Aikido

A copy of the Blog/Article posted by Knight Mouse on 17th June 2009

PS - I will add this to the library when its up n running again

Aikido is a relatively new martial art dating from the 1920.

It is rooted in the Japanese samurai warrior tradition and incorporates concepts from swordsmanship. It is also basted on O-Sensei's 20-year study of Daito-ryu jujutsu which was transformed by his attachment to the Omoto religion and its celebration of life, creation, and loving protection of others.

Aikido replaced the maiming and destruction of the classical battlefield martial arts with control and compassion. its goal is to subdue and control a situation, protecting both the attacker and attacked.

Ideally the Aikidoist dose not punch or kick to injure or harm unnecessaeily. dose not block or resist attacks but blends with, redirects and transforms the attacker's energy, maintaining the flow. The result is devastating softness, invisible technique and an art that makes no sense to most observers accustomed to force against force.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyX0oeZ0avk&feature=PlayList&p=BEF3BB3B1D306F70&index=0&playnext=1



Common Questions

Q. isn't he just falling down for her?

A. it depends

A throw can look so improbably and impossibly smooth and effortless that it is easy to believe it is fake.

it isn't it is physics.

The laws of physics are strictly enforced at Aikido schools as thear are on motor cycles or on the ski slopes. If you have ever tryed skiing for the first time you now from painful experience just how devastating the forces of physics can be.Saying that the attacker fell down for the Aikidoist is like saying that the beginning skier fell down for the mountain. The advanced cyclist or skier has learned to use theas forces; a small shift in weight or position is the difference between crashing into a tree or swooshing effortlessly through a turn and down the slope.

An accomplished skier flaying across the snow is as wildly improbable to the frustrated beginner as an accomplished Aikidoist flying across the mat -- but neither 1 is faking. skiing is real and motorcycles are reail.

As long as ski slopes are littered with the bodies of fallen and frustrated beginners as long as motorcyclist drop their bikes and as long as Aikidoists aling with the law of physics and the universe, Aikido will be real.

Q. What is Aikido?

A. It is .....

Walking 10 steps down a flight of stairs when there are only 9. Pushing a door just as someone opens it from the other side. Reaching out to shake someone's hand just as they step back

Did you ever....

pull a chair out from under someone just as they wear sitting down?

Hold something out to someone and snatch it away at the last moment?

Lead an animal around using bait?

Hold a child's hand to keep them from straying off?

It's not a touch you develop, its a feeling you hone.

Origami with people, instead of paper.

The art of hitting people with planets.

Love at first flight.

I've got you. I've got you, I've ....... oh nooooooooooo



Q. But what if he .....

A. It depends.

Dennis; Ok, but what if the other guy has a tank. and you're on foot and unarmed?

Wendy; Yeah, well what if my guy has a flame thrower. is mounted on a horse. and you are on the space station Mir?

Janet; It depends. What day of the week is it?

The possibilities of attack and defence are unlimited. Aikido 101 is like math 101; we present a specific problem, and then stage a specific attack with specific energy to practice a specific response or its variations.

Calculus or randori free-style with infinite variables and possibilities comes later.

For now, give the appropriate energy, respond with the appropriate response. This is how we learn. Ti is never wrong to ask questions or experiment. but meanwhile, do practice, test and learn what is presented.



Q. Why protect an attacker?

A. For his sake - and yours.

It is often gratifying to think that an attacker deserves anything you can dish out. From both legal and practical standpoints this is untrue.

Legally you are limited to a type and degree of defence appropriate to the incoming attack, to do what is necessary to control the situation and keep yourself safe.

Practically, you are more likely to face assault from someone you care for, such as a drunken friend or relative, than from a malevolent stranger.

Aikido skills allow you to deail with eather one but you must practice both.

Aikido attitudes are practical self-defence against ending up in jail yourself from assault or murder. Regardless of who the attacker may be, do what is necessary to contril the situation and protect all those concerned. No less, no more.

As Hollywood knows so very well, hatred, fear, vengeance and anger are exciting, exhilarating and energizing. Because they invoke mankind's favourite mind-altering drug of choice - adrenaline - these emotions are extremely seductive and they are the fast track to the Dark Side. Those who feed on the thrill of violence and assault are little different from those who relish and feed on the thrill of vengeance and hatred.

Destroying an attacker because he attacked and therefore deserves whatever he gets is not self defence. What is? the late Bruce Tegner wrote an essay on this topic that is remarkable for its grace and good sense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Tegner

{ I do not wont to type it out but if you can fined it please read it it is well worth the read. }

Q. Dose Aikido work \"on the street?

A. Why do you ask ?

if you have s fantasy of becoming the invincible ultimate fighting warrior, learning a martial art wont help you achieve it. That's a fantasy, remember? To become \"effective\" first you have to brope the nonsense and meet Mr. Reality. He's the only one you have to defeat unfortunately. he always wines.

Aikido isn't a quick course in self defence. it takes a while before you could use the techniques in Brooklin.



this comes from a very good book i picked up over the weekend. Yes it is aikido and i realise not many study it but the book has alot of things that play to much outside of aikido. i believe many would find this book enjoyable. If you like please look it up and reed it if you wish and if you do please let me now what you think.

i found this book well i have been trying to find ways to better may teaching in order to better serve may students. i still have a grate deal to learn and the fun thing is that i always will have a grate deal to learn it's never ending.

Aikido Exercises for Teaching & Training

by C. M. Shifflett

The new 2nd edition is now at the printer. Due in bookstores in March 2009, but you can pre-order here for autographed copies and free shipping.

