yoriki816

ben~ As a matter of fact I am associated with the Yoseikan club in Huntsville. I've been training there for almost 12 years now. Are you local to the area?

Okay I'm going to jump in on the discussion. I believe all of this talk about what dan rank one should have before being allowed to open a school shows that many martial arts are simply putting the cart before the horse. When I step into a dojo I only ask two question regarding the experience of the instructor. Neither of these has anything to do with formal rank. The first is how long they have been training in the style the are teaching and the second is how long they have been teaching. Experience is far more important to me than how many pieces of paper they have hanging on the wall. I am only a shodan, yet have trained for twelve years consistantly. And due to some unusual circumstances, I ran my own dojo for three years during which time I did not have dan rank. Did my students perform poorly on their exams because of my low "ranking". In fact, they all performed quite well, being of a similar skill in almost every category as the students who trained in the school where they were tested. Teaching is not about the belt certificate you hold, it's about the experience with both the curriculum and the ability to express it to other students who want to learn from you. To say a nidan or sandan shouldn't run their own dojo would strike me as saying that the organization may need some quality control. Because if some one with that much "rank" cannot be trusted to impart the basics to a new student or even a mid level student, then I doubt that I would want to join an organization that trains their teachers so poorly. Mind you that's just my two yen.

I will redily admit that most Aikido styles are weak against a boxer's quickly recoiling strikes. But there are ways that Aikido throws and by extension some judo and jujitsu technniques can be easily applied using Aiki principles. The key to neutralizing trained fighters is to quickly access the fact that they have skill and then adjust your game plan to accomodate that fact. Unfortunnately most 'pure aikido" styles don't have these tricks in their bag. I would suggest an aikijujitsu style before a more traditional aikido style based on that fact alone. But that's just my two yen.

As someone who studies an style of Aikido which has heavy ties to Judo, I'd like to get in on this discussion. I would definately say that Judo techniques have a definate place alongside the throws and joint techniques of Aikido and Jujitsu in a realistic street environment, even against multiple attackers. The principle problem to that statement is that most judo schools focus so heavily on the competitive sportive nature of the art, that students do not learn how to properly use their techniques against more realistic attacks. Aikido has it's weaknesses as well. It oft times lacks in ability to deal with a well trained attacker, and takes longer to master for most students in it's purest most conceptual form. I think that's the trade off you get when choosing one over the other. I was lucky to find a style of aikido that takes the best from aikido, judo, and traditional jujitsu and blends it all into a seamless system. While it still has it's weak points I think all in all it covers the bases fairly well.

Yes a hakama will definately interfere with and kicks you want to do. A bit of history on the hakama. The hakama are usually used only when doing Aikido, Kenjutsu, and Iaido. The main reason for wearing the hakama(other than just looking cool) is to help hide footwork. By obscuring the movement of the feet, the different styles of kenjutsu, iaido, and aikido were better able to keep rival schools from deciphering the secrets of their techniques. Since footwork is everything in Aikido especially it makes really good sense.

Jerry~ I would have to agree with you that what Kensai proposes is not likely to be effective against a boxer who isn't trying to score anything more than a surface hit with his lead hand. I'm sure he was working with a committed strike that was meant to do damage rather than the softening punch you describe. Something very similar to what he describes works against an untrained jab pretty well, but not against a boxer or trained karateka. I would like to point out that there is no reason when given proper distancing and tai sabaki is used that a trained Aikidoka would need to respond to a noncommited punch such as you describe here. That is because tori would always be just out of uke's reach, forcing him to commit to an attack allowing tori to respond correctly. There are other methods that we use in my dojo to draw a boxers strikes toward specific areas, as well as higher level of timing that allows tori to respond before the punch is launched to allow him to smother uke's ability to strike and apply an appropriate takedown. The timing trick however is incredibly hard to accomplish without lots and lots of practice, but I've seen it work against many a trained striker. But personally I like to use a little bit of JKD trapping with my aikido to slip the jab as I get into position for a modified kaiten nage. I know it sounds strange but it works.

I couldn't agree more. Well said Beer Monster. The problem is that martial arts shouldn't be so tied to the practicioner's ego. Something which I see far too much on the forums. I agree that I think that my particular art is the best. For me. Martial Arts are not for everyone and each individual art is not for everyone. I know there are holes in my training. It's the nature of being good at anything. To be good at one thing you have to pay less attention to something else. Learn how to use what you know as effectively as it can be for you, and if that doesn't leave you feeling safe enough then by all means find something that fills in the rough spots. Do you need to know how to ground fight in order to survive a confrontation? I'd say it helps a lot, but is not absolutely necessary. I'm not training to become a streetfighter or UFC champion. It's unrealistic for me to act as if I am. The only question I feel the need to answer in the realm of self defense is this; "Can I defend myself and my family if I am put in a situation where I have no choice?" Realizing of course that I am not likely to get mugged by a guy who has 5 years experience in Muay Thai or BJJ or and anything else. Against an opponent who has street fighting experience with little or no martial training, I don't feel that I need to be a black belt in six martial arts and compete in tough man competitions to prepare from a possible mugging. I know enough to spot the danger signs in most circumstances and get myself and my family out of harm's way, that's a lot easier and less messy legally than me rolling on the ground snapping elbows and such. The mind is the best weapon of all.

