Aikido FAQ For Noobs - Ask questions here

I don't know if this has been asked before but I am looking for Aikido Kata videos, are there any on the web? I am not trying to learn from video just want to know what Aikido katas look like... there are katas in Aikido are there???

 

There certainly are. Generally there will be kata for Jo and Bokken. There are some clips here. Google is my friend.

 

I'm thinking of taking aikido. My question is can you practice without a partner, from what I've seen it seems like it would be difficult.

Also does anyone know anything about this school
http://newschoolaikido.com/

 

Depending on style and club there will be variouse kata that can be practiced solo. However proper practice requires a teacher.

 

I don't know anything about the school but for me personally there are a few statements on the website that draw my attention.

I assume you've never done aikido before and, if this is the case you should with respect try to obtain a wider point of view than that being presented on the school's website. Here's my point of view

Aikido is a martial system, whilst at its core it has an ideology of conflict resolution without violence, it is, never the less a fighting art and a very sophisticated one at that.

Whilst I can see what the author is saying, and ultimately where he's attempting to go with this; confrontation in the physical sense will ALWAYS require a measure of PHYSICAL action to counter it, whilst philosophically you may not see your adversary as an "enemy" they are never the less a threat, and one which has to be dealt with quickly and effectively.

The quotation on the website

What the author isn't explaining is that through the many years the founder spent developing it; it went though many a process of evolution, what is being described in Ueshiba's words is a very philosophical and heavily religiously influenced ideology which, is associated with the art and not actually part of the taught curriculum. Indeed many of the founder's own personal students have stated they themselves did not comprehend his beliefs yet, for some unexplained reason, so many people seem to cart-blanch adopt when they don their keikogi and start aikido.

As an individual I do often find some of the things the founder of aikido stated, as being quite arrogant. The above quote is a classic example, he is dictating in quite definitive terms what "true budo" is.. not true aikido but "true budo" essentially he is referring to all fighting arts, an attitude which, as far as I'm concerned is a little crass considering there were many, many other equally gifted and skilled budoka responsible for their own arts which do not follow Ueshiba's ideological thinking.

What a crock of.... This is the sort of nonsense which give the art a seriously bad name. As does this...

Whilst it is true that aikido is a gift to all of us, I doubt "love" was on the top of Ueshiba's list of "must do's/have's" during his younger years as far as his martial arts were concerned. Perhaps people should be reminded that the founder wasn't exactly a choirboy during his lifetime.

Gimme a break for the love of all that is good.

Although I have the benefit of experience, looking at that website makes me want to puke a bit with all the gushy ideological mumbo-jumbo on it.

 

Thanks Dave. All the love mumbo jumbo was a bit much for me also. I'm more interested in the art it self. I've met the instructors and have taken one class to see what it was about. Luckily it wasn't a love fest .

Since there are a few people on this forum that seem to be well informed on lineage I was hoping someone might know the sensei or his teachers and could give me some insight on whether he's legit or not. Unfortunatly there aren't any other aikido schools near by to compare, so it's either this school or another art and there's not a lot to choose from. I just don't want to start somewhere then learn it's crap.

So any help would be appreciated.

 

give more info about the school. Is there a website?

 

http://newschoolaikido.com/

 

Tomiki Aikido

I have a backround in Daito Ryu Aikijutsu and recently had the opportunity to attend a class that teaches Tomiki Aikido. I did notice some similiarites between the two however I have been told that the Tomiki style is more sports related. I did enjoy the lessons and learned a few new things. However I am not a hardcore tradionalist but have veered away from "sport" styles because I feel sometimes they take to much away from the art.

I would like to know the opinions of those who study or have studied in this style of Aikido. Is the style so sport related that practicality in everyday use is non existent or is it able to be used in everyday situations. I have even used the almight "google" before anyone suggests that but would like a real opinion instead of just a prewritten textual one. Any useful information is greatly appreciated.

