Aikido Technique Videos and Self Defense Training

Sometimes I wonder at what I see and read regarding aikido. So many people willing to say this is, or is not, aikido. Or that seems to be magic-based aikido and that is street-effective aikido and that is combat aikido and this is small-circle aikido, or this aikido teacher is this or that. It seems to see it just about everywhere in the aikido community. Even within a dojo there are often differing opinions as to what constitutes aikido. I have my opinion based on my training and life’s experiences just as each of you do. What makes the activity we are engaging in aikido and not something else? Is it the rather pitiful little number of techniques in the syllabus? Is it our ability to use these techniques to throw or cause pain and/or injury to others that makes it aikido?

Let me offer an observation from my position. I go to dojo after dojo and find people involved with controlled violence who call what they do “aikido.” I see make-believe, life-and-death seniors, pretend winners and pretend losers. Nage using just enough power to cause uke pain or to throw uke and uke offering just enough resistance to receive the pain or get thrown. I think of this as “almost aikido” or “good-enough aikido” because people do it for years and seem happy continuing it. Nage never uses full power for fear of injury or death to uke. Thus nage’s technique is never really true and uke seldom follows nage’s lead without offering some resistance to help nage feel powerful and empowered with technique so uke’s ukemi is never true.

This may be fine for beginning aikido when the student is in the reactionary stage and reacts to nage’s physical stimuli of an attack. At this stage, uke and nage are building form. This is all they should think about. Correct posture, appropriate distance and a strong and physical interaction resulting in correctly formed and executed technique. This should be done for however many years it takes to be able to apply the form of technique without thinking (in the development of an aikido student this stage is “shu”). Shu is the stage where a student keeps repeating the physical act of technique or kata for however long it takes for the act to become innate, sometimes years depending on the student. However we should then move on to the next stage of development which is “interaction.” In this stage, we begin to understand the function of the forms and how they relate to us and our partners. Uke and nage should be in a position to interact spontaneously and seamlessly implementing supreme form with function. It is here we actually start to do aikido with people as opposed to performing techniques on them.

The function will be one thing at the beginning of the years of training, but something else at the end. Unfortunately, from my viewpoint, some people get stuck at the front end of this learning process because they have power over others with technical form and dominance over others with technical function. Some even become very high ranking but never leave this area because this is what they see as aikido and it fits their needs. I am not saying they are not doing aikido. What I am saying is what they are doing is not what I consider aikido which is something quite different.

I believe aikido is big enough to incorporate many views. I believe one should move on with training and work with the function of the interaction until it has a greater personal meaning than victory over others. With some degree of mastery over the forms and function of aikido, one should start to become compassionate toward others. The desire for physical dominance over others should start to fall away. The ability will remain of course. During the interaction years the function of the aikido has changed from powerful martial artist to a skilled confidant and compassionate human being. We have now mastered the forms and internalized the functions so they are as much a part of us as walking and breathing and not compartmentalized as martial. In training this would be the “ha” phase. Ha is the work of analysis of the forms and function of (in this case) aikido.

Now is the time to begin “breaking apart” the form and function to reveal the content of the activity and its effect upon my life and evaluate what it means to me and how it is integrated into who I am. Aikido becomes mine in the truest since possible as I have gone from reactionary aikido to interactive aikido and now I am ready for proactive aikido.

Many would call this stage of aikido development “ri,” I suppose I will too. Ri is the stage of making the aikido ours. At this stage, we should be ready to explore beyond the bounds of what we have learned. Ri is the time to spread our wings and fly. With proactive aikido both uke and nage can practice with 100% honesty. Confident in each other’s abilities, true aikido can happen. By not doing aikido to each other but with each other, most of the element of danger is greatly reduced.

Uke can commit to an honest attack with 100% power and offer no help whatsoever to nage and nage can redirect all that power without holding back or helping uke. With uke being sensitive to nage’s intent and nage sensitive to uke’s intent (the intent will change for both during the aikido action), aikido can happen.

Now sometimes people take this to extremes by not coming even remotely close to physical contact. But if uke is being 100% uke and nage is being 100% nage and both are using supreme form and function, then who is to say the content is not aikido? Although not my cup of meat, I can see the truth in this training. Going to the dojo everyday to give and receive pain is not my idea of aikido training either.

My tough guy give-an-getter broke a long time ago. I’m into getting along now and using what I believe to be aikido as the means to do it. What do I mean by that? Well, let’s say my partner throws a half-hearted punch my way. I redirect what energy is the punch toward the ground using whatever form is at hand. There is not enough energy in the punch to take my partner to the ground and the function of the form has been achieved by dispersing the energy so now I just let go. The function of the form has restored harmony and the content of the act is aikido. Now, if I feel it necessary to continue the form to throw or knock my partner down, I have stopped doing aikido with my partner and started doing technique to my partner. To me there is a very big and significant difference here.

Dennis Hooker

A thought provoking article by,

Takeyuki Hayama

From the website of the Kenshinkan Karate Organization: which also raises questions as to the nature of Aikido training.