It all depend on what dort of throw you choose to use and the attack you are dealing with. Rear grasps such as bear hugs, headlocks or chokes lend themselves nicely to hip and shoulder throws such as seoi nage or o goshi. Straight line punches are better handled with irimi nage which is basically an aikido or jujitsu closeline. Haymakers lend themselves to four corner throws, like shi ho nage or more hip and shoulder throws. In short throws can be very effective in real life situations if you know how to respond to the variety of attacks you may be faced with. The only other thing to consider is that these techniques, especially the hip and shoulder throws, are quite dangerous to someone who does not know how to fall and can cause more serious injury than you want to inflict. I hope this was helpful.

I have to go on records as saying that while Aikido is a terribly difficult art to master, and that to attain the "untouchable" status even more unlikely, that it "DOES NOT" not require ten years of practice to be effective for self defense. I have foolishly allowed myself to be drawn in confrontations where I was called upon to use my knowledge of aikido. Keep in mind that it was years ago, after about three years of training and I have since learned the error of such conduct. The point is that I was more than capable of defending myself using techniques that I had learned in the dojo. I've said this before but I'll repeat it. Aikido was designed for mortal combat, and the only difference between the art at it's inception and the common Aikido schools today is that the focus isn't on making the technique street effective right away. If a diligent student practices well and considers the realities of self defense carefully, he or she can easily find the way to make the aikido work to his or her advantage if the need to do so presents itself. Hope this helps answer your question.

Kensai~ While I rarely find myself in such a situation because I'm often the larger of the two people doing ne waza, I would offer two possible solutions. 1. If you don't start in a kumi uchi position(meaning you aren't already grabbing each other) and he charges forward with arms extended to propel you backward you might try placing one hand in his armpit forcing the shoulder upwards toward his head while simulataneously pushing inward on his opposite knee. This movement when done correctly, lands uke on his back and in excellent position for any number of classic aiki pinning techniques. 2. And going from a more jujitsu approach you can always fall into a guard position and use your opponents gi to apply a juji jime or more commonly called a cross lapel choke. If you pull him to your chest as you do this you can almost completely eliminate the prospect of him breaking in your face with punches. Hope this was of some help.

Not to contradict Kensai or any of the other folks who have posted replies to this question, but I would have to say that YES there are definately kata taught in Aikido dojos, in fact my Shodan exam was full of them. To be true some of them involved weapon work. (knife and sword to be specific) but at least one was pure aikido. I realize that Yoseikan Aikido is unusual in this regard, and that the previous replies were correct when applied to their respective styles, but some styles do use kata. I can think of three specific kata that do not involve weapons or karate and I'll give you a brief run down of them. Jutsuri No Kata or Form of the Soft Catch: in this kata you and a partner demonstrate several basic aikido principles of deflection and redirection through very slowly setting up a variety of techniques only to execute them with power. Tai Sabaki No Kata or Form of Body Shifting: in this kata the 10 basic methods for avoiding a strike are demonstrated with a technique that uses only that one piece of footwork to execute. Hiori No Kata or Form of Escape and Reversal: in this kata two students go through a series of techniques that are continually countered and reversed until one student actually ends up on the mat. There are more but those are the major ones. Hope this helps.

I can sympathize with part of your dilemma, being of slightly over average height and 50 or so pounds overweight and so inflexible that I cannot touch my toes even after ten years of trying. I am terribly sory to hear that you were injured in a Judo class, because it would be a definate good choice for your body type. A Shotokan school would definately be a good idea, and the previous post is correct; height in kicking is something that varies from student to student and any good instructor knows that and will work with you at the limits of your abilities. I do think that if you enjoyed Judo that Jujitsu would be a good choice, and to answer your question it does work for the big guy as well as the little guy. One of the most impressive instructors in our dojo is a guy that for the majority of his training looked like a junior Sumo wrestler. He's lost some weight to be sure, but he's still a big big man. Just keep in mind to work with your limitations, work through discomfort while not pushing so hard as to risk injury. Being overweight and inflexible is not insurmountable in the martial arts. If it was I wouldn't have made it this far. Good luck in your practice.

Kensai, A sprawl is a counter to the more common single or double leg take down seen in many forms of grappling such as BJJ. Simply put you pull back your legs as the attacker goes for your legs and use your hands to direct him to the ground. I've found this works especially well against those specific attacks and not so well against other types of take downs. It's a very aiki thing to do however lol.

Don't worry too much about the falling practice you watched, very few instructors willl start a new student with standing flat falls. Most teach rolling and flat falls from kneeling first, which cuts the momentum of both the fall and the impact down considerably. As the last person suggested I would be very diligent in my practice of ukemi, because developing bad habits now will definately lead to injuries later. I for one had to learn the hard way. Good luck in your practice.

The sacrifice throw or sutemi as it is called in Japanese is basically done by allowing yourself to fall, thus taking your opponent to the ground. These techniques are fairly common in judo, although they actually come from aikijujitsu. In their non competition form they are very dangerous and can result in serious injury if used at full speed against someone who does not know how to fall properly. Yoseikan Aikido specialized in sacrifice throws and in fact a large number of the sacrifice throws in modern Judo were taught to senior instructors at the Kodokan by Shihan Mochizuki. Hopefully that helps explain things a bit.