Martial Aikido Hey folks this is just my 2 cents worth Aikido should be the combination of both hard and soft, ultimate flexibility with a rod of iron centre. We were taught that the Aikidoka is like the Katana, the combination of a hard edge with a flexible backbone allows the sword to cut through objects stronger than itself. We should seek to make our Aikido like this. We learn the attitude of Aikido from the sword and the flexibility from the Jo. The problem in my opinion arises when students attempt to execute techniques in a flowing manner when the have not spent at least 10 years building a strong Kamae and immovable spirit. Combine this with complient uke's and the practice becomes a farse. We must build strong powerful technique then pressure test it with committed attacks outside our comfort zone. "Riai Let us assume that we wish to purchase a katana; not a ceremonial sword, but a weapon that shall serve us on the battlefield. At the same time let us draw parallels with the student wishing to become a budoka. THE SEARCH First we must find a master. The student should visit as many clubs as possible. Do not assess someone by what they say, rather by what they produce. Study the students, their attitude to the teacher, training and to each other. Just as the samurai would wish to see examples of the swordsmith's work so should the potential student wish to see a training session. THE PROCESS When the master swordsmith sets out to produce a sword he shall attempt to gather the best material. When a teacher decides to accept a student he shall be looking for sincerity of purpose, commitment and spirit. Contrary to what is often said martial arts are not for everyone. One must have a deep desire to study and be prepared to endure difficult training. IMPURITIES The first thing that must be done to the material when making a sword is to beat out the impurities in the metals. This is done by placing them in a fire and bringing it to the correct temperature. In the same way a good teacher shall know how much pressure to place upon the student. Too hot too soon may damage the blade/student, while not hot enough shall produce nothing at all. Impurities in a student may be false expectations, expecting almost immediate results, lack of spirit, uncertainty or lack of commitment. All of these shall be 'beaten out' by the instructor. Often the student shall feel out of his element. The strict discipline and intense concentration demanded in training may intimidate him. This is where the sempei senior student comes in. He shall provide most of the instruction as the teacher teaches heart to heart by example rather than explanation."
After applying the attack, isn't it uke's job to blend with the technique in order to prevent injury to himself?
NO Def not from what I have been taught, Nage must blend with uke and control there ukemi. Too many times when Uke blends they TAKE Ukemi. This should never happen.
Proper application of kusushi, allows uke to be thrown without injury or the need to be compliant. Unbalance uke backwards to the side, cut powerfully to the second kusushi this allows the final throw to be applied relatively gently as uke is already completely off balance. We must never attempt to throw someone that we have not completely unbalanced.
Aikiwolfie, Strange really, when you consider that Ken Williams was the first aikido Dan grade in the UK and with his metaphoric rise, he goes in with Tohei. leaves for reasons unspecified, starts his own org and starts going the woo woo route? I am reliably informed that he did practice a very martial aikido in origin. We see no instructional videos by KW or the Ki Fed, very little or no info at all on the internet. Is it some kind of marketing ploy? Mystery aikido/MA man? Pulls in the gullible like hot cakes.... We all know that he owns a very large plush dojo, the envy of all aikidoka!! Makes you wonder how he made all his dosh? Was/is he a successful businessman? The mystery thickens.... your thoughts?
it looks pretty swish on the website but does HE own it personally? I would imagine some government agency had a funding contribution to a large organisation like this. surely a 'Sport England' grant or something has an effect? unless their student's fees are enough to maintain the dojo?? Wolfie, what was the problem with Margaret Williams that you said people had?
If uke blends with nage, how then does nage ever learn to control uke? When uke blends with nage and takes ukemi, uke basically sacrifices themselves to the technique. Nage does not get the chance to actually apply the technique. It'll heal. I nearly broke my neck once which left me with permanent damage to my right shoulder. Didn't stop me though.
Hey Dento, wouldn't sweat it. These are all phrases that koyo drilled into us for years. I can't take any credit We'll just keep his teachings alive. No politics or personalities. Just Aikido pure and simple.
