Aikido For Fighting And Self Defense | My Opinion

[@Booracay]

I was involved with Aikido for many years. Started when I was in Japan, and continued in the US. I think there is confusion about it. Outside Japan you always hear about it being peaceful, not harming your opponent. What I heard while in Japan is that you must do what you have to do, not do more than what is needed. In order to decide not to harm your opponent you have to be capable of doing tremendous harm. Only then can elect to not harm an attacker.

[@nunninkav]

You got it. It's marketing, Aikido is marketed as the pacifists martial art.

[@AjaychinuShah]

@@nunninkav IMO, you should of gone after other WAY, way more HIGHER exotic Martial Art Philosophies which are alliterated into 7 branches today. It makes no difference if they find out.

[@AjaychinuShah]

@nunninkav5307 Aiki ka kai is spiritual, whereas Aiki do devolve into a fitness addiction like BJJ.

[@Naturalvelocity]

That's what confuses me. I'm sure that these Japanese Aikidoka are aware of traditional Japanese Jujutsu. Like this dude said, Aikido came from Aikijujutsu. They are both essentially the same art but with one major difference. My sensei who has a Shodan in both Aikido and Jujutsu put it this way: Aikido works and Jujutsu doesn't. Aikido in its entirety concerns itself with peacefully preserving the attacker while Jujutsu seems more like a science on how to destroy the human body. I've worked with Aikidoka before and I have to admit that their techniques themselves are simply ineffective against any real resistance, especially compared to Jujutsu. Why the difference? Simply because one art is peaceful and the other is lethal. It seems to be more than just a difference in philosophies. Additionally, as you guys mentioned, many Aikido schools don't teach their students that their art is ineffective, or incomplete, rather, due to the lack of striking. In Jujutsu, they almost always pair it with Karate or at least tell their students to learn Karate as well. This usually results in a disconnected mentality and inflated ego for the Aikidoka which can be dangerous for themselves. These are all things I've noticed about Aikido, but as you said all of my experience has been in the US. Now I'm curious how accurate this is to Japanese Aikido Schools.

[@AjaychinuShah]

@@Naturalvelocity Really, all you need is Judo to survive in life. And Aikido is a complement to that Path or way whatever you like to think. But I'm so glad reinterest in Aiki is emerging again. It just spurts like after a Seagal movie and then every one quits like a deer in headlights on Highway 85.

[@gretchenriordan9022]

Aikido training made me aware enough to sense what was going on before three young men attacked me and the evasive footwork got me out of there and to safety. So I ‘won’ a fight by not getting caught up in it in the first place. I train Muay Thai too, but probably nothing would have saved me if those guys had actually caught me. So in that sense, aikido worked :-)

[@notwerkinginthishouse8634]

Im glad it helped you. Thats why i started training it. I adore martial arts

[@Rolben]

Getting trained by Usain Bolt would've been more beneficial

[@ironjavs1182]

I started with different martial arts and ended up in Aikido. I was training about two years and eventually stopped because I tought the art wasn 't effective enough and went to MMA and BJJ. I did those a really long time about 10 years and IMHO I was pretty good at it. But then I started to see that I could pull off aikido principiles/techniques in sparring/matches and they were pretty strong and opponents didn't really see them coming (but like you said in the end it was more aikijutsu then aikido): ikkyo was my favourite to get close and you could crab that elbow in grappling situations. It is true that there is only handful moves that you can pull, but there really isn't so many moves in aikido to begin with they are just applied in different positions and made a little bit different. This is pretty common in every martial art no one uses many different techniques when they fight, world best BJJ grapplers are also using often only the basic moves. So don't know if anyone is intrested, but I went back to Aikido few years ago and after 14 years being away from there I just achieved the honor of wearing a hakama and brown belt. 🙂 And planning to continue train Aikido as long as possible.

[@irsh2786]

Thanks for sharing, as a grappler who did a bit of Aïkido before, I think I will also resume it

[@bujin5455]

In a lot of ways, I want to just say, "you're not wrong." What you are describing is what Aikido has become, mostly by many of the mainstream Aikidoka who took over after Ueshiba's passing. Though the real history of Aikido, as developed and taught by the founder is far more complicated and nuanced than described, and in some very meaningful ways. For starters, how combat focused the art is really depends on when you were studying with Ueshiba. In the beginning Ueshiba taught Daito Ryu (which he had received an Menkyo Kaiden from Takeda Sokaku), later he started to call it Aiki-budo, then Aikido. Though Ueshiba's focus and intent was not really as the presenter describes (to remove all the teeth from Daito Ryu). The difference between a system "jutsu" and a path "do" really isn't about how soft it is, or combat focused it is, it really has more to do with whether we're talking about a technical discussion or an art discussion. A Jutsu has techniques, they are performed in a certain way, if you execute those techniques in the proper way, you receive a certification stating you know the tested techniques. (There is no "rank" as such, just certification, as rank is a "do" concept, about "how good" you are.) Now that doesn't mean you can use them in combat, it just means you have a technical mastery. Just like having a technical mastery of english doesn't mean you're going to be the next great American author. Fighting is more than technical proficiency. "Do"s on the other hand are more about how you perform the "art." Like have you mastered the "style" of it, do you "get it." Sort of like the difference between one person being able to explain all of the technical details of english while lacking a strong command of it, while another person may not understand all of the technical elements but is super proficient in actually speaking well. (Still doesn't make you a good story teller though.) In both cases, fighting is a step higher than simple mastery of the curriculum. Which really should be obvious to anyone who has actually thought about this. Real application in any field is of a different nature than simply an education of the means and methods used. Here's the God's honest truth of the situation. Aikido is an extremely effective tool set in a fight. Notice I said, "tool set" and not "fighting style." Because it's not some sort of program that you upload to your brain, and you're automatically a killing machine. Fighting goes beyond the scope of most martial art schools in the world today. Aikido absolutely can work extremely well against a number of trained opponents; I know this for a fact, first hand. However, again, just because you go to art school doesn't mean you're going to be Michelago. There's more to it than that. And the reality is, in the world we're living in today, modern people do not have the stomach to train these "traditional" arts the way they were traditionally trained. Traditionally arts were pressured tested, against each other, dojo to dojo, and often to the death. There's plenty of Japanese history one can read about this from. I recommend reading Go Rin No Sho (the book of the five rings) as a primer. Without this grounding in reality the people who study these arts lose focus, and they are not able to perform the arts with their original potency. Regardless of the fact Aikido is relatively recent in name, there is nothing new in Aikido really, and its techniques go back to bloody feudal melee war (or the ultimate in hand to hand combat scenarios, where melee wasn't a side show while you're reloading your riffle). However, as time has dragged on, people become more and more disconnected from the real context of the movements. And I'm not just talking about how they came from sword work or something like that, I mean the reality that you may actually have to defend yourself against a trained armed killer today out on the very real battle field. No matter how much you talk about that, if you haven't experienced someone seriously trying to kill you, you don't know what it's like. And then you get generations of martial artists who haven't experienced it, passing it down to more generations who haven't experienced it. You don't need much of that before the warrior spirit dies. At this point, most dojos have watered Aikido down so much, it's nothing like what O'Sensei actually taught. For starters, people say there are no strikes in Aikido. This is just not true. O'Sensei, Ueshiba, said that atemi (the strike) was 90% of "battle ready" Aikido. What does this mean? One, it means that strikes are in Aikido, obviously. Two, it means Aikido can be used in battle, but clearly it doesn't work the same way as what you see everyone teaching. Another observation I would make is that Aikido has an "efficiency principle" (just like any good martial art would), which basically states, "do not waste anything." Do not take five movements, or even two, for what you can do in one, or preferably none. So you spend half the class having "uke" throwing strikes at "nage" so nage can practice "the Aikido"? Wrong. This is a misunderstanding right here. Uke is studying Aikido just as much when he those the strike, and the very strike itself is part of Aikido, and yet most "senseis" spend nearly ZERO energy teaching how these strikes really work (probably because they don't know). Like most of the yokomens I see are half hearted movements, like what you see presented at 7:59 (which is nothing more than stylistically offering your hand). However, a real yokomen, is a real sword cut, performed empty handed. It will break an arm, a clavicle, the neck, and overall the opponent's center, and the movement is not even over at that point. Because it's a cut, there is follow through, where you glom onto the opponent, and that's when the center manipulations begin, after everything else is broken. At this point, when you're broken before I even start the throw, it's pretty easy to see how atemi is 90% of the technique. You never see Aikido performed like this though, but it's what *REAL* combat ready Aikido looks like. I throw you *after* I break something on you, just with the entering motion. Aikido can be soft and gentle, but it doesn't *have* to be. Just like water can be soft and gentle, or it can destroy a civilization. However, in the modern world, there isn't much appetite left for Budo (the way of the warrior). But BJJ and MMA manages to replicate part of the warrior spirt, as at least they do some pressure testing. And honestly, it's this pressure testing that makes them so much more effective. Aikido, only devolves under pressure testing, because the students never learned the art in a pressure tested setting. There is an adage that says, "train harder than you fight, so that your fights are just another day of training." Aikido doesn't work (as it's predominantly taught) because dojos violate this rule, not because Aikido itself doesn't work (like there is a flaw in its fundamental design or something). I could say a lot more on this topic, but honestly, as it is, I'll be surprised if anyone can check their preconceptions long enough to get this far.