Exercises, tools, and toys for illustrating and honing basic Aikido skills from rolling to specific techniques, with extensive cross-referencing to other writers, other styles, other resources. Page references are provided to standard texts such as Total Aikido (used by Yoshinkan styles) Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere (used by Aikikai and Ki Society styles).

The Dynamic Sphere translation table translates the notoriously unwieldy numbering system of this otherwise excellent book into more common dojo terms complete with page references. For example, \"Immobilization #2 against Attack #1\" is better known as Katate-tori nikyo. Find this throw on page 180 of Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere or get details on nikyo itself on pages 174-177. For still more information, you will be referred to pages 96-97 of Total Aikido.

Aikido Exercises begins with a collection of common beginners' questions, general directions on class etiquette, explanations of hitori waza (aiki taiso/exercises) and their application to individual techniques, with useful tools for learning and understanding the Japanese terms.

\"A Brief Ki Class\" reviews the physics and psychology behind the mystifying ki exercises -- and Aikido techniques.

\"Rolling, Falling, and Flying\" provides a different slant on Real Self-Defense, and suggestions for safe and effective teaching and leaning of rolling skills. Many readers have commented on this section, especially The Physics of Ukemi by forensic pathologist Wendy Gunther. In Dr. Gunther's world, the intersecting effects of time, force, and affected surface area on bodies are known as \"wounding energy.\"

\"I've been looking for that information for 20 years,\" said one reader. And a writer working on a Hapkido manual wrote to beg permission to reproduce it in its entirety. \"I tried to rephrase it,\" he said, \"but could not. It is simply the best explanation on the planet of the physics of ukemi.\"

\"Resources\" includes an annotated bibliography of suggested books and films, suppliers, and organizations. For the studies that everyone knows about but can't find (such as the anatomy of wristlocks or Bad Guys sizing up potential victims in 7 seconds by their walk) you may find it here.

\"Off the Mat in Real Life\" features a section on verbal self-defense by linguist Suzette Elgin. Trouble with the boss at work? You know very well that the answer is not a round-house kick or face plant. Dr. Elgin provides real tools for real self-defense in Real Life.

The Glossary of Japanese Terms includes derivations and etymology of words by Japanese Aikidoist Chizuko Suzuki. Chizuko is the lovely lady on the cover and thanks to her, this is not just another derivitive copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a dojo handout.

On behalf of knight Mouse - continued from blogs

Bruce Tegner essay on self defense

One way of defining self-defense is to explain what it is not. Personal self-defense is not warfare; it is not vengance; it is not an art; it is not a sporting event; it is not a movie or television fight scene.

[it] is training to learn and use appropriate and effective physical actions if there is no practical available alternative. Many victims of assault are victims not because they lack the capacity to win fights but because they have been given absolutely no preparation to cope with this special kind of emergency.

The old-fashioned view that self-defense instruction is training to reach a high level of fighting skill has the effect of eliminating those individuals who have the greatest need. it is precisely those people who are unadle or unwilling to become fierce fighting machines who denefit from practicalself-defense instruction to the greatest degree.

Our capabilities ought to bear some relationship to real-life objectives. people learning to defend themselves against assault ought not be trained as though they were preraring for warfare. The legal and moral definition of self-derense expressly limits the degree of force to the least which can be used to avert, stop,or escape from an intended assault. in old-style self-defense, every assault is viewed as a very vicious assault. Real life is different. There are degrees of danger. assault intentions range from mildly threatening to the intnt to do great bodily harm. More important, there are mildly threatening situations which. if handled properly with assertive self-control, can be prevented from escalating into physical violence.

There must be a full range of responses to correspond to the range of possible situations. otherwise there is only the all-or-nothing response. which is not a choice - it is a dilemma. The person who cannot cope with a mildly threatening hostile act dos nothing, or responds to the mild threat as if it were a vicious assault. if the interded victim is passive, it encourages the assailant and assaultive action is more likely to occur. Reacting to a mild threat as though it were a vicious assault is inappropriate. The odjective of ethical self=defense instruction is to teach appropriate and effectivr responses.

What we are all striving for is complete control over an attacker, a perfect combination of timing and sensitivity and power that allows us to go untouched as we \"move\" our attacker wherever we want. This may be onto his head or this may be simply to the other side of the room where he is, temporarily, no longer a threat - your choice. But at that level of control, you have that choice. Aikido suggests what you do with that control.

David Berger, Aikikai

Greetings each

I have read that Aikidoka win,by seeming to yield, I also believe this to be very useful in my own art . I believe that most traditional Japanese arts all cross over at some point and have the same goal in mind.

Another example of 'Gentleness' was when a sumo wrestler took on Kano Sensei the founder of judo.He said it was like fighting an empty jacket.

Then again the Ju does mean gentle ...not so for the would be attacker I might add lol.

A good book to read regarding Aikido is the Dynamic Sphere .

Like this post very much

Yours in the spirit of Budo

Mike

Greetings each

I have read that Aikidoka win,by seeming to yield, I also believe this to be very useful in my own art . I believe that most traditional Japanese arts all cross over at some point and have the same goal in mind.

Another example of 'Gentleness' was when a sumo wrestler took on Kano Sensei the founder of judo.He said it was like fighting an empty jacket.

Then again the Ju does mean gentle ...not so for the would be attacker I might add lol.

A good book to read regarding Aikido is the Dynamic Sphere .

Like this post very much

Yours in the spirit of Budo

Mike