Ep. 195: Aikido and Its Future - with Tengu

[@modernaikidoistpodcast4303]

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[@junglejim3433]

Great conversation. Very inspirational. Love the podcast and Tengu’s KZbin channel. I’m one of those guys who loves Aikido but kinda gave up on it. I started at a great dojo, that I moved away from, and just never found another one that satisfied. But I’ve never lost my interest in it and have been thinking for years about all these things you guys discussed. I’ve been thinking about starting practice again. This was very inspiring

[@neotenylv09]

Whats interesting is, when you cross train, you realize how you can improve your Aikido or at the very least, it makes you see things with another perspective. I think I probably would have given up on Aikido if I didn't cross train. PD: I hope I can see Ellis Amdur in another episode. We have to think on something to bring him back.

[@busheerr]

Great conversation and content. 😊

[@martialgeeks]

Ooohh talking about the infamous Trapping range, I have some ideas about it from my experience in sparring, it does exist but there's a very specific way to extend it purpousfully

[@danielscorner]

Oh how I would've loved to take part in this discussion!=D Very good content guys! But Some things I would like to comment on. When do you make the aikido "your own"? from the beginning I would say, but gradually. And Shodan is the grade where you show that you know the basics, and it scales from there in your own expression. In our line (Nishio -> Shishiya sensei) there are absolutely personalization everywhere =) Nikkyo looks different, sankyo, and kotegaeshi is different. And our sensei takes us on a journey of "discovery" where we are encouraged to find our own way that suits us best. For us it's the philosophy that is 99% of aikido (if you look at the interview with Shishiya sensei part 2 on my channel) and that opens up a lot of freedom when we are talking technique =) Nishio senseis emphasis was always on development and improvement, and martial viability. In several interviews with Nishio sensei he states that Aikido needs to work vs other budoka or its useless. The quality of Aikido's techniques is in the light of other Budo. But yes sadly there are few that adhere to that.

[@kevinlobos5519]

This was an amazing thing to have in the background while working on my HEMA buffers. Loved it to bits and I really hope to see more in the future 🫶🏼.

[@danielscorner]

One of the unique aspects in aikido is that it’s not aikido vs aikido, but aikido vs another or no art. Having two people ”defending” and trying to counter is just wonky. Aikido is asymmetric in terms of engagement (not weapon-wise as in Tomiki) and I think we should try to maintain that uniqueness. For me the optimal sparring is vs other arts such as boxing, karate, judo etc. The problem is how do we do this in the every day training? We need to spend considerable time practicing attacks, both grappling and striking. And this takes considerable time and that is the dilemma. For judo you need only to be good at judo to be able to spar in judo. To be able to ”sparr” in aikido you need to be proficient in striking, grappling , and then aikido on top of that! It’s actually quite similar to mma in that way that we need to synthesize different arts to then create something unique. And since aikido is basically only philosophy (the techniques are not unique) that could be a non-issue. 😊

[@TheAseer2020]

One aspect of Aikido that almost always gets over looked is the religious/spiritual side. I have heard that OSensei was deeply religious, and would talk a lot about religious ideas. I have read that he had a strong connection with the Shinto Kami Sarutahiko no Okamisama and the Jinja Tsubaki Ōkami Yashiro. Could it also be said that Aikido is a Shinto/ spiritual exercise more than a martial art?

[@tristanchermack6735]

Good question. While Morehei was a deeply devout man, where has actual religious teaching or practice been present in aikido training? I think the biggest presence of this influence is in aikido's pacifist ideology. It is an interesting point that Morehei's son flatly contradicted the idea that his father was a pacifist. Perhaps there are aikido dojos which require or include religious practice or doctrine in training, but I think these are rare. Here in the US, there are dojos which are very strongly Christian and require their students to be of that faith. Such dojos are in the extreme minority with most favoring focusing on teaching and training the physical art over branching into religion. Personally, I think this is wise. I think it was a huge mistake to try and turn a martial art into a religion or ideology. It has helped twist a martial art into a cult, and that is a bad thing. I do believe that learning to be physically powerful requires a moral and ethical base or someone can become a bully or a thug. This concept goes back to ancient Greece. One might find that moral or ethical base within religion or philosophy, both of which can help create good character. There are plenty of religious people with poor character so there is no guarantee. The issue I see with combining a martial art with either a particular religion or philosophy is that students may be attracted to that aspect and have little or no interest in the physical art. This serves over the long term to degrade the quality of the art. In aikido's case, the pacifist ideology urges practitioners to blunt their physical capabilities and scorn the idea of actually being physically capable. This may sound extreme, but I've heard many aikido practitioners claim that aikido is not a martial art and was never designed to be one. This is how far down the road the ideology misled them, and that is a very bad thing.

[@Allen2saint]

O’Sensei followed a kind of questionable religious leader who had kind of a mish mash of Asian religion and universalist ideas. O’Sensei held to this even after he stopped following this leader. He had the idea that Aikido “completes all religions” which is quite a claim. I’m not sure how to gauge the religiosity of a guy whose whole life was built around martial arts, even though he claimed this pacifist approach later in life. I know the Hombu dojo had a policy of respecting people of all religions and being neutral on religion in general. I don’t think the practice has an inherent specific religiosity to it. And people need to remember that in Japanese culture religion holds a somewhat different place than in western culture. A person can belong to multiple religions in a lifetime and even attend certain rituals for certain things. It’s just way different than the way western people think about religious ideas or identity. I’m a religion scholar.

[@martialgeeks]

10/10 what a blast! 🔥

[@gripacademyaikidojiujitsu]

Who is this Mark Tennenhouse's son?

[@Mrcashewww]

Aikido is a waste of time.

[@kevinlobos5519]

Wow dude you go tell them! Holy frick I can't even possibly imagine how they are going to recover from that you rock dude you sure told them lmao they got so rekt rofl lol xd

[@Mrcashewww]

@@kevinlobos5519 thank you it was hard for me to muster up the courage to post that so I greatly appreciate your support 🥇

[@Mrcashewww]

@@kevinlobos5519 thanks you I worked really hard to muster up the courage to post I really appreciate your kind words. It inspires me to express even more of my opinion thank you🥹🥹🥹🤴🏿🤴🏿🤴🏿

[@olegajitsu]

If you're competing in a combat sport, it may feel that way. I'm an active BJJ competitor and attend a couple of Aikido classes a week as my active recovery. It's less intense, and fun and people aren't trying to kill you.