[@Diego-hm1wd]

Best comment about Aikido i have read in a long time. You said it all man. Most of the people who are criticizing Aikido don't even understand it, undertand the context it comes from, and understand that there are lots of crappy Aikido dojos, and lots of things which are not even explained or taught in good dojos, until you can understand them yourself, until you reach a good level (and this usually takes various years)

[@bujin5455]

@@Diego-hm1wd You bring up some fine points. There's a joke in Japan that goes: Q: "What is an American?" A: "Why do you want to know?" The point of this joke is to underscore, and to ridicule, the American propensity to ask why. Which knowing why is important, but from the Japanese's perspective, understanding why is an exercise for the student. Traditionally there is very little explanation in martial art schools, as it is believed that true enlightenment is a personal journey, and not one which a person can be guided down. The sensei is there to present the path, it's up to the student to follow it. There is of course a lot of truth to this. If I show you a particular technique, and you ask me why you use it, or what's it for, or what have you, and I answer that question, I rob you of the opportunity of figuring it out for yourself. Which if you never figure it out for yourself, you never learn how to figure it out for yourself. That process of learning how to be your own sensei is important. It's the mark of being self sufficient, and it's necessary if you're really going to ever *rely* on your own abilities. As an aside: There is a technique called, "stealing the technique." It's the reason why a number of martial art schools, teach techniques which are overly "frilly," because they wanted to obfuscate the actual function of the their methods, so as to prevent other schools from stealing their secrets. Of course, this idea seems absurd to the modern westerner, living in the age of the internet, where there are no secrets. But what people fail to understand is that martial arts where, for their time, classified technology. Knowing how to fight was a matter of life and death, and people closely guarded their school's techniques. The opening of all the martial arts to external exhibition is a post WWII phenomena, after it became difficult for schools to find students. (You know, in a post feudal society that's more concerned with dominating global production, than it is in dominating the neighboring war lord.) Of course, compounding this difficulty is the fact that after America occupied Japan, training in methods of war and fighting became illegal. So martial arts training went underground, training was further obfuscated to "look like exercise," and a bunch of students grew up in this environment no longer attached to the reality of the arts they where learning (not in the presentation of the art, and not in their personal life experience). Martial arts were only made legal again years later, after many of the real masters had died, and you have a crop of students (who are now the "masters") who were completely disconnected from their origins. To further add insult to injury, you have globalization, where martial arts became trendy the world over, and they were further diluted to suit foreign sensibilities (where all the students and money were). Another problem with explaining a technique to a student is that once an explanation is given, the student thinks that is "the" explanation. (I can't tell you how many times I've been told I have an incorrect understanding of a technique, simply because what I demonstrated was different than what the student was taught.) However, every movement is a multifaceted gem, and its function depends greatly upon what angle you're viewing it from, and how the light is hitting it. Early in my studies I asked one of my teachers about the eight direction foot movement. I was trying to confirm I got the sequence correct, so I couched my question as follows: "So you just..." And before I could finish my question my sensei interrupted me and said, "a sixth degree black belt never *just* does anything." I never did get my question answered, but I learned a very important lesson all the same. My sensei was a master of avoiding the question, while managing to teach you something profound at the same time. That really is deeply apart of the Asian culture, especially in Japan. It comes right out of daoist philosophy. It's not about teaching you the Aikido, it's about you becoming one with Aikido. Which is why it's referred to as a "do." It's supposed to be a symbiosis, but less than 0.1% of the student base ever really achieves. Mostly you just get a lot of mimics. What does this all boil down to? Well, one that studying a traditional art, taught by real traditional teachers, is a personal journey. Which means it's very possible you may not arrive at your destination, but you have to be good with that. You have to be willing to be the warrior who meditates under the water fall, and accepts it as a personal failing your art doesn't work, instead of looking for external reasons. You have to understand that if you attempt traditional martial arts under different terms, you're going to get different results (and probably not the ones your looking for). A student who is spoon fed every insight is not going to see as well or as far as the student who can see for himself. And at the end of the day, a fight is a conflict not between schools or styles, but between souls, one *person* to another. If you have not forged in yourself self-reliance, when struggling against one who has, regardless of your erudition, you stand at the disadvantage. So yes, I agree with you, few people understand the traditional schools, and yes, that understanding only comes after an arduous climb up mount Fuji, and isn't just handed out to students who show up.

[@kennethbolton951]

That series of observations was very insightful, but it doesn't address the importance of western "Why". The filtering process of stumbling over all the questions with no answers short changes many. Answering a question with a question is or can be a great way for people to think of an answer or answers themselves, like finding a way thru a forest with a guide who isn't there but has taught you basic woodcraft. It can do the opposite, waste time and punish. Blindly following the teachers example without explanation led to a Nationwide crisis of responsibility in the East with horrible results. Conformity rarely leads to originality and benefits the few. Aikido always represented to me the possibility of seeing the intended flow, and then guiding the flow rather than just confronting or following the flow. It doesn't seem that you gave credit to teachers who did something new with the art by incorporating the "why" and in so doing directed the flow, like O sensei , to a greater world view. Make new friends but remember the old, one is silver and the other gold.

[@bujin5455]

@@kennethbolton951 Thanks for reading, and weighting in. Yeah, every ideology has its strengths and weaknesses. So if you want to defend "why" go ahead, it's a very American thing. Though, I didn't study martial arts to improve my mastery of American culture. Though, based on the last couple of sentences in your comment, perhaps you didn't appreciate "why" why is discouraged. I'm guiding my students' world views with every class, the question is when does the student become the sensei? That is the ultimate goal after all, to teach your students to be their own teachers. To do that, you have to allow them to stand on their own. PS - I'm not trying to be curt or dismissive, just trying to be clear.

[@kennethbolton951]

@@bujin5455 Perhaps you do allow them to stand on their own and perhaps you guide them. But, to teach them that there is a problem with them asking for guidance . What must be obvious to you may not be for them. So you say in affect, do this technique, but don't ask why and you won't learn to do it yourself if I show you and you will learn better if you fail and you must repeat until success. Why have a teacher? A good teacher never stops being a student and a good student never stops wanting to teach. Perhaps being flexible enough to answer why, when , where and how will help you to be both. You assume that answering after they observe will not allow them to stand on their own. I think you don't give enough credit. Is that your fault or theirs, maybe neither. I think that letting them teach each other and answer the whys along with judicious input is far more instructive. I remember visiting "high ranks" lining students up and slamming them thru their favorite moves. I also remember teachers carefully explaining the whys and watching carefully each student and making corrections, and answering questions. One reason Japanese struggle with English, rote learning, to pass exams, you know, loss of face, no questions, no whys, embarrasses the teacher. No difference for some martial arts. Isn't self reliance proceeded by guidance, practice, questions, answers, experimentation, experience, elimination , sharing. My teachers said the best fight is not having to fight and I said why? Thankfully they answered and I appreciated the heads up. And by the way , you don't have much of a "world view" if you believe understanding some other culture (xenophobia) in relation to learning (teaching) your martial art will threaten that process. Not much self reliance there , just dismissive. What did you take up martial arts for? No one pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps.

[@mullofcuntire58t]

It’s such a relief to finally see reasoned and informed criticisms of aikido that account for the positive and useful as well, in a broader context than just hypothetical street fighting mayhem. Great job.

[@mcjon77]

One of the interesting aspects of Aikido and the founder is how much it changed after WWII. Ueshiba was a Japanese ultra-Nationalist. However, after seeing the devastation of 2 nuclear bombs dropped on Japan he became a pacifist and his Aikido became even more passive and flowy. If you look at students of Ueshiba from the pre-WWII era and their style of Aikido, it is much closer to Aikijujutsu than the modern Aikido style is.