 

i know little of aikido,infact its the martial art i know the least about, so here my shot at a noob question.

when aikidoka are in the form of sparring where multiple opponents attack, why is it the uke always have to come to them, can it never be you attack first? is this an ethical rule or one that has just become the set standard, also is it not rather a bad idea to train people to defend against strikes, when the strikes being aimed at them are sub-par?

i mean no disrespect but from what i have seen the attacks are usually large, telegraphed, and they hang in the air for sometime,their is no evidence of a swift crisp jab or swift sharp kicks, and i mean the aikidoka are not trained strikers so to defend against their strikes surley would lead to false expectaions of what a strike is and how it is delivered by a trained person.
however i am aware that O'sensei may have intended strikes delivered with much better quality when he conceptualised aikido.

was aikido pressure tested against many other arts during its making like say the testing of judo via challenges from disgruntled ju jitsu practioners.

and finally,does aikido contain many techniques that are heavily reliant on the opponent wearing a gi?

regards

Tommy

 

Randori is what you are talking about. Randori can mean any form of free style or semi-free style training. Most of the time I've done randori it consists of the uke (attackers) given specific instructions on what attack or set of attacks to make. More free style (no pre-set attacks) usually are reserved for more advanced levels of training. It really depends on how skilled everyone is in how randori is conducted.

There is no reason in Randori why the tori (defender) can't attack uke first. In fact this often does happen.

Aikido is derived from a time when fighting was not thought of as grappling or striking, Aikido has both grappling and striking put together. Aikidoka are trained strikers, but generally they aren't expert strikers compared to boxers, for instance. However, Aikido also depends heavily on weapon concepts which a boxer might neglect (so a similar argument might be that a boxer wouldn't seem very skilled in a sword fight).

Most Aikidoka that I know of that are expert strikers are so because they have crossed-trained throughout the years.

Honestly, I don't know. I believe that the most dangerous attacker was the person with the mental determination to never give up.

I've seen plenty of fights where it wasn't skill that determined the outcome, but it was more the determination and weaponry. Imagine an attacker that has a knife and comes at you fast with multiple strikes in an attempt to kill you. Are you thinking of their skill level with the knife, do you even care if they are skilled or not, the blade can severe your flesh to the bone with very little effort in any case.

The first lessons in Aikido have to do with learning about martial principles and dealing with an attacker that launches a single determined attack to kill you. From that point, then it progresses to learning how to handle a more skilled attacker and one that launches multiple attacks and multiple attackers.

One thing I liked about Aikido is that it was important to really try to hit the other person, if they did not move out of the way or block, they would be hit. This is not so for beginners that need to develop the ukemi skills in order to reach that level, but it should be fairly regular training for advanced Aikidoka.

You don't pressure test arts or systems, you pressure test people. Aikido doesn't have anything really new in it, same techniques or similar techniques based on what is found in Judo and Ju Jitsu.

So this really depends on the skill levels of the Aikidoka whether the techniques will work under pressure. Many early Aikido were from other martial schools such as karate and Judo I believe. When I trained in Aikido I was already a black belt in karate.

Some techniques but much less than Judo depends on the gi. Aikidoka don't like to grab and they don't train in strangulations (chokes) which are two areas that Judo can use the gi in to aid in the technique.

 

Shodokan

I took shodokan for several years, then i quit for several years and now looking into starting again. iI can start where i left off, but is that the best choice? Also, what are other forms of martial arts that would be good for me to take? Im currently interested in Ninjutsu, any suggestions would be splendid.

 

lol

Ok, I'll try to be a little more clear this time. I studied Shodokan for several years, unfortunately I lost interest and quit. 5 or so years have gone by, and now I am regaining interest in martial arts. My Sensei says I can start again as a purple belt with one stripe, or I can restart as a white belt. Which is the better choice for the time I have been away from martial arts? Also, I am looking to study another martial art, such as Ninjutsu, does anyone have any suggestions to which I should study along with or after im finished with Shodokan

 

k

Alright, thanks for the help. Im sure ill post on something else pretty soon. So, I'll be around.

