What do you think of Aikido?

[superleeds]

The founder of my karate style "Chito ryu" O sensei Chitose was somewhat influenced by the concepts of aikido. (after all he was a 6th Dan or something)

 

I personally find Aikido to be one of the more exciting M.arts.

 

Good luck on your further development Kensai

[kenpo4life]

Kensai,

 

That is pretty funny. My friend actually made mcdojo.com I think people hate on aikido, because they lump it all as one style. it has many different varieties, like jj, or karate even. If you want to see something nuts, find some footage of the yoshinkan. That is where they train the kidotai, the japanese riot police. They bang on each other big time. Aikido is like anything else, practice for real and it works for real.

[yoriki816]

After taking a great deal of time to read and enjoy the discussion of Aikido, I've decided to weigh in with my opinion. I've been training in Yoseikan Aikido and Goshin Jujitsu for almost ten years and like many of the people posting I initially made the mistake of discounting any aikido that would be considered post-war. (For those not familiar with the difference between pre-war and post-war aikido, pre-war aikido is more heavily influenced by Daito-Ryu aikijujitsu wich is more direct and less flowing than it's more ki-centric post-war counterpart.) The "tree-hugging" variety if you will. I considered the post war branches such as the Aikikai, and Ki Society to be ineffective because they relied too much on the opponents cooperation to be effective. Well 10 years later I am here to tell you that I was dead wrong. If you think that a "fat man" with a 5th dan in Aikikai or a similar style couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag you are sadly mistaken. Muscle strength and speed do count for something don't get me wrong, but have you ever tried to fight someone who simply dodges every puch or kick you throw at them? It's tiring to say the least. I realize that this seems like an extreme example, but it isn't as far fetched as many martial artists would believe. Even Bruce Lee understood the concept of timing. If you can react to an attacker in such a way as to intercept or disrupt his incoming attack, then how can his offense be effective? Tai sabaki or body shifting is key. A punch does no damage if you aren't there to absorb the impact.

 

I will agree that this type of Aikido is very difficult to master and places in some cases too little emphasis on what is correct for the individual student while trying to imitate Ueshiba too closely. Ueshiba was the kind of martial artist that comes along once in a life time. That is why the great Japanese masters sent their senior students to learn how this frail looking man could topple Sumo wrestlers with seemingly no effort. The founder of the style of Aikido I study was one of those students and the teachings of Ueshiba influence my practice in more ways than I truly realize.

 

So in closing Aikido is not an ineffective bag of parlor tricks that only work for those with a willing or ignorant partner. It is a means of acchieving maximum effect with minimal effort, a concept that is mirrored all most all martial arts, judo and jeet kun do for example. If a one inch punch is not a striker's interpretation of this principle, I'll eat my belt.

[Kensai]

Nice to see another Aikidoka around.

 

I have a lot of respect for Yoseikan, very powerful style.

 

I know that it is pretty different from Ki Aikido, but same core principles. One of my teachers was a student of Abbe Sensei and the legendary Tohei Sensei.

 

It is very difficult to explain to people what attacking and Aikidoka is like, I think the best way is, "ever tried to attack smoke and get hit by a train at the same time". This is the closest I could figure.

 

Best of luck in your continued study.

 

Yours in Aiki.

[yoriki816]

Thanks for the comment Kensai, you certainly seem quite knowledgable about the art. I must confess however that I was more than a little suprised that you had even heard of Yoseikan Aikido. It is not a very well known style in the U.S. and is still relatively small in Japan. Some of this comes from Master Mochizuki's vocal stance on the sportification and over spiritualization of the Japanese martial traditions. O Sensei believes that to gain maximum benefit from such training that it has to remain true to the intent behind it's creation. Yoseikan is very heavily grounded in Jujitsu and Judo as well as Katori Shinto Ryu which forms the basis for much of our weapons practice. With all that said, I must ask where did you hear about such a small albiet not insignificant branch of Aikido?

[Kensai]

All Aikido is significant.

 

I heard about it from the Aikido Journal website. Aikido is such a vast area of study, I think you have to start at sport/martial or spiritual end or you'll just get lost.