[@AjaychinuShah]

Okkk, clearly you are rubbing all of Korean achievements under the Japan-Flag which is by the way Korean too that Red Dot. Look at Bloodsport for once by golly. Which Nazi can fight Duuum Mak The Third. None that I saw in it.

[@Gieszkanne]

That is totally wrong the pre war Aikido looked tthe same than the later one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIDHZYqjmc-Vd6s

[@Relancalm]

Earlier post war students were much more hard core. Eg getting into fights with local yakuza to test themselves, the ‘softer’ aikido seen nowadays isn’t Iwama style, it originated from seeing the founder as he was older not when he was training hard. His Iwama style is still promoted but it comes more from Daito Ryu which is closer to aiki jiujitsu. The softer style often seen which is closer to dancing is often embarrassing to watch but it comes from not really getting the exposure to the original training. Check out Iwama style and especially Hitohiro Saito Sensei and his father(originally trained by the founder) Mourihiti Saito Sensei. Much harder less dance. More weapons too.

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

You're on the right path, Rob. Aikido movements when you put them into the right context of old Jujutsu, it all make sense. Like why would someone grab my wrist as their first attack ? Because back in the day if my opponent didn't try to control my wrist with one or 2 hands and try to punch me first like in modern day, i will draw out my knife or my sword and hack them to pieces Also there's also the fact that most of Ueshiba's students are legitimate masters from different martial arts like Karate, Judo, Koryu styles.... They understand what violence looks like so Ueshiba's teaching is like the cherry on top for their martial art journeys when they got old. Now days most people who do Aikido have no experience in violence or fighting and picked Aikido as their first martial art just because they watch Steven Seagal. This caused the delusion and the idea of "making Aikido functional"

[@CombatSelfDefense]

Thank you!

[@panther196321]

Mike drop. I've been saying this for years

[@antalantal2366]

Absolutely. I do subscribe your point of view. Unfortunately a lot of people do not put aikido into context.

[@Gieszkanne]

Yes most of his tsudents allready had a blackbelt in another martial art. But the training was hard. Nothing for old men. They stay with him because his techique was far superior. The techniques did work because they couldnt resist him. Today Aikido is an imtation of his art and abilitys. The attacker have to cooperate to make it work while with Ueshiba noboady had cooperate!

[@indyphillipconner6252]

Yep Hollywood has that way of making people delusional about fighting

[@seelingnightapsychomanteum7124]

I appreciate your approach to the topic. I will also say that I have used its techniques in high pressure situations with commuted attackers. In this case a school for autistic and developmentally challenged young adults. The staff was attacked on a daily basis, and I used the skills I had learned to defuse situations. The trick for me was not to try and apply a technique, just see where the attackers balance was poor, or in one case, kept my hand on the attacker’s forehead. He reached out to grab it, and I was able to apply Shiho Nage. It was gently done; Shiho Nage has actually killed people, and I had to keep that in mind. These were young people who were emotionally unable to handle their environment, and would go into fits of rage. Part of my Aikido training was knowing their limitations and reacting out of compassion, at the same time keeping myself safe.

[@Justrtofctr]

The real essence of the Founder. Nice work. I like the compassion.

[@RandAlthor939]

Great video I was a prison officer for 11 yrs aikido saved my life plenty of times . My aikido reduced to 6 techniques and plenty of stand up wrestling.

[@CombatSelfDefense]

It's been said before, but is worth repeating - "it is always the method, never the techniques." Obviously the moves in Aikido "work" in as much as they can cause damage to another human being. The question is does a given person practice those techniques against resistance to develop real time skill WITH those techniques

[@rickyrain7773]

Hi moody. May I ask which aikido techniques you used? I have been doing martial arts on and off and was considering doing aikido for the fun of it. Which ones stood out as the most important to yoh?

[@youjanitube]

@@rickyrain7773 :D to be honest there aren't really many techniques. In a prison scene projections (throws) are pretty much out of imagination due to lack of space. Therefore, immobilisation is the most likely choice. Ikkyo, nikkyo, sankyo, yonkyo, gokyo, maybe a kotegaeshi if the inmate had a knife... But then again, when real shit hits the fan all martial art or combat sport boils down to the very basic techniques.

[@v-doc5230]

@@CombatSelfDefense I read this a lot and I know there are some "just follow the movement I am supposed to"-Aikidoka. However, they are not doing Aikido. Aikido means to use the force of the opponent against them. If there is no resistance then you cannot use anything against your "opponent" (which really is no opponent then). Aikido means to have a way around the resistance, not to avoid it and it is the most complicated thing to train, because your instinct always wants to snap into that point where the resisting force is applying. You have to train hard to avoid that. People who train Aikido without resistance, are not training Aikido. They are learning a coreography.

[@bobsterbarrow]

I used Aikido frequently as a Police Officer in the UK, however it was more along the lines of traditional Jujitsu or wrestling when applied in restraining or self-defence. Aikido is an ideology as far as I understand it. When a 'do' is used on the street it becomes a 'Jitsu'. Use what works for you at the time.

[@IanTranSend]

Echoing that the "do" essentially encourages using discernment to create a better outcome for both parties rather defaulting to a lethal result by default. Ai = harmony ki=energy do=way/path of discovery so roughly the way of harmonious energy can be a literal interpretation of the discipline. Someone else commented with a great metaphor that it's basically the cherry on top of having the skills and experience to negotiate a violent encounter that calls for combat minus necessitating the termination of someone's life.

[@684BerrySt]

I've been training in martial arts for 36 years now. I even did Aikido for a few years in the late 90's and early 2000's. I have to say not only was it a really fun martial art to learn and certainly a lot less injuries than BJJ or Judo but my only real fight I ever had, ended with me taking the guy down hard with a Kotegaeshi wrist lock. For me at least those few years of practising that lock over and over helped me that night. Anyway good video and that's my two cents.

[@kerpal321]

also the 3 basic wrist stretches i learned from aikido have made me immune to most wrist lock attacks in bjj training, its given my wrists extreme flexibility and should be a part of every martial artists training in my opinion, i know people who have broken their wrists and hands just from posting their hand while falling, the wrist stretches will also help prevent injury for those doing striking arts

[@peterkhew7414]

Aikido, Eskrima, and Xingyiquan are weapon based martial arts, that translates the same movements to empty hand techniques. They developed separately in their own culture; Japan, Philippines, and China respectively. Yet if you see the principles underlying all three styles, they are quite similar.

[@scottzappa9314]

Aikido is actually far more similar to Bagua than Xing Yi.

[@peterkhew7414]

@@scottzappa9314 Yes, but I'm saying that these martial arts are weapon based. You're right to say that Aikido has been observed by Kungfu experts to resemble Baguazhang a lot.

[@notwerkinginthishouse8634]

​@@peterkhew7414 Now i can train those 3 martial arts

[@AjaychinuShah]

Thanks, for your valuable input.

[@andywoodsman4909]

Roots of aikido also shows when you as a defender pull up knife or other weapon to defend against aggressor. Every principle and technique feels natural and purposeful. When sparring with that setup, you are going to see lots of hand grabbing and understand a reason for lots of things why they are done that way. It comes from age when everyone was armed. And word still is.

[@andywoodsman4909]

Somehow it is odd thing to even most aikido practitioners to think that they would be the one who is armed. Weapons keeps peace.

[@jestfullgremblim8002]

@@andywoodsman4909 ye

[@emsantiago]

I have a black belt in Aikido and in Aikijujutsu. It's the same techniques. The difference is the methodology of training.

[@peterokonkwo72]

Is it effective in street fight

[@DarkDylan10]

​​​@@peterokonkwo72Yes, you can evade and redirect. The aikido Toolset will help you to not lose your balance and take care of your center of mass while also effectively trying to deescalate the situation, usually, as I said, evading or redirecting. Pd: If you can run, run. I will say though, I'm getting awfully tired of reading the same question over and over again.

[@비가쥬-u2g]

This is a great video. What you are saying is very correct. I'm Korean and studying Japanese history. As I get to know more about Japan, I feel amazing how they keep their tradition especially in martial arts. I think, the transition of concept from bushido to budo is phenomenal. It surely influenced most of East Asian martial arts. Sorry for my poor English. Thank you for good video. I subscribed!

