Aikido vs Judo

NO! Not in the classical "vs thread" sense-- I would never do that to you. I don't want to know who could beat up who. I would however appreciate it if someone could explain very breifly some of the differences in technical emphasis as, to the ignorant onlooker (me) some of the throws look similar.
Thank you.

 

Very informative aikiMac, many thanks.

 

Another notable difference is that Judo is primarily sports oriented. They have competitions and if you look deeper into the history of Judo you'll find that many of the rules that they have in Judo are rules designed for teaching sport and competition.

Aikido does not have sport. Actually there is a particular style of Aikido that does have a sporting element to it... but by and large Aikido doesn't focus on competitions.

In Judo there are any number of legal ways to grab your opponent and time limits as to how long you're allowed to hold on before attempt to throw your opponent. Additionally you can score points in Judo competitions for holding someone down... a bit like a pin in Greco Roman wrestling.

Aikido has none of that - so you can see there is a much different focus.
That's not to say that one is more effective than the other or visa versa... they both are impressive arts and both have applications for self defense.

 

Isn't Aikido considered an internal style, and judo external?

 

From a Judo angle, as far as I understand it, Aikido mainly uses the opponents' strentgh against them, while we are based on the Principle of Maximum Efficiency (or best use of energy), both basically aiming to throw the opponent with the least effort possible. Hence old pictures showing the principles of Judo, with young women toppling big troll-like men.

Which leads me onto another differance. Definately not wanting to seem to have a stereotypical view of people, but although both aim for efficient throwing that to outsiders can often seem effortless, Judo seems to attract the stronger builds, while (really really sorry if this is wrong) Aikido seems to attract the more thin and flexible (if it's any conselation I'm really lanky so these views are definately not completly true). Hope some of that rambling is interesting.

(Do you reckon I covered myself enough to avoid flaming? )

Your right about Judokas considering Aikido by the way. I've been considering a bit of crosstraining myself, though I feel I should find somewhere where I can work on punches and kicks, but you didn't need to know that. I'm just going on now. I'll shut up

 

I migrated to Aikido from Judo. Believe me, you lose none of the painful bits you have in Judo, you just gain a lot more ways to feel new and exotic types of pain in Aikido locks etc. Time is always a problem in classes but as a bit of complementary 'cross training' I see no problem in teaching some of the useful 'groundwork' from Judo to Aikido students, and some of the Aikido locks etc to Judoka - as long as they remember they are 'illegal' in competition.:

Judo as a sport is defined by a set of rules etc but there are 'jutsu' or applied elements which are sometimes taught alongside, or there were in ancient times when I wa a student (1970's!). Aikido has many of these 'applications' and is useful against punches and kicks, traditional and street weapons in having a set of blocks and blends, locks and throws with a wide variety of combinations of these.

What makes Aikido most interesting (and confusing?) is its diversity. Where one style will have a lot of hard and linear attacks another will have softer and circular movements.

My advice would be to get a few DVD's to watch or get along to a few classes and join in - watching Aikido alone does not give you a realistic chance of understanding it and many Judo guys wonder why someone 'throws themself' without understanding the need to use it as an escape fom a lock which would otherwise break his arm etc etc. 'Suck it and see'

 

Yeah we've done a bit of Aikido stuff in our advanced Judo class, we learnt it as a defence to a knife thrust, and possibly some locks as well. Thanks.

 

We have a few big guys in my Aikido class, however, I think Aikido can be discouraging to big people because Aikido doesn't use strength, (you have to develop your power from movement instead). Naturally, if you're already strong, you don't want to give that advantage up.

So your Judo club teachs self-defence? Interesting. Are you taught Judo techiques for self-defence as well?

Is the club purely self-defence or do you train for competition?

 

Um, on the main nights of practise, we are taught Judo in a conventional manner, where the focus is on learning the techniques and the principles, not really leaning in any particular way relative to defence or competition. I think one of the main aims was to get kids off the street in an area where they might easily stray. But when you progress through the club you start to lean towards competition, but our sensei holds a special class on a different night for the most advanced in our groups, where we widen our range and do alot of different things, both competition and self-defence orientated.

I hope some of that made sense.

 

George Ohsawa, the founder of Macrobiotics, knew the founder of Judo, who also had seen aikido, had an indirect connection to O-Sensei noted, “Aikido is the highest level of Judo." (taken from the book "The Art of Peace" orignally called "The Book of Judo" published in French, as Le Livre du Judo, 1952)

Regards

 

LOL!
Nice way to put it.

 

Kano Sensei's Kodokan Judo places a great deal of emphasis on Kuzushi or "off-balancing" to maximise the effect of technique.

Kuzushi is a primary tenant of Aikido.

Regards

 

Interesting... kuzushi is also one of the main tenets of Daito-ryu Akijujutsu from which Ueshiba sensei was well versed in prior to developing Aikido.

 

.. Er... Which is why it exists in Aikido DOH

 

You don't start off with a grip in Judo randori, you have to grip-fight to obtain one in the first place. Grip-fighting is one aspect of Judo which is commonly over looked even be Judo instructors

 

True, but what can you actually teach in regards to grip-fighting? Surely that's something you pick up through being in a grip-fight sitiuation, it's hardly something you can miss while learning.

(I'm sorry I won't call you shirley again. )

 

This is probably a dumb question, but is there any grappling type stuff in Aikido, as I understand there is at least some in Judo?

 

You can have whole lessons on grip fighting, like I said it's a majorly neglected area of teaching. I used to train with a former commonwealth u70kg champion, he had a whole template of grip hiearchy, how to achieve them and where you can go with each one.

The grip you have dictates the control and kuzushi you can perform, neglect grip and you're boned.

Only some? What else are we doing? :Angel:

 

My fault, I probably should have said ground work/fighting instead of grappling. So is there any in Aikido?