Aikido

[spudtater]

From the leaflet handed out by the Aikido society:

The founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, felt that the true spirit of aikido aimed to create a world without enemies. "This world was designed by our creator", he said, "there is no need to fight against its natural harmony. With true mind of love and compassion we can go back to the original principles of creation, end establish noble and pure world. [sic] This is what we are obliged to achieve and this is the purpose of our life".

Okay, non-violent martial art: good. Talking like a freaky cultist: bad.
From the next page:

Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), the founder of aikido, was possibly history's greatest martial artist. Even at 80, Morihei could disarm any attacker, repel multiple opponents, and pin a man with a single finger.

Ummm... the first two claims were stretching credibility. The last one's just silly.

Comments

[nickys.livejournal.com]

> pin a man with a single finger

I can think of a way to pin a man by a single finger.

And there are pressure points on the side of the head that might work - but there are two of them so you'd need two fingers to use them.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I was considering pressure points and stuff, but then I realised that all the other person would have to do is to reach up and grab your finger. Maybe if you held his hands down with your free hand... but then it's not a single finger anymore.

[stormsearch.livejournal.com]

Like nickys says, it all depends on where you put the finger. It is entirely possible to do so.

Or does it mean that he could pin a man who only had one finger? Maybe he won at thumb wars?

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

The hippie crap is so they can recruit people who would otherwise feel bad about the violent aspect - "this is a PEACEFUL martial art". People who don't care about that will ignore it and go to the next page, where it tells you how hard you'll be if you study this form.

The last two claims do not exclude the possibility that the "multiple opponents" and the "man" are incompetents. But it's perfectly standard "I'm the hardest" puffing up you're style propaganda - all martial arts teachers do this. Basic advertising - you're not going to recruit (paying) pupils by saying you're not as good as the other guy.

[markadm.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... though it is true that there are martial arts that are not so much about attack. They often look much nicer to the observer.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

As I hear it, aikido focuses mainly on grappling; the idea being that if somebody attacks you, you can defeat them without throwing a single punch of your own.
This idea rather appeals to me. I just don't want anything to do with the "hippie crap", as original_aj put it!   8^)

[markadm.livejournal.com]

Hmm... interesting. Obviously, you don't want anything to do with Hippie Crap. However, you can learn a lot and do a lot without attacking/weapons. We learnt that in Officer Safety Training.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess it's a very similar idea.
Whether it's from ideological grounds, or because of professional responsibility, the idea is to stop an attacker while causing the least possible amount of harm to them.

[markadm.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I forget the term for it, but you rule out all the over-the-top levels of force until you get to the right one...

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Reasonable force?

[markadm.livejournal.com]

No... it's a not-often used word (hence I can't remember). I think it has a "pre-" prefix, but I can't remember...

[markadm.livejournal.com]

I just remembered:

PRECLUSION.

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Not a term I've heard used in that context before, but it makes sense, yes. The policeman that came to talk to us at work (social security office) about personal safety and our rights, etc, had a fairly simple view of it. He basically said you don't use a weapon if they don't, otherwise all bets are off pretty much. I think there is a vague sense that an experienced martial artist is expected to do less lasting damage than your average joe though. My view is that I don't start violence but if someone else starts it I'll finish it with minimum harm to me - I care considerably less about them! It's a bit different if you're professionally required to initiate "physical interacton" (violence isn't quite the right term here) with someone.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

Is Aikido the one with the bamboo swords?

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

No, that's kendo.
There is a university kendo society too. Hmmm... cool clothes, big swords... a possibility...   8^)

[deralte.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to try kendo...

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Kendo is very much a sport - it's all about aiming for a few very precise targets. IIRC there are only 4 permitted strikes (Top of head, right waist, left and right wrists plus a thrust to the neck for black belts only) but it was about 20 years ago I briefly studied it.

I'm interested in actual combat techniques rather than playing tag with something which is not very like a sword (though more like than a fencing foil) so I didn't keep it up for long. Kendo is quite fun in it's own right, it's just moved a long way from its origins in sword training just as fencing has. Once any combat art becomes a competitive sport with rules people will play to the limit of the rules, which inevitably results in an evolution away from what is effective in a real fight and towards what scores you the most points.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm not sure if I'll be happy with it then. I quit fencing because I was annoyed with the precedence rule (you may hit first, but if you didn't show your intention to hit, then your oponent who hit you second, gets the point). It annoyed the heck out of me since in real life, whoever hits first wins, or at least has a better chance. Then again, this particular club says they're non competitive, so maybe there'll be some leeway.

I already know all the basics of katana fighting though, so I'm wondering if kendo will be useful for just practicing my sword skills. There's a demonstration on Sat. that I think I will attend and i'll make my decision there.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I shall see you there, then. I'm still very unsure of what martial art to go for. Right now it's looking like either karate or tai chi. I don't have very high opinions yet of tai chi, since it just brings to mind images of old men and women doing their morning exercises! A university society might be more exciting, though.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

My mum says Aikido is very similar to what I already know how to do which either means I'd adore it, or be bored and feel constrained (it depends on how they treat white belts since that's what drove me out of jujitsu). I took karate when I was five. I found it boring which is why I didn't take another martial art until I was 13, but your opinion will probably be different:)

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I took karate when I was around eight. I got to yellow belt, but got bored of the katas (is that the right word?). Also the instructor was unenthusiastic and a sadistic bastard to boot.
I thought I might give it another go now that I'm older. I'd rather try something else, though. Any suggestions?

[deralte.livejournal.com]

It depends on what you're looking for. Different arts suit different people. Are you looking to learn to fight proper, exercise, simply relax? I enjoyed Judo here at uni, with the only reason I quit being lack of time and that fact that it was messing up my form for taijitsu. I disliked jujitsu here at uni, but only because I hated the way they ran their class (far too formal) and it was also messing up my form for taijitsu.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

The reason I want to take up a martial art is for the exercise, but I need to find something that's mentally as well as physically challenging, or I'll lose interest. When I took karate last time I was told to do this and that without being told the theory behind what I was learning; hence I got bored. But as I mentioned before, that teacher sucked.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

Well, Judo has been the most active of the martial arts I've tried so far. You got a really good workout in that class. I expect Kendo would be the same. All I remember is learning how to do exactly one punch and one kick in Karate so I wouldn't know if it's got more exercise than I remember. The arts that are more concerned with defense and learning to fight tend to have less exercise since you spend your time going over things instead of using lots of energy fighting - that being said, i usually find those classes more interesting.