[@AjaychinuShah]

What I like about Japan is that they keep outsiders out of their respective spiritual locale. Visitor not welcome. EVER

[@lopezb]

As an Aikidoist, I enjoyed this video. It's respectful and accurate. He knows what he is talking about. It is for example a huge mistake for even a black belt in Aikido to think they can deal with an assault with a knife- or a gun. He may have a friend on the corner with another gun anyway. Ideally, your sensitivity has been heightened by training and by living right, treating others well, sleeping enough, not drinking....so you can avoid most situations and even defuse a bad guy or a gang by spontaneously relating to them somehow. The same skills help you deal with work situations or people close to you. Best wishes to all!

[@ThePaulfullTruth]

I had an encounter with a couple of guys on a motorcycle who had taken offense by some sloppy maneuver I had done, and were blocking my forward movement, not letting me pass. Finally, they stopped and I got out of my car to do something, I had no idea of what. The rider slid off the back of his friend's motorcyle and unexpectedly hit me in the side of the head with his helmet (like a fast draw from his hip), and then tried to grapple with me when I reponded by grabbing him. But I didn't really grab him; I put up my hands as he pushed into me, and I just took joined his energy, and guided his forward motion to the side, and walked-ran him to the median strip, and gave him just enough of an extra push for him to lose his balance and go flying down the incline, landing on his stomach, and that was that. I later realized that I although I had acted without thinking, I or something in me had been in total control. That was pure aikido (which, with ice hockey, is my orientation for dealing with the collision of bodies in the world).

[@marcosgarcia-tornel4677]

Well, in my time teaching Aikido, one of the things I ask possible students is what are they looking for. If the answer is "self defense" I recommend them to other schools (BJJ, MMA, etc.)... I think, from now on, I'll send them to this video... really good video! Also, we actively encourage cross training with some sort of striking art (probably because my first Aikido teacher was also a Boxing instructor).

[@CombatSelfDefense]

Wow that means a lot! Thank you

[@JV-ll1cu]

Krav Maga is good if the teacher has genuine license from some of the official Krav Maga -unions and not some self learned "expert"

[@metrolinamartialarts]

A big area of my study in college when I went to Sophia University in Tokyo was on the Taisho period. Also, I studied Koryu and it's demise under the Taisho and early Showa reigns. The Taisho were less interested in Koryu as they were modernizing their army and the indoctrination of the people to make the Emperor a God again. There's a book called "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" by Ruth Benedict that's all about the Taisho era.

[@CombatSelfDefense]

I shall check it out!

[@benfranklin2168]

Well said. Normally I’m very weary of aikido “critics” because they don’t know the history and they don’t make mention of what’s wrong with it, so much as belittle the style. I enjoy CACC and to me aikido has a lot in common with catch wrestling. If you can do a duck under or an arm drag then you can do aikido techniques. Aikido shouldn’t be your first martial art for the reasons stated in the video, a lot of schools have removed atemi/striking even though they say aikido is 90% atemi/striking. Anyone wanting to do aikido should be like the original students: They knew other styles first and it should be noted they were doing aikijujutsu before aikido in Ueshiba’s later years. So they understood where it was going and why. Well informed take thank you for sharing it.

[@CombatSelfDefense]

I appreciate the support!

[@marcelozerbini5411]

So... If I get in a street fight I don't think my attacker will be interested in discussing history

[@benfranklin2168]

So... Don't do that...

[@radiantmind8729]

Aikido does not have a lot in common with catch wrestling. Catch wrestling is brutal and EFFECTIVE.

[@ravdobikjarb93]

That’s why he said for him.

[@jwplater]

I took Aikido for about 6 years. this brings back a lot of memories. I never felt like I was training to be a bada$$. It was a lot of fun, and really good exercise. I was typically dripping with sweat at the end of training. Another point, a lot of the techniques came from grabbing and manipulating the armor the Samurai were wearing.

[@feirabbitt]

Very good video. The only thing though is that there are different styles of aikido some who kept more to the jujitsu side and others that went to the more do side. Like tomiki , tenshin and iwanna, or yoshikan.

[@colinstock325]

I took Aikido for about a year. Family commitments meant I couldn’t continue it. Aikido was pitched as purely defensive so I wouldn’t expect to be able to attack with it. And that’s actually what I liked about it.

[@omegads3862]

Defense is sometimes attack, removing obstacle from your path. If you can get a big liver shot or a low kick it's defence.

[@jeremymanson1781]

For your practice to be worthwhile you have to train to deliver increasingly effective attacks in aikido - otherwise everyone is just wasting their time. And anyway strictly speaking there is no 'defence' in aikido, as eventually you learn to be ahead of your partner rather than 'respond' to them. That said, I would never suggest learning aikido for self defence, as it is a very long study and is not at all focused on street fighting or mortal combat (unless you expect to be attacked by someone with a knife, or one or two people wielding swords / sticks, or are grabbed by two people at once, one front and one behind).

[@saabsly1]

AT LAST!!!!! Someone who understands what Aikido is, where it comes from and that it is designed against armed opponents.

[@eclipsewrecker]

If only the majority of aikido demos where that honest……..

[@Polentaccio]

Problem is, they still don't pressure test against "armed" live opponents.

[@akumabakemono1447]

@@Polentaccio Problem is, you still don't undestand that Aikido IS NOT FOR FIGHTING. For God's sake, did you even watched the video or not?

[@uberdonkey9721]

Well, Tomiki aikido does competition. But because Aikido is highly weapon defense focused, it's guy with rubber/wooden knife trying to score points against unarmed aikidoka.

[@eclipsewrecker]

@@uberdonkey9721 “knife” guy has more limiting rules.

[@meanon6604]

I had/have trained in multiple martial arts with Aikido being one of them. I trained in Aikido for almost a decade and agree with a lot of what you discussed and find some of the view points interesting. My sensei was actually a black belt in Judo before leaving for military deployment and when he returned from war he had difficulty laying hands on his sensei who had transitioned to Aikido. Our sensei and our dojo's philosophy was self defense only. If you apply that philosophy, how does an Aikido practitioner enter a tournament or fight in an MMA match (also most MMA rules prohibit small joint manipulation and submissions). In real world, likely to be attacked by a weapon, disarm and distance or find ways to avoid a confrontation. When I have been in a self defense situation, the attacker swung with a punch that followed the arc of a "knife hand" attack, and despite training in other martial arts my instinctual response was an "aikido block" - the beginning of yokomenuchi irimi nage. In jujitsu I can sometimes apply aikido wrist locks from guard, though I start do not fully employ the locks as most jujitsu practitioners are quite irritated by being wrist locked. Overall, I wouldn't rely 100% only on my Aikido techniques for all situations, but find elements of it useful.

[@kachowtime]

Fantastic video! I will say though, I've tried 3 styles of Aikido and have been to many seminars, and every style I've encountered do more than knife hand, including hooks, straight punches to the stomach or face, and _sometimes_ some kicking techniques. Many of the same techniques that work on knife hand have variations for punches, but you're absolutely right in that the techniques were originally intended for an attacker with a weapon, which is very apparent once you know. Thanks again for the great video! People have asked me about Aikido before and now I'll send them this video as a good starter :)

[@silverbacksmartialarts]

I trained with you a few times at seminars when Coach Alexs gym was at the 10th planet gym in Austin, and somehow came across your page dude , loving your content ! So historical and informative bro !

[@torantongaarder6333]

One of the best reflections I have heard out there on the web. Thank you for the time spent on the matter!

[@sifuscott]

Having studied Aikido (in addition to several other martial arts), I can say that there are SOME Aikido techniques that work well. For example, getting off the line of combat, redirecting force, etc. However, much of what you see in demonstrations are dependent on the cooperation of both participants. Using Aikido techniques works like using any other technique... Use what works for you.

[@LG-cz6ls]

"Use what works for you" Spot on.

[@AstrotominChina]

That's a pretty good take ...it's definitely commendable what you are saying...I grew up doing Karate, then did Aikido for many years and found out that I needed to learn more wrestling so I did some judo... finally added a bit of boxing... the problem with Aikido is that many delude themselves and believe that it is an actual ready combat style, but if you do not go and try it out for yourself, you'll never find out if you can actually use the moves in combat or for selfe-defense

[@uberdonkey9721]

It's true. Unfortunately, like Gozo Shioda, you have to get into some fights.

[@cesaralvesdemoraes3187]

When it comes to self defense, deescalation is something that is often mentioned but rarely worked on. Aikido's philosophy, as far as storys I've heard is very effective at it.

