Quote:
Michael Fitzgerald wrote:
From the article: "Don Draeger said, "Uyeshiba's aikido is a highly weakened form of hand-to-hand combat. Aikido is essentially noncombative in nature. Further, the omission of atemi (strikes) from its techniques removes aikido from the category of practical hand-to-hand combat styles." "
I don't suppose anyone has an idea of what publication/ where Draeger was known to have made this statement- or any like it? (wasn't mentioned in article).
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Mr Draeger [assuming the above quote to be true ]like anyone else was entitled to express his views on Aikido .Unless I am mistaken Mr Draeger did not study Aikido.He was primarily a Judoka, and studied Iaido forms.He was one of the first men to write books on Martial Arts but I do not accept that because he writes books etc means he is an authority on Aikido.
Any experienced aikidoka knows[or should know ] that atemi can be used in applications of Waza ,however in the majority of the time atemi is not always utilised fully basically for safety reasons.Cutting and striking/thrusting waza is also part and parcel of both Jo and Ken training .