Indeed by all accounts he was skilled in many different martial arts. So far as I can remember Ken Williams was a spark by trade. The plush dojo was built with the aid of a mortgage and contributions from the students. We were asked on many occasions to put our hands in our pockets and donate around £20 each. There are also a good few students in the Ki Fed who are very well connected and fairly wealthy. Margaret Williams would frequently barge in on a conversation and take such people away for a "privet chat". The Ki Federation of Great Britain is actually a global organisation. It has or had affiliated clubs all over Europe and as far a field as Russia, the United States of America, Malaysia and Australia. Just how Ken Williams managed to establish all those connections is information I'm not privy to. What I do know however is that he is very anti-advertising. He feels advertising martial arts is unseemly. However he is a very charismatic individual. He always had a story to tell or a joke to crack and never shied away from buying a round at the bar. Basically he understand people and how to get on their good side. Edit: Although I'm told he didn't trust men with beards and long hair. ?
Mark of a good salesman and a very ambitious wife it seems... I suppose 20 quid isn't much from one person, but multiply that a few thousand wise and its quite effective I suppose. Wonder how they got round the tax implications?....
As a one off no it's not. But then add on to that the normal costs people were having to pay at the time. For example insurance with the Ki Fed, which everybody had to have was something on the order of £25 to £30 per year. Then there was the club membership fee, course fees and normal mat fees, grading fees, travel costs etc. It all adds up. Oh and teachers were chastised if they set their mat fees too low. The insurance costs were a particular sore point for some people. There was a suspicion the Ki Fed was adding on a handling fee. At some point just prior to my joining, the Ki Fed moved from a model of insuring the entire organisation with one block of insurance that everybody paid at the same time, to individual payments by each student based on the date they joined. However you had to buy your insurance from the Ki Fed. In addition there were "black belt courses". And black belts were expected to attend. basically there were tones of added extras and hidden costs students were never told about when they first joined their local Ki Fed club.
There was a lot of politics around Margaret Williams. She was seen as being manipulative and scheming and from what I'm told there was a lot of resistance amongst the higher grades and executive committee to her being made 10th dan and basically taking over from Ken Williams as head of the organisation.
Not surprising..... Seems to me aikido and MA in general has this "problem" Market something just out of reach with mystique and this is more than everybody else has, more expensive, has to be good!! Hey presto! In it rolls!! Glad to see that people have opened their eyes!! So many in aikido and MA today.... <very> sad....
This seems like an unrealistic attitude to me. Of course, we shouldn't be pushovers as uke, but the uke needs to be in the business of protecting himself. Good technique is not, in my opinion, a sacred cow that justifies the kind of injury you're talking about. I personally am willing to sacrifice a little soundness in technique and sincerity in training to avoid that kind of injury. Besides, we are supposed to learn as much from being uke as being nage. If all uke does is resist, resist, resist, what are we learning? There are times when resisting is stupid and dangerous, and good ukemi should teach that.
There are different types of "resistance" I have always felt resistance is to try and nullify your opponents waza by taking the advantage in its weakness and stopping them, this should lead into kaeshi waza, in other words not to stand there like an immovable rock at his every attempt to apply his waza (interception of atemi?). But it is good to get your opponents to grip strongly and in posture to find the least line of resistance when trying to apply waza. That is good training. Busting up your uke's will make sure you'll run out of them in time..... Any silly sod can do that. It does not prove whether or not it will be street effective. Being able to adapt is far more important in that kind of situ.... Nothing is absolute....
The injury was the result of a freak accident in a junior class. Not the result of being a non-compliant uke. I was just pointing out a sprained wrist isn't so bad. I've seen more uke suffer injuries because they've decided when to take an ukemi during the execution of a technique rather than continuing the attack. Nage ends up trying to do one thing, uke does something else and it all goes horribly wrong in the middle. Nage must learn to control uke. If uke chooses to blend with the technique, uke is not offering any resistance or putting any pressure on nage. Nage has no need then to execute a technique. But rather simply go through the motions until uke takes a fall. Very little to nothing of value is learned in this mode of practice. It's the sort of thing I would expect a rank beginner in martial arts to be doing until they got a clue to what was going on.
Then let's use my example. I was uke, nage put a nikkyo on me. Should uke go down with the nikkyo or make nage take him down? I tried the latter and got a sprained wrist for it. I'm going to be out of aikido for months. Guess what I'm going to do the next time someone puts a nikkyo on me in the dojo? I've been kind of implying two questions here, so I'll ask them straight up now: 1. Do you think part of ukemi is learning how to protect oneself from injury? 2. Do you think it is sometimes necessary for uke to yield to a technique to prevent injury?