[@JustMe-vz3wd]

punch a guy and you dramatically escalate the fight including it might evolve in a knife fight or even gun. with aikido a conflict even doesnt have to evolve in a fight.

[@facio1000]

I did Aikido for a couple of years in high school, and have dabbled in a few others since then. My opinion is that Aikido is absolutely not for fighting but I’ve found that knowing basic Aikido techniques and having an Aikido mindset at great at preventing / deterring / de-escalating situations that are about to be fights… Being able to smoothly break a grip, have some facility with joint locks, verbal de-escalation, and situational awareness have basically prevented any potentially violent situations from escalating, and even using physical force is so low impact that it’s much more of a deterrent than an escalation. Overall though, I think Aikido is best suited for three groups of people: 1-people who already know how to fight and want tools to avoid having to use serious force or escalating a situation , 2-people who fight a lot, or have emotional turmoil, and want to mentally learn to stop fighting, and 3-people who want to learn the mind state / philosophy but accept that this is most useful in the time leading up to a fight. Unfortunately, most students think they’re learning an effective straight up fighting style, which is wrong.

[@davidcheung3446]

This is the best (accurate & fair) summary of Aikido I have ever come across. I have been doing Aikido for many years but only started questioning its Self-defense effectiveness about 6 years ago. It has been a difficult 6 years as I question the art which I have been so faithful to & there was no readily available answer as to "What is Aikido really ?" This Video sums up my Conclusion very well, something I reached over 6 years of searching (via researching aikido history, cross-training with other martial arts, sparring etc,). I wish this video was available 6 years ago. Haha! 😄

[@NelsonConroyRealtor]

Wonderful channel! Thank you 🇨🇦

[@neocloudmarts9613]

Aikido teaches evasion, interceptive throws and takedowns. This is important for weapon attacks and unbalancing opponents. It has to be effective because all law enforcement agencies and Secruity organisations use the Aikido techniques

[@AjaychinuShah]

AVID Cops fan and their swinging music THEME too but COPS keep winning against those uneducated thugs... Ask anyone which side is a enthusiast or intellectual of AIKIDO let alone KAI. -hahah

[@normanhasler340]

Thats corrrect. Most of the Aikido Ney sayers don't know e. g. Yoshinkan Aikido. Thats used by the Tokio Riot Police for reason of high effectively, without breaking necks or the jaw.

[@normanhasler340]

@@AjaychinuShah Study the Tokio Riot Police and the Yoshinkan Aikido. You would not make Ha Ha any more. Ok its more like Aikijujutsu, but its Aikido enough to be Aikido. And its effective against Rioters. Tokio Riot Police proofed that. And its 99 Percent enough for normal persons which won't to go in battles.

[@neocloudmarts9613]

@@normanhasler340 Exactly. Another thing Aikido is Juujutsu. These techniques and strategies work if they cannot understand this, then these type of people will always be a base level martial arts practitioner and a base level combat sports fighter with a one, two, three kick combo. A lot of times these sport martial artists think everything is the be all and end all with mma/bjj/kickboxing even with kali, which is small minded. Trust me in the street you will need evasion and footwork tactics, not saying other martial arts will not have success, however where things can go wrong is engaging in a fight, then being blindsided by weapons or the guys friends. Aikido does not have this issue. If you cannot look at a martial art and say I can use these skills they are a caveman and will be defeated easily in the similar fashion how the TKD, Karate, and Kung Fu stylists have been knocking out champion level fighters with traditional skill sets.

[@AjaychinuShah]

@@normanhasler340 Do you have the slightest clue what you two are talking about. Thank you.

[@OnlyRealCloud]

I'm coaching Aiki-jujutsu techniques on Sundays at my local mma gym. It's fun. We're definitely breaking al the aikido rules. But I'm covering some aikido concepts to try and understand some mechanics.

[@edwardstanley4565]

I studied Aikido very briefly many years ago. Work, of coure got in my way. I concluded that Aikido was a collection of very useful techniques to: 1) get 1 or 2, maybe 3, maybe even 4, guy's hands off me, and 2) avoid going to ground. The Steven-Segal-movie method of throwing multiple attackers away, and letting the conveniently-located brick or concrete wall do the heavy lifting, struck me as a good choice.

[@N17C1]

I've survived a number of incidents because of Aikido. But I remember a Judoka who trained our national team and would occasionally train in Aikido because our classes were held in his Dojo. He was also a bouncer and while trying to break up a fight, someone else stepped out of the crowd and tried to stab him in the kidney. He turned and flowed into kotegeashi, pinned the guy and took the knife off him without even thinking about it. He came back to the Aikido class and told us to keep going because 'Aikido really works'.

[@TempleGuitars]

Great video! I'm a level 10 black stripe in Tactical Krav Maga, and I'm starting Aikido in February. I'm so excited to meet new people, play human chess, learn new things, and have fun. I feel like I've learned enough about brutal self defence and being aggressive, and I welcome the opportunity to grow as a person and develop some more flexibility. This video just makes me more excited to start.

[@goldeneagle525]

Interesting take on Aikido. Thanks for going through all of that.

[@Awesnap]

As a life long martial artist. We all get a lil smarter every year. Ive done a bit of everything. I think you pretty much capture the spirit of aikido except the one thing people just don't get. Those floppy movements are the Uke practicing their technique as well. This simple trick. Is woefully misunderstood. You arent flopping over, you're practicing how well you can absorb damage. Forget Segal. Although he was very good in his youth. Search for videos of kanai and yamada. Great technique.

[@alphonsofrett2757]

I told my Aikido teacher that I practice Aikido to Renounce my Ego and after my third BJJ class I decided to cross ✝️ train and also decided to take kickboxing for self defense BJJ because it's Fun And Aikido to deal with my Attitude it works for me

[@christianboddum8783]

Coming from AiKiDo made me explore many things; Arnis, Cappoeira, Tai-Chi, Kendo. You can deepen your AiKiDo that way. I would never have tried that if I didn't have a door to the martial arts through AiKiDo. However you need to separate the arts, if you want to add aggression and offensive moves to AiKiDo you are on a wrong course. In a real situation though you must move instinctively, and see what happens, that includes someone getting hurt ;-) Randori should be a regular part of training in my view ;-)

[@raideenj]

studied aikido for 5+ yrs. my sensei knew the founder. I've had to use aikido in a few fights against people who didn't know how to fight and fared VERY well. Fights ended quickly with not a scratch to me but other guys in PAIN. I totally agree that against a grappler I'd have my ass handed to me. But I've sparred with karate and judo guys and didn't raise a sweat. My sensei taught us to not use the flowery stuff when in a real fight, but use strikes if we had to and end it quickly. The most valuable thing aikido taught was not to pit my strength against an attacker, and a technique called kokyunage. Someone swings a punch/weapon at you and you throw their head into the ground/table/wall/etc. The ground always wins against the head, and you don't break your knuckles. But aikido also taught us to avoid the fight. Have a "peace making" attitude so you can walk away or better yet, avoid the aggressive energy some people put out. Lots of people who train in martial arts or mma look forward to being able to use what they learned and kick someone's ass in a real life situation. I used to be like that until I heard Terry Dobson's story about encountering a drunk on a train. Search "Terry Dobson train story" and learn what real aikido is all about. We should be like the old man in in the story. That said, I agree with you that one needs to know those 3 basic things you mentioned, to have the confidence to do what the old man on the train did, and aikido alone won't provide that.

[@slopsec2358]

Hey I really enjoyed the video. Second one I've seen by you, matter of fact, the first one brought me to this one. Thank you. As a 64 year old guy who has practiced 3 styles of martial arts most of my life, I can relate one solid positive for Aikido. It is awesome in law enforcement. In this situation it's rarely a stand up fist fight.. so your usually not sparing with someone. It's almost always grappling, and if I can get them to come in close, or put their hands on me, I'll have them locked up and in cuffs in seconds. I'm not a big guy, and I've taken down guys much bigger than me, who would get so pissed, all they could do on the way to the jail was tell me how they're going to kill me as soon as they get out. Obviously that never happened. Man they were mad! It's great for controlling people, moving them around, getting them out of cars, what ever. It's not good for a lot of things, but in law enforcement it certainly has it's place. The only thing more fun than using Aikido was using a tonfa, aka PR-25, aka, Side handled baton. Oh man talk about fun. Looking forward to more videos! Thanks again.

