Aikido redux

[spudtater]

Went to my first Aikido lesson. Am still unsure about it; it does seem just a touch culty. The thing is that they don't appear to even realise this. The teacher placed a picture of the founder of Aikido on one wall, and as they step onto the mat they bow deeply in that direction. I asked them about this and got a mumbled response basically saying "it's traditional".

I sort of did a half-bow because I didn't want to make a fuss on my first day. But I have an unspoken principle of never bowing to anybody (or anything) who doesn't bow back. This includes pictures. I think I'll have to sort this out with them. I'll bow to the teacher, sure. I'll bow to my classmates, no problem. But to a dead dude's portrait? I'd really rather not, thankyouverymuch.

As for the actual art, it seems pretty neat. The first thing we learned was how to fall over.   8^)
Then we did a whole bunch of stuff revolving around one person grabbing the other's wrist, and the latter trying to break free or to force the former to fall over. It kinda suits me because the whole idea is to find ways to move such that the opponent can't resist in any way. So it's less of a physical struggle, and more tactical.

Now for karate on Friday. Hope I haven't missed too much.

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Keep us posted how it goes.

I've always wanted to learn a martial art, just not sure which...