ping pong ball.

There is only one Martial artists whose crazy stories I beleive, and that is Bas Rutten. Because he has the CCTV and police reports to back them up, not to mention his fights in the ring to prove he was a hard customer .Also he seems more embarassed by them than anything else.

 

Mdgee, if you're interested in talking to an instructor that teaches a real martial art version of Aikido, then visit the school in Henderson http://hendersonaikido.com/
Sensei Mendibles runs a really great class and was a live in student in japan.

 

There's an old saying amongst Aikidoka. It originally came from either O Sensei or Chiba, perhaps. "Aikido is 90% atemi". Atemi means to strike. In Aikido "practice" this is generally a knife hand. But it doesn't have to be.

 

No, I don't believe so. Think of it less as practical fighting application and more as an exercise in movement.

I always thought it was O'Sensei, but I could be wrong.

I have to say from my limited experience that there does seem to be a lot of truth in that. Some of the worst Aikido I've ever seen has almost always started with such a limp attack that they might as well have not bothered.

 

The same Bas Rutten claiming Thaiboxers smashed him as a beginner, went home, flexed in front of the mirror for a few hours, and the next day magically beat them all up.

 

Nope. But he did take it to the extreme end of pointlessness.

The last Ki Federation of Great Britain course I attended, I spent an hour almost literally doing a simple roll to stand exercise. And it was after that course my teacher abandoned the Ki Fed. So I can certainly identify with the sentiments in the article. I just think if you're going to call someone out then do it right.

 

Source?

Bas is a proven commodity - end of story

 

Read the article, it was bad. "My martial art is awesome and works really well but everyone is misrepresenting it except me".

Heard it from all the ninjas before.

ITF - I'd like the source on that too please.

 

Do you really believe that aikido as it is taught today was the original intent of Ueshiba?

 

I think his intent changed a bit as his went along though in fairness

 

What O Sensei taught changed the older he got. Heading more in the direction of the philosophical/spiritual slant.

 

But what I see when I've observed Aikido classes (3 separate classes) is just bad. Ueshiba may have mellowed somewhat in his old age, but I seriously doubt he started to cast aside the basic principles that made Aikido successful in the first place.

One thing I think Ellis is unequivocably right about is when he says that in the early UK years "most of the new students of Aikido were from other Martial Arts. I do not believe that we could have converted other Martial Artists to Aikido had it not been so strong and effective."

I don't think that is true anymore. When I watch the last 15 minutes or so of the Aikido class that has the room before my Judo class, not one single part of me is thinking "Wow - that looks strong and effective". Normally I'm marvelling at how little any of them is sweating in a room that rarely gets below 25C or how quiet the room is.

 

It's on youtube interviews with him. One of the more in depth ones. Don't remember which of the hole loth. It's really an expansion of same story - getting his liver kicked in the very first Muay Thai session, but a continuation.