[@eliosanciolo2844]

I think there is a misunderstanding with regard to the so called 'non violent' aspect of Aikido. Technically the main difference between aiki Jutsu ( and other grappling/locking arts) and aikido is that most locking techniques in Aiki jujitsu/ Jiujitsu, Wrestling work in applying a lock AGAINST a joint, whereas most Aikido techniques were modified to apply techniques in harmony with the natural movement of a joint and physiology of a body in movement. This may not seem like much but it has a profound effect on how body movements work and evasions and throws are applied in movement. Also, the idea that aikido is a purely defensive martial art is wrong. About half the techniques in the Aikido repertoire are ENTERING techniques ( The other half being evasive) where one takes advantage of the timing of an opponent's movement and attacks, or enters their body space to control an attack before it has had time to develop power. Lastly, to say that Aikido attacks are limited to a Tegatana -Karate Chop/ strike is wrong. As is the idea that strikes are of secondary importance in Aikido. The founder himself said that in a life and death situation Atemi, or striking vital points using a variety of strikes, is 90% of the technique. This is why almost all Aikido techniques trained with a partner in Kata form in a dojo ,ALL contain a strike at the beginning and at the end. The fact that many Aikido dojos and aikidoka dont stress this is more a reflection on the type of practitioners attracted to the art than it does about the intent of the Art itself. Aikido can be whatever one wants it to be depending on the mindset/intent of the practitioner, That is the point of the Art.

[@huntsurveys7477]

Hi. Nice video and good logic flow, thanks. I started off listening thinking you were glossing over the historical circumstances quite a lot, but soon forgave you when you started to distinguish aikido as being more a spiritual quest to harmonise with others. Nice tie ins with how some of its moves can be used effectively, and I’m glad you pointedly said they had to be effective in high pressure situations (ie simple). Also very pleased how you said for credible self defence aikido had to teach its stuff through drilling in realistic attacks, not conceptual attacks (aikido chop… I loved that). I basically loved aikido and have a lot of respect for what it does. I have huge gripes against teachers advertising it as self defence when what they teach is absurdly useless. I think aikido philosophy can be happily mixed in with credible training styles / techniques from other martial arts to make something more productive. Bizarrely, even though aikido is at its basic level all about finding a harmonious existence with others (that’s a 10,000 foot high concept definition of it), it’s patently refused to engage with other styles / techniques to its current detriment. Overall, thank you for a remarkably nice and honest review of aikido from the perspective of those interested in credible self defence, not self development.

[@JingShenKuoshu]

I love your verbalisation of the martial arts. Where are you located. I would very much like to meet you. You are a future superstar man, I'd like to talk to you about real Self Defense. Not tough guy fighting. but Self Defense

[@Polentaccio]

Ha! This was great. So was your vid on the Bujinkan. I am a Bujinkan practitioner 20+ years and you are spot on! So much useless fluff that goes out the window when you pressure test it. Not even spar it, i mean simply resist or attack in flurries. You end up boiling it down to very key principles and some basic locks and throws and it starts to look as familiar as sambo, shuai shao, judo, jujutsu etc.. yes the style is present in the interpretation and the execution, but there are only so many efficient ways of doing anything and they have been shared among arts for centuries. Everybody needs to learn to throw boxing combos and basic kicks and then practice their art against those and basic takedowns. Fighting off the back also can't be ignored. As for Seagal, people forget two big points. First off, the dude is what, 6 4' and 300 lbs? Not a lot is gonna move him especially given his experience. Second, he added a ton of striking back into his aikido to give him the openings for his locks. He's a bit of a joke but technically, you can see he is competent at least. He's also never an uke lol. That guy isn't throwing himself around for anyone that's for sure.

[@leviefrauim1425]

Everyone who trains in martial arts makes fun of aikido... until it's inflicted upon them. I'm here to offer otherwise. I'm a retired LEO and have trained in a variety of martial arts over the decades. Frankly, although I enjoyed the practice, I hated punching/kicking and worse, hated getting punched/kicked. When I started training in aikido, it was the hardest thing I'd ever done physically/mentally. I found it eminently practical for my LE purposes as it offered me control techniques that were generally effective and efficient, without causing me or the offender damages. While my fellow LEOs were suffering from bruised knuckles and broken hands, and their arrestees from bloody faces, I never suffered any injury whilst using an aikido technique and neither did any of my arrestees. No, aikido is not for everybody but it was for me.

[@ajanitau3405]

Aikido works for self defense, but you have to "soften" your opponent up a bit, i.e. you have to stun your attacker, hurt them, distract them in a way that slows them down. Example: you check/block incoming strike, simultaneous counter-strike to mid-section, then apply a joint lock, i.e. shoulder lock, then subdue. For Aikido to work in self defense, you have to "Shock n' Lock". Ok, this sounds more like Vee-Jitsu Ryu.

[@Eskrima86]

Thanks for sharing your vision on aikido.Let me put my thoughts. Not sure how it's in the US, but in my country it's extremely hard to find schools that do not "demonstrate" but really "do" aikido. I used to study aikido for 7 years before switching to Kali, and now it comes to my mind, that aikido is more likely the "approach" rather than a set of technics that might look pretty abstract from outside. From this perspective it has some similarities with internal Kung Fu styles (e.g.xingiychuan): you exercise movements thousands of times to recognise the "approach " (e.g. mechanics of joints movements, feeling of distance, balance, timing to react, multidirection coordination in space etc), this is where the combat effectiveness is handled in aikido, I'd say.

[@timothywilliams2252]

As a person that practiced Aikido, I totally agree! I have used what I have learned against drunken, untrained attackers, and it was effective. However, they were very basic techniques (mostly Irimi techniques) against VERY telegraphed attacks that are easily defended. Yet, I had confidence in those moments, and was able to remain mentally calm--although my heart was racing, and I was shaking afterward. Really, I'm not a fighter, and I really love the teachings and philosophy of O-Sensei! :)

[@uberdonkey9721]

Yup. I've used it loads. Indeed I fought off some guys attacking the local karate instructor (who I knew), so it's obvious these type of martial comparisons can be quite poor, and really I think if we understand the training method (what's being simulated) most self defense martial arts can be useful in self defense.

[@ulrichenry4881]

Correct. Fun fact o sensei original did Daito Ryu Aikijujitsu and then created Aikido

[@timothywilliams2252]

@@ulrichenry4881 I don't know about Daito Ryu, but would like to learn! Mostly, I admire O-Sensei's philosophies on peace in the soul and society. He really was ahead of his time in the early 20th century, and many people now could benefit from his wisdom--if they care to pay attention

[@ulrichenry4881]

@@timothywilliams2252 Osensei studied with Takeda Sōkaku, and his style was Daito Ryu Aikijujitsu. Osensei later removed the violent joint locks, and created the way of harmony, but believe me he knew how to fight, he just didn't want to teach violence because he knew where it lead. Personal I think he should have made to curriculums one for combat and another for health

[@timothywilliams2252]

@@ulrichenry4881 Thank you for your reply. While I don't practice Aikido on a physical level anymore, O-Sensei's philosophies still influence my life. I think he said something about formal dojos (and if I got it wrong, please forgive). He said something about that "Heaven is ever-present, and here is the place to practice." Consequently, I do my best, every day, to practice mental and spiritual aiki. It doesn't always work out, but, still, I try... 😁

[@NeilHocking]

I'm only a 5th kyu, so very new to aikido, but I have found that the higher grades will often be reminding us about staying aware of uke's other arm. In weapon's training, the bokken is used with both hands, so if we are simulating an attack with the bokken/katana, I guess ignoring the left hand would make sense.

[@robliberti]

The attacks in aikido are symbolic attacks. They are designed that way to safely test how well you can unbalance someone under pretty low stress. The entire art functions as a diagnostic system. If you actually have a Aiki, you can unbalance someone on contact, without needing artificial stickiness, artificial ghostiness, or hip powered leverage. Pretty much no one has Aiki developed very well at all. When you have aiki developed even a little bit, it seems like the only reasonable thing to do is to start pressure testing in with more MMA type pressure attacks. When things fail, you can use the symbolic attacks of aikido to safely work on the failure points, and then try to scale up again to a more realistic attacks. Pretty much no one can do it at all, because very few people found anyone who can teach them how to retrieve their Body, of those people very few people are willing to put in the work to retrain their body, and of those people most of them haven’t put in the work to drop enough residual body tension to make any of those body skills at all functional.