 

I heard that Master Mochizuki joined it with other Japanese styles. How different is it to Aikikai Aikido for example? Without sounding to ignorant, is it more like Yoshinkan?

 

What weapons do you practice?

 

Yours in Aiki.

[yoriki816]

Kensai,

 

I would agree that all Aikido is indeed significant and I will do my best answer your questions.

 

Master Mochizuki was a senior student of Kano's who was sent to study with Ueshiba to report back to Kano what this Aikido stuff was all about. And before his Judo training began he studied several different forms of Jujitsu as well. I'm not sure of the time frames but he also studied I assume consecutively with his Aikido and Judo training, Shotokan, Iado, Kenjutsu, Bojutsu. In all of these arts he hold significant dan rankings. So when deciding to start his own school after turning down the directorship of both the Kodokan and Aikikai, Master Mochizuki blended together the techniques from his vast experience that best illustrated the concept of maximum benefit with minimal effort, and Yoseikan Aikido was born.

 

The most interesting thing is the teaching philosopy of the art. The two most significant teachers in Master Mochizuki's life were very different in their approach to technique. Jigoro Kano was very scientific in his approach to technique. There was a set way to do each technique. Ueshiba was on the other hand much more likely to teach a technique one way one year and the same technique a completely different way the next. The way Aikido is taught in Yoseikan is that the beginners are taught a set methodology for the techniques, so as to learn the principles of kuzushi, tai sabaki, and timing. But as the student develops more understanding of the technique we are encouraged to find the way that works best for us.

 

Master Mochizuki understood that every man is individual and the expression of his aikido will be different as well. Differences in size, strength, flexibility and countless other less obvious variables make some techniques better or worse for all students. Finding your own path is important because it allows you to "own" a personal understanding and execution of the style.

 

These teachings are mirrored in even the name Mochizuki chose for his style. Yoseikan means simply "the place where what is right is taught" This is not to say that Mochizuki's way is the only way, but rather that each student is allowed over years of dedicated study and persistant reflection to find his or her own truth.

 

Man did that post get way too long on what was supposed to be a "simple" answer to what other arts were included into Mochizuki's Yoseikan. So I'll simply answer your other questions in a separate post. I hope this was informative.

[Kensai]

Thanks very much, I like to know as much as I can about ALL the Aikido styles.

 

My Sensei has said that ALL Aikido is different, your moves will never be the same as someone elses. Its as unique as a figure print. Thats the great thing about Aikido, is it lets you decide how you want to move. Like you said once you have got a firm grasp of the basics then you are away.

 

Thanks again for the very informative post.

 

Yours in Aiki.

[yoriki816]

Kensai,

 

It is sometimes confusing for juniour students to learn techniques from the many different dan ranked instructors we have, because there is often a large difference in which particular parts of a technique that we place emphasis on. It's all about the fingerprinting you mentioned earlier. But we do have a set way to teach the basic techniques so as not to overwhelm beginners, but after Sankyu or so we really focus on finding which "version" of the technique works best for the individual student while maintaining that senior ranks muct still be able to teach a more "basic" method to beginners.

 

In answer to some of your earlier questions; Yoseikan teaches a variety of weapons ranging from tanto and tanbo for more street application, and jo, bo, and katana for more stylized and historical reasons. Although I have found that analyzing the weapon work has taught me a lot of good lessons that carry over into empty handed techniques.

 

As far as to whether or not Yoseikan is much like Sensei Shioda's Yoshinkan I really couldn't say having little to no experience with the techniques and principles of that style. From what I hear of it, there seems to be a similarity in the sense that both styles focus on having technique that is street applicable. I think that the broader scope of Yoseikan, especially in the inclusion of the nage waza from Judo makes it hard to compare to most other widely known styles of Aikido.

 

I'll end this one here so as not to write yet another book on the subject. If you have more questions please feel free to ask.

[Kensai]

My teachers style is focused strongly from Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, which is probably the less "violent" of the Aikido styles, although the potential is still there.

 

Do you do Ki exercises such as Furitama and Happo undo?

 

Yours in Aiki.