Hi people! How can it be that there is an Aikido Championship? My Sensai teched me, that Aikido is a friendly and peaceful Martial Art and that there is no need for competition and challenges. He told me, that there are no specialised "attacks" which an aikido could use to really attack an enemy. Okay, there are 16 "attack forms" but they are not to be "attacking" like in a street fight.
Shodokan Aikido has a competition side to it. It helps us to find actual applications for the techniques that we learn doing kata.
it gives you a better 'feel' to a technique as your partner is either resisting or trying to counter. The sparring is called Randori and is good fun! It's basically taking turns at attacking each other with a either a rubber knife or a strange phallic looking thing while the other tries to apply a defense/technique. There are other forms of Randori too - but I'll let Tintin or Silver come in with the japanese... plus I've got to get back to work!
Ther is no NEED for anything (well, except light, air, water etc ), but competition is a very useful learning tool. Sadly many aikido instructors trawl out the line of Aikido having no competition. I find this a touch disrespectful as although there may be no competition in their particular field of aikido, I would be massively surprised if they had not heard of Kenji Tomiki, and therefore aikido randori shiai. No disrespect to your instructor, but this misinformation (or at least withholding of information) is a real gripe of mine.
Also, could you let me know a bit more about these 16 'attack forms', as it sounds like your syllabus is quite different to ours, and its always good to hear what other people are doing
I think this is a misunderstanding basing on the different kinds of translation. Take a closer look @ http://www.aikidofaq.com/dictionary/attacks.html I meant these "attack forms", which are not attack forms in the way they are for example in Ninjutsu or Karate.
TOMIKI has sapperates himself from the form learn by O sensei because he wants to have a element of full contact but of this is wise i don't now my opinion its to dangerous but kano thakes the softer kind later greatet by O sensei for more softness into his judo practice and that of his students
No, you've missed the point completely. Tomiki wasn't interested in developing competition for the sake of what you call 'full contact' When trying to establish a university aikido club, Tomiki was given the following criteria: The system must have: 1. significance within the context of traditional Japanese budo. 2. value value as a training system from the point of view of physical education. 3. prospects for development on an international level. Also, the best randori players are the ones who understand the concept of softness 'properly'. Remember, 'soft' doesn't mean 'weak'
In terms of competition, I've found aikido lacking, personally. I've studied under both "soft" and "hard" aikido senseis, and at present am training in aikibujitsu. Our style was devised and developed by Obata-san, and seems centered in military application of feudal Samurai combat. As a result, it is considerably more combat-effective than "softer" aikido that doesn't tend to be effective against a resisting opponent. As a result, the cross-disciplinary weapon, immoblization, and aggressive training would make for a fascinating tournament. After all, unlike much of the aikijitsu to which I have been exposed, these sytems interlock. Regrettably, I have yet to find many schools that teach the way mine does....anybody else out there familiar with Obata-san's teachings?