[@cjlooney9152]

Thank you for making this distinction. I've trained in Aikido for many years and am comfortable with it to the point that I know I can use it in an actual fight (revert to Aiki-jutsu). During class we held very closely to the traditional movements. After class was an entirely different scenario. We would come at each other with anything and everything for hours, just because it was fun.

[@christianboddum8783]

AiKiDo builds a special mindset that helps going through life, you have to live it know what it means, getting into physical confrontations is not a succes it is to be avoided.

[@andywoodsman4909]

I also think that if you practice BJJ in the same context as aikido: attacker or defender is or could be armed with weapon and someone else could join the fight at any time. What is left from techniques that dont get you killed are the same you can find in Japanese jujutsu and aikido.

[@CombatSelfDefense]

Very good point

[@kristianOLS]

As others mentioned before aikijujutsu isn’t a koryu but still pretty new. Judo doesn’t have roots in aikijujutsu but in tenjinshinoryu and kitoryu, in fact uaeshiba also studied kitoryu, but the founder of judo essentially reformed it into judo as the head of kitoryu. Judo revolutionized the martial arts world by adding “do” but also sparring/randori. Since it absorbed the other schools who put up fights, this left daito ryu as like other jujutsu systems including koryus just practicing forms. Aikido has many flavors from uaeshiba’s life and students, see tomiki who was a judo student introduced randori/sparring into aikido while most of the other aikido systems didn’t use it Great points! *edit spelling

[@asteriskcolon]

Problematically, Kito Ryu has the concept of Aiki in it's curriculum and is basically just as much of a style of "Aikijujutsu" as Daito Ryu is (...more or less). To say that Judo isn't descended from Aikijujutsu is muddy at best

[@keithshank1783]

Thank you for this video. Explaining philosophical differences is important. I grow weary of watching/hearing how certain MA's are "ineffective" and "don't work for self defense". It's usually screeded by the MMA crowd who only think that MA's are for a singular purpose. And who seem to think that any "self defense" situation will work exactly like a promoted fight in the octagon; which is silly at best.

[@shaunpearce6846]

Good explanation! That actually made a lot of sense in the context of history. It’s essentially taking one aspect out of a rounded martial art and focusing on that. I think that historical event must have happened to many combative martial arts worldwide. Without the need to kill with our bare hands, people began to prefer martial arts that were more for sport, physical fitness, style, entertainment, meditation, etc… thus, many ‘traditional martial arts’ as we know them today are in a sense ‘defanged’ or in other words, have had the killing intent removed from them. I imagine at one time, what we consider ‘traditional’ today would have been the hip new thing, marketed to the common person.

[@asiaticmartialarts7306]

Great video, but as an Aikido practitioner since 1994, I never understood why people say aikido has no strikes. That's not what the founder said

[@bebodhi]

Did you say Baseball 'match'. I would really like to know what your experience is with combat. Peace

[@silverfox8801]

I’d believe that aikido is okay if I could find just 1 video on KZbin of it working in a real fight against anyone? But I cannot 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@Bulletisred]

I took Aikido for a short time (had to stop had a car accident) I really did like the wrist elbow and arm locks they used. They most definitely can be used if a situation comes up. The throws are awesome as well. But it is a philosophy which can be used to defend yourself greatly. But While I attended They asked if anybody had any questions, So I asked, "What if a huge thug bull rushes you" and they showed me but I wasn't quite convinced it would work in a real, out of nowhere instance. While it looked good I think a real determined opponent wouldn't cooperate like the example shown to me. But I guess muscle memory could help you react/ be prepared to handle the situation much better. Aikido, which uses your opponents weight, strength and momentum against him. It's a pretty cool art form with some serious applications if a bad situation happens. Like you have said good to have knowledge to pull out of your back pocket in a pinch.

[@libraryoflilylol199]

I did aikido briefly while my brother did karate and we used to "spar" which was basically him using me as a punching bag that dodges really well and can also throw you a little bit. (My dad made me quit due to financial stuff, but I started it again recently.)

[@elizajames477]

Thanks, lots of great points here. Ueshiba initially taught much harder form and was very nationalistic. The atomic bomb and Japans loss in WW2 affected aikido significantly. Ueshiba felt even if you won a fight there was no true victory.. if you don't destroy your enemy they can come back and hurt you. Thus he considered Aikido a 'golden bridge' between Japan and the US.. it was not accident that the first training he taught outside Japan was in Hawaii (USA).

[@alexizaguirre3276]

Take a moment to look at Shodokan Aikido a.k.a Tomiki Aikido based on the early form of "Aikido". The founder Kenji Tomiki was expelled from the Aikikai.

[@JoseFuentes-fn3dl]

Ive done many pressure tests. Aikido seems to be most effective after a flurry of strikes or the attacker is the middle of blocking or when the attacker gets tired. I seem most successful during these situations.

[@dylanhyatt5705]

I could be wrong - but my understanding of Aikido origins is that it is derived from when you are disarmed or your sword breaks on the battle field. Risking a kick or punch against deadly fast samurai blade is probably suicide (likewise direct blocking and indeed turning to run). This means the only practicable option is to blend. This would mean the founder of Aikido was not purposely stripping down aiki-jujitsu, rather passing on a tradition built to defend when you are unarmed against a blade.

[@angeloschneider4272]

At 7:07. Similar ridiculous is every other attack in any other "fighting style" where people make a fist, and use gloves. Regarding your diagonal blade hand strike: the question is only what you hit, e.g. the side of the throat (Carotid Sinus), the temple, or simply the eye socket . And it is not as easy to defend against it as you think. Even a relatively soft hit on the Carotid Sinus will knock you out for 10 seconds or longer. And obviously - as you point out in your further talk - it is a prime target for a knife, and temple and eye socket, or simply side of the the head is a prime target for any blunt weapon.

[@jeffmiller6025]

I trained in a very traditional style of Aikido for about ten years, and there was extremely explicit discussion of “aikido” being a philosophical way of understanding and applying “aikijututsu” in contemporary contexts. To that end, we began training oyo-waza (applied techniques; that is: effective combat techniques) against increasingly resistant opponents by the time I graduated to the intermediate class (which was after about two months of taking the beginner class). And oyo-waza are unabashedly aikijujutsu techniques, always being refined to deal with various attacks. And it became clear that the basic techniques (which we also continued to drill) helped learn basic body mechanics, structure, etc. that formed the foundation of applied techniques. And that the basic attacks were about teaching someone the basic trajectories of attacks that could then be expanded upon. I.e. training against a basic “knife hand” easily morphed into applications against hooks. Additionally, training in basic techniques helped one get better and better at what we called “volume control”: only applying the amount of force necessary to a given situation. Having also trained in a number of other arts (mostly striking and grappling), and having also seen some ridiculous Aikido dojos out there, I can see where Aikido’s bad rep comes from. However, I think this is a pedagogical issue with how the art has developed and moved than it is an issue with Aikido per se. All of which to say, I think this video is broadly correct, and also that the distinction between aikido and aikijujutsu is not as clear as one might think-at least not in the better dojos.

[@albaficadepiscis4042]

From Aikido Mexico practicioner, I just wanna say: Thank you!! I totally agree with you.

[@diegodelmar1536]

What I love about Aikido at least the way I learned about it was the philosophy of using the force of your opponent against them. This is a practice that applies to all areas of life and indeed brings peace which is the goal of aikido. Isn’t it true that to avoid violence one can for start never begin the fight and still feel victorious.

[@HomemConservador]

I have a good point... Congrats!!! Aikido works when the attacker "bulldogs" you.

[@keropnw3425]

A lot of half understandings and misunderstandings in this video about the difference between Budo and Koryu.

[@goraisan]

The most accurate video about aikido I’ve seen! 👍🏼

[@chrisd1]

when I was doing aikido, one of my instructors tried to make it more aikidojutsu and he put the "implicit strikes" (look at the wheel throw, or irimi nage) back in, incorporated some western wrestling and WW2 combatives moves, when I moved town and went to another aikido club I was "too aggressive" and "painful" The strike my (original) club mostly trained with was actually a chin jab and also the jab

[@killualee2815]

Finally someone who understands the difference between the do and jutsu arts !!!!!!! Thank you 🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️

[@joeylabranche1014]

I'm a practitioner of Aikido and this dude is only partially right.Aikido is not a Martial art you do to learn how to fight you do it to learn how to protect yourself.I will never try to fight a boxer or a MMA fighter because i will get my ass kicked but i work in security and in my job its very useful to control somebody or protect myself against a average dude.