 

Hello,

The chief instructor, John Smartt, mentions that he spent seven years in Japan engaged in a variety of pursuits, that he was awarded a teaching licence by Michio Hikitsuchi, and that he has dan ranks in three different aikido systems. The late Michio Hikitsuchi was a very accomplished martial artist. To see this, I suggest that you seek out one of his students who does not place so much immediate stress on love and harmony. Since you live in California, I suggest you take the trouble to train with Mary Heiny.

My own opinion, based on the website, is that Mr Smartt returned to the States and decided to do his own thing, open his own school and award his own ranks. This is fine, but I think seven years is too short.

Finally, a there is a whole load of mumbojumbo on aikido websites and bulletin boards about aikido as love and peace, which you need to take with several sackfuls of salt. The mumbojumbo is mainly based on statements of Morihei Ueshiba translated into English. There is a vast amount of material published in Japanese under the name of Morihei Ueshiba that has never been translated into English (mainly for reasons of copyright).

I have lived in Japan for nearly 30 years, can speak and read Japanese, and have read all this material. Ueshiba's discourses on love and peace are heavily influenced by the Omoto religion, which, like many other 'new' religions appearing in Japan in the 19th century (around the collapse of the Tokogawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration), place heavy stress on a utopian future world of love and peace, as a way of escape from the stress and uncertainty of the present. This is a common theme and they ALL talk about a new era of love and peace, while not doing anything particularly concrete to achieve it.

For example, an offshoot of Omoto-kyo (Japan's 'new' religions, based though they were on a vision of love and peace, were just as faction-ridden as aikido), is the Byakko Shinkoukai. The founder, Masahisa Goi, was a close friend of Morihei Ueshiba. Goi supposedly achieved enlightenment and came to believe that universal love and peace would be established if everyone constantly recited a certain formula (you can actually see this formula displayed outside houses all over Japan: the English version of the formula is "May peace prevail on earth"). Putting things rather crudely, Goi believed that if EVERYONE recited the formula, then the spiritual/physical energy thus created would be effective in actually changing the minds of world leaders.

You can make of this what you like, and Goi's religion still exists in Japan, but the evidence suggests that it has not achieved any spectacular results. However, Ueshiba also stressed aiki as love because of his Omoto beliefs, but also because of a coincidence in the Japanese language. The Japanese world for the AI in aikido is 合. The Japanese word for love is 愛, but this is also read as AI. Japanese has thousands of homonyms, based on the Chinese characters used to write the language, and so the Founder often wrote that AIKI (会気 : harmony-ki) is AIKI (愛気 : love-ki). When he stated this, however, he explained it all in terms of his mission, as a reincarnation of several deities, to be the bridge between the heavenly realm and the earthly realm, as set out in Japan's early creation myths. He never discussed love in Western terms.

So, as an endnote to a very long post, (1) the aikido practised in the dojo in question might well not be crap, but the question is whether they will allow you to practise 'the art itself' and ignore the 'love and peace mumbojumbo'. As I suggested, if you have the time, you should seek out Mary Heiny and also K Chiba, in San Diego. Like Hikitsuchi, Chiba was one of Morihei Ueshiba's deshi (students) and I was one of his students, but I would not immediately associate his training with love and peace, as this is commonly understood. (2) Dave Humm's contributions to this thread are of great value, in my opinion.

Best wishes,

 

QUESTION:

This may seem like a very simple question, but I am very new to Aikido.
I have read about randori and jiyu waza, their definitions, similarities and differences.

When practicing a technique on an uke, regardless of the degree of compliance, the uke is trained in breakfalls. When a technique involves the uke being thrown and rolling forwards, what would be the desired outcome on a "real life" opponent i.e. an attacker?

Would you aim to throw the attacker, or assume that they are not able to release from the technique using a breakfall manouvre and aim for a lock/break in the opponents arm for example?

 

is groping an effetcive technique? lol