The answer is yes.

However, that doesn't mean it is necessary to participate in tournaments. While it is good to include (tournament-style)kumite as part of karate training it doesn't have to be in a tournament situation.

Nowadays it is not possible to practice attacking your opponent with bare hands in kumite practice at your dojo. However, at the same time, if you are doing so-called actual fight training without rules that is non-contact, it is not possible to see actual proof that what you are doing is effective. Not only is it difficult to improve your skills, but you have no evidence of whether or not they have improved. If you have been training for 10 years and you haven't become any stronger or you can't use your skills in an actual fight, then your dojo is obviously swindling you.

Naturally in tournament-style kumite, there are rules. Under Full
Contact Karate rules (known as Kyokushin rules) you are not allowed to
strike your opponent in the face. In terms of it's relevance to a real
fight there are some who would argue this rule. However, under the
restrictions of this rule, an extremely high level of punching and
kicking skill and technique are required to knock your opponent down.
Practice under these rules increases power and cardio pulmonary function.
The athletic ability of most of the competitors in the All-Japan class
under these rules is equivalent to that of an Olympic class athlete.
Under these rules the ability to win is rooted in the method of training.

This is why repeated practice of these skills benefits even those who don't want to participate in tournaments. Day-by-day technique steadily improves and speed is gained. With repeated practice of these skills, you just need the physical strength to be able to use them in a real fight. It could be said that self-defense at some point becomes fighting sport. However there are few places where this actually occurs.

In the fighting sport K-1 where striking the face (with a glove) is allowed, half of the people in the organization come from a background in full contact rules. It is this half that become champions. The organization that started K-1 also has a full contact rules history. Striking the face with a glove poses a risk to the brain and so it is best left to specialists. For amateurs it is better to safely and steadily increase strength under rules that prohibit punches to the face. (I highly approve of glove-rule practice [rules that allow punches to the face] provided that punches are light) There are people who think that tournament-style kumite training under full contact rules is harsh, but if hand, leg and knee protectors are worn anyone can do it safely. Comparing people who do full-contact training to people who do non-contact training is like comparing people who drive cars in Tokyo with people who drive cars in Hokkaido or Chiba.

Tokyo has the greatest number of cars in Japan, however it does not have the highest road accident mortality rate. Surprisingly, in Hokkaido and Chiba where the roads are wide and there are few cars there are more deaths caused by car accidents each year. So what does this show us? You would think that with so many cars on the road driving in Tokyo would be dangerous, but because people in Tokyo have no choice but to drive in this kind of environment, by the time they have been driving for a few years they have become highly-skilled drivers. Their skills cannot be compared to those of drivers who are only used to driving on quiet roads. At first, driving in the crowded city seems very dangerous, but as you gain experience driving alongside fast cars and motorbikes, and driving in narrow streets with large trucks while avoiding getting your car scratched your driving skills become highly advanced.

If you liken this to karate, when everyday during training you are receiving fast punches and powerful kicks, like the car drivers, when you are hit you gain real experience and understanding that can't be gained any other way. Through this your skills will improve greatly. If you are doing non-contact training and assume that your strike has been effective, you are making the same mistake as a person speeding around an empty racetrack believing that they are a racing champion.

Under full-contact rules, I believe you can see that tournament-style kumite training is an extremely effective form of training.

Surprisingly, a person who does non-contact training is more likely to be seriously injured than a person doing full-contact training. When you are routinely blocking fast, powerful punches and kicks, when you become used to seeing combinations that are calculated to cause their opponent to open their guard, in a one on one situation, you are less likely to receive damage that results in injury. Again parallels can be drawn with the big-city driver.

In order for you to better understand our form of karate I would like to discuss our technical theory a little further. This is what I often hear from people who have joined our dojo. Those who have come from traditional karate styles express surprise that the karate that they thought they knew could be so different. Those who have come from similar full-contact styles often make comments like "Anyone who is taught such theoretical full-contact skills can't help but become stronger."

In the beginning we decided we would concentrate on theory and dojo training, not on tournaments. But when we did this nobody paid us any attention, so we chose to enter tournaments to show evidence of what we were doing. As we began to win tournaments more people began to pay attention to our theory. Not only this but through the process of participating in tournaments we were able to make new discoveries and further develop our theory. In one combative arts video we saw they said that Kenshinkan is like a laboratory. And it is just as they said, as we try various new things we are continually making new discoveries.

In investigating the differences between striking a person and striking an object I have also experimented with tameshiwari (the practice of breaking bricks etc. in martial arts). I have succeeded in breaking a 200kg ice pillar, a brick, a bat, a plank and a roof tile. And here again I made new discoveries about the differences between striking an object and a person.

Human beings are weak. We have a tendency to go with the flow and without even noticing we take the easy option. I believe daily training, knowledge, listening to various opinions and putting them into practice are all essential.

I still remember the Kenpo master Kenichi Sawai saying "Anyone who
doesn't know (how to do) fast punches and powerful kicks is not a
martial artist! That kind of person will run in to a lot of trouble."