[@mrsmallpinky9041]

Yes it is......very effective against a foe without fighting experience. Can be effective against a foe with fighting experience also " if the Akido practitioner is not engaged in the fight and is willing to move"

[@daffydlandegge3843]

People seem to be unaware that Morihei was a well seasoned practioner (and master of aikijujitsu before creating, practicing and demonstrating) Aikido. So of course he was able to make Aikido work in real situations in the handful of challenges he had. Let's compare that to the average "Joe" who takes it up as a hobbie... they have very little to base the techniques off of to use them in a real world situation... that is THE definition of dangerous and reckless

[@stuartcoyle1626]

It's good to hear someone explaining what Aikido is really about. I''ve trained in both a post-war very soft style and a pre-war hard style. I have since trained in kenjutsu and the origin of most Aikido techniques became very clear. If you are armed with a blade the unarmed techniques you need are not the whole of boxing and wrestling, they are just enough techniques to enable you to get your blade and use it. You need to deal with an incoming weapon strike, remove (or avoid) a grab on your wrist or tsuba, make correct distance and that is about it. Many aikido techniques make much more sense when you put in all the strikes (proper atemi) not your karate chop te-gatana. Most later styles of aikido have these strikes missing in order to make the form more harmonious, which is of course exactly what it is about.

[@Gieszkanne]

Ueshiba had no post or pre war Aikido! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIDHZYqjmc-Vd6s

[@lewpearson9800]

I took Aikido for seven years then stopped because of bad knees (cartilege mostly gone). 18 years have passed and now I just started Krav Maga, which I like because of striking, knife and gun defenses. From what I seen after 1 week of Krav is that there seems to be a preference for irimi (inside) over ura (outside). The blocks are the same except there is force on force rather than blending. Each Krav technique has multiple strikes. I haven't seen much getting off line as in Aikido which I prefer. I'm 68 years old, I'm not going to get into striking that much. I want to break something. I'm going to block and get into shikaku as soon as possible and work from there. I don't want to be in front of the attacker, then it's a race to the finish. I try to watch out where I'm going force on force, which is not going to work with someone strong. I never want to be on the ground. I think that is a losing position, especially with multiple attackers. Randori helped me alot and is still ingrained. I do try to protect my hands as they can be broken in striking: game over. In general I want techniques which are as fast as possible, do as much damage as possible, with the least amount of effort, and, something not always talked about, the least vulnerable as possible.I would appreciate more discussion so I can keep learning. Enjoy.

[@robertlaut7488]

Thanks for this, well explained and clearly thought out, great video as always

[@anthonylleid7061]

🤔👏🏿🎯🔍🏆🔥! Why are some people complaining about Akidio, just add punches ND kicks and the art forms is completed !! SMDH !

[@guyetundi5501]

Sensei Gozo Shioda has said that Atemis (strikes) make up over 50% of Aikido. That's why in Yoshinkan an Atemi is given before initiating the technique. So instead of trying to grab someone's hand during a fight, it's a good idea to learn how to strike and move. That way, when someone grabs your wrist or body, you can apply your aikido technique. I'd also recommend Judo for physical strength. A good aikido practitioner must be physically strong (judo) and know how to throw a punch (boxing).

[@peterking1270]

An amazing explanation, thank you.

[@robinharwood5044]

Teeny hint. A hakama isn't a skirt. It's baggy trousers.

[@russ1q]

Real World Martial Arts success with aikido....I was riding my bike to the dojo one evening about 5 years into training. I was not paying attention as much as I should have and hit a rut. That turned my tire and I went flying over the handlebars hitting the ground with mae ukemi (a forward roll)....I rolled to my feet (I didn't even slap the pavement with my hand:):). The bike was fine, I was fine and I went to the dojo that night....never been in a fight cause I don't go where fights happen...mostly. So, the art works for me. Good luck to everyone in their own training and remember Funakoshi's saying: "Do not criticize any other martial arts or speak ill of others as it will surely come back to you. The mountain does not laugh at the river because it is lowly. The river does not speak ill of the mountain because it cannot move. Each has it's own emphasis and characteristics."

[@goshuryusc]

Tell me why my teacher as an uchideshi to Gozo Shioda (student of OSensei) taught Yoshinkan Aikido to the Tokyo Riot Police? And Why he taught seminars to the Japanese special forces. You can’t be serious saying that Yoshinkan Aikido is not developed for self defence. If you are looking for practical aikido self defence, look no further than Mori Michiharu Shihan in Brisbane Australia.

[@apostolospanagiotopoulos7858]

I have never trained aikido, so no personal opinion. Just wanted to share what a guy I used to train bjj with and he is an aikido black belt told me. The guy is quite big and strong and he used to be a bouncer (I don't know if he still is). He told me aikido works quite well against an untrained and weaker opponent. I asked him what was the point then. He replied that his case that helps him stay out of trouble. He could easily devastate any drunk guy when at work, but it is way preferable to apply a simple wrist or solder lock and just remove the trouble maker out of the club peacefully. This was the optimal strategy to stay out of legal trouble and preserve the reputation of the club. I have not thought of it, but there are numerous cases where the aggressor is weaker, but the defender wants to avoid causing any damage (e.g. when a teacher has to deal with troubled students). However, again, I have never been an aikido practitioner, so my opinion is not a valid one.

[@misterkendoll2252]

Aikido is not for fighting; a common misunderstanding. If understood and taught correctly, it is for self protection, either by allowing escape from the threat, or by removing the threat.

[@stanleyjohnson3219]

Absolutely agree I practise aikido but have had to do ju jitsu to make it viable. Its very difficult for those who are not skilled enough to pull it off. I did Judo and it would be my first go to to deflect an attack and I have used it successfully on two occasions but I was decades younger then. . But now I am an old man of 77 and have heart problems and people usually pick on me because I am little and skinny.

[@foolishprodigy]

I was offered Aikido lessons from a friend to help train his daughter and my other friend his long time student. we were, for the most part, the only people in the class on and off for a while, years. Before all that I had just left the Army with a bad back and lot of heartbreak, my first love being the Army and my friends in the military, the second being a bad break up that I didn't deal with for years until leaving the military. Aikido really helped me with moving my body and strengthening my footwork, core, and most importantly my outlook on life. I get why people don't believe Aikido would work because in the Army, and I sure in a lot of other places, if it seems not effective then it all must be bad, because you may have to use it that day. It took me years to grasp Aikido and after ten years I still don't feel like an expert, My Sensei always training to improve and never settle for my current skill level, having me repeat techniques over and over refining everything even after getting a black belt. I feel like I'm still just beginning because my life is still just beginning everyday.

[@-oanMinhNhat]

Thanks for this sharing as an aikidoka. You're really understanding things than those stupid outside.

[@Nordiclaw1]

I feel like akido has its place. Kinda like TKD shines at certain things it does. I think akido's attributes would be good in an open melee with multiple people. But you better have additional striking and grappling skills in addition to akido. But a chaotic melee, might allow akido to capitalize on its ability to redirect commited energy attacks like tackles and thrusting/stabbings.

[@yorkshiregrump5248]

A friend of mine (a policewoman) was trained in Aikido and had never heard of aikijutsu or Daito-aikjutsu. The moves she had learned saved her life when she was assaulted by a crazed woman with a knife. This involved injuring the assailant's wrist. Did she do Aikido? or Aikijutsu that she had not trained in?

[@spinningbacksidekick]

Most urban police departments in the USA undergo Aikido training, or rather Aikido technique training. They don't actually put on the pajamas, wear belts, or use wooden samurai swords. So yeah, some of it works for restraining. Aikido is great as a secondary martial art. I think you need a strong base in something else (boxing, bjj, kyokushin, etc) in order for your Aiikido to work.

[@TheMindofRobert]

That was actually really good. I thought I would kinda disagree, but that was really well thought out and some good points.

[@alanrawson-wg8io]

Thank you for the best online articulation of the difference between traditional ARTS and fighting styles. I’m tired of the trolls constantly hammering on Aikido for being useless in a”real” fight. In my opinion it’s about mindset. Do you have the will to fight or do you not. You will use whatever skills you possess to win if you have the will. There are techniques in Aikido that are very effective but if you’re up against someone who is an experienced actual fighter you may not fare very well unless you’ve had experience fighting yourself.

[@davidmiller4078]

Very interesting and constructive What about when Usheba left Japan for decades went to China and studied Bagua quan then came back to Japan and developed Aikido ? Ide be very interested in more detail on that story ? Great job cheers from Scotland