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.