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I have heard from people, who have not had any real life fighting experience, argue about pure Aikido vs. Atemi Aikido.
They equate pure dojo training, as real fighting experience. There also seems to be intellectuals who have not fought in the real world, who have convinced many others, that you don't need to train for the real world.
Those with real life experience, are portrayed as not knowing Aikido, as well as not knowing real life fighting.
I have finally healed and will be returning back to the gym & Dojo to start working out again.
I have recently recovered from a very bad broken ankle, in January, that required a lot of metal hardware. It is now August.
In my past, I recovered from another broken ankle, 2 knee surgeries, a hernia repair of an old gunshot wound, 2 different broken ribs, a broken nose, broken knuckles, knife wounds, concussions, and the list goes on for the last 40 years.
I have great reservations on working out. Young warriors like to test out the old & wounded warrior. If they get me, they have bragging rights. If they lose, it is no loss for them. That is the current NYC mindset.
A little known fact in boxing is that the backfist is an illegal technique. The reason for it being a foul has been lost in boxing history. What I can say from personal experience, as a licensed boxing coach for 13 years, is that it has been a good harassing blow that has wrecked havoc on people.
It is up there, against a good spearing jab. However, it is much easier to learn, and requires a lot less maintenance time when it is perfected.
I had another incident, with a UFC wannabe, who had a heads up on me. That can be disturbing. When no one knows anything about you, you always have the element of surprise. It is something else, when they are prepared to take you on, and you don't know about their ambush. You can't always practice 24/7 martial arts paranoia.
While facing me, he suddenly grabbed me in the street, with hands like a vise grip. He anchored himself into the ground. Turning my elbows were out of the picture. I dove my hands into his crotch area and he released. While I was there, I stuck my finger where a doctor usually tells men to cough. He broke his anchor stance.
I now sent him airborne into a still existing mail box. I never thought that a mail box could be dented with a human body.
I have finally come to the realization that I can no longer box as well as I did in my younger years. The pain factor of giving and receiving has finally hit a limit. I can't seem to practice karate or kickboxing because of my balance issue, joint issues, and impact control.
My body is now telling me that softer is better. Hard martial arts is now a thing in the past. I still want to work out, however, a hard work out is out of the picture.
I have to practice a gentler workout to avoid having my body parts disintegrate on me. I feel like an Indianapolis 500 race car in an auto wreck. My spirit is like a shark in a goldfish bowl.
I once studied Wado Ryu Karate. Master Hironori Ohtsuka once practiced Aikido in his martial arts training days. One of his instructors was Shihan Kiyohisa Hirano. I can say that I trained with both of them. Master Ohtsuka died and Shihan Hirano is dying.
Aloha All Instructors and Students of JIKC,
It is my sad duty to inform everyone of the very soon to be end of life of my best friend and teacher of life for the past 45 + years. You know him as Sensei, Shihan or Soke Hirano. His life is coming to a close. He has succumbed to the ravages of diabetes and there is nothing further that can be done in Western medicine.
Shoko, Soke's wife, and I have talked to Soke and he wants his ashes spread at sea and a celebration of life of life to be held at the Waikiki Yacht Club. Over the past year or so, Soke and Shoko have joined Sensei Margaret and I for lunch every time we are on Oahu and he has enjoyed a mushroom burger and ice tea each time. When his health was better he loved to go sailing with me. When we were both younger, in the mid sixties, we swam at Ala Moana Beach several times a week after class. He loved the Ocean.
We have decided to remember his passing and his life accomplishments with two different pieces of memorabilia. One is a medal that commemorates his life and the other is a larger plaque which will be displayed in all JIKC Dojos. Any student or friend can make any donation to his family fund and receive this medal or with a larger donation receive this plaque.
I will keep you informed of the situation as it progresses and tell everyone when the services will be held.
Our goal is, as always, to keep the spirit of Soke alive and the knowledge he has spread to all of us growing forever!
For a very brief time I had studied under Professor William Chow (now deceased) in Honolulu. While at Mit's Gym, my old friend (John Carroll), had observed the Professor punching a 45 lb. weightlifting plate, and screaming, "kenpo kills."
We talked to Professor Chow and he told me about my fight that I had at the HIC (subsequently named the NBC). He expressed his views about the better techniques. We were both quiet.
After the Professor left, we laughed a bit. He had great ideas, unfortunately, his techniques would be ruled as fouls with permanent physical damage.
He was a man who backed up his martial art in the street.
As a kid I also studied under Shigeru Oyama, who taught Kyokushinkai, at the White Plains Bowling Alley. Masutatsu Oyama came to New York and taught for about a month.
His exhibition involving the breaking of blue stones was awesome. He asked everyone, to bring anything into the class, that we wanted to see him break. He broke everything.
I find that my energy levels vary from day-to-day. It takes longer to get my motor running. When I am involved with training, I can last forever. However, the next day, I pay for it.
A carefully regulated diet change is still ongoing. Experimenting with various diets has been challenging. Some diets should be classified as, "bathrooms should be within 6 feet." Some diets should say, "you can develop kryptonite."
There is the thrill of training, and, never stop moving. Once stalled, my legs develop rigidity. Stretching has to be maintained throughout the training session. This would be similar to dancers.
I recently heard a person saying that Aikido did not have any street value.
My prison experience tells me different. There is a slight modification of the techniques though.
When prisoners fight, all of them charge you as a collective, similar to randori. Instead of thrusting their weapons once, they choose to use a pumping action.
Study a prison riot on youtube and you will see that Aikido techniques have greater value than other classical martial arts.
Observe what happens when someone goes to the ground while fighting multiples. The trick is to always be standing and mobile.
Kicking is only used when you are down on the ground.
Weapons are preferred when possible. Wild flailing punches are the norm and not the exception. Straight line punching is rare.
Fighting in the common areas or recreation yard gives you large areas of mobility. Fighting in a cell box ends your mobility.
I still say Aikido works better in a prison fight.
I am starting to feel really old. My doctor found older wounds on my body that I had forgotten about. An old bullet wound and another knife wound on my ribs.
The mind is an amazing thing. My mind overflowed and kicked out old memories. I guess it wanted to make more room for more injuries.
I must learn to move around my disabilities once again.
03-16-2009 01